ARCL 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Paranthropus Boisei, K–Ar Dating, Olduvai Gorge
13 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Leakey’s Legacy: The Search for our Ancestors Monday, Sept. 12
Thomsen’s Three Age System
● Stone
○ Two categories of stone tools - older, more crude tools and more elaborate stone
tools
● Bronze
● Iron
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
● Lower Paleolithic 3.3million years to 300
● Middle Paleolithic
● Upper Paleolithic
Neander Valley
● Strange skeleton found
Zhoukoudian, China
● Homoerectus skeletons found
● Massive excavation conducted
● Based on these finds, people believed that early humans originated from Asia
○ Charles Darwin stated that because of primates such as gorillas, chimpanzees,
etc. are found in Africa, early humans originated in Africa
○ Nobody accepted this theory except for Richard and Mary Leakey
Richard Leakey
● 1931 - lead the first expedition to Olduvai Gorge
○ Started finding odd looking stone tools and fossil remains
● Paranthropus Boisei bones found, from 1.75 million years ago
○ Dated through potassium argon dating
■ Decay of radioactive isotope of K into AR
Olduvai Revisited Wednesday, Sept. 14
Paranthropus Boisei (530 cc)
Homo Habilis (800 cc)
Homo Erectus (1000 cc)
Genus Homo
● Walking upright
○ Frees hands and allows us to move faster
○ Carrying young
○ Making tools
● Large brain size
● Tool-making
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Two categories of stone tools - older, more crude tools and more elaborate stone tools. Based on these finds, people believed that early humans originated from asia. Charles darwin stated that because of primates such as gorillas, chimpanzees, etc. are found in africa, early humans originated in africa. Nobody accepted this theory except for richard and mary leakey. 1931 - lead the first expedition to olduvai gorge. Started finding odd looking stone tools and fossil remains. Paranthropus boisei bones found, from 1. 75 million years ago. Decay of radioactive isotope of k into ar. Frees hands and allows us to move faster. Vertically dispersed deposits (hominid behavior could not be classified) Home base theory - man the hunter. Lower paleolithic 3. 3 million years ago to 300 ka. Acheulean hand axe 1. 6 million- 200,000 thousand years ago. Multipurpose tools (digging, butchering, cutting wood, etc. ) Flk-w - the oldest acheulean hand axe site in the world with evidence of butchering.
