Description
Hypothetical: A researcher claims to have found a hominin in a South African cave site that dates to the Early Pleistocene (~2.5-2 mya). They present an argument that this specimen showed evidence of a strict herbivorous diet that mostly comprised roots and grasses. They also suggest that, despite having a full suite of bipedal adaptations (including the convergent hallux), this animal was well-adapted to climbing trees. For the following response I would like you to:
-Explain how the researchers may have obtained the late Pliocene date
-What methods could be employed in this environment/region and why other methods would not work
-how do the methods work?
-Explain the craniofacial & dental morphologies that justify the dietary claim
-What are the traits and what are the functions of them?
-Explain what evidence might support the assertion that these animals were still adapted to climbing trees
-What are the traits and what are the functions of them?
-If you were to attribute this to a species (or even a grade), what would it be?
-Briefly contrast this specimen with other hominin forms at the time
Question #2
The emergence and success of our genus can be attributed to a variety of factors that likely began during the time of Late Australopithecus. This is most strongly associated with a shift in diet that not only influenced greater brain development but also a burgeoning tool culture. Furthermore, once this shift occurred, our ancestors became increasingly more mobile and rapidly refined stone tool technologies. This trend marks the story of our genus and leads to the continued success of our species, Homo sapiens.
First:
Explain the climatic conditions that may have influenced this dietary shift
Second:
Utilizing the hominin fossil record and your knowledge of the adaptive significance of each new morphology and technology, discuss:
-the presumed impacts of this diet on brain structure and function
-the original tool culture (structure and function) that emerged in response to this
Third:
Discuss the next wave of technological achievement and the Hominins associated with it. How did the development of Acheulean tools reflect a new way of hominin thinking?
Finally:
The pinnacle of hominin cognitive development is reflected only in Homo sapiens. What did this new material culture look like? Why do you think that this emerged only in African Homo sapiens and not in Neanderthals? Remember that the two populations had comparable cranial capacities.
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Answer to Question 1
Basically, fossils have had played an important role in the study of ancient organisms and how
these organisms provided the understanding of the current extant species. To define, fossils are
ancient remains that had been preserved and thus are utilized by researchers to characterize and
describe the fossilized species. Initially, characterization occurs through dating the obtained fossil.
This is a key step to categorize at what point in time the fossilized species had been extant. One of
the commonly used methods in determining the age of rocks/fossils is radiometric dating.
Radiometric dating methods involve the measurement of the radioactive isotope found in the
investigated material relative to its daughter isotope. Since the length of time it takes for the
radioactive isotope to undergo decay and produce the daughter isotope is established, the rationale
of this chemistry provides the best method to estimate fossil age. In the hypothetical scenario, the
remains of the hominin found in the South African cave dated to the Early Pleistocene/Late
Pliocene. Since these geologic time epochs occurred approximately 2.5 to 2 mya, then carbon
dating would not be an effective method as the latter is only able to date rocks/fossils to
approximately 50,000 years ago. Because of this, it can be assumed that the radioactive dating
method used for the fossilized hominin includes potassium-argon dating as this method can date
rocks/fossils of about 100,000 years to 4 billion years before the present. However, volcanic
sediments that aid an effective argon dating method are absent in South Africa. This means that
the estimation of the age of the obtained hominin could only be achieved through stratigraphy.
This method makes use of time-diagnostic animal species to correlate events that had been
established through argon-dated evidence (Nawrot et al., 2018). To further note, paleontological
resources such as that of the hominin remains found in the South African cave site could occur in
two ways. First, the fossils that had been preserved within the rocks had been become exposed due
to the natural processes of cave formation. Second, the karst features of the cave allow the
accumulation of the fossils. Since the hominin had been protec...