U69 Anthro 190 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Oldowan, Homo Habilis, Foramen Magnum
Document Summary
Large brains (highly intelligent) - larger than basically any other species - size correlates with intelligence: reliance on culture - we may have instincts, but culture is unique to humans. Today, we have 3 genera, and 4 species of great apes: pliocene - 5 to 2. 5 mya, contraction of forests, replaced by grasslands, led to extinction of most apes. Important species existed still: pleistocene - 2. 6 mya to 11. 7 kya (thousand years ago, oligocene. Abundance of the genus homo: dentition that differs from monkeys, only evidence we have of when apes separated from monkeys, importance of miocene - appearance of hominins, hominins. Species that are directly involved in modern human evolution. The genus australopithecus: 4. 17 mya to 2 mya, more human-like bones than previous genera/species, australopithecus afarensis - lucy - found in the 1960s, fully upright hominin, modern feet, similar pelvic configuration to humans.
