Human origins

Question 1

What are they two key taxonomy names you must know correctly

Answer 1

(italics)
Homo sapiens
Homo neanderthalensis

Question 2

What is bipedial locomotion?

Answer 2

Upright locomotion on two legs/hind legs

Question 3

Name some benefits to bipedial locomotion

Answer 3

More efficient travel for apes, move faster, less solar radiation on all parts of body, keep cool in open land (more incoming wind on face/upper regions of body), leave hands free to carry objects

Question 4

Give some brief details about Australopithecines

Answer 4

> roamed in the pliocene epoch
In the same genus as us ‘homo’, we came just after this species,
fully bipedial,
sexually dimorphic
had a 1 pint brain
thought to have used oldowan stone tools

Question 5

The palaeolithic period occured when?

Answer 5

From 2.6 mya to 10 ka

Question 6

In the genus homo which other species were there? Brief detail about them

Answer 6

Homo ergaster- brain half the size of ours, average height 5 ft
> Homo heidelbergensis- 2 pint brain (double the australopiths), stone tools became more complex, possible invention of fire
> Homo neanderthalensis- Disovered in neander valley, germany (600-33ka), spread across Europe
shorter/stockier than us, similar developement patern to us, may have had language, made complex toold, cared for sick and had burials

Question 7

Anantomically modern homo sapiens appear when?

Answer 7

Around 100-200 ka (new research suggests 300ka)

Question 8

How many years ago were H.sapiens last hominin (meaning human like) on earth?

Answer 8

Around 30 ka.
Neanderthals interbred with early H. sapiens so around 1.5-2.6% of non-african DNA due to breeding with Neanderthals).
So europeans have more neander DNA.
Upon interbreeding neander DNA did not go back to africa

Question 9

Removal of competition can lead to what sort of features on an island?

Answer 9

Homo florensis (islands of indonesia) - very short, dwarf like.
further unusual feature in other animals like elephants, flies

Question 10

What’s the Plitdown man hoax of 1912 (Dawson)? What is the discredited bias called?

Answer 10

The out-of-england bias.
Dawson tried to convince people in the victorian era that humans came from england. He forged a medieval skull which was in fact made from orangutans jaw and a chimps teeth (exposed as a hoax in 1952)

Question 11

What is the more widely accepted hypothesis for where humans evolved from geographically?

Answer 11

The ‘out of africa’ hypothesis is widely accepted. Our origins being from africa.
1st wave migration to europe from N.Africa around 130 ka
2nd wave from southern africa to rest of world

Question 12

What’s the multiregional hypothesis ?

Answer 12

Suggests H.sapiens evolved 2 million years ago from H.erectus in africa, with different populations evolving out of Africa also from H. erectus (there was gene flow between them, interbreeding) as they spread to asia/australasia

Question 13

Stone tools appear when?

Answer 13

Around 2.5 ma

Question 14

Make a comparison between humans and apes’ foraging/resource collecting

Answer 14

Humans spend much more time 1) hunting for their diet 2) extracting 3) less time collecting i.e. berries. This is because hunting technique/strategy became more efficient so could gain access to more protein rich foods

Question 15

What’s the expensive tissue hypothesis?

Answer 15

Suggests the metabolic requirement of larger brains are offset by a smaller gut in some animals
i.e. apes have bigger gut/smaller brain, humans the opposite

Question 16

Why do men hunt?

Answer 16

Averagely stronger, not as good foraging. Women tend to look after children so cant hunt
Hunting is high risk
Skilled hunters develop over a lifetime (younger men are fitter, but older men have more strategy/skill)
Food sharing is an extensive human activity, seen in apes/primates too

Question 17

What are net consumers, producers?

Answer 17

Age-sex classes:
men - net producers (give more calories per day than women)
woman - net consumers