Australopithecus

• Small bipeds with teeth, skull, and jaws adapted to a generalized diet

• 5 species:

  • Au. anamensis
  • Au. afarensis
  • Au. africanus
  • Au. garhi
  • Au. sediba

  

  • Walked on two legs (bi-pedalism)

  

  • First child that we were able to look at
  • Allows us to explore the transition from child to adult
  • Slower than chimps, new trait, but not quite as slow as modern humans
    • Increasing trend in lengthening the juvenile period
  • Better sense of age

  

  Paranthropus robustus

  

  • May be using tools, but doesn't mean they're at the top of the food chain
  • Considered prey

  Paranthropus boisei

  

  • Homo genus (H. Habilis) first seen about 2million years ago (in East/South Africa)

  

  • Identified with stone tools
  • Not totally sure if its Homo, Australopithecus,...
  • Hard to draw distinct boundaries
  • Probably pretty low on the food chain

  Oldowan Tool Industry

  • Tanzania
  • Found in c. 2.5 mya to 500 kya
  • Flakes removed from cobble producing a sharpened "chopper"
  • Some flakes also used as cutting tools
  • SOME element of planned tool production

  

  • How did these individuals spread around the globe so rapidly?

  Java Man

  

  • Originally thought that hominins originated in Europe
  • Thought to be the missing link between humans and apes
  • Later assigned H. erectus

  Peking Man

  

  • More of a sense of landscape and home
  • Skull was lost in World War II

  Skull of elderly male

  

  • Arguments that this person was cared for
  • "Grandpa can't eat. We need to feed him somehow"

  Homo heidelbergensis

  

  • Question of ability to control fire?
    • Gesher Benot-Ya'aqov Jordan River
    • Clear evidence of hearths
  • Building shelter
    • Terra Amata, France
    • First example of human-made shelter
  • Hunting
  • Ritual? Maybe?

  Homo neaderthalensis (Neanderthals)

  

  • Discovered in Germany
  • Similar cranial capacity
  • Very cold vibes
  • Lots of cultural activity
  • WE HAVE SOME SNIPPETS OF NEANDERTHAL DNA

  

  Homo sapiens!

  

  Behavioral Modernity

  • At some point, our ability to think changes
    • To grasp abstract behaviors, plan, predict
    • Death, what happens after death
  • "Symbolic thinking"
  • Set to answer the question: what makes us different from other animals?
  • Changes in sociality

  <aside> 💡 How can we as archeologists use an analysis of material goods to project something about the inter-workings of these individuals?

  </aside>

  • Primate models of behavior or human models of behavior

  Modernity Materials

  • Stone tools: planning, understanding of material properties
  • Paintings: abstract representation of the world
  • Personal adornments: beads, shells, items worn for decorative purpose

  Behavior Modernity as Revolution

  • Sudden change at 40,000 ya?

    

    

    • Slow ape-up in evolution rather than a revolution