Explorations Chapter 9 Hominin evolution Flashcards
Arboreal
Related to trees or woodland
Aridification
Becoming increasingly arid or dry, as related to the climate or environment
Aridity Hypothesis
The hypothesis that long-term aridification and expansion of savannah biomes were drivers in diversification in early hominin evolution
Assemblage
A collection demonstrating a pattern. Often pertaining to a site or region.
Bipedalism
The locomotor ability to walk on two legs
Breccia
Hard, calcareous sedimentary rock.
Canines
The pointy teeth just next to the incisors, in the front of the mouth.
Cheek teeth
Or hind dentition (molars and premolars).
Chronospecies
Species that are said to evolve into another species, in a linear fashion, over time.
Clade
A group of species or taxa with a shared common ancestor.
Cladistics
The field of grouping organisms into those with shared ancestry.
Context
As pertaining to paleoanthropology, this term refers to the place where an artifact or fossil is found.
Cores
The remains of a rock that has been flaked or knapped.
Cusps
The ridges or “bumps” on the teeth.
Dental Formula
A technique to describe the number of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars in each quadrant of the mouth.
Derived traits
Newly evolved traits that differ from those seen in the ancestor.
Diastema
A tooth gap between the incisors and canines.
Early Stone Age (ESA)
The earliest-described archaeological period in which we start seeing stone-tool technology.
East African Rift System (EARS)
This term is often used to refer to the Rift Valley, expanding from Malawi to Ethiopia. This active geological structure is responsible for much of the visibility of the paleoanthropological record in East Africa.
Enamel
The highly mineralized outer layer of the tooth.
Encephalization
Expansion of the brain
Extant
Currently living –i.e., not extinct
Fallback foods
Foods that may not be preferred by an animal(e.g.,foods that are not nutritionally dense)but that are essential for survival in times
of stress or scarcity.
Fauna
The animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period
Faunal assemblages
Collections of fossils of the animals found at a site
Faunal turnover
The rate at which species go extinct and are replaced with new species
Flake
The piece knocked off of a stone core during the manufacture of a tool, which may be used as a stone tool.
Flora
The plants of a particular region, habitat, or geological period
Folivorous
Foliage-eating
Foramen magnum
The large hole (foramen) at the base of the cranium, through which the spinal cord enters the skull.
Fossil
The remains or impression of an organism from the past.
Frugivorous
Fruit-eating
Generalist
A species that can thrive in a wide variety of habitats and can have a varied diet.
Glacial
Colder, drier periods during an ice age when there is more ice trapped at the poles.
Gracile
Slender, less rugged, or pronounced features.
Hallux
The big toe
Holotype
A single specimen from which a species or taxon is described or named.
Hominin
A primate category that includes humans and our fossil relatives since our divergence from extant great apes.
Honing P3
The mandibular premolar alongside the canine (in primates, the P3), which is angled to gives pace for (and sharpen)the upper canines.
Hyper-robust
Even more robust than considered normal in the Paranthropus genus.
Hypodigm
A sample (here, fossil) from which researchers extrapolate features of a population.
Incisiform
An adjective referring to a canine that appears more incisor-like in morphology.
Incisors
The teeth in the front of the mouth, used to bite off food.
Interglacial
A period of milder climate in between two glacial periods.
Isotopes
Two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons ,giving them the same chemical properties but different atomic masses.
Knappers
The people who fractured rocks in order to manufacture tools.
Knapping
The fracturing of rocks for the manufacture of tools.
Large Cutting Tool (LCT)
A tool is shaped to have functional edges
Last Common Ancestor (LAC)
The hypothetical final ancestor (or ancestral population) of two or more taxa before their divergence.
Lithic
Relating to stone (here to stone tools).
Lumbar lordosis
The inward curving of the lower (lumbar) parts of the spine. The lower curve in the human S-shaped spine
Lumpers
Researchers who prefer to lump variable specimens into a single species or taxon and who feel high levels of variation is biologically real.
Megadont
An organism with extremely large dentition compared with body size.
Metacarpals
The long bones of the hand that connect to the phalanges (finger bones).
Molars
The largest, most posterior of the hind dentition
Monophyletic
A taxon or group of taxa descended from a common ancestor that is not shared with another taxon or group.
Morphology
The study of the form or size and shape of things; in this case, skeletal parts.
Mosaic evolution
The concept that evolutionary change does not occur homogeneously throughout the body in organisms.
Obligate bipedalism
Where the primary form of locomotion for an organism is bipedal.
Occlude
When the teeth from the maxilla come into contact with the teeth in the mandible.
Oldowan
Lower Paleolithic, the earliest stone tool culture.
Orthognathic
The face below the eyes is relatively flat and does not jut out anteriorly.
Paleoanthropologist
Researchers that study human evolution
Paleoenvironment
An environment from a period in the Earth’s geological past.
Parabolic
Like a parabola (parabola-shaped).
Phalanges
Long bones in the hand and fingers
Phylogenetics
the study of phylogeny
Pliocene
A geological epoch between the Miocene and Pleistocene
Polytypic
In reference to taxonomy, having two or more group variants capable of interacting and breeding biologically but having morphological population differences.
Postcranium
the skeleton below the cranium (head)
Premolars
The smallest of the hind teeth, behind the canines
Procumbent
In reference to incisors, tilting forward
Prognathic
In reference to the face, the area below the eyes juts anteriorly
Quaternary Ice Age
The most recent geological time period, which includes the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs and which is defined by the cyclicality of increasing and decreasing ice sheets at the poles
Relative Dating
Dating techniques that refer to a temporal sequence (i.e.,older or younger than others in the reference)and do not estimate actual or absolute dates.
Robust
Rugged or exaggerated features
Site
A place in which evidence of past societies/species/activities may be observed through archeological or paleontological practice
Specialist
A specialist species can thrive only in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet
Splitters
Researchers who prefer to split a highly variable taxon into a multiple groups or species
Taxa
Plural of taxon, a taxonomic group such as species, genus, or family
Taxonomy
The science of grouping and classifying organisms
Techno-complex
a term encompassing multiple assemblages that share similar traits in terms of artifact production and morphology
Thermoregulation
Maintaining body temperature through physiologically cooling or warming the body
Ungulates
Hoofed mammals–e.g., cows and kudu
Volcanic tufts
Rock made from ash from volcanic eruptions in the past
Valgus knee
The angle of the knee between the femur and tibia, which allows for weight distribution to be angled closer to the point above the center of gravity (i.e., between the feet) in bipeds.
