Early Hominids Part II

1
Early Hominids Part II

• February 2, 2005

2
Homo habilis

• 2.2mya 1.6 mya
• Larger brain (700-850 cc)
• Generalized dentition
• Sexual dimorphism
• Oldowan tools

3
Homo habilis

• Oldowan tools
• Stone hand axes
• Scrapers
• Horn tools
• Indicator of intelligence

4
Homo habilis

• Hypothesis 1 hunters home base
• Hypothesis 2 scavengers processing center
• H. habilis probably scavenged meat to supplement
  seeds and nuts

5
Homo erectus

• 2mya 500kya
• First to control fire
• Built shelters
• Acheulian stone tools
• Seasonal hunting and gathering

6
Homo erectus

• Acheulian stone tool technology
• Hand axe

7
Homo erectus

• Famous examples
• Nariokotome Boy (Turkana)
• Java Man (Trinil)
• Peking Man (Zhoukoudian)

8
Homo erectus
9
Homo sapiens

• Archaic Homo sapiens 300-30kya
• (Iraq, Zambia, China)
• Neandertals (Homo sapiens neandertalensis)
  130-30kya
• Anatomically modern Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens
  sapiens) 200kya

10
Neandertals

• Wore clothes
• Hunted reindeer, mammoth and wooly rhino

• Rugged bones, muscles
• Mousterian tools
• Very large brains

11
Neandertals

• Cold Adaptations
• Stocky build
• Long face and nose, large nasal cavities
• Rugged bones and muscles

12
Core/Blade Tools
13
Could they talk?
14
Neandertals
15
Skhul Skull
16
Neandertal-What Happened?

• Separate lineage descended from H. erectus
• Interbred with modern H. sapiens in Europe
• Too specialized to evolve into modern H. sapiens

17
Homo sapiens sapiens

• Appeared in Africa 200,000 years ago
• Left Africa 135,000 years ago
• Europe 40,000 years ago
• Australia 60,000 years ago?
• Americas 20-30,000 years ago?

18
Tool Technology
19
Cave Art
20
Homo sapiens sapiens

• Out of Africa
• Multiple waves of migration out of Africa
• Multiregional
• H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens independently
  in different regions

21
Eve Hypothesis

• Variation on Out of Africa
• mtDNA
• Inherited through mother
• Varies only in case of mutation
• One female ancestor, 200kya

22
Brain Size

• Homo sapiens sapiens 1,350
• Homo sapiens neandertalensis 1,430
• Archaic Homo sapiens 1,135
• Homo erectus 900
• Homo habilis 800
• Modern Chimpanzees 390
• (Cubic Centimeters)

23
Time Line