paleoanthropology

Question 1

definition of hominin

Answer 1

earliest evidence dates to end of micocene and includes dental and cranial pieces

• distinguished from greate apes by:
• -bpedal locomotion
• -large brain size
• -toolmaking behavior

Question 2

mosaic evolution

Answer 2

pattern of evolutino in which the rates of evolution in one functional system vary from those in other systems

Question 3

hominoids

Answer 3

humans and all apes

Question 4

hominids

Answer 4

orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimps, and humans

Question 5

paleoanthropology

Answer 5

study of early humans

Question 6

artifacts

Answer 6

material clues that include objects or aterials made or modified for use by hominins

Question 7

tahponomy

Answer 7

the study of the decay of organisms over time, and/or fossilization of organic material. also patterns of sedimentation and damage done to organic material post-deposition

Question 8

context

Answer 8

the environmental setting where an archaeological trace is found

Question 9

primary context

Answer 9

the setting in which the archaeological trace was originally deposited

Question 10

secondary contect

Answer 10

is one to which it has been moved (sucha s by the action of a stream)

Question 11

dating methods

Answer 11

placing sites and fossils into a time frame

• relative dating
• chronometric dating

Question 12

relative dating

Answer 12

whether an object is older or younger than other objects

Question 13

chronometric (absolute) dating

Answer 13

age in years

Question 14

statigraphy

Answer 14

used in relative dating

• the law of superposition states that a lower stratum(layer) is older than a higher stratum
• valuable in reconstructing the history of earth and life
• drawback: disturbances can shift strata and objects, making it difficult or impossible to reconstruct the history

Question 15

fluorine analysis

Answer 15

applied to bones to assess the amount of flourine in ground water incorporated during fossilization
-the longer the time, the more flourine incorporated

-drawback: only useful with bones found at the same location

Question 16

Dendrochronology (tree ring dating)

Answer 16

dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings in wood

• can date the time at which a tree ring formed
• each ring usually corresponds to a year

Question 17

chronometric dating techniques

Answer 17

potassium/argon (k/Ar)

• used for dating material between 1 and 5 million years old (good for hominins)
• involves the decay of potassium into argon
• k/Ar has a half-life of 1.25 billiion years
• Best samples include rocks heated extremeley high

Question 18

Carbon-14

Answer 18

half life of 5730 years

• used to date organic materials
• can estimate ages from just under 1,000 to 60,000 years

Question 19

Thermoluminiscence

Answer 19

relies on principle of radiometric decay

• stone contains trace amounts of radioactive elements
• heating the rock releases displaced beta particles that glow
• by heating the sample and measuring its amount of glow, a date can be determined

Question 20

biostrataphy

Answer 20

faunal correlation

• use faunal remains from different site
• Dates when fossil pigs, elephants, antelopes were present can be used to cross check the other methods

Question 21

Experimental archaeology

Answer 21

helps to understand how artifacts were made and used by reconstructing prehistoric techniques of stone toolmaking, butchering, etc.

Question 22

environmental determinism

Answer 22

links sample environmental changes directly to a major evolutionary shift in an organism

Question 23

theories on origin of bipedalism

Answer 23

• ecological influences
• energy efficiency
• dietary influences
• sexual selection and mating influences

Question 24

ecological influences and bipedalism

Answer 24

bipedal stance allows better view of surrounding

-also exposes to predators though, and doesnt address why other terrestrial primates arent bipedal

Question 25

Energetic efficiency and bipedalism | efficient walking model

Answer 25

bipedal walking is more energetically efficient | -not evidence that early hominins were walking long distances

Question 26

thermoregulatory model (bipedalism reason)

Answer 26

recuces heat gain and increases heat loss

Question 27

postural feeding (bipedalism reason)

Answer 27

began as a way to reach fruit high up in trees

Question 28

responce to resources model (bipedalism)

Answer 28

resource availability influenced bipedality, group size, body size

Question 29

sexual selection and mating strategies (provisioning model)

Answer 29

male provisioning of female and offspring (i.e. bringing food back) -implies monogamous pair bond, not supported

Question 30

habitual bipeds

Answer 30

bipedalism is most common form of locomotion

Question 31

obligate bipeds

Answer 31

hominins cannot efficiently locomote in other ways