*The genus homo Flashcards
Homo erectus
- 1.8 – 0.3 mya (300,000 years ago)
- first hominin to leave Africa
- large brow ridges
- long, low skull
- larger brain
– 700-1250 cc
The Evolution of H. erectus
- increased animal protein in diet/ appropriate tools required
- social structure to support cooperative
hunting required
- brain size increased 33% to 950 cc
Homo ergaster
- refers to early African H. erectus
- less pronounced browridges
- somewhat more advanced tools
-because of anatomical differences in h.erectus found in Africa and in Asia, african fossils are placed into a seperate species, one they call homo ergaster.
homo sapien archaic
- longer, lower skull, large brow ridges
- archaic forms of Homo sapiens emerge about 350,000 years ago
- lived in asia and africa
Homo neanderthalensis
-Neanderthals most thoroughly represented
fossil hominins
- any individual human currently shares 1 – 4% of genome with Neanderthals/ as a species, modern humans may share
between 20 – 30% of genome with
Neanderthals
-Mousterian tradition
- Neanderthals have typical cold-adapted
bodies. more successful in cold than earlier hominins - Neanderthals were mobile and occupied sites for short periods of time
- needed a lot of food to sustain large bodies
homo heidelbergensis
- beginning as early as 850,000 ya, the fossils from Africa and Europe are placed within the Homo heidelbergensis
- a transitional status between erectus and later hominins
- also known as archaic homo sapiens
- possibly an ancestor of both humans and neanderthals
Explain the fate of the Neanderthals
- disappeared from Asia by 45,000 BP
- disappeared from Europe by 30,000 BP
popular explanation was that modern humans had: – better clothing, shelter, & hunting technology – more diverse subsistence strategies – enhanced mobility – larger social networks
Bifacially flaked tools characterize which stone tool industry?
Acheulean
which australopithecus has hands, wrists, and foot bones that are indistinguishable from those of modern humans?
A. afarensis
which hominin showed the earliest incontrovertible evidence of bipedality?
Australopithecus anamensis
who was the first hominin to control fire?
Homo erectus
which Australopithecus is known from one single fossil, a mandible with 7 teeth?
Australopithecus bahrelghazali
which hominin left footprints at Laetoli?
Australopithecus afarensis
Earliest hominin found in association with stone tools?
Australopithecus garhi
which Australopithecus had a pelvis like homo?
Australopithecus sediba
who was nicknamed “tomai”?
Sahelanthropus tcadensis
