ISS 210 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Homo Erectus, Homo Habilis, Flake Tool
12 Jun 2018
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Hominin exodus from Africa (restricted there for 5 million years)
1) Order,dates, etc.
2) Who? H. erectus
3) When? 2 mya
4) How? Direction of travel, through the middle east,
● A greater range of variation in specimens outside of Africa 1.8 mya
● Java, Indonesia 1.6 mya
● Less than 200,000 to travel from East Africa to Southeast Asia
Homo erectus:
1) compare/contrast to modern humans
2) Homo ergaster: Africa, Nariokotome
Most complete skeleton of H. erectus ever found
1.6 mya
12 year old boy 5’3 (6 feet when adult)
Limb proportions similar to modern body
More elaborate tool use
Larger, and more efficient bipedalism (walking)
Dimanisi, Republic of Georgia: (EUROPE) 1.75 mya
Similar to H. ergaster (African)
1) significance: Represents the earliest definite excursion out of Africa
2) evidence: Oldowan stone tools
Weird mix of primitive and derived traits
Small brain and body
Stone tool technologies (compare/contrast)
Soft Hammer percussion: bone or wood was more gentle
Acheulian: (H. erectus)
● Stone tool industry from the Early and middle pleistocene, characterized by a large
proportion of bifacial tools (flaked on both sides) cut, scrape, pound and dig
● Common in Africa, southwest Asia, and western Europe, but also thought to be less
common elsewhere
● bifacial tool, both sides, large handaxes, still not very much variation
Mousterian:
● A middle Paleolithic stone tool industry associated with Neandertals and some modern
H. sapiens groups
● Trimmed a flint nodule to form a disk-shaped core
● Every time they struck the edge, they produced a flake until the core was too small
● Trimmed the flakes into various forms such as scrapers, points, and knives
Oldowan: (H. erectus)
● oldest-known stone tool industry
● 2.5 million years ago, these tools are a major milestone in human evolutionary history:
the earliest evidence of cultural behavior
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Homo habilis, an ancestor of Homo sapiens, manufactured Oldowan tools.
Upper Paleolithic
-many tools for specialized functions
-frequent use of bone, antler and ivory
-many tools made of two or more parts
-spear thrower, and bow and arrow
Wide range of social contacts
More organized hunting parties (game drives)
Stone tool raw materials moved over longer distances
Trading!
Art work more common, cave art, stylistic sophistication
a. Clovis: for big game hunting, large blade with fluted, can be put on a spear, projectile
point, made animals go extinct, North American archaeological complex
b. Others
Meadowcroft Rock Shelter-microblades 19,000-14,000 years ago
Suggest much earlier migrations
Do not resemble Clovis
Epochs:
Paleocene
● the "old recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago. It
is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era
Miocene
● Relating to or denoting the fourth epoch of the Tertiary period, between the Oligocene
and Pliocene epochs.
Anthropocene (or Holocene):
● Geological epoch during which human behavior became one of the Earth’s major
geomorphic and geological processes
● Climate was colder and drier
● Humans hunted animals drawn to shrinking water - led to their extinction
Pleistocene:
● Epoch of the Cenozoic from 1.8 mya until 10,000 mya
● Ice Age
● Associated with continental glaciations in northern latitudes
● Middle Pleistocene: acheulian technology of H. erectus carried over
○ Later premodern humans in Africa and humans invent Levallois technique for
controlling flake size and shape
○ Levallois technique: Striking of lithic flakes from a prepared lithic core, could also
be adapted to produce projectile points known as Levallois points
● Late Pleistocene: Neanderthals
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
A greater range of variation in specimens outside of africa 1. 8 mya. Less than 200,000 to travel from east africa to southeast asia. Homo erectus: compare/contrast to modern humans, homo ergaster: africa, nariokotome. Most complete skeleton of h. erectus ever found. 12 year old boy 5"3 (6 feet when adult) Similar to h. ergaster (african: significance: represents the earliest definite excursion out of africa. Small brain and body: evidence: oldowan stone tools. Soft hammer percussion: bone or wood was more gentle. Stone tool industry from the early and middle pleistocene, characterized by a large proportion of bifacial tools (flaked on both sides) cut, scrape, pound and dig. Common in africa, southwest asia, and western europe, but also thought to be less common elsewhere. Bifacial tool, both sides, large handaxes, still not very much variation. A middle paleolithic stone tool industry associated with neandertals and some modern: sapiens groups. Trimmed a flint nodule to form a disk-shaped core.
