Lecture 18 Flashcards
Lower Pleistocene
1.8 mya -900,000 years ago
Middle Pleistocene
900,000 to 130000 years ago
Upper Pleistocene
130,000 - 12,000 years ago
Holocene
12,000 years ago to present
Ancestral Features of Homo Ergaster
- narrowing of braincase behind the eyes
- receding forehead
Derived Features of Homo Ergaster
- shorter nose
- less prognathic face
- taller skull
- smaller jaw and molars
Tools of Homo Ergaster
-used mode 1 & 2 tools
Evidence that Homo Ergaster was a meat eater
bones have been found showing a vitamin A overdoes which is consistent with eating livers of carnivores
Evidence that Homo Ergaster controlled fire
-campfires burn bones in a distinctive way and bones with campfire burns have been found with H. Ergaster remains
Reasons why humans started wearing clothes
-could have started wearing clothes so humans could expand into colder climates
when humans started wearing clothes
- humans started wearing clothes around the same time body lice diverged from head lice
- about 170,000 years ago
Homo Erectus differences from Homo Ergaster
- larger face
- thicker cranial walls
- lower less domed cranium
- pronounced occipital torus
- pronounced brow ridges
- sagittal keel
- shorter and stockier
Homo Erectus Tool use
- mostly used mode 1 tools
- lack of mode 2 could be related to different materials available or cognitive abilities
Ancestral Features of Homo Hiedelbergensis
- long, low skull
- thick cranial bones
- large browridges
Derived Features of Hiedelbergensis
- high forehead
- more rounded occipital bone