7 million '' 10,000 B.C.E. |Fossil remains of near-human or proto-human creature known as Hominids…
Bruce Bowers article, “Fossils hint at India’s crucial role in primate evolution” published in September of 2016, gives the theory of how certain bones excavated from a coal mine in India resemble the first primates from as early as 65 million years ago (). This article states how these bones approximately reveal how a common ancestor would look like and act. Researchers believe that since having the qualities of both superfamilies, Adapoidea and Omomyoidea they left behind a large quantity of different skeletal traits. With the idea that the evolution of primates and their relatives occurred on an isolated island of idea then spread, that gives them the time to evolve and have the specific bone structure and abilities that key them into being…
Instructor: Dr. Joyce Parga; Email: j.parga@utoronto.ca Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 3-4 pm (or by appointment); Office: MW 382 Lecture meeting times and location: Tuesdays 1-3 pm in SW 319 Tutorials (labs): 5 Tuesdays across the semester during your 1-hr tutorial section in MW 329 Tutorial TA: Dejana Nikitovic; Email: dejana.nikitovic@mail.utoronto.ca; Office: MW 343 (Note: Tutorials begin in Week 3 on Tuesday May 21. See Tutorial Schedule at end of syllabus.) Course Description: This course will provide a basic introduction to Evolutionary Anthropology and Archaeology, aimed at students with no background in either field. Prerequisites: None Exclusions: ANT100Y, ANT101H Required Readings: All chapters listed below in the lecture schedule refer to the following course textbook, which is available for purchase from the UTSC bookstore: Lewis, B., Jurmain, R., and Kilgore, L., 2012. Understanding Humans: Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 11th edition. Belmont CA: Wadsworth. You can also purchase the text from the publisher as an e-book. Go to: http://www.nelsonbrain.com/shop/isbn/9781111831776 (On Blackboard, there is a PowerPoint file provided by the publisher about buying the e-book – look under “Course Materials”.) Lecture schedule: Following is a planned list of topics to be covered in lecture; note that topics are subject to change and all topics listed may not be covered, but you are responsible for doing all of the readings. Date 7 May 14 May 21 May Lecture Topic Course Intro /What is Anthropology/Evolution Genetics/Processes of Evolution Non-Human Primates/Primate Behaviour…
The issue of the status of Neanderthal man has been hotly contested in the anthropology world. It is the matter of whether Homo Sapiens are the decedents of Neanderthals or whether they are cousins with a common ancestor. If Neanderthals are considered to be a proper descendent to Homo Sapiens, then they can be rightfully classified as Homo Sapiens Neanderthal. If they are truly a separate species, then they should be classified as Homo Neanderthal.…
Wrangham states that the evolutionary benefits of Homo Erectus stems from the process of cooking food (40). These advantages include smaller jaws, smaller teeth, smaller guts, and a larger brain. With fibers and proteins being broken down from cooking, human jaws were not required to be strong and were “one-eighth the size of those in macaques” (42). Human teeth were small due to consuming soft diets and limits metabolic costs (44). The surface area of a human stomach is significantly smaller than “the size expected for a typical mammal of our body weight” (43).…
Many processes have taken place to shape humans from the Australopithecus Afarensis to the modern day human also known as the Homo Sapien. As a result, the two defining traits that occurred by taxonomy are the effects of brain size and bipedalism. Humans, like other primates are considered as Order Primates in the Hominidae family and therefore are a prime example of taxonomy when the two diverged into different species. During taxonomy when humans diverged from their ancestors 6 to 7 million years ago, the result is the differences such as walking upright, brain size and overall skeletal structure are prominent due to the divergence of humans and other primates. Although primates and humans both share many anatomical, behavioral and socialization traits the differences are drastic and are all a result of selective pressures.…
The earliest hominids have traits that include ability to walk upright as well as smaller teeth, flatter faces and larger brains than earlier primates. Hominid evolution began in in…
It is still being debated to on exactly when did the ancestor of our species began to walk on two legs. One hypothesis relies on a 6-7 million year old skull of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. The skull was discovered in the Djurab Desert in Chad. Since only the skull was discovered, it is still unclear on how Sahelanthropus tchadensis fits in our evolutionary…
Paleoanthropology - A student of the earliest humans and the setting in which they lived.…
After 300,000 y.a. tools become more complex and are labeled in Europe as the Middle Paleolithic or in Africa, as the Middle Stone Age (Ambrose 2001). Regional variation is great enough that cultural traditions become evident. Tools composed of two or more materials that require complicated preparation become common and suggest increasingly complex brains. The tool tradition associated with the Neanderthals in western Europe is called the Mousterian (Klein 1999). All are eventually replaced by the blade industries of the Upper Paleolithic which are associated with modern humans. Encephalization, Language and Speech; brain sizes expressed as estimated cranial capacities are commonly reported for various species of hominin. Australopithecus afarensis and A. africanus have the smallest averages to date at 410 and 440 cubic centimeters (cc.), respectively (Collard & Wood 1999). Chimpanzee cranial capacity also averages 410 cc. But chimpanzees weigh about 24% more than the australopiths, thus complicating this simple comparison. The cranial volume of the robust hominins such as P. robustus and P. boisei were in the 500’s and H. habilis, H. rudolfensis and H. ergaster averaged 610, 750, 850 cc.,…
Bipedalism and the change of dentition have been landmarks for evolution of the early hominins that once wandered our planet up to three million years ago (Shook, 2015). One of the specific species that has exhibited bipedalism and changes within their skeletal structure is Australopithecus africanus, that some may recognize better as the Taung Child (Barak). Living from 3 to 2.5 million years ago, this species has been known to have developing dentition and obligate bipedalism, which can be represented in their change of teeth over time along with the distal end of the tibia (Skinner); (Barak). On my expedition to the outskirts of Taung, South Africa, my crew and I discovered two bones of an Australopithecus africanus which…
3. Paleontology is the study of fossils, including fossilized plants and animals. Fossil are any perceived remains of a prehistoric organism, in this cause an ancient primate. The dig was lead by Dr. Biren Patel and along with a group of scientist, a partial mandible of an early primate was found in the Kashmir region of India. The fossilized mandible was DNA tested and compared to several modern organism in order to determine the closest living relation. The closest relation to the fossils DNA matched to modern day lemurs. However, this is perplexing as…
Paleoanthropology is the study of human origins with the use of anatomical, archaeological and genetic evidence (Johanson, 2001). In order to trace the modern human or Homo…
“Afrocentricity seeks to discover African agency in every situation. Who are we? What did we…
• Ancient India : The earliest anatomically modern human remains found in South Asia date from approximately 30,000 years ago…