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the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. |
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| any alteration in the structure or function of an organism or any of its parts that results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and multiply in its environment. |
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| determination of age on a particular time scale, such as in calendar years before the present (B.P.) or in years A.D. or B.C. Also known as chronometric dating. Radiometric dating (eg., radiocarbon [C-14] dating and potassium-argon [K-Ar] dating) and tree-ring dating are types of absolute dating. |
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| Determination of the chronological order of a sequence of events in relation to one another without reference to their ages measured in years. Relative geologic dating is based primarily on superposition, faunal succession, and crosscutting relations. |
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| the science of dating events and variations in environment in former periods by comparative study of growth rings in trees and aged wood |
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| the systematic examination of the ground surface in search of archaeological sites. |
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| In geologic time, the latest epoch of the Tertiary Period, from about 5 million years ago until the beginning of the early Pleistocene, about 1.6 million years ago. |
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A comparatively long warmer phase of a glacial period when considerable glacial retreat occurs. preceeded and followed by glacials |
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| the cold part of a fixed cycle of warm and cool periods during a major ice age. The cycle is related to changing heat from the sun due to shifts in the pattern of Earth’s orbit and tilt. |
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| the primate superfamily Hominoidea including gibbons, the great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans) and several extinct species |
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| Refers to the tendency for a species toward larger brains through evolutionary time. |
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- First Tool maker
- 2.4-1.5 mya
- Sites: East and South Africa
- Expanded Brain
- Moderate Body Size
- Smaller molars
- Thin Enamel
- Stone Tools
- More Meat Eating
- Only Found in Africa
- Olduwan Tools
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| The combination of artifacts and/or ecological facts at a site, reflecting a location where some human activity took place. Features include fire place, middens, burials, cooking hearths, acitivty areas, and buildings. |
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| The earlies stone tools, simple chopping tools and sharp flakes, dated to 2.4 mya, that were probably made by Homo habilis. Some evidence suggests that they may also have been produced by Australopithicus garhi and possibly robustus. |
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| The stone tool tradition of the Neandertals early anatomically modern human beings. A core and flake technology in which a series of different standardized tool types were produced from stone flakes struck from cores. |
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| Designs and symbols pecked, painted, or otherwise put onto rock surfaces |
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| small Upper Paleolithic statues characterized by exaggerated breasts and buttocks and very stylized heads, hands, and feet. |
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| The period and culture in the new world dating from about 11,500 BP to about 10,000 BP. Fluted points are the most distinctive element int he Paleoindian stone tool kit. Paleoindians hunted the late Pleistocene megafauna of the New World. The paleoindians are no longer believed to be the first settlers of the New world |
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| A pottery style known from the inhabited Pacific Islands. The movement of people from the western to the eastern Pacific can be traced by the presence and spread of Lapita Pottery |
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| hominid fossil site lies between the two towns of Kimberley and Mafikeng in the Cape Province |
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| The most important findings at Lake Mungo have been Mungo Man and Mungo Lady. Mungo Lady, a partially cremated body, was discovered in 1969 by Dr Jim Bowler from the Australian National University (ANU). She was initially estimated to be 25,000 years old, although a more recent multi-university study in 2003 determined that she was more like 40,000 years old. Mungo Lady is thus the earliest known human to have been cremated. Mungo Man was also discovered by Dr Bowler, on 26 February 1974. The remains were covered with red ochre, in what is the earliest known incidence of such a burial practice. Although some studies have estimated his age at more than 60,000 years, the current consensus is that he is also about 40,000 years old. |
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| The three-dimensional location of an artifact or feature within an archaeological site, measured by two horizontal dimensions, and a vertical elevation. |
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| The Rift Valley in East Africa has been a rich source of fossils[1] that allow study of human evolution, especially in an area known as Piedmont.[2]Because the rapidly eroding highlands have filled the valley with sediments, a favorable environment for the preservation of remains has been created. The bones of several hominid ancestors of modern humans have been found there, including those of "Lucy",[3] a nearly complete australopithecine skeleton, which was discovered by anthropologist Donald Johanson. Richard and Mary Leakey have also done significant work in this region. |
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| archaeological site near the French town of Nice. Terra Amata was an open site with finds of Acheulean flint tools dating it to the Lower Paleolithic. It was excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Henri de Lumley, who believed the site contained a series of superimposed living floors and who interpreted arrangements of stones at the site as the foundations of huts or windbreaks. This interpretation would make them some of the earliest examples of human habitation ever found. |
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| He is an active researcher of fossils of the earliest animals and is co-ordinating a renewed excavation initiative at the Swartkrans Cave. He is a consulting editor for the Annals of the Eastern Cape Museums. |
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| Genetic material of the mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell. Has been proven useful in assesing evolutionary relationships among existing species |
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- Australopiticu afarensis
- limited population size
- 3.8-3 mya
- sites: Ethiopia and tanzania
- U-Shaped dental arcade
- canine reduced, but still large
- lare molars
- Small brain (350-500cm3)
- Prognatic Face
- cranial crests
- Bi-pedal locamotor
- relatively long arms
- arboreal adaptations
- primarily vegetarians
- found in 1974
- found by Donald Johanson.
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