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Anthropology in the News

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Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 01:01 (01:01 AM) CDT, day 079 of 2024

Prehistoric Cultures

Fall 2012 Calendar -- DAY  [archive]

Fall 2012 Calendar  -- EVENING [archive]

Dates and Times to Remember 

class slides on-line 

Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 06:01 (06:01 AM) GMT, day 079 of 2024
. . . in History 
  . . . in Headlines
 

      Babel Fish Translation 
~ translate this page
 

OWL logo, Online Writing Lab, Purdue University.

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Australopithecus robustus

Australopithecus robustus
SK 48

The Story of Hominid Evolution

Abstracts: 1 2 Terms / Concepts Notes
Cultures Sites Individuals Bibliography Questions

(chart)




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In the News . . .

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Part 1: "History of the Anthropoid: The Search for the Beginning"
(47 min., 1997, VC 3641, pt. 1)

"Part 1: Dr. Friedemann Schrenk searches for hominid fossils with famed paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey in East Africa. At excavation sites in northern Tanzania, Leakey discusses four-million-years-old findings and traces their relationship to previous findings-Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis skull found in Ethiopia; Nutcraker Skull, an Australopithecus boisei found in East Africa; and the skull of Homo habilis discovered in 1964. These and other skulls are analyzed within the context of the major evolutionary theories."

Part 2: "Origins of Homo Sapiens: East African Roots"
(47 min., 1997, VC 3641, pt. 2)

"Part 2: Dr. Friedemann Schrenk, a German paleoanthropologist, "travels to several cave sites in Africa, to the laboratory of a South African paleoanthropologist who reveals information gathered when South Africa was out of touch with the world scientific community, and to the United States to study hominid remains."

Terms / Concepts / Features

  • Australopithecus

  • Transvaal -- region in South Africa

  • breccia -- sediments pressed to stone and rich in fossils

  • coproliths

    • fossilized excrement
    • these are rich in petrified bones

  • hominid

  • osteodontokeratic culture (bone-tooth-horn culture)

  • bipedal locomotion

  • parietal bone (part of the sides and top of the skull)

  • prehensil foot

  • "plasters" on the hand

  • "sweet-water lake" = freshwater lake

  • endocasts

  • Wernicke's Area -- left posterior section of the cortex of the brain

  • Broca's area -- that part of the brain involved in language processing

    Broca's and Wernicke's Areas of the brain.

  • mandible (mandibular) -- lower jaw
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Notes

 

As you view the videos pay attention to . . .

  1. the actual content of the various finds

  2. archaeological field methods and techniques

  3. laboratory methods and techniques

    • including reconstruction techniques, and . . .

  4. archaeological dating techniques

  5. theoretical / interpretative approaches

    • including logic of analysis

More information on methods is contained in the text and in the methods slides

Archaeological Methods and Dating Techniques
 WebPage

Some Important Concepts (slides 11B)

Special Skills:


In the Field (slides 10A)


In the Lab (slides 10B)


In the Field and Lab (slides 10C)
Archaeological Dating Methods (slides 10D)
Other Methods of Analysis (slides 10E)

 

  • With biped locomotion the pelvis changed from a "crane shape" to a pan holding the body's weight

  • With Australopithecus africanus we don't find Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the brain.

    • But the brain is bigger than that of an ape.

  • How did the Taung child die?

    • By a raptor?

      ("Eagles love primates, and it is well-known for its primate eating habits. And we hominids are primates.")

  • Note the discussion of the relationship between the size of the brain and the use of fire

  • Does short intestines and the use of fire yield "leftover energy" for the brain to use?

    • "In most mammals energy is made to operate the intestinal tract."

    • Because of the use of fire and with shorter intestines more energy is available for the brain to work

  • The East African hominids were distributing themselves down the Rift Valley, but the South African hominids were not distributing themselves north

  • role of scavaging, includeing habits of hayenas, vultures, etc.

  • "Cause and effect in evolution often depend on coincidence."

  • "Ape man" tends to be a South African term

  • to top of page / A/Z index   to top of page / A-Z index
    Cultures

    to top of page / A/Z index   to top of page / A-Z index
    Sites

    • Africa

      • Transvaal (area of South Africa) -- 2 - 3 mya

        • Taung
        • Sterkfontein
        • Swartkrans
        • Makapansgat -- 3.3 mya
        • Kromdraai
        • Gladysvale
        • Gondolin

      • Malawi (central East Africa, along the shores of Lake Paleau, "the former Lake Malawi")

        • Uraha
        • Malema

          • 5 Deutsche marks per day = twice the local going rate of pay

    to top of page / A/Z index   to top of page / A-Z index

    Individuals

    • Philip Tobias
    • Raymond Dart
      • "Killer Ape theory"
      • "bloodthirsty cannibals"
      • osteodontokeratic culture (bone-tooth-horn culture)
    • Robert Brain
    • Julie McGuire
    • Ron Clark
      • "Little Foot" (1978)
    • Lee Berger
    • Peter Schmidt
    • Friedemann Schrenk
    • Tyson
      • found UR 501 (from Uraha)
    • Tim Bromage
      • 2.5 mya hominid
      • UR 501 (from Uraha)
      • Homo rudolfensus
    • Alan Hughes (1978 -- 3 boxes -- "Little Foot")

    to top of page / A/Z index   to top of page / A-Z index

    Publications / Bibliography

    Question(s)

    • Why are the bones from Makapansgaat black if not burned by fire?

    • Why do bones become fossils at all? And in such number?

      • Water and lime soak materials into the bone

    Orrorin / Ardipithecus / Australopithecus / Kenyanthropus

    Subfamily
    Genus
    Species
    Example
    Alternative Name
     
    "Ardi"
     

    Australo-
    pithecines

    anamensis

       

    afarensis

    "Lucy"

     

    africanus

     Taung

     

     garhi

       

     aethiopicus

     "Black Skull"

    Paranthropus

    (aka A. robustus)

     boisei

     "Zinj"

     robustus

     Swartkrans

     
    platyops
    "Flat-faced Kenya Man"  
     
    Orrorin
    tugenensis
    "Millenium Man"
     

    Adapted from Intoduction to Physical Anthropology, 8th ed, Jurmain, Nelson, Kilgore, and Trevathand
    (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2000, pp. 285 - 290).




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