History 8 Human Origins Concepts
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Concepts:
1. Reasons for rise of Australopithecines.
The australopithecines lived around 5-6 million years age and disappeared in one million BC. The following reasons describe the rise of the australopithecines:
-Six million years ago, the jungles in Africa became to dried out and the forests shrunk. This caused both a crisis in food and habitat availability. Some primates were forced out onto the now open grassland. A large number of theses primates did not survive, however the ones who did devised and gained new techniques for survival.
-As life in the savannah moved on, the australopithecines became equipped with natural defenses. They used their hands to hurl stones and sticks. Throughout the years, the australopithecines gained a substantial skeletal, which helped improve their stance. They also acquired an opposable thumb grip, which made it easier to grasp and throw things.
-The hip joints were modified, causing the legs to align with the backbone. The knees grew closer together to help bear the total weight of the body. The feet became more arched and the ankles became stronger. The big toe became more aligned with the other toes, allowing the feet to take the full weight of the body.
link on more background information about the australopithecines: http://www.stanford.edu/~harryg/protected/chp18.htm
CF:Pages 20-21
-Grace Amandes
2. Advantages and disadvantages of bipedalism.
3. Australopithecus :lifestyle of Australopithecus.
-The earliest Australopithecus, abundant in Africa, lived around five to six million years ago and disappeared from the earth around one million BC(CF 20-21). This species was the first of our pre-human ancestors to be discovered and there were many different types of this species, but was later rejected from the human family tree because of its small size brain(CF 20-21). The fossils of the first bipeds showed the huge number of anatomical changes from their ancestors.
-Not much is known about the lifestyle of Australopithecus because they left behind no artifacts such as tools(Australian Museum). However, we still know a bit about their lifestyle. One of the clues that we have interpreted about their lifestyle is that on the savanna, much of the food is underground. Hominids that had more dexterity were able to use some form of digging stick to access the food(CF 20-21). This suggests that they used some simple tools such as sticks or rocks, but they did not modify them, making it hard to identify them as tools this species used(Australian Museum). We can also infer that they ate lots of coarse plant and vegetables by their large molars, ideal for grinding these types of food(CF 20-21). During the day, they stayed on the grasslands and lake-sides of Africa. It also seems likely that they lived in small social groups of males and females(Australian Museum). These are a few facts that we have been able to infer from fossils about the lifestyle and general information about the species Australopithecus.
Link with more information: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Australopithecus-afarensis/ (Australian Museum)
CF: Pages 20-21
-Grayson Christ
4. Reasons for extinction of Australopithecus.
5. Characteristics of H. Habilis
6. Effects of Meat in diet
7. Sweating
8. Factors in Brain growth
9. Problems with large brain/solution
10. Characteristics of H. ergaster
11. differences with H. erectus
12. Climate and its effects
13. Glacial periods
14. Fire
15. Social development
16. H. heidelbergensis
17. Characteristics of Neandertal
- 18. Tools
- 19. Cultural life
- 20. Mental development
21. Characteristics of H. sapiens
- 22. technology
- 23. blade and burin society
- 24. weapons
- 25. social organization
- 26. dispersed leadership
- 27. cooperation and its effects
- 28. communication/art
- 29. other advances
30. Explain both the multiregional and diffusionism/ Out of Africa hypotheses
31. H. sapiens is the only hominid left. Why?
32. H. sapiens were able to settle in such diverse habitats. Give reasons and rationale.
33. Id The Aurignacians
34. ID Gravettians
35. ID Magdalenians
36. ID Natufians
