ANT-2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sahelanthropus, Foramen Magnum, Radiometric Dating
Document Summary
Hominin = after the split from common ancestor shared with chimpanzee. Michel brunet got permission from the chad government to look for fossils on the. Fossils were found from about 6-7 million years ago. In 2001, ahounta djimdoumalbaye discovered a hominin cranium (cid:862)tou(cid:373)ai(cid:863) cranium. The cranium has a massive brow ridge. Sahelanthropus tchadensis (the blue shows the traits that are similar to hominins) Smaller canines and no canine-cutting complex (human-like) Back of skull and muscles attachment areas look ape-like central foramen magnum suggests bipedalism. Ethiopia has become a very important place for hominin fossils because it is an area of tectonic plates which means that it is changing all the time. There is also volcanic activity; the ash is good for radiometric dating. 4 feet, 110 pounds knee is fully extended, hip is fully extended which suggests bipedalism. Graspi(cid:374)g foot like a (cid:272)hi(cid:373)pa(cid:374)zee, whi(cid:272)h shows that the (cid:271)ipedalis(cid:373) is(cid:374)"t e(cid:454)a(cid:272)tl(cid:455) the same as humans.
