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Palaeo: Human Evolution > Introduction to human evolution and how we study it > Flashcards

Introduction to human evolution and how we study it Flashcards

1
Q

Why is it important to study human evolution?

A
  • Personal interest
  • Homo sapiens are the only sentient species on earth
  • Very developed brain etc
  • Damage to environment
  • Cause of other animal extinctions
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2
Q

How do we study human evolution?

A
  • Temporal framework
  • Reconstructing palaeogeogrpahy
  • Reconstructing environment
  • Evidence from fossils
  • Evidence from living organims
  • Evidence from archaeology
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3
Q

Why is the fossil record of human evolution poor?

A
  • Human populations were historically very small and dispersed
  • Terrestrial (less likely to be preserved)
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4
Q

What is the temporal framework for human evolution?

A
  • Middle-Miocene
  • Pliocene
  • Pleistocene
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5
Q

How do we date fossils and why are human remains more acurate?

A
  • Radiometrically
  • Chemically
  • Dating of fossils allow accurate dating
  • Pull of the recent means it’s easier and more acurate to date
  • Pollen dating
  • Timing is less of a problem
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6
Q

Why do the glacial events make it harder to date?

A

Complexity of the glacial events (retracting and surging) means remains get smeared so it’s harder to accurately date some areas.

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7
Q

How has the earth changed over the 7 million years humans evolved?

A
  • Not much continental change
  • Extent of ice caps expand and contract causing different sea levels
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8
Q

When was the last glacial maximum?

A
  • 18,000 years ago
  • Lower sea level
  • Easier for human migration due to land bridges
  • Position of continents not important - sea level important
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9
Q

Pollen analysis

A
  • Most plants that were around 7 mya are still around today
  • Can see what plants types were around
  • Can work out what plants were there and what the environment was like
  • E.g. woodland, savanna etc
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10
Q

Evidence from living organims

A
  • Study nearest living relative
  • Study behaviour
  • Can it be applied to fossils?
  • Find populations from different continents and sequence them and see where genetic relationships lie
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11
Q

Evidence from fossil organisms

A
  • Fossils are rare
  • Rift valley - sedimentation rates are high
  • Lots of fossils in that one area
  • Teeth, jaw bone and pallet preserve well
  • Footprint preservation (exceptional preservation)
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12
Q

Evidence from archaeology

A
  • hunting
  • Fire
  • Exploiting environments
  • Tool use
  • Eventually there is art and burials
  • Neanderthal and homo sapiens buried dead
  • Becoming self aware
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13
Q

Where humans sit in the evolutionary tree of life?

A
  • Prosimians
  • New World Monkeys
  • Old World Monkeys
  • Hominoids (apes including humans-hominins)
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14
Q

When did humans diverge from last common ancestor?

A

7 million years ago

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15
Q

What are apes and humans classified under?

A

Hominoids

Humans are hominins

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16
Q

When did the first primated apear?

A

85 Ma

17
Q

When did the KT extinction happen?

A
  • 65 Ma
  • Who will dominate?
18
Q

Key dates - primate/hominin evolution: 50 mya?

A
  • Primates of modern aspect appear
  • Adaptive radiation of primates
  • Anthropoids (monkeys + apes) evolved in Africa
19
Q

Key dates in human/primate evolution: 20 ma to 10 ma ?

A
  • 20 Ma Hominoids in Africa
  • 18 Ma Hominoids migrate into Asia as Asia/Africa collide
  • Adaptive radiation of Hominoids in Asia
  • 10 Ma An Asian Hominoid migrates back to Africa and is ancestral to all later Hominoids (including Hominins)
20
Q

What is the earliest hominoid known?

A
  • Proconsol
  • 22 Ma from Africa
21
Q

What do molecular clocks show for human evolution?

A

Humans and chimps are sister groups
Diverged around 7 Ma

22
Q

When are molecular clocks good?

A
  • They work for shallow time
  • E.g. human evolution
23
Q

Who was eugene Dubois and what was his discovery/theory?

A
  • Java man (homo erectus)
  • Thought human evolutions started in the far east
  • He was ridiculed - too big to be a human
  • Locked his find away for years until his theory
  • Thought humans were more closely related to orangutans than the great apes
24
Q

What was the piltdown man and why was it controversial?

A
  • Hoax, modern skull dyed and combined with orangutan skull
  • Held back science for 40 odd years
  • Said Dubois was right
25
Q

What did Raymond Dart discover?

A
  • Tuang boy
  • Australopithecus africanus
  • 3.3 - 2.5 ma
  • Sediment filled brain and perfectly preserved it
26
Q

What species was Peking man?

A
  • Homo erectus
  • 0.4 - 0.7 Ma
27
Q

What did Robert Broom do?

A
  • Found specimens of A.africanus and A.robustus
28
Q

What year was Piltdown was accepted as a hoax?

A

1953

Palaeo: Human Evolution (3 decks)

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