Australopithecus

Maxwell’s Museum of Anthropology was a rather interesting museum that holds plenty of material culture backed by really interesting information. I recently had the opportunity to visit Maxwell’s Museum of Anthropology on November 26, 2016 and it was quite the wonderful and informative experience. Maxwell’s Museum of Anthropology holds rather interesting material culture, such as preserves from archaeological sites as well as artifacts that primitive individuals had used to hunt and gather as…

Evolution is one of the most debatable theories in all of the scientific world. This leads it to be very widely scrutinized, turned over, go through, and left disheveled. It has been quite a challenge for so many people to hold their standpoint on evolution, and the monumental theory is worthy of all their sweat and blood. Evolution, though it has its weak points, hold strong through years of testing, the discovery of evidence, and the disproving of other theories. Evolution was first…

“You have to know the past to understand the present.” Many people in everyday situations can relate to this quote by Carl Sagan, such as how you must know what water is to understand why there are hydroelectric dams. In the greater aspect of human existence though, the quote is said to hold even more certainty, because in all truth, the superannuated objects and organisms that archaeologists dig up is what has given the human race even a chance in coming to understand why this particular…

Comparisons of the foot and ankle of Chimpanzees and Homo sapiens sapiens show several distinct changes. These changes developed mainly due to the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal movement and becoming more terrestrial rather than arboreal. When researching different hominids in chronological order, it is clear that each change in our foot morphology occurred at a different time in our evolutionary history, and not all traits are exhibited in extinct lines of Homo and other hominid…

Homo sapiens is the name of the species that rules today 's Earth. It means in Latin man (Homo) that is wise (Sapiens), but who are these "wise men" that have made their way to the top of the food chain you may ask? Well, they are we, like you and me, humans that have out competed our fellow homos into extinction. How do we know this though? Well, around 3.3 million years ago people started to become curious about how we Homo Sapiens came to be and human evolution in a whole. One may think that…

Africa is the supposed birthplace of the human race. It is here that the Australopithecines, a group of hominins including Australopithecus and Paranthropus, lived from 4.2 to 1.2 million years ago. In the same area but from 1.9 to 0.027 million years ago, Homo ergaster also roamed around. Even though they shared the same geographic location, they each represent very different phases of the evolution to what we are today. It would therefore be interesting to see how they differed, based on the…

Ardipithecus ramidus was around 4.4 mya. They were located in Ethiopia. Their appearances included a skull, teeth postcranial bones found. Although, they still have small brains. Their femur and pelvis made it possible for bipedalism. The shape of their body gives it a helpfully way for them to be bipedal. The centrally placed foramen magnum allows for them to stand a bit straight. Also, the pelvis was bowl shaped and there was a show of lumbar lordosis. Although, they still had longer arms…

Veganism is the practice of eliminating all animal products (meat, fat, dairy, eggs, gelatin, etc.) altogether from your diet and instead decide to consume other foods high in protein, calories, and nutrients in its place. People become vegans for many reasons, the most popular being moral/ethical/religious beliefs or health benefits. However, in our modern day world, veganism has collected much controversy over many factors, one being its environmental practicality/sustainability, and another…

Paleolithic culture, also known as the Old Stone, took place during the time period of ca.7 million-10,000 B.C.E. Throughout this time fossil remains were found of a creature that is known as hominid. There were multiple groups of hominid known as Australopithecus, they used sharp pebbles for hunting. Homo habilis were the first to create stone and bone tools and weapons. The beginnings of culture were demonstrated by the art of tool making. The group of Homo erectus is known as…

The use of tools have been an essential part of human history and culture, even before modern humans evolved. Being made up of many layers, tools are valuable sources of evidence that reflects the dexterity and cognitive abilities that the hominid species possesses whether extinct or still living. In this essay, I will be discussing the impact of tools use and the effectiveness it had on our evolutionary history and cultural practices. Developments towards human evolution that aided tool making…