the hominin evolution, both in terms of biological adaptation and behavioral/cultural change.

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Anthropology paper

Using only the course text and lecture slides as source material. summarize our current understanding of hominin evolution, both in terms of biological adaptation and behavioral/cultural change. Include specific details drawn from the source materials.

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Homo erectus and Contemporaries 1 ANTH131 LECTURE 9 Please initial the attendance register at the front of the room! Lecture 09 Early Pleistocene Epoch 2  1.8MYA to 850KYA  Pleistocene as a whole is known as “The Ice Age” Lecture 09 Early Pleistocene Hominins 3  Homo erectus: roughly 2MYA to 500KYA  All hominin fossils outside of Africa belong to genus Homo.  Which Homo left Africa first, and how many times did populations leave Africa?  Answer: Homo erectus, and only a few significant migrations Lecture 09 Lumpers vs. Splitters 4  Lumpers: School of thought that prefers to use fewer paleospecies names and accepts greater intraspecific variation  The Lumper interpretation of the Early Pleistocene:  all early Pleistocene hominins (that are not the last Homo habilis or Paranthropus) are called Homo erectus Lecture 09 Lumpers vs. Splitters 5  Splitters: School of thought that prefers to use more paleospecies names and requires less intraspecific variation  The Splitter interpretation of the Early Pleistocene:  Homo ergaster: African fossils  Homo erectus: Asian fossils  Homo antecessor: some European fossils Lecture 09 Lumpers vs. Splitters 6  Meanwhile, what about Dmanisi?  Since we don’t know what else to do with them, call them Homo erectus. Lecture 09 Homo erectus characteristics 7  Adults weigh over 100lbs  Average adult height around 5’6”  Limb proportions more or less similar to modern humans Lecture 09 Homo erectus characteristics 8  High degree of sexual dimorphism  Skull shape and anatomy much more robust than modern humans  Cranial capacity 700cm3 to 1250cm3   Average 900cm3 65-70% of modern humans Lecture 09 H. erectus Evolution 9  Earliest East African fossils about 1.7MYA  Evolved from H. habilis about 2.0-1.8MYA, but why isn’t known Lecture 09 The Africa-to-Asia Migration 10  Earliest African populations must be at least 1.8MYA  Earliest Asian fossils are 1.6MYA  That seems like a really fast migration!  BUT… Lecture 09 The Migration 11 Lecture 09 The Africa-to-Asia Migration 12  200,000 years to go from Turkana in East Africa to Java in Indonesia  That’s about 8500 miles  8500/200,000= less than a football field per year Lecture 09 The Fossils & Sites 13 Lecture 09 Nariokotome Boy 14  Almost complete H. erectus skeleton  Found near Lake Turkana (East Africa) in 1984  1.6MYA  8 years old, 5’3”  ~6’ tall in adulthood? Lecture 09 Outside of Africa 15  Oldest erectus fossils are 1.8MYA, older than oldest African fossils!  Found at Dmanisi, Georgia, Europe Lecture 09 The Old Man of Dmanisi 16  Died with only one tooth  Must have been supported by his community Lecture 09 “Java Man” 17  First Asian fossils discovered are also the oldest  1.6MYA  Discovered 1891, near Trinil, Java, by Eugene Dubois Lecture 09 Indonesian H. erectus 18  Sometimes still called “Java Man” after Dubois’ discovery  All date to 1.6MYA to 1MYA  But at Ngandong, ~500-150KYA—hundreds of thousands of years after other erectus populations had disappeared! Lecture 09 Zhoukoudian 19  Cave outside Beijing, China  Discovered in 1920’s & 1930’s  Sometimes called “Peking Man” Lecture 09  About 780KYA  More common than Indonesian fossils  Associated with stone tools Zhoukoudian Interpretations 20 Old Ideas New Ideas  Excellent hunters  Associated with stone tools  Most animal bones  Controlled fire  Hearths filled with ash  So-called “hearths” are Lecture 09 either scavenged, or deposited by hyenas natural depressions with no ash When was fire first used? 21  Perhaps at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, ~1MYA Lecture 09 Atapuerca, Spain 22  Earliest erectus-like fossils in Western Europe  1.2MYA  Suggested name Homo antecessor by Spanish scholars Lecture 09 Oldowan Industry 23  Oldest widespread stone tool industry, characterized by unifacial tools  Found first in East Africa about 2.5MYA  Found outside Africa at Dmanisi, Zhoukoudian, and elsewhere Lecture 09 Unifacial Flaking 24  Uniface: a stone tool with flakes removed from only one side of the core. Lecture 09 Acheulian Industry 25  Stone tool industry from the Early and Middle Pleistocene and characterized by a large proportion of bifacial tools  Presumably created by H. erectus Lecture 09 Bifacial Flaking 26  Biface: a stone tool with flakes removed from both sides of the core. Lecture 09 The Acheulian Biface 27  Commonly called a handaxe, because it was held in the hand and was not hafted to a handle Lecture 09 Acheulian Tools 28  Usually symmetrical  Curated: made now, then kept for future use  Oldowan tools were not curated—they were made, used, discarded  More kinds of tools than Oldowan Industry Lecture 09 Significance of the Achuelian Industry 29  Cognitive evolution: it requires more sophisticated ways of thinking!  Contact: its spread shows that Homo erectus populations must have maintained some level of contact with others. Lecture 09 Please initial the attendance register at the front of the room! ANTH131 Lecture 10 Lecture 10 1  Middle Pleistocene: 780KYA to 125KYA ▪ Period when “pre-modern” humans evolve from H. erectus  Late Pleistocene: 125KYA to 10KYA ▪ Time when Neandertals and modern humans are the most well-known forms Lecture 10 2  Lower Paleolithic: Oldowan and Acheulian Industries ▪ Corresponds to the Late Pliocene through Middle Pleistocene  Middle Paleolithic: tool industries of Neandertals and related groups ▪ Corresponds to the Late Pleistocene  Upper Paleolithic: tool industries of modern humans ▪ Also Late Pleistocene Lecture 10 3  Traditional label for transitional fossils between H. erectus and anatomically modern humans  Used when most scholars believed erectus evolved in place to Homo sapiens, without significant population movement Lecture 10 4  New label for fossils transitional between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens  Roughly 850KYA to 200KYA in Africa and Southern Europe  Larger brains, thinner crania Lecture 10 5  About 600KYA in Africa  Shows cut marks ▪ Defleshed after death! Lecture 10 6 SPANISH SCHOLARS  Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina: Homo antecessor Sima del Elefante Lecture 10 OTHERS  Sima del Elefante: Homo erectus  Gran Dolina: earliest Homo heidelbergensis Gran Dolina 7  “The Pit of Bones”  500-400KYA  Suggested as first evidence of special disposal of dead ▪ But not burial per se Lecture 10 8  DNA can be recovered from not-fullyfossilized bones  Sima de los Huesos has yielded the oldest hominin DNA to date  Shows that these hominins were ancestral to later Neandertals Lecture 10 9  Much more complicated than Africa and Europe  H. erectus remains a recognizable species until possibly ~150KYA at Ngandong, Java  Chinese scholars argue erectus evolved into sapiens in place, without influx of foreign DNA Lecture 10 10 Lecture 10  In Europe, Heidelbergensis evolves into Neandertals  In Africa, Heidelbergensis evolves into Homo sapiens 11 Lecture 10 12  A technique for making stone tools that involves specially preparing the core so that the shape of the final flake is known beforehand Lecture 10 13  380KYA  Oldest known prepared structures Lecture 10 14 Lecture 10 15  Appear in Europe by about 130KYA  Adapted to the extreme cold of the European Ice Age  First discovered in Germany’s Neander River Valley in 1856 Lecture 10 16  Homo sapiens neanderthalensis: Neandertals classified as a subspecies of Homo sapiens ▪ Preferred until the 1980’s  Homo neanderthalensis: Neandertals as a distinct species ▪ Became popular in the 1990’s Lecture 10 17  Neandertals and modern humans are 99.84% genetically identical  Modern non-African populations derive 1.52.1% of their DNA from Neandertals  So there was interbreeding, and they are a subspecies: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis Lecture 10 18 Stockier and more robust than modern humans  Bigger noses  Bigger teeth  Larger brain!  ▪ Average about 1520cm3 ▪ Compared to sapiens average 1300-1400cm3 Lecture 10 19 Lecture 10 20  Image dates to 1908  Marcellin Boule’s (mis-)interpretation of La Chapelle-auxSaints, France Lecture 10 21  El Sidrón, Spain: evidence of cannibalism & patrilocal residence (men stay in their birth groups, women move out to mate)  St. Cesaire, France, and Vindija, Croatia: evidence of Neandertals living alongside Homo sapiens Lecture 10 22  Shanidar Cave, Iraq ▪ Neandertal burials  One burial is old man (30-40 years) with severe disabilities  Definite evidence of provisioning and care Lecture 10 23  Neandertal-like population found in Siberia during the Late Pleistocene  Known from DNA analysis of only a couple small bones Lecture 10 24  The stone tool technology associated with Neandertals  Further develop Levallois technique  Hafted stone tools  Very little use of bone Lecture 10 25  Compared Neandertal injuries to modern humans  Most similar to rodeo cowboys! Lecture 10 26  For our purposes, essentially a synonym for “art”  Neandertals may not have made any! Lecture 10 27  Suggests Neandertals were not capable of symbolic thought in the same was as modern humans  Two computers with similar hardware, but different software Lecture 10 28  Neandertal burials ▪ La Chapelle, France ▪ Tabun, Israel ▪ Shanidar, Iraq ▪ Many others Purpose-dug graves Standard, flexed position  Occasionally, burial goods   Lecture 10 29  Suggests belief in afterlife, therefore some symbolic thinking  As old as 90KYA at Tabun, Israel Lecture 10 30 Early Hominin Evolution Lecture 10 31 Later Hominin Evolution Lecture 10 32 Please initial the attendance register at the front of the room! Lecture 11 1  Earliest fossils from East Africa  Ca. 195KYA  Evolved out of African Homo heidelbergensis Lecture 11 2  Lumpers consider H. sapiens to have evolved from H. erectus › They reject the designation Homo heidelbergensis  Splitters accept Homo heidelbergensis, and consider it directly ancestral to Homo sapiens (of all subspecies) Lecture 11 3  H. erectus populations evolved into H. sapiens in place, throughout their range  Primarily associated with Milford Wolpoff  Significant gene flow between regions. Lecture 11 4 Europe Asia Lecture 11 5  Homo sapiens evolved in Africa, then migrated outward, completely replacing earlier populations  Proposed in 1988 by Christopher Stringer and Peter Andrews  Called “Out of Africa” model Lecture 11 6  Uses DNA research to argue that all modern humans descend from one African Woman who lived about 200KYA ago.  Rate of Mitochondrial DNA mutation is known.  All known variation in mtDNA can accumulate in 200,000 years Lecture 11 7  A common ancestor of all modern humans, who donated the mtDNA line that eventually mutated into modern mtDNA  Not the only woman alive, not all humans’ last common ancestor  In fact, her real significance is too complex to worry with here Lecture 11 8  A male common ancestor of all living human males. Donated the Y chromosome that eventually diverged to all modern Y chromosomes  Lived in Africa about 100KYA  A male analogue to Mitochondial Eve. Lecture 11 9  Found in Portugal in 1998  Dates to 24.5KYA  Hybrid of Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis?  If so, then probably no biological speciation event! Lecture 11 10   Lecture 11 DNA can be recovered from (some) Neandertal bones Most non-African populations have inherited 1.5-2.1% of their DNA from Neandertal ancestors 11  Homo sapiens sapiens evolved in Africa about 200KYA, then migrated out. They mostly replaced earlier populations (some of which were also Homo sapiens), but with some limited interbreeding.  Compromise between Regional Continuity and Complete Replacement Lecture 11 12  Cranial capacity 13001400cm3  Reduced brow ridges  Less projecting faces  Chin  All due to smaller teeth Lecture 11 13  Omo Kibish, Ethiopia › 195KYA  Klasies River Mouth, South Africa › 100KYA Lecture 11 14  160-154KYA  One of the largest collections of early H. sapiens  Called Homo sapiens idaltu Lecture 11 15  As early as 130KYA in modern Israel  Near contemporary Neandertal sites  Tabun (Neandertal) and Skuhl (Sapiens) are only 3 miles apart! Lecture 11 16  Reaches Asia by about 40KYA  Important sites › Zhoukoudian, China › Tianyuan, China › Ordos, Mongolia  In Australia at Lake Mungo ca. 30KYA › but archaeology and modern DNA (no fossils) suggest settlement from 55KYA Lecture 11 17  Slow spread due to competition with Neandertals?  Established in Europe by 35KYA Lecture 11 18  Term for earliest population of Homo sapiens in Europe, named after first site at which early fossils were found  Cro-Magnon site found in 1868, dates to 28KYA Lecture 11 19  Very small-bodied hominin species, fossils of which were first discovered in Indonesia in 2004  Now redated to ~65KYA › Still very recent!  Insular dwarfing? Lecture 11 20 21 Lecture 11  Cultural period (esp. in Europe) beginning about 40KYA associated with Homo sapiens sapiens Lecture 11 22 2. 3. 4. 5. Aurignacian Chattelperronian Gravettian Solutrean Magdalenian Timeline Industries 1. Lecture 11 23  Introduces bone, ivory, and antler as common tool materials Lecture 11 24 Lecture 11  Made by the last Neandertals  Some innovative ideas adopted from Aurignacian and added to Mousterian 25  Lecture 11 Nothing of particular interest to nonexperts 26  Introduces pressure flaking! Lecture 11 27  Flint-knapping by directly striking the stone core with a hard object—usually a hammerstone Lecture 11 28  Removing a flake with steady pressure from a pointed implement. Invented by Solutrean flintknappers. Lecture 11 29  Lecture 11 Lots of innovation! 30  A hooked handle used to throw a spear with much more power and precision than handthrowing. Invented in Magdalenian period. Lecture 11 31  Possibly invented in late Magdalenian period. Lecture 11 32  Removing flakes by hitting a punch rather than hitting the core directly. Invented in the Magdalenian and allows creation of blades.  A.k.a. “Punch Blade Technique” Lecture 11 33  Long, narrow flakes with straight, parallel sides. Lecture 11 34 Lecture 11 35 Lecture 08 Please initial the attendance register at the front of the room! ANTH131 Lecture 8 EARLY HOMININS 1 Lecture 08 THE HUMAN EVOLUTION JIGSAW PUZZLE  You don’t know: 1. 2. 3.  What the final picture will look like Whether you have all the pieces Whether you’ve mixed up the pieces from several puzzles And you have to hunt down all the pieces before you can even begin putting them together 2 Lecture 08 ANTHROPOIDS  Monkeys and apes (and humans, since we are apes)  All primates more closely related to humans than are tarsiers 3 Lecture 08 EARLY PRIMATE SPECIES  Darwinius  Aegyptopithecus  Proconsul  Know this info for the exam! 4 Lecture 08 ALSO KNOW FOR THE EXAM!  Dating methods discussed in the textbook  Oldowan Industry 5 Lecture 08 HOMININS 6 Lecture 08 HOMININ  The taxonomic term referring to all bipedal hominoids back to the divergence with African Great Apes. That is, it’s all species more closely related to humans than are chimps and bonobos 7 Lecture 08 MOSAIC EVOLUTION  A pattern of evolution in which the rate of evolution in one functional system varies from that in other systems 8 Lecture 08 SO HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE A HOMININ?  Bipedalism: Walking on two feet  Hominins are not the only bipedal animals!     Birds Some dinosaurs Kangaroos But Hominins are the only bipedal primates 9 Lecture 08 THE “NEW” TAXONOMY   Hominids: Great Apes and humans Hominins: Human ancestors since split with Chimps and Bonobos THE “TRADITIONAL” TAXONOMY  Pongids: Great Apes  Hominids: Human ancestors since split with Chimps and Bonobos HOMININ VS. HOMINID 10 Lecture 08 THE GREAT APES  Traditional Taxonomy    Pongids Hominids New Taxonomy   Hominids Hominins 11 Lecture 08 BIPEDALISM  “Serial Monopedalism”  Most of the time, only one foot is on the ground  Habitual bipedalism: bipedal locomotion as the form of locomotion shown by hominins most of the time  Obligatory bipedalism: bipedalism as the only (efficient) form of hominin locomotion 12 Lecture 08 THESE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE ALTERNATIVES!!!!!!! Do you have any other options? Bipedalism Yes No A lot Habitual, but not Obligatory Example: Ardipithecus ramidus Both Habitual and Obligatory Example: Most hominins, including us Seldom Neither Habitual nor Obligatory Example: Chimps Logically impossible. Such an animal wouldn't move at all. How often do you do it? 13 Lecture 08 REASONS FOR BIPEDALISM?  Carrying tools: bipedalism frees the hands to hold tools  Taller: bipeds are taller than quadrupeds, so can see farther  Whatever reason, had evolved by 4.4MYA 14 Lecture 08 BIPEDAL ADAPTATIONS  Pelvis is shorter  Pelvis forms a sort of bowl below abdomen 15 Lecture 08 BIPEDAL ADAPTATIONS  Legs are longer  Femurs angle in slightly 16 Lecture 08 BIPEDAL ADAPTATIONS  Big toes does not diverge, is not opposable 17 Lecture 08 BIPEDAL ADAPTATIONS  Foramen magnum moved forward 18 Lecture 08 EARLY HOMININ EVOLUTION 19 Lecture 08 PRE-AUSTRALOPITHS  6-4.4MYA  End of the Miocene epoch (25-5MYA) and beginning of the Pliocene epoch (5-1.8MYA)  Most poorly understood phase 20 Lecture 08 SAHELANTHROPUS TCHADENSIS  “Man of the Sahel from Chad”  Earliest possible hominin fossil  ~6MYA  Forested region far from East African fossil beds 21 Lecture 08 ORRORIN TUGENENSIS  ~6MYA  East Africa  Only postcranial fossils 22 Lecture 08 ARDIPITHECUS  5.8 - 4.4MYA  Most well-known is Ardipithecus ramidus (AKA “Ardi”) 23 Lecture 08 AUSTRALOPITHECINES  “Southern Apes”  Two genera Australopithecus  Paranthropus   About 4MYA to 1MYA  Plio-Pleistocene: the period straddling the Pliocene epoch (5-1.8MYA) and the Early Pleistocene (1.8MYA-780KYA) 24 Lecture 08 AUSTRALOPITHECUS ANAMENSIS  4 – 3MYA  Probably evolved from Ardipithecus  Probably ancestral to all later hominins 25 Lecture 08 AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS  Most well known australopithecine  4 – 3MYA  Best example is “Lucy” (3.9-3.0MYA)  Still has a parallel dental arch and sagittal crest 26 Lecture 08 A. AFARENSIS WAS FULLY BIPEDAL!  Shape of pelvis shows this  As do the Laetoli (3.73.5MYA) fossilized footprints 27 Lecture 08 A. AFARENSIS CHARACTERISTICS  Sexual dimorphism  Males about 5 feet tall  Females about 3-4 feet tall  Small brain size  Cranial capacity about 420cm3  Only slightly larger than an average chimp 28 Lecture 08 THE PLIOCENE ADAPTIVE RADIATION 29 Lecture 08 PARANTHROPUS    Evolves from A. afarensis ca. 2.5MYA, dies out ca. 1MYA “Robust Australopithecines” “Nutcracker Man”   But probably lived more off of starchy and fibrous roots than nuts Several species, but you don't need to know them for this class 30 Lecture 08 THE SOUTHERN AUSTRALOPITHECINES  A. africanus  3 – 2MYA  Raymond Dart & the Taung Child, 1924  First hominin discovery in Africa 31 Lecture 08 THE SOUTHERN AUSTRALOPITHECINES  A. sediba  Just less than 2MYA  Shares australopithecine and homo traits  A transitional species? 32 Lecture 08 HOMO HABILIS  Probably 2.8-2.5MYA, but mostly known from fossils dating to 1.8MYA  Cranial capacity average 631cm3  Believed to have made the earliest Oldowan tools 33 Lecture 08 LOUIS LEAKEY & HOMO HABILIS  Initially discovered by Louis Leakey  At Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania (1.8MYA)  He believed H. habilis had made the Oldowan Industry stone tools  Thus, “Handy Man” 34 Lecture 08 BUT NOT SO FAST!  Discoveries at Lomekwi suggest that stone tool technology predates both Homo and Paranthropus! 35 Lecture 08 HOMO RUDOLFENSIS  Some scholars divide H. habilis into two species: habilis and rudolfensis  But others argue both should be considered australopithecines!  Teeth and some of their brain sizes are both within ranges known for Australopiths! 36 Lecture 08 THE NEXT STEP  After 1.4MYA, only Homo erectus and last of Paranthropus fossils are left in East Africa 37
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HOMININ EVOLUTION

1

Essa Almusallam
ANTH 131
Chad Ryan Thomas
March 29, 2017
Hominin Evolution
The early hominin evolution began millions of years ago approximately 6-4.4MYA
which was at the commencement of the Pliocene epoch (5-1-8 MYA) and the culmination of the
Miocene epoch of 25-5MYA. The most apparent ancestors of the early hominin which originated
during the Pliocene Epoch are believed to be various African Miocene and Eurasian primates. A
period that was exemplified by massive fluctuations in the worldwide environment was the
Miocene epoch. Additionally, winters became progressively colder north of the equator triggered
by the greater seasonal fluctuations. The commencement of the Pliocene epoch saw a shift in the
vegetation inhabited by apelike primates to evergreen forests with broad leaves from diverse
environments constituting lakes, streams and river, shrubs and open woodlands. This therefore
stimulates distinctive adaptations that included locomotion in animals such as the primates.
Moreover, there was more comprehensive assortment and huge numbers of animals such
as pigs, elephants, antel...


Anonymous
Very useful material for studying!

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