Osteological Terms Standard Anatomical Position o Facing forward with hands facing forward 11 01 2013 o Towards the top o Towards the bottom o Towards the midline Anterior o Front Posterior o Back Superior Inferior Medial Lateral Proximal Distal Ventral o Towards the outside away from midline o Part of an element that is closest to the skull o Part of the element that is furthest away from the skull o Belly side o In bipeds similar to anterior Dorsal o Back Side o In Bipeds similar to posterior Paleoanthropology The study of human evolution and the fossil record Goals o To identify species especially paleospecies o To understand the relationship among the fossils among each other but also with modern humans o To gain insight into the behavior of those species o Multidisciplinary Zooarchaeologists o Study of animal remains at a site Taphonomists Osteology Geologists Archaeology The Big 3 what separates humans from apes o Culture belief systems religion art o Brain Size humans are more encephalized o Obligate bipedalism DID NOT HAPPEN SIMULTANEOUSLY Bipedality Skull Foramen magnum o Hole where your skull sits on your vertebrae o Centrally located in humans o More posteriorly located in the great apes Spinal Curvature o More curved in humans to balance weight o Great apes have a shallow curved straight spine Pelvis Shape Biped o more square shaped pelvis that is shorter Ilea anteriorly posteriorly oriented o Slightly angled forward Quadruped Great ape o Flatter rectangular pelvis Ilea more lateral o More narrow Femur o Bicondylar Angle o Femur is angled medially in bipeds o Femur is almost straight up and down in quadrupeds Neck length Feet o Neck of femur longer in bipeds o Position of big toe o Apes have an opposable big toe Hypotheses for Bipedality Freeing the hands man the hunter woman the gatherer Better view of the open country Energy Efficiency Paleoanthropology East Africa Earliest fossil record coming from here Geologically o Rift valley plates coming together Lots of seismic activity o Dating good for getting absolute dating o If found fossils are usually in good shape o Fossils can erode out of the ground fossils often found through erosion o Earthquakes o Volcanic activity South Africa o Fossils when found are embedded in breccia o Breccia Cement like matrix of sand pebbles and soil that encases fossils o Limestone quarries o Subterranean caves o Limestone quarries o Very specific to South African fossils o Dated primarily through biostratigraphy Terms Post Orbital Constriction POC o Narrowing behind the eye orbit o Primitive ancestral trait o Over time becomes less and less constricted Supra Orbital Torus SOT o Enlarged area of bone above the eye orbit o Ancestral trait stays for a long time but not in humans Prognathism o Anterior projection of the maxilla Orthognathism o Lack of anterior projection of the maxilla o Vertical maxilla o This is what modern humans are Sagittal Crest o Large ridge crest of bone on top of the skull in the center o Runs front to back o A lot of variation earlier in time no modern humans have a sagittal crest Nuchal Crest o Large ridge of bone on posterior inferior aspect of skull o Ancestral trait Angled occipital crest o bone in back of skull that forms an angle Gracile Robust Spoiler o Small and smooth area of bone o Large and rough area of bone of the fossil record Miocene Fossils Sahelanthropus tchadensis o A fossil that is found that messes up the traditional theories o Found in Chad o About the size of a modern chimpanzee o 6 7mya Significant Will need to know for test o Oldest fossil that they are fighting about if its in the human lingeage or not o Central Africa o Dated by biostratigraphy o Primitive cranium occipital region o Possibly bipedal Why it is important Has a small brain post orbital constriction Angeled o It is a paleospecies o It is an ape like skull shape but with a reduced maxilla and its foramen magnum suggests bipedalism o Its old 6 to 7 million years old makes it the oldest possible hominid o Geography central Africa Miocene Pliocene Fossils Ardipithecus ramidus Ardi o Prognothic o Ape like skull o Mix of ancestral and derived traits o Ancestral traits Parts of the skull small brain Ape like teeth Post Cranially o Mix of bipedal characteristics o Also some arboreality o Rounded pelvis o Opposable toe o Elongated arms not a knuckle walker o Not a true brachiater o Biped o Considered the last common ancestor LCA between apes and humans Kenyanthropus platyops o Its date and morphology make it a better candidate for a human ancestor than afarensis Australopithecus o Most well known of all the fossil groups Australopithecus afarensis o 3 9 3 0 million years ago o East African fossil o Small cranial size o Small sagittal crest o Fairly robust nuchal crest o Relatively large canine teeth o Prognothic o 3 5 4 tall o Some hints of bipedalism Lucy o Discovered in 1974 o Dated at 3 2 million years old o Bipedalism o She is an afarensis Selam Laetoli o Young child 3 to 4 years old o Nearly complete skeleton o 3 4 million years old afarensis o Found in China o Archaeological site in Tanzania o 3 5 million years old o At this site they have found 84 worth of footprints o Attributed to afarensis because of the date Australopithecus africanus o South Africa o 3 2 mya o Endocast o The solid impression of the inside of a skull o Can tell many important things about brain size Taung o Archeologist found a south African fossil and claimed he had found a 3 to 4 yr old child o Suggested it would have been bipedal and had a large brain o Facial skeleton and endocast o Name of the site and fossil COMPARE CONTRAST WITH LUCY ON TEST Australopithecus garhi o Its name means surprise o Approx 2 5 mya o Earliest tools arriving around this time earliest genus homo o Nearby to garhi s site were the bones of butchered animal o Until then the use of tools had been attributed to the genus around this time bones and primitivge tools homo o May have been using tools Homo erectus 1 8mya 500 000ya Dubois o Went to Trinil Java o Found a Single skull cap and a femur Cranial traits o Brain size increased by around 33 o Vault height is bigger o Decrease in post orbital constriction o Decrease in proganathism face is flatter o Tooth size has decreased o Expanded in nuchal region o Some are more angled others are more rounded o Dental arcade is parabolic o Still has a large supraorbital torus brow ridges o Supra toral sulcus o Posteriorly sloping forehead o