Final Flashcards
- On what continents do we find remains of premodern humans?
Africa, Asia, Europe
- When and where were the earliest modern human fossils located/discovered?
Africa - Approx. 200,000
- Where have Neanderthal remains been found?
Middle east and Europe
- What are the cranial capacities of Neanderthal and modern human?
Neanderthal = 1250-1740 cc
H. Sapiens sapiens = 1400 cc (range 950-1800 cc)
- Be able to define, compare and contrast the morphological characteristics Neanderthals and modern humans.
H. sapiens sapiens
- Brow Ridge Gone
- Defined chin
- Smaller face, larger forehead
- More “gracile” skeleton
H. neanderthalensis
- Pronounced Brow Ridge
- less chin
- less forehead
- bulges at the sides
- When does cave and portable art first appear? What created them?
Upper Paleolithic -
- What’s most represented in cave art?
Predator animals, important animal,
- What and when are the Aurignacian, Solutrean, Gravettian, and Magdalenian?
Upper paleolithic (50ka - 10ka) tool types
- What are the characteristics of the Upper Paleolithic?
Trade, travel, advanced tools, working together, technology, language, Portable art and cave art.
- What is the relationship between language, motor functions and spatial memory functions of the brain? **
better or bigger memory and motor functions, the more complex a language you can know.
- What are the major linguistic components of language?
Phonemes - Smallest unit of sound
Morphemes - Smallest combination of sounds that convey meaning
ex; un + true = 2 morphemes
Syntax - Standard conventions for combining words
- What are Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?
Areas of the brain related to speech/language.
Wernicke - understanding (back of brain)
Broca - production (front of brain)
- What are the major stone tool traditions? With what species are they associated?
Olduwan - basic stone tools (Lower Paleolithic period, 2.6 million years ago up until 1.7 million years ago, by Homo habilis)
Acheulean - hand axes (Homo erectus)
- What is the difference between a core tool technology and a flake tool technology?
Core = Any piece of material that has had flakes removed from it.
Flake = Any material removed from a core (intentional or not).
- What is the Levallois technique? Who used it? **
Tortoise-shaped core with CONVERGENT FLAKE SCARS
Can use poorer material
Produces very straight edges (Knives)
Curved and steep-angle edges: SCRAPERS
Requires STRATEGIZING THE STONE
This Mousterian Stone Tool kit (associated with Neanderthal) may have had as many as 100+ tool types.
- What is the importance of stone blades? Who used them?
Tools to make other tools. Used by modern humans.
- What is an atlatl?
spear-thrower - uses leverage to achieve greater velocity
- Arguments for and against Out-of-Africa hypothesis and Multi-Regional hypothesis ***
OUT-OF-AFRICA - Modern humans evolved from a population of archaic Homo sapiens in Africa, then spread throughout the rest of the world and replaced archaic Homo sapiens everywhere.
Multi-Regional Model - Archaic Homo sapiens populations gradually evolved into anatomically modern humans in different areas.
- Characteristics of hunter-gatherer groups ***
- Small groups 25-45 in number
- Diet of hunter-gatherers vs. agriculture
Hunter-gatherer: more varied diet
Agriculture: More grains, starches, higher carbs
- What did humans need to do in order to domesticate animals?
- Need to Alter Behavior
- Reduction of Intelligence
- Reduction of Aggressive Behavior
- Eliminate Defensive Mechanisms
- What are the benefits and problems of agriculture?
Benefits: Stability, productivity, technological progress
Problems: narrowing of diet, loss of genetic variation,
- When agriculture first appear?
12ka - 10ka
- Centers of initial domestication?
- SW Asia: Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers, Mixed Farming of grains and animals.
- China: Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers, Rice Farming (Yellow River Delta).
- Americas: Mobile Hunter-Gatherers, Bottle-Gourds, Corn & Beans
- What did humans need to do in order to domesticate wild grains, such as wheat?
- Manipulation of wild grains
- Sowing grain to supplement wild harvest
- Reduce travel time during harvest
- Changes in plants (GENETIC ALTERATION)
- MORE seeds, fruit, root, leaf
- LARGER seeds, fruit, root, leaf
- Hunter-gatherer vs agricultural production: cost and efficiency
Hunter gatherers work a little and get a lot of food where as agricultural make extra food but takes a lot of effort.
- Basic theoretical models for the origins of agriculture ***
- Nuclear Zone
- Lightbulb Theory
- Characteristics & differences between mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-Chromosome DNA.
Y-chromosome only comes from the man and mtDNA comes from mother.
We track the markers between the chromosomes to see relationships and population.
- Eve Hypothesis
Following mitochondrial DNA back to a single common female ancestor
- What are the major biological and behavioral trends in human evolution from 4 million to 30,000 years ago?
- Reduction in sexual dimorphism
- Use of tools - bigger brain / smaller body
- Increased cooperation
- “Insurance” water containers, grain stores
- What was remarkable about the hominids discovered on Flores Island, Indonesia?
Homo floresiensis - hobbits, 3’3” ft tall
- Denisovians. What’s significant about them?
- Paleolithic-era species of the genus Homo
- Denisova Cave in Siberia
- genetically distinct from the mtDNAs of Neanderthals and modern humans
- common origin with Neanderthals, interbred with the ancestors of some present-day modern humans
- Know and be able to describe the periods and stages of (life history) human development (pre-natal through old age). ***
???
- Menarche
When woman’s period starts. Age trends down over time. 11-13 in US.
- What are rain forests? Why are they important?
The Amazon. Earth’s lungs.
- Modern diet and affects on health. Type II Diabetes.
Inadequate exercise, combined with more sugars and refined carbohydrates.
- How have humans modified the natural environment?
Infrastructure (roads, buildings, bridges), agriculture, pollution, damming, introduction & eradication of species
- What is Behavioral Ecology?
Evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures.
- History and trajectory of human population growth?
Exponential.
- What is Global Warming? What are the causes?
Climate Change is cyclical.
How is water similar to oil?
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