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Exam 2 Vocabulary - Part 1
KSU - Intro to Physical Anthropology
73
Anthropology
Undergraduate 2
03/13/2012

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Term
Primates
Definition
The order of mammals that has a complex of characteristics related to an initial adaptation to life in the trees
Term
Chordata
Definition
A vertebrate phylum consisting of organisms that possess a notochord at some period during their life
Term
Notochord
Definition
A flexible internal rod that runs along the back of an animal
Term
Vertebrata
Definition
A subphylum of the phylum Chordata, defined by the presence of an internal, segmented spinal column and bilateral symmetry
Term
Bilateral symmetry
Definition
Symmetry in which the right and left sides of the body are approximately mirror images
Term
Placenta
Definition
An organ that develops inside a pregnant placental mammal that provides the fetus with oxygen and food and helps filter out harmful substances
Term
Prenatal
Definition
The period of life from conception until birth
Term
Postnatal
Definition
The period of life from birth until death
Term
Homeotherm
Definition
An organism capable of maintaining a constant body temperature under most circumstances
Term
Homodontic
Definition
All the teeth being the same
Term
Heterodontic
Definition
Having different types of teeth
Term
Incisor
Definition
The chisel-shaped front teeth, used for cutting, slicing, and gnawing food
Term
Canine
Definition
The teeth located in the front of the jaw behind the incisors, which are normally used by mammals for puncturing and defense
Term
Premolar
Definition
One of the types of back teeth, used for crushing and grinding food
Term
Molar
Definition
The teeth farthest back in the jaw, used for crushing and grinding food
Term
Dental formula
Definition
A short-hand method of describing the number of each type of tooth in one-half of the jaw in a mammal
Term
Cerebrum
Definition
The area of the forebrain that consists of the outermost layer of brain cells, associated with memory, learning, and intelligence
Term
Arboreal
Definition
Living in trees
Term
Terrestrial
Definition
Living on the ground
Term
Prehensile
Definition
Capable of grasping
Term
Specialized structure
Definition
A biological structure adapted to a narrow range of conditions and used in very specific ways
Term
Generalized structure
Definition
A biological structure adapted to a wide range of conditions and used in very general ways
Term
Binocular stereoscopic vision
Definition
Overlapping fields of vision, with both sides of the brain receiving images form both eyes, thereby providing depth percpetion
Term
Prosimii (prosimians)
Definition
The suborder of primates that are biologically primitive compared to anthropoids
Term
Anthropoidea (anthropoids)
Definition
The suborder of primates consisting of monkeys, apes, and humans
Term
Nocturnal
Definition
Active during the night
Term
Dinural
Definition
Active during the day
Term
Loris
Definition
A nocturnal prosimian found today in Asia and Africa
Term
Tarsier
Definition
A nocturnal prosimian found today in Indonesia
Term
Lemur
Definition
A prosimian found today on the island of Madagascar
Term
Strepsirhini (strepsirhines)
Definition
One of two suborders of primates suggested to prelace the prosimian/anthropoid suborders; have a moist nose (lemurs and lorises)
Term
Haplorhini (haplorhines)
Definition
One of two suborders of primates suggested to replace the prosimian/anthropoid suborders; without a moist nose (tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans)
Term
Quadrupedal
Definition
A form of movement in which all four limbs are of equal size and make contact with the ground, and the sprine is roughly parallel to the ground
Term
Hominoid
Definition
A superfamily of anthropoids consisting of apes and humans
Term
Cusp
Definition
A raised area on the chewing surface of a tooth
Term
Suspensory climbing
Definition
The ability to raise the arms above the head and hang on to branches and to climb in this position
Term
Morphology
Definition
The physical structure of organisms
Term
Hominid
Definition
A family (hominidae) within the hominoids including humans and the great apes (orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo), although some scientists still use a more traditional definition that refers only to humans and their humanlike ancestors
Term
Hominin
Definition
Humans and their ancestors since the time of divergence from the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos
Term
Paleoanthropology
Definition
The study of primate and human evolution
Term
Relative dating
Definition
A comparative method of dating the older of two or more fossils or sites, rather than providing a specific date
Term
Chronometric dating
Definition
The method of estimating the specific date of fossils or sites
Term
B.P
Definition
Before Present (1950), the internationally accepted form of designating past dates
Term
Stratigraphy
Definition
A relative dating method based on the fact that older remains are found deeper int he earth because of cumulative buildup of the earth's surface over time
Term
Fluorine dating
Definition
A relative dating method based on the accumlation of fluorine in a bone, that tells if two bones from a site are of the same age
Term
Biostratigraphy
Definition
A relative dating method in which sites can be assigned an approximate age based on the similarity of animal remains to those from other dates sites
Term
Half-life
Definition
The average length of time it takes for half of the radioactive substance to decay into another form
Term
Carbon-14 dating
Definition
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 past 50,000 years
Term
Potassium-argon dating
Definition
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
Term
Argon-argon dating
Definition
A variation of potassium-argon dating that can be applied to very small samples of volcanic rock
Term
Dendrochronology
Definition
A chronometric dating method based on the fact that trees in dry climates tend to accumulate one growth ring per year
Term
Fission-track dating
Definition
A chronometic dating method based on the number of tracks made across volcanic rock as uranium decays into lead
Term
Thermoluminescence
Definition
A chronometric dating method that uses the fact that certain heated objects accumlate trapped electrons over time, which allows the date when the object was initially heated to be determined
Term
Electron spin resonance (ESR)
Definition
A chronometric dating method that estimtes dates from observation of radioactive atoms trapped in the calcite crystals present in a number of materials, such as bones and shells
Term
Paleomagnetic reversal
Definition
A method of dating sties based on the fact that the earth's magentic field has shifted back and forth from the north to the south in the past at irregular intervals
Term
Paleospecies
Definition
Species identified from fossil remains based on their physical similarities and differences relative to other species
Term
Taphonomy
Definition
The study of what happens to plants and animals after they die
Term
Paleoecology
Definition
The study of ancient environments
Term
Palynology
Definition
The study of fossil pollen
Term
Stable isotope analysis
Definition
Analysis of the ratio of stable (nonradioactive) isotopes of elements such as carbon that provides infomration about ancient diet
Term
Experimental archaeology
Definition
A field of archaeology that involves the study of the manufacture and use of tools in order to learn how they were made and used by people in the past
Term
Eon
Definition
A major subdivision of geologic time
Term
Era
Definition
A subdivision of a geologic eon
Term
Period
Definition
A subdivision of a geologic era
Term
Precambrian
Definition
A term that is used informally to refer to earth's history before the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic era. Precambrian time includes the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons, and lasted from 4,600 million to 542 million years ago
Term
Hadean eon
Definition
The first geologic eon, dating from 4,600-3,800 MYA, which occurred before the oldest fossil evidence of life
Term
Archean eon
Definition
The second geologic eon, dating from 3,800 to 2,500 MYA, characterized by the appearance of the first single-celled organisms
Term
Proterozoic eon
Definition
The third geologic eon, dating from 2,500 to 542 MYA, characterized by teh appearnce of the first simple multicelled organisms
Term
Phanerozoic eon
Definition
The fourth geologic eon, covering the past 542 million years
Term
Paleozoic era
Definition
The first area of the Phanerozoic eon, dating from 542 to 251 MYA, when the first vertebrates appeared
Term
Therapsids
Definition
An early group of mammal-like reptiles, ancestors of later mammals
Term
Mesozoic era
Definition
The second geologic era of the Phanerzoic eon, dating from 251 to 65.6 MYA, when the dinosaurs were dominant and when mammals and birds appeared
Term
Cenozoic era
Definition
The third and most recent geologic era of the Phanerozoic eon, dating to the last 65.5 MYA; primate and human evolution occurs during this era
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