"the Human Species" - Intro To Biological Anthropology Ch.12

Front 1

Relative Dating

Back 1

Comparative method of dating the older of two or more fossils or sites rather than a specific date.

Front 2

Chronomaetric Dating

Back 2

The method of estimating the specific date of fossils or sites.

Front 3

B.P.

Back 3

Before Present (1950), The internationally accepted form of designating past dates.

Front 4

Stratigraphy

Back 4

A relative dating method based on the fact that older remains are found deeper in the earths surface over time.

Front 5

Biostratigraphy

Back 5

A relative dating method in which sites can be assigned an approximate age based on the similarity of animal remains with those from other dated sites.

Front 6

Paleomagnetic Reversal

Back 6

A method of dating sites based on the fact that the earth's magnetic feild has shifted back and forth from the north to the south in the past at irregular intervals.

Front 7

Half-life

Back 7

The average length of time it takes for half of a radioactive substance decay into another form.

Front 8

Carbon-14 Dating

Back 8

A chronometric dating method based on the half-life of carbon-14 that can be applied to organic remains, such as charcoal, dating back over the last 50,000 years.

Front 9

Potassium-argon Dating

Back 9

A chronometric dating method based on the half-life of radioactive potassium that can be used to date volcanic rock older than 100,000 years.

Front 10

Argon-argon Dating

Back 10

A chronometric dating method based on the half-life of radioactive argon that can be used with very small samples.

Front 11

Dendrochronology

Back 11

A chronometric dating method based on the fact that tree's in dry climates tend to accumulate one growth ring per year.

Front 12

Fission-track Dating

Back 12

A chronometric dating method based on the number of tracks made across volcanic rock as uranium decays into lead.

Front 13

Thermoluminescence

Back 13

A chronometric dating method that uses the fact that certain heated objects acumulate trapped electrons over time, which allows the date when the object was initially heated to be determined.

Front 14

Electron Spin Resonance

Back 14

A chronometric dating method that estimates dates from observationof radioactive atoms trapped in the calcite crystals present in a number of materials, such as bones and shells.

Front 15

Taphonomy
(H)

Back 15

The study of what happens to plants and animals after they die.
(H)

Hint 15

Taphonomy helps in determining reasons for the distribution and condition of fossils.

Front 16

Paleoecology

Back 16

The study of ancient environments.

Front 17

Palynology

Back 17

The study of fossil pollen.

Front 18

Epoch

Back 18

Subdivision of a geological period.

Front 19

Insectivore

Back 19

An order of mammals adapted to insect eating.

Front 20

Continental Drift
(H)

Back 20

The movement of continental land masses on top of a partially molten layer of the earth’s mantle.
(H)

Hint 20

Because of continental drift, the relative location of the continents has changed over time.

Front 21

Paleocene Epoch

Back 21

The first epoch of the Cenozoic era, dating roughly between 65 million and 54 million years ago. When the primate-like mammals lived.

Front 22

Postorbital Bar

Back 22

The bony ring that separates the eye orbit from the back of the skull in primates.

Front 23

Eocene Epoch

Back 23

The second epoch of the Cenozoic era, dating roughly between 54 million and 34 million years ago, when the first true primates, early promisians, appeared.

Front 24

Carpolestes Simpsoni

Back 24

A species of primate-like mammal that had some derived primate traits such as s grasping foot and an opposable big toe. This species is intermediate, in many respects, between primitive primate like mammals and true primates.

Front 25

Oligocene Epoch

Back 25

The third epoch of the Cenozoic era, dating roughly between 34 million and 23 million years ago, when there was an adaptive radiation of anthropoids.

Front 26

Miocene Epoch

Back 26

The fourth epoch of the Cenozoic era, dating between 23 million and 5 million years ago, when there was great diversity in hominoids.

Front 27

Eurasia

Back 27

The combined land masses of Europe and Asia.

Front 28

Postcranial

Back 28

Refering to the part of the skeleton below the skull.

Front 29

Proconsul

Back 29

A genus of fossil hominoid that lived in Africa between 23 million years and 17 million years ago and that shows a number of monkey characteristics.

Front 30

Diastema

Back 30

A gap next to the canine tooth that allows space for the canine on the opposing jaw.

Front 31

Morotopithicus

Back 31

A genus of fossil ape that lived in Africa 20 million years ago ans whose postcranial anatomy was similar in a number of ways to living apes.

Front 32

Sivapithecus

Back 32

A genus of fossil ape that lived in Asia between 14 million and 7 million years ago, possibly an ancestor to modern orangutans.

Front 33

Dryopithecus

Back 33

A genus of fossil ape that lived in Europe during the Middle and Late Miocene. This form, and the related form Ouranopithicus, have cranial traits that suggest one may have been an ancestor of African apes and humans.

Front 34

Molecular dating

Back 34

The application of methods of genetic analysis to estimate the sequence and timing of divergent evolutionary lines.