WEEK 6 STUDY GUIDE Flashcards
African Homo erectus: Homo ergaster
- existed between 1.8 million and 1.3 million years ago.
Like H. habilis, the face shows: • protruding jaws with large molars; • no chin; • thick brow ridges; • long low skull, with a brain size varying between 750 and 1225 cc
Early H. ergaster specimens average about 900 cc, while late ones
have an average of about 1100 cc. The skeleton is more robust than
those of modern humans, implying greater strength.
Body proportions vary:
Ex. Turkana Boy is tall and slender, like modern humans from the
same area, while the few limb bones found of Peking Man indicate a
shorter, sturdier build.
Study of the Turkana Boy skeleton indicates that H. ergaster may have
been more efficient at walking than modern humans, whose skeletons
have had to adapt to allow for the birth of larger-brained infants.
Homo habilis and all the australopithecines are found only in Africa,
but H. erectus/ergaster was wide-ranging, and has been found in
Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Asian Homo erectus
- “Peking Man”
Specimens of H. erectus from Eastern Asia differ morphologically from
African specimens:
• features are more exaggerated;
• skull is thicker, brow ridges are more pronounced, sides of skull slope
more steeply, the sagittal crest is more exaggerated;
• Asian forms do not show the increase in cranial capacity.
As a consequence of these features, they are less like humans than
the African forms of H. erectus.
Nuchal torus
Prominent bulge or projection of occipital bone
Sagittal keel
thickening of part or all of the midline of the frontal bone, or parietal bones where they meet along the sagittal suture, or on both bones
Prognathic face
extension or bulging out (protrusion) oof lower jaw (mandible)
Homo ergaster
first hominid species whose anatomy fully
justify the label human
Acheulean Culture
- originated from Africa
- stone tools: hand axe
- bifacial stone tool (flaked on both sides)
- oldest tools found at Lake Turkana, 1.8mya
Movius line
- named after American archaeologist Hallam L. Movius
- theoretical line drawn across northern India to demonstrate technological difference between early prehistoric tool technologies of the east and west of the Old World
Dmanisi
- discovered in Dmanisi, Georgia | possible second species at Dmanisi H. georgicus
- dated 1.8 mya
- mandible preserved (all 16 teeth)
- H. erectus like
- modern body build; long, lower limbs
- similar to H. ergaser, Lake Turkana
- 600 cc-775 cc
- first exodus from Africa
- did not bring hand axe
- no fire
- big brow ridge
- prognathic
- no sagittal keel, more rounded cranium
Homo floresiensis
- Discovered 2003, Flores, Indonesia, Liang Bua Cave
- Hobbit-like
- dated 13,000 years old
- stood as tall as 3 feet
- 417 cc
- made simple tools (for this reason placed in Homo species)
- Island Dwarfing
Island dwarfing
process whereby some creatures confined to isolated habitats such as islands such as islands are known to have become smaller over time
Microcephaly
circumference of head smaller than normal
Homo antecessor
- named in 1997 from fossils (juvenile specimen) found in Spain
- dated 780,000 years ago
- oldest confirmed European hominids
- seems very modern, but parts of skull (teeth forehead, and brow ridges) primitive
Homo heidelbergensis
- Archaic forms of Homo sapiens first appeared in Euro about 500,000 years ago - Middle Pleistocene:
- Europe, Africa, maybe Asia
Fossil features:
- Brain size larger than erectus and smaller than most modern humans
- 1200 cc
- Skull more rounded than in erectus
- Large brow ridges, receding foreheads
- Skeleton and teeth less robust than modern humans
- Mandibles human-like, but massive and chinless; shows expansion of molar cavities and long cheek tooth row, implying long, forwardly projecting face
- Earliest human footprints found in Italy 2003
Social behavior:
- first species of Homo genus to bury its dead
- pre-linguistic system of communication
- red ochre
Language:
- morphology of outer and middle ear suggests they had an auditory sensitivity to modern humans (able to differentiate betwen sounds)
Evidence of hunting:
- stone-tipped spear
Gran Dolina
- cranium, lower face, some mandibular or lower jaw, fragments
- rudimentary tools characterized as Oldowan
- 1000 cc
- cut marks on human bones, cannibalism
Sima de los Huesos
Cave of bones
- Homo heidelbergensis
- mine of human fossils (6000 specimens of bones representing 33 individuals)
- site of ritualistic offering? (hand axe, “Excalibur,” thrown into this vertical shaft of a cave)
- 1125-1290 cc
- recently extracted DNA from a femur (thigh bone), certain level if Neandertal genes and Denisova (Siberia)
- oldest human DNA we have from anywhere
Piltdown Man (Hoax)
- astonishing event early 1900s
- complicit in this hoax, Charles Dawson (attorney and amateur archaeologist)
- Dawson’s Dawn Man (wanted the first modern human to be an Englishman)
- forgery
Homo neanderthalis
Anatomy
- low forehead
- prominent brow ridges and occipital bones
- back of skull has a characteristic rounded bulge
- cranial capacity: 1345-1740 cc
- small back teeth (molars), large incisors
- short legs and arms (conserve heat)
- strong | skeletons exhibit some kind of disease or injury
Occipital bun
prominent bullge, projection at back of skull
Mid-facial prognathism
- Homo neanderthalis
- mandible projection
Nasal aperture
- pear-shaped opening in human skull
Mousterian culture
- final phase of Lower Paleolithic Period
- tool culture traditionally associated with Neanderthal man
Denisovans
- Hominid cousins to Neanderthals
- recent 2008 discovery of a 5-7 year old girl
- overlap with some present-day east Asians
- genetic mixing: Denisovans discovered in Siberia, but contributed to genomes of modern humans living in SE Asia
Pleistocene
Geological epoch:
- European Middle Pleistocene (10,000-12,000 years ago), Ice Age (Greek for most recent)
- Northern Hemisphere, Ice
- Southern Hemisphere
- Warm wet (pluvials) and cold dry (interpluvials)
Isotopic stages:
- Characterized as glacial or inter-glacial, and so on
In Africa, Homo erectus/ergaster is typically associated with which type of tool industry?
Acheulean
Homo antecessor is a 780, 000 year old hominin found at which of the following sites?
Gran Dolina, Spain
The large nasal apertures of Neandertals may have been used for which of the following purposes?
To warm cold air
Which of the following statements are true about Neandertals?
- They lived in rock overhangs
- They took care of the disabled and sick
- They hunted animals
- They used fire
The first fossils of Homo erectus were found at which of the following places?
Trinil, Java, Indonesia
