Wk 6 - Hominins Flashcards
Hominins are…(x2)
Modern humans, extinct human species and all immediate ancestors
genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Ardipithecus
Hominids are…(x2)
All modern and extinct great apes
Humans plus chimps, gorillas, orang-utans and immediate ancestors
Louis and Mary Leakey refer to stone tools as…(x1)
Fossilised human behaviour
The Oldewan industrial complex is associated with which ancestral species? (x2)
From what time period? (x1)
Australopithecines - gahri
Early Homo - habilis
2.6 million years ago
Oldewan tools show evidence of…(x3)
Awareness - choice of stone, some better than others
Forethought - stone brought from other regions
Cooperation - hunting, eating, sharing meat
Do Oldewan tools evidence cumulative culture? (x1)
Explain (x3)
No
Shape controlled by primary form/size/properties of raw material
No modification after initial construction/cleaving from base stone – ‘least effort strategies’
No suggestion of even basic imitation, just trial and error learning
Acheulian tools were found…(x3)
Through which time frame? (x1)
Made by..(x1)
Africa, West Asia, Europe
1.6 million - 100 thousand yrs ago
Homo erectus
How did Acheulean tools advance on Oldewan? (x3)
Application to multiple uses,
Economy of raw material use
Utility of resharpening flakes
Acheulian tools indicate the start of imitation in that…(x2)
Fairly consistent design/manufacture over a million yrs
Large, symmetrical axes show importance of act and mastery of making, over finalised object - evidence of causal opacity
Putt et al (2014) examined the overlap between tool and language evolution in study involving…(x3)
Finding…(x3)
Concluding that…(x2)
Verbal – goals, advice and info conveyed through vocal and demonstration; and
Nonverbal groups
Both groups - experienced knapper separately to practice for one hour, once a week, for 5 weeks
Capacity similar across verbal and nonverbal groups
But:
• Nonverbal made more waste, with more increase in learning
• Verbal made larger striking platform - often a sign of the quality of the end product = larger flakes
Shape, form, concept of symmetry can be transmitted verbally or nonverbally -
It’s at least possible to make these without language
Do Acheulian tools evidence cumulative culture? (x1)
Explain (x2)
No
Repetitive design/manufacture for a million yrs
But do display the potential emergence of overimitation
Mousterean tools are found across…(x3)
Were made by…(x1)
During which time period? (x1)
Unglaciated Europe, Near East and North Africa
Neanderthals
300-30 K yrs ago
The Levallois method emerged in which industrial complex?
And involved…(x1)
Which allowed…(x1)
Mousterean
Flaking the edges of a tool prior to striking it from the stone base
Much smaller tools - don’t damage the tip during knapping
Do Mousterean tools evidence cumulative culture? (x1)
Explain (x2)
Yes
Regional stylistic and technological variants are clearly identifiable – culture
Potential evidence of Neanderthals running into cromagnon man (modern humans), which influenced Neanderthal tool making
What additional evidence supports the emergence of cumulative culture in Neanderthals? (x4)
Highly sophisticated “standardized” multi- part tools
Tailored clothes
Art - cave painting, jewellery, maybe musical instruments
Religion/ritual - pollen found in graves leads to suggestion of flowers in graves? Why bury them at all?
What neural evidence suppports the overlap of language and tool-making skills? (x2)
Broca’s region activation during replication of Oldowan and Acheulian tools
Language and stone toolmaking = common cerebral blood flow lateralisation signatures
Wynn (1998) has argued that homo erectus…(x1)
Which would have required he integration of…(x1)
Used tools along with vocalisations, gestures to direct and describe present and future actions
Several cognitive domains - species-specific skill
In what species do we find the majority of neocortical expansion?
And yet the tool-making/cumulative culture processes we examine do not emerge until…(x1)
Which coincides with the emergence of which species-specific life stages? (x2)
Homo erectus - early to late went from 800/00cc to 1200cc
Neanderthalensis
Childhood, and post-menopausal women
How is human childhood different from other species? (x3)
Most mammals - birth, infancy, adulthood
Monkeys/apes - a juvenile period after infancy increases length of dependency
Humans - early weaning = 3yo that can’t prep own food, care for self
Locke and Bogin (2006) identify what 6 characteristics of childhood?
Slow and steady rate of body growth and relatively small body size - declines after birth to about 5yo, then ramps up, peak around 13yo
Large, fast-growing brain
Higher resting metabolic rate than any other mammalian species
Immature dentition
Dependence on older people for care and feeding
Motor and cognitive advances
Childhood is…(x2)
And provides many advantages to the processes of…
Extended period, and developmental patterns of the human brain associated with it, provide opportunity for extensive learning and for sophisticated cultural behaviours to develop
Can do all the complex development without worries over survival
Overimitation, social motivation, pedagogy
Bogin (1990) has argued that the period of human childhood also allows for…(x3)
Patterns of growth that help establish teacher-student roles that remain stable for a decade or more,
Allowing a great deal of learning, practice , and modification of survival skills to occur
So we see the emergence of pedagogical relationships that aren’t there if you don’t have this stage
