Midterm 1 Flashcards
The study of humans as biological organisms, including their evolution and contemporary variation
Biological anthropology
concerns itself with human health–the factors that contribute to disease or illness and the ways that human populations deal with disease or illness.
Medical anthropology
The study of living people and their cultures, including variation and change.
Cultural Anthropology
Study of gaming cultures, social media, memorialisation, technology in research
Digital anthropology
Study of past human
cultures through their
material remains, recovery and analysis of artifacts
Archaeology
Types of archaeology
Experimental, prehistoric, historical
Study of communication, the origin/history and contemporary variation of communication
Linguistic anthro
The process by which a child learns his/her culture
Enculturation
The process and product of a research study in cultural anth
Ethnography
ability to copy a behaviour by observing or learning
Tranmission
Ability to remember behaviours
Memroy
Ability to reproduce or imitate behaviours
Reiteration
Ability to develop new behaviours
Innovation
Ability to know which behaviours to keep or discard
Selection
Culture is… (4)
Shared, symbolic, patterned, learned
the belief that others are wrong or
abnormal because they are different from us; the opinion that one’s own way of life is natural or
correct,
Ethnocentricism
Understanding another culture in its own terms sympathetically
enough so that the culture appears to be a coherent and
meaningful design for living
Cultural relativism
The study of nonhuman primates -- fossil and living apes, monkey and prosimians, including their behaviour and social life.
Primatology
Principal factor in determining how organisms are assigned
to taxonomic categories based on similarities and common ancestry
Homologies
Occur from convergent evolution and not common ancestry
Analogies
Primate homologies (6)
Grasping, smell to sight, nose to hand, brain complexity, parental investment ,sociality
Defining characteristics of primate heads
- post-orbital bar/closure
- stereoscopic vision
- poor sense of smell
- big brain
- reduced dentition
Four trends of primate evolution
- bigger/more complex brains
- reduced facial projection and sense of smell
- increased dependence on site
- fewer teeth
The pre-darwinian belief that species arise from others through a long and gradual process of transformation
Lamarkian evolution/transformism
The pre-darwinian belief that the forces and processes observable at earth’s surface are the same that have shaped earth’s landscape throughout natural history and therefore all life forms are ultimately related
Uniformitarianism
Three principles of Darwin’s theory of evolution/natural selection
Principles of variation, heredity, and natural selection
Five finger rule of evolutionary processes
- population shrinks
- selective mating
- mutation
- gene flow
- adaptation
The exchange of genes that occurs when
a given population experiences a sudden
expansion due to in-migration of outsiders
from another population of the species
Gene flow
Random changes in gene frequencies from one generation to the next due to a sudden reduction in population size as a result of disaster, disease, or the out- migration of a small subgroup from a larger population
Genetic drift
The study of what happens to organic remains after death
Taphonomy
A phenotypic pattern that shows how different traits of an organism,
responding to different selection pressures, may evolve at different
rates
Mosaic evolution
Five major differences between apes and hominins
- Skull attaches inferiorly
- Spine S-shaped
- Arms shorter than legs and not weightbaring
- Bowl-shaped pelvis
- Femur angled in
Secondary hominin traits (4)
- parabolic dental arcade
- smaller canines
- smaller canines
- thicker enamel
- reduced prognathism
Five explanations for bipedal evolution
- carrying model
- effective heat management
- greater endurance
- increasing height
- walking in trees
Two species of australopithecines to know
- Australopithecus afarensis
2. Australopithecus garhi
One species of paranthropus to know
Paranthropus boisei
Most famous of all au. afarensis fossil
Lucy (aka dinkenesh)
Hadar, ethiopia 3.2 mya 1.1 m tall Bipedal Lumbar curvature
Lucy
3.3 mya toddler
North ethiopia
Upright walking with hints that ancestors hadn’t completely left trees
“Lucy’s baby” Selam
Why was Selam relevant?
Bipedal climber
When did Au. afarensis split into two groups?
Between 3-2 mya
Why is paranthropus boisei famous?
Contracted herpes from chimpanzees
Why was the homo naledi finding significant?
New species, possible burial practice, near complete skeletons
What caused extinction of australopithecines
Competition with homo populations - Au not as adaptive; homo used tools, hunted, expanded beyond savannah
Which species pushed human evolution beyond africa to asia and europe
Homo erectus
Three periods of the old stone age?
Lower, middle, and upper palaeolithic
Major feature of lower palaeolithic age?
Hominid development (ie. tool development, hunting development)
Major feature of middle palaeolithic period
Neanderthals and homo sapians appear - advanced spears, extended terrirories, suggestion of deliberate burials, art, jewelry
Major features of the upper palaeolithic age?
Advances in technology, spear thrower, undisputed evidence of burials and art
What adaptive strategies allowed h. erectus to move past africa?
Skeletal adaptations for long-distance stalking-endurance, larger brain size, use of fire, hunting
How did h.erectus transition to h. sapiens?
Through gradualism: mosaic adaptation
Six trends in human biological evolution
- proficient bipedalism
- changes in size and shape of skull
- decreased prognathism
- smaller teeth
- loss of body hair
- darker skin pigmentation first, then lighter as humans migrated out of africa and adapted to different environments
Transitional species between h. erectus and h. neanderthalensis/sapiens
H. heidelbergensis
Why did neanderthals have so many injuries?
They hunted large animals “up close and personal”
Physical characteristics of neanderthals
short, robust, large brown ridges, protuberant nose and prognathic face
300 tya (africa) 40-30 tya (europe) high rounded skulls small brow ridges no prognathism chins
H. sapiens
160-80 ka
1 meter tall
mix of a. and h. characteristics (dentition, long limbs)
Homo florensiensis
How many years ago did h. sapiens arrive in europe?
40,000 years ago
