Lecture 5 Flashcards
What did Thorne and Wolooff suggest both fossil and genetic evidence argue?
That ancient ancestors of various human groups lived where they are found today.
What is the Human Genetic tree based on?
Nuclear DNA products
What theory about evolution has surfaced recently that probably isn’t true?
That evolution is a process that happened many times in many places
What does modest gene flow prevent?
Branching speciation, although different populations received different names from paleo-anthropologists
Where did Homo ergaster emerge?
In Africa and it colonized multiple regions of the globe
What did homosapiens evolve from?
Homo heidelbergensis - in africa about 200,000 years ago and it spread worldwide replacing the resident hominins
What did homo heidelbergensis evolve from?
Homo ergaster - spread into europe where the Neanderthal/Denisovan lineage branches off
When did the initial wave of Homo ergaster leave Africa?
Nearly 2 million years ago and became homo erectus in Asia
What determines skin colour?
The demands of photoprotection and the need to photosynthesise Vitamin D - Lablonski and Chaplin 2010
How many faces can a sheep recognise at one time?
50 - they all look very different to each other.
Are the differences between human populations big?
No, they’re very small and so it’s very unlikely that we evolved independently
When can single species develop into several different lines?
If they are geographically isolated or the gene flow between populations blocked by other means
If single species did develop into several different lines, what would the search be focused on?
It would be focused on looking for similarities to gain insights into characteristics of ancestral species and differences to determine influence of local selection pressures.
What are human characteristics that are similar around the world considered?
They are considered to be biological
What are human characteristics that are different around the world considered to be?
Cultural construct. EG. race is a cultural construct. We are all from one stock so nothing to do with genes.
What was population distribution like in the world during Gregorian period?
There are very few in the Americas and most are in India and China
Where has most of the population growth been?
In India and China
What is population distribution like now?
Half the world’s population is in India and China
What do humans face according to different environments?
Different selection pressures
What is the distribution of births in the world?
There are more babies born each year in Africa than are born in the Americas, all of Europe and Japan put together
What are birth problems defined as?
Perinatal conditions - which are those which occur in babies from the seventh month of pregnancy until the baby is a week old.
What percentage of deaths worldwide did birth problems cause in 2002?
4.3% - an average of 396 deaths per million people per year.
Where was the highest rate of maternal deaths?
In Sierra Leone where 2 mothers die per 100 births.
Where reported no maternal deaths in 2000?
Iceland and Malta
What is the world average of maternal deaths?
386 deaths per 100,000 births
How many women die in Africa from child birth?
1 in 7
What is infant mortality?
It is babies who die during he first year of their life.
How many infant deaths were there in 2002?
7.2 million worldwide (but maternal rates are not uniform around the world). 5.4% of all babies born died within their first year, including 2.3% in their first week.
Where were the most infant deaths?
In India, where there were 1.7 million, or 24% of the world total.
In India, how many babies die in the first 12 months?
For every 100 births, almost 7 die.
What are tropical-cluster diseases?
They are 6 conditions that are largely limited to territories in Africa and the tropical parts of South America
What are tropical-cluster diseases caused by?
Parasites that have complex life cycles, a period inside humans and a period inside insects, except Schistosomiasis which does not have a period in insects but in snails.
What are the six conditions?
- Sleeping Sickness (Trypanosomiasis) - 30% of deaths
- American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas’ disease) - 9% of deaths
- Bilharzia (Schistomiasis) - 28% of deaths
- Espundia and Kalar-azar (Leishmaniasis) - 32% of deaths
- Elephantiasis (Lymphatic Filariasis) - 0.3% of deaths
- River blindness (Onchocerciasis) - 0.001% of deaths
What percentage of all deaths worldwide did tropical-cluster diseases cause in 2002?
0.3% with an average of 25 deaths per one million people
What percentage of infection of aids does parts of Africa have?
70%
What has male circumcision gone down to?
4%
What does violence refer to?
Illegal interpersonal violence, including assaults and homicide. Gun and knife crime, and all criminal activities that result in injury to other people are included, as is domestic violence (married and unmarried) and deliberate injury to children and babies by their parents/carers.
In societies with low levels of violence, from whom are people at more risk?
Their families and friends.
In 2002, what percentage of deaths in adults aged 15-59 did violence cause?
2.9%
In 2002, the Global Burden of Disease estimated that violence would cause what percentage of all Male burden of disease?
2.3%
What percentage of all deaths worldwide did violence cause in 2002?
1.0% with an average of 90 deaths per million people per year
What percentage of all deaths worldwide did war cause in 2002?
0.3%, an average of 28 deaths per million people per year.
Where conditions are different, where there is a block to a gene flow, what will occur?
Speciation
What animal is similar enough for us to be able to recognise them by their individual faces?
Apes
What is different about apes from humans?
They occupy different niches. Have completely different social organisations to our own and from each other.
How do Great apes communicate?
With the mouth (open mouth) and the teeth
What is the difference between human eyes and great apes eyes?
Human eyes have the white background and coloured dot on the front which means our eyes give away where we are looking.
What is eye tracking?
Infrared light shines into your eyes and can see where you’re looking
What did the Kyoto, Japan study shown about a human looking at a chimp, where would we look?
At its eyes, and its mouth a bit
Where did Eastern Asian people look the most in the eye tracking study?
Less time on the mouth, more on the eyes
Where did Western Caucasian people look the most in the eye tracking study?
A lot of attention on the mouth
In the eye tracking study, what did colour coding indicate?
Blue - left eye Green - right eye Yellow - bridge of nose Orange - center of face Red - mouth
What does higher colour saturation indicate?
Higher fixation density
In Eastern Asians, which aspect of the face is most informative?
The eyes are more informative than the mouth - red used to highlight where they are looking
In Western Caucasians, which aspect of the face is most informative?
The mouth is more informative than the eyes - Blue used to highlight where they are looking
How far away from other people do both WC and EA like to stand?
WC = half a meter EA = 20-30cms
When intense disappointment and intense happiness are portrayed, which part of the body highlights it?
The posture over the facial expression
What two emotions differ between cultures?
Sadness and respect
What is the typical German body posture?
Women - arms crossed across body
Men - Hands on hips
Generally more open
What is the typical Japanese body posture?
Hands held in front of genitals
More closed
Where is there a language flow in Africa?
In the top of the continent
What language is spoken by a large proportion of Africa?
Bantu
What is language a sign of?
Evolution
What do countries do?
They cluster together according to their languages
What are the 10 human universals?
- Infants cry to communicate
- Emotional expressions for happiness, joy, surprise and anger are recognisable and constant
- Humans form groups based on qualities that cut across kinship lines eg. religion, political affiliation
- Humans all have traditions, though they may change
- Music is universal
- People dislike/afraid of things that would have threatened the safety of ancestors - eg. parasitic insects
- Kinship matters
- All have capacity to learn language
- Strong need for connections with other humans.
- Everyone has the capacity for laughter and joy
Which aspect of Wodaabe men is accentuated?
Their teeth
What do teeth do?
They are an ornament display - they display genetic quality and reproduction
