Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 May 28 2013 Lecture 4 Notes Early Hominids on the Human Path Paleoanthropology the search for human origins When did we become human time o Taxonomic classification of humans Hominini humans Hominoid human and apes All primates had a common ancestor 60 million years ago Starting finding split offs as individual species from these great primates Humans are closely related to chimpanzees and gorillas o Opposable thumb certain similarities o Share 98 of our DNA with chimpanzees Chimpanzee Locomotion Can stand upright but prefer knuckle walk Social life is similar frequent sex used to prevent and resolve conflict o Alpha male with allies o Active thinking on hunting process Evolutionary Characteristics Bipedalism walking on two legs Increased brain size in relation to body size attributed to intelligence Tool making use modification of natural assets to make and produce Who is the species that was the first hominid that split off complicated actions Africa Origin of Hominids o 6 8 million years ago o Humans split off from primates Origin of Homo sapiens o 100 200 thousand years ago The Chad Fossils 6 7 million years ago bipedal o On the hominid lineage o Spinal cord skull forman magnum socket Under head for humans Oldest hominid Cranial capacity 320 380 cc Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 May 28 2013 Australopithecus afarensis almost fully bipedal considered hominid Most well represented 3 4 million years ago Found in northern Africa Hadar First Family o Ca 3 4 million years ago o 380 500 cc o 3 5 ft 50 100 lb o long arms bipedal Donald Johansen paleoanthropologist from Chicago Found partial skeleton of Australopithecus afernsis Lucy o Seems to be ancestral to other Australopithecus and hominids Lucy long arms short legs 3 feet tall 7 inches 19 21 years old upright but not fully human gate cranial capacity cc 400 500 fully bipedal large molars and premolars dimorphism no culture o shelter tools hunting Laetoli Footprints Mary Leakey different in size between sexes o Rain and volcanic material led to footprints o 3 6 million years ago Footprints look human and are becoming increasingly similar to human foot Later Australopithecines 1 3 million years ago Australopithecus africanus 2 5 3 million years ago 435 530 cc size like A afarensis short legs powerful arms bones suggest bipedalism no culture considerable sexual dimorphism o Raymond Dart found Taung Child Approx 3 years old Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 May 28 2013 Robust Australopithecines developed from afarensis Robust australopithecines o 2 2 1 5 million years ago o cc 450 440 o 80 180 lbs o massive cranium and jaw o diet was different from africanus harder nuts Boizee Australopithecus o More robust o Hunters or hunted Place on the food chain o Raymond Dart early hominids were hunters with weapons culture o C K Brain leopard hunted them Scavengers for remains