ANTHR101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Diastema, Oldowan, Australopithecine
8 Dec 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
History of the universe as a 12 month calendar. Anatomically modern humans appear at 11:54pm december 31st. Hominid (family): chimps, gorillas, orangutans & humans. Hominin (sub-family): modern humans and ancestors after the split from other hominids. They are usually not found in full skeletons, rather fragments that need to be reconstructed. Robust: larger teeth, heavier features, sagittal crest. Adaptive radiation suggested as explanation for diversity. Laetoli footprints: fossil evidence of bipedalism 3. 6 mya. Foot prints of two people walking side by side. Larger molars, smaller frontal teeth and reducing/loss of diastema (4- Used to have longer, protruding jaws, larger canines. Both absolute and relative to body size. Brain to body ratio is increasing too. The capacity for culture beginning 2. 5mya benefitted human ancestors by allowing them to increasingly rely upon learned patterns of behavior. Postcranial skeleton (skeleton beneath skull) very similar to modern humans. Reshaping on one or both sides, sharpening.
