ANT100Y1 Chapter 8: CHAPTER 8
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ANT100Y1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
One distinctive behavioral trait that sets humans apart from other animals is our heavy dependence on culture. This is perpetuated through cognitive, political, social, technological, and economic contexts. However, it is hard to examine early hominin culture because the only artifacts available are their tools. The fundamental basis for human cultural success is our cognitive abilities. At around 5 mya, hominins developed the advantage of bipedal walking which enabled them to carry tools and other objects from one location to another. This was around the time period of protohominins, the earliest members of the homini lineage, as yet only poorly represented in the fossil record; thus, the reconstructions of their structure and behavior is largely hypothetical. Paleonanthropology is defined as the overall study of fossil hominins. It is a diverse multidisciplinary pursuit seeking to reconstruct every possible bit of information concerning the dating, structure, behavior, and ecology of our hominin ancestors.
