Quiz #1 Flashcards
Which eras of technology have composite tools?
Neandertals era
physical traits (skeletal shape) quadrupedal
apes
Foreamen Magnum is in back of skull, spine has 1 big curve, long and straight pelvis, really long arms and fingers, cannot fully straightne legs, deveiated great toe.
physical traits (skeletal shape) bipedal hominins
Foreamen Magnum balance under skull, spine has series of curves, bowl shaped pelvis, long legs and short arms, push of with toe.
What are the physical adaptations associated with bipedalism?
Straightening of legs, loss of great grasping toe, skeletal structure more designed to balance weight on hips.
What are
advantages and disadvantages of bipedalism compared to quadrupedalism?
Frees arms and hands up for carrying, move more efficently, higher eyes better adapted for savannah but loss of climbing abilities.
What do we know about hunting of H erectus, H heidelbergensis, and Neandertals?
H. erectus and H. hedielbergensis likely scavengers bc tools not evolved for big game hunting. Neandertals big game hunters used ambush hunting.
When do the
first weapons show up and what were they like?
Lomekwian 3.3 mya in Africa. Stone artifacts include cores, flakes, anvils, and percussors.
How do weapons change over time?
Stone tools become easier to carry as migration out of Africa then neandertals used spears and javelins. Hand tools become sharper bc of soft hammer percussion.
What other
information do we have about Neandertal behavior?
Cared for group members and possibly intentionally buried others. Possible cannibalism.
Feature
Man-made, not portable.
Set of methods and ideas that archeologists use in their survey and excavation projects.
Reasearch Design
Study of human cultural and biological evolution by archeologists and biological anthropologists.
Paleoanthropology
Study of human past through material culture.
Archeology
Discipline that uses the study of behaviors of living people to better understand past patterns in the use of cultural materials, site organization, and settlement systems.
Ethnoarcheology
Field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats.
Experimental Archeology
Location of past human activity where material evidence of it remains.
Archeological Site
Spatial and temporal associations among physical evidence of past human activity.
Context
Classification system; divides animals into categories based on evoloutionary relationships.
Taxonomy
a primate of a group that includes humans, their fossil ancestors, and the anthropoid apes.
Hominoid
Generic term for the tribe taxonomic category of Hominini; includes humans and their ancestors.
Hominin
Non-honing chewing and bipedalism.
Hominin Characteristics
Mineralized bone.
Fossil
Natural/Cultural processes that affect archeological sites. (Animals, weather, erosion.)
Taphonomy
Man-made (not naturally occuring) and portable.
Artifact
Seeds, wood charcoal. Reconstructing plant use. Also animals, birds, fish.
Macrofauna & Botanicals
Mice, moles, and snails, small beads, tiny stone artifcats.
Microfauna & Botanicals
Discover and inventory sites by taking note of location and basic characteristics of sites.
Site Survey
Sub-surface survey. (Tests pits/ coring)
Shovel Probes/Tests
Technology such as satelite images, ground-penetrating radar, and LiDAR to aid in location of archeological sites.
Remote Sensing
Dating that provids sequecne “older” pr “younger”, not clander dates.
Relative Dates
Absolute dating, Calander dates for events.
Chronometric Dates
Layers or levels at an archeological site.
Stratigraphy
Relative dating method: frequency of artifcats or styles constructs chronlogy of “older than” younger than” based on popularity.
Seriation
Dating techniques that use rate of decay os specific radioactive isotopes into stable isotopes over time. (Uses H-L)
Radiometric Decay
Absolute dating method uses decay rate of carbon -14 to calc. age of organic materials found at sites. (Can be used for past 50,000ys)
Radiocarbon Dating
Radiometric dating tecnique that provides absolute dates based on H-L decay rate of ^40 K (Potassium) into the radioactive isotope ^40 Ar (Argon.) (100,000 ya to Hundreds of mya)
Potassium-Argon Dating
Being able to both walk on the ground and to climb in the trees.
Optional Bipedalism
Evolutionary shift to walking primarily on two legs.
Habitual Bipedalism
Opening in skull where the spinal column joins the head.
Foramen Magnum
For panins and hominins which likely lived sometime between 6.3 and 5.4 mys.
Last Common Ancestor
Reps. situation in which natural selection acts at different rates of change on various parts of the body.
Mosaic Evolution
2.6 mya - 200,00 ya. includes oldowan and achuelian technologies.
Early Stone Age
Term for period between 300,000 to 50,000 ya ago in Africa. (Evidence for ornimaentation, art, bone tools, stone points, shellfish in diet costal)
Middle Stone Age
Term used for period between 250,000 and 39,000 ya in W. Eurasia. (Assoc. w/ Neandertals)
Middle Paleolithic (Europe)
A rock that it is hit with a hammerstone to produce flakes.
Core
A piece of rock hit or broken off a core.
Flake
Hard stone used to strike flakes off a smaller stone.
Hammerstone
A type of prehistoric stone implement flaked on both faces.
Biface
Levallois; core is shaped in a way that allows removal of thin, well-shaped flake.
Prepared Core
Not able to go big game hunting.
Scavenging Among Hominins
Geological Epoch (Ice Ages) beginning 2.6 mya lasting until 10,000ya; the first stone tools appear just before the beginning.
Pleistocence
1.8 mya Tanzania. Olduvai Hominid number 7. ] The early humans found at Olduvai were bipedal tool makers, with brains not as big as
ours, but larger than those of modern chimps, our closest primate relatives
Olduvai Gorge
A thousand miles
north of Olduvai, it has exposed sediments that are over a million years older. Lucy skeleton,Ethiopia, 3.2 mya and
Australopithecus, the next earlier phase of human evolution, and they are
bipeds( relatively small brains, and no evidence, so far, of any stone tool use.)
Hadar Site
Australopithecus, 3.75 mya.
Aramis
Tanzania site that had Australopithecus afarensis fossils + trail of fossilized footprints.
Laetoli
Great Rift Valley, 5’3” but only 8 years old. Earliest human skeleton found ever (Homo erectus) Wider hips and longer arms with modern body. Fast growth rate.
Nariokotome
Lower Paleolithic archeological site in Spain w/ deposits containg choppers and flakes as early as 1 mya; fossil hominins (Homo Erectus) found here 800,000ya. (Evidence for Cannibalism)
Gran Dolina
Cave site of many Neandertals. Evidence of cannibalism and intentional burials.
Shanidar Cave
4.4 mya (East Africa) skeletal features; trend toward bipedalism, but apelike features. (Long arms and great grasping toe)
Ardipithecus ramidus (Ardi)
3.4 - 3.0 mya (East Africa) small brains just over 400 cc, sexually dimorphic, earliest evidence of habitual bipedalism. No great toe, smaller human-like pelvis.
Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy)
Earliest hominin in genus Homo. Essentially skeletally modern from neck down. (Africa 1.9mya and migrate out of Africa 1.7mya) Prominent brow ridge, football shaoed cranium.
Homo erectus (Nariokotome Boy/Turkana Boy)
Robust skull shape, large bulbous nose, relatively short, large shoulder joints,very strong. 1st hominin to survive a glacial climate.
Neandertal
(Shanidar 1/Ned)
Stone tools that appear 2.6 mya in E. Africa. Most common types are choppers, flakes, hammerstones, and scrapers.
Early Stone Age Oldowan
Flaked stone tool tradition characterized by bifaces. (Hand axes) First appears in Africa 1.6 mya, but not in E. Asia until 800,000 and Europe until 500,000.
Acheulian
Special way of knapping a core so that it is shaped in a way that allows removal of thin well-shaped flake. (Time period)
Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic Levallois
Site of adult male Neandertal. Amputee w/ multiple healed wounds to arm, head, ankles.
Shanidar 1
Man-made, not portable.
Feature
