Physical Anthropology Quiz 5 Nancy Garr

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Eugene Dubois

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In Java in 1898 discovered the first fossil of the species now classified as Homo erectus (then as Pithecanthropus erectus or "Java Man").

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Zhoukoudian

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Paleoanthropology site at an abandoned limestone quarry near the village of Zhoukoudian (about 25 miles south-west of Beijing). Major excavation of the site took place from the 1920s to 1941, and produced the largest collection of H. erectus fossils (at that time called Sinanthropus pekinensis or "Peking Man") from a single locality in the world. In 1941 - as Japan invaded China - an effort was made to ship the fossils to safety in the United States, but they were lost in the confusion that ensued. Today all we have are casts and photos of the fossil material made by Franz Weidenreich.

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Acheulian

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Pertaining to a stone tool industry of the Lower and Middle Pleistocene characterized by a large proportion of bifacial tools (flaked on both sides). Acheulian tool kits are very common in Africa, Southwest Asia, and western Europe, but are less common elsewhere. (Also spelled “Acheulean.”)

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Biface

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(formerly know as "hand-axe" because of its presumed function) The name now given to the most typical tool of the Acheulian industry. Biface refers to its form; bifaces are flaked bifacially - on both sides.

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Hand-axe

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(see biface, above) Name given to the most typical tool of the Acheulian toolkit. It is now known as a biface, a name that refers its form rather than its presumed function.

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Ice Age

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A name sometimes given to the Pleistocene (1.8 mya to 10,000 ya) because of its association with continental glaciations in northern latitiudes.

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Pleistocene

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The epoch of the Cenozoic from 1.8 m.y.a. until 10,000 y.a. Frequently referred to as the Ice Age, this epoch is associated with continental glaciations in northern latitudes.

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Nariokotome Boy/WT 15000

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A virtually complete H. erectus skeleton found on the west side of Lake Turkana in 1984, and dated to 1.6 mya. The skeleton is that of an approximately 12 year old boy who would have grown to be about 6 feet tall, larger than earlier hominids, as was conclusively shown by the discovery this skeleton at Nariokotome (on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya).

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Fossil

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There are a number of types of fossils, but for this class we are referring to the following-Remains of a once living organism that have been replaced molecule by molecule by mineral.

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Hominid

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Colloquial term for members of the family Hominidae, which includes all bipedal hominoids back to the divergence from African great apes.

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Cranial

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Refers to the skull. The skull actually includes the cranium and mandible.

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Postcranial

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(post, meaning “after”) In a quadruped, referring to that portion of the body behind the head; in a biped, referring to all parts of the body beneath the head (i.e., the neck down).

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Bipedal locomotion

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Walking on two feet. Walking habitually on two legs is the single most distinctive feature of the family Hominidae (the hominids).

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Prognathism

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Protrusion of the part of the face below the nose (the maxillary and mandibular jaws) forward from the rest of the face (e.g. see skulls of the chimpanzee or A. afarensis).

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Foramen magnum

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The large opening in the skull that allows passage of the spinal cord from the brain to the vertebral column and the rest of the body.

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Diastema

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A gap between teeth that allows placement of the enlarged canine of the opposite jaw. In primates with enlarged canines, the maxillary (upper jaw) diastema is between the second incisor and the canine. The mandibular (lower jaw) diastema is between the canine and the first premolar.

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Sectorial

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Adapted for cutting or shearing; among primates, refers to the compressed (side-to-side) first lower premolar, which functions as a shearing surface with the upper canine.

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Relative dating techniques

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Dating techniques that assign an age to something relative to something else (older than, younger than).

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Stratigraphy

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Relative dating technique that involves study of the sequential layering of deposits. (Strata are the geological layers or deposits of the Earth.)

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Fluorine dating

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Relative dating technique that measures the amount of fluorine deposited in buried bones. Fluorine, a water-soluble chemical that occurs naturally in the soil, is incorporated into bones from the groundwater over time. The longer a bone is buried the more fluorine it may contain. If a bone from one site has more fluorine it is assumed to be older than another bone from the same site that has less fluorine. The technique cannot compare bones from different sites, however, because fluorine variation may occur because of environmental differences between the sites (less fluorine or moisture in soil) rather than a difference in age.

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Biostratigraphy

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Relative dating technique based on changes seen in the dentition and other anatomical structures of such groups as pigs, rodents and baboons. Dating of sites is based on the presence of those fossils that also occur elsewhere in deposits whose dates have been determined.

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Paleomagnetism

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Relative dating technique based on the shifting nature of the Earth's geomagnetic poles. When molten, magnetic particles (e.g. iron particles) in rock align themselves with the magnetic pole. By examining the orientation of such particles in previously molten rock (e.g. lava) and comparing it to known orientations at different times, a fossil found in association with such rock can be assigned an age relative to that information.

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Chronometric dating

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(chronos, meaning “time,” and metric, meaning “measure”) A dating technique that gives an estimate in actual numbers of years.

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Unstable isotope

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Isotopes of an element (e.g. potassium) that can lose or gain an atomic particle, becoming an isotope of another element.

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Half-life

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The amount of time it takes for an unstable element to degrade to another element.

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Potassium/Argon

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A chronometric dating technique based on the fact that Potassium 40 (found in rocks) degrades to Argon 40. (half-life = 1.25 billon years). Argon is a gas that, as it is formed, is trapped in the rock. Heating the rock through volcanic activity releases all the Argon 40. Laboratory measurement of the amount of Argon 40 present in volcanic lava or ash tells how long it has been since the rock has last been heated, and can be used to assign chronometric dates to fossils found in association with that material.

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Carbon 14

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A chronometric dating technique based on the relative amount of the stable isotope, Carbon 12, to the unstable isotope, Carbon 14 (half-life = 5730 years). Both Carbon 12 and Carbon 14 are incorporated into living organisms, but once an organism dies Carbon 14 degrades to Nitrogen 14 reducing the ratio of Carbon 14 relative to Carbon 12. This method can used to assign chronometric dates to organic materials (e.g. plant or animal) less than 75,000 years of age (although it is most accurate to 40,000 years).

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Piltdown Man

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A fossil hoax from the early 1900s in England that combined modified cranial bones from a modern human with mandible fragments of an adolescent orangutan. It suggested the early ancestors of humans had a relatively large brain and a relatively ape-like jaw. Piltdown reflected the assumptions of some early paleoanthropologists, and affected the reception of the first true early hominids - Australopithecines with relatively ape-sized brains and less ape-like dentition.

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Raymond Dart

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Discoverer of the first early hominid fossil (See Taung Child, below). In 1925 he published an article in the scientific journal Nature describing the fossil, interpreting it as a bipedal ancestor of humans, and assigning to it the name Australopithecus africanus. His paper - in part because of preconceived notions regarding the early ancestors of man (see Piltdown Man, above) - received a very negative response from most of the scientific community, but time and more fossils proved him correct and his critics incorrect.

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"Taung Child"

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Fossil - including the endocast, face, and mandible - of an approximately 3 to 4 year old hominid found at Taung limestone quarry in South Africa in 1924. This was the fossil on which Raymond Dart based his paper published in 1925 in the scientific journal Nature (see Raymond Dart, above).

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Australopithecus

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An early hominid genus, known from the Plio-Pleistocene of Africa, characterized by bipedal locomotion, a relatively small brain, and large back teeth

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Hadar

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Archaeological site in Ethiopia in East Africa with strata dated between 2.9 to 3.6 million years. Site of the numerous hominid fossil discoveries, including "Lucy" a partial Australopithecus afarensis skeleton found by Donald Johanson in 1974.

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"Lucy"

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Nickname given to the remarkably complete skeleton of a tiny bipedal adult female assigned to the species Australopithecus afarensis who lived about 3.18 mya.

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Laetoli

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A hominid fossil site located in Tanzania 45 km south of Olduvai Gorge. It is most famous for the preserved footprints discovered by Mary Leaky and her team in 1978. These footprints left by two or perhaps three hominids are dated to 3.7 mya, and show the characteristics of habitual bipeds (e.g. an arch). Footprints of at least 20 other animal species including hyenas, wild cats, baboon, wild boar, giraffes, gazelles, rhinos, several kinds of antelope, hipparion, buffalo, elephants, hare, and birds are also preserved at the site.

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Olduvai Gorge

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An East African Great Rift Valley archaeological and hominid fossil site in Tanzania where Mary and Louis Leakey pioneered excavation work. Their finds included OH-5, a relatively complete cranium of a "robust" hominid today designated as Australopithecus boisei, as well as the first discovered specimens of Homo habilis. The stratigraphy at Olduvai is extremely deep, and layers of volcanic material allow Potassium/Argon dating of the embedded artifacts and fossils. The earliest artifacts in Olduvai (known as Oldowan tools) date to around 2 million years ago, but hominid fossil remains have been found from as early as 2.5 million years ago.

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"Robust"

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Refers to characteristics seen in the skulls of three hominid species - Australopithecus aethiopicus and Australopithecus boisei from East Africa, and Australopithecus robustus from South Africa. The characteristics include huge molars and "molarized" premolars, broad cheeks with large zygomatic arches that allow passage of large chewing muscles, and a sagittal crest for attachment of those muscles on the relatively small cranium. The characteristics of the "robust" australopithecines are believed to reflect their diet of dry, hard to chew food items such as nuts, roots, tubers, etc.

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"Gracile"

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(literally small-boned or of slight build) Refers to characteristics seen in the skull of Australopithecus africanus. A. africanus is similar is some ways to the "robust" species, but lacks their cranial and mandibular adaptations to a dry, hard to chew diet. The characteristics of the "gracile" australopithecine species are believed to reflect their diet of softer, easier to chew food items such as fruit, young leaves, and insects.

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Sagittal crest

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A ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the skull at the sagittal suture. Its presence indicates relatively large and strong chewing muscles combined with a relatively small cranial area for those muscles to attach.

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Oldowan tools

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The earliest Lower Paleolithic stone tool assemblage. Oldowan tools first appeared in the archaeological record about 2.5 million years ago. These simple stone tools are made by striking a rock core or cobble with a hammerstone to remove a flake. Both the unmodified flake and the resulting core could be used as tools.