Becoming Human Video Series – 15 extra credit points
 Watch all three segments and answer the questions on the
worksheets – write your answer legibly on the worksheets
 Video links also available on the learning web under video
links
 If you would like to do the extra credit assignment, please
pick up the worksheet before leaving
 Due April 14, 2015 in class
 Part 1 - https://youtu.be/AD47C8jP6Hw
 Part 2 - https://youtu.be/kuT7N5aoP48
 Part 3 - https://youtu.be/HAaM1XHXPdc
Pre-Australopithecines – first possibly bipedal primates = hominin
Sahelanthropus [7 mya] oldest
Orrorin tugenesis [6 mya]
Ardepithecus ramidus (5.8 to 4.4 mya)
Australopithecines [4.2 to 1.2 mya] - definitely bipedal
A. afarensis [3.5 mya] could be ancestor of all later hominins
Robust Australopithecines [2.5 to1.2 mya]- sagittal crest, huge teeth, most
derived, extinct
Early Homo species
H. habilis [2 to 1.5 mya] first tool use - Oldowan, increased brain size
H. erectus
first to leave Africa, more sophisticated tools, increased brain size
Four kinds of hominins lived about 1.8 mya near Lake Turkana N.
Kenya: Australopithecus boisei, H. rudolfensis, H. habilis and H.
erectus foraged in the same area. We don’t know if they interacted.
 H. habilis
 H. rudolfensis
 H. erectus
 H. ergaster
 H. antecessor
 H. heidelbergensis
 H. neanderthalensis
 H. floresiensis
 H. sapiens
 1.9 – 0.1 mya
 “Upright Man” – so named because





they were some of the first bipedal
hominids identified
Brain size – 700-1250 cc
Low forehead
Pronounced Brow ridge –
supraorbital torus
Sagital keel
Nuchal torus
Nuchal Torus
Supraorbital Tori
KNM-ER 3733, ~1.7 mya
E. African forms cranial capacity ~850-900 cc
 H. erectus brain: 750-1250(?) cc
 Find A. boisei and H. erectus in the same deposit
 Live together? Compete?
 First species to leave Africa
 Not all of them left
 Physical Characteristics
 Jaws were still large but smaller
than those of earlier hominin
 Body proportions are similar to
modern humans
 Limb proportions reflect a modern
bipedal form, and suggest
endurance running
 Narrow pelvic proportions
indicate rapid brain growth
continuing after birth
 Had greater limb length, so more efficient bipedalism
 First with cranial capacity near range of H. sapiens
 Efficient scavenger of meat; gave wider range of




nutrients
Ranged widely from Spain to Indonesia
Major change in adaptive strategies
Transformed hominin evolution to human evolution
Major change in adaptive strategy influenced pattern
and process of human evolution
Note how different H. erectus is from much earlier A. afarensis.
 Early hominin fossils have been found only in Africa,
so it seems that hominins were restricted to Africa for
as long as 5 my
 Close to 2 mya, hominins expanded out of Africa into
other areas of the Old World
 The later, more widely dispersed hominins such as
H. erectus were
 physically larger,
 more committed to a terrestrial habitat and
 used elaborate stone tools
 There is some variation among the different
geographical groups of these hominins, and
anthropologists still debate how to classify them
 After 2 mya, there’s less diversity in these hominins
than in their pre-australopithecine and
australopithecine predecessors
 There is universal agreement that the hominins
found outside of Africa are members of genus
Homo
 Homo erectus is the species for which there is the
most evidence
 The first hominin to expand into new regions of the
Old World
 As a species, H. erectus existed for over 1 my
 We can understand its success as a hominid species
based on behavioral capacities (i.e. more elaborate
tool use) and physical changes (i.e. larger)
 H. habilis
 H. rudolfensis
 H. erectus
 H. ergaster
 H. antecessor
 H. heidelbergensis
 H. neanderthalensis
 H. floresiensis
 H. sapiens
 Discoveries from East Africa have established
Homo erectus by 1.7 mya
 Some researchers see anatomical differences
between the African and Asian discoveries
 They place African fossils into the Homo ergaster
species
 Analyses show that H. erectus/ergaster represents
closely related species and possibly geographical
varieties of a single species
Homo erectus
Southeast Asia
Homo ergaster
East Africa
Asian H.erectus:
African H. erectus
(aka H. ergaster)
 Less robust
 More robust
 Thinner brow ridge
 Thicker brow ridge
 Brain: 900-1100 cc
 Brain: 750-1000 cc
 Thicker cranial bones
 Thinner cranial bones
 1.79-0.3 mya
 1.8-0.3 mya
Javan specimen’s cranial capacity: ~900-1000 cc
 Living in different environments over much of the Old
World, H. erectus populations shared several common
physical traits including:
 Body size
 Brain size
 Cranial shape
H. habilis and H. erectus
 Cranial capacities 700 cm3
to 1250 cm3
 Brain size closely linked
with overall body size
 H. erectus is larger-bodied
than early Homo, but
relative brain size is about
the same
 Relative brain size of H.
erectus is considerably less
encephalized than later
members of genus Homo
Homo Sapien
Skull
• Thick cranial bone, large browridges (supraorbital torus
[pl. tori]), and projecting nuchal torus
• Braincase long and low, with little forehead development
• Cranium wider at base, compared with earlier and later
species
 Sagittal keel, a small ridge
from front to back along the
sagittal suture, reflects bone
buttressing in a very robust
skull, rather than a specific
function
 Nuchal Torus - A
projection of bone in the
back of the cranium where
neck muscles attach; used
to hold up the head

Homo erectus evolved first in Africa, supported
by evidence of:
1.
2.
3.
Earlier hominins prior to the appearance of H.
erectus occurring in Africa
1.7 mya fossils at East Turkana, in Kenya, and not
long after at other sites in East Africa
1.8 mya populations in southeastern Europe; 1.6 mya
populations in Indonesia, suggesting quick
migrations
Homo erectus fossil site and migration routes
Homo erectus fossil site and migration routes


The earliest H. erectus fossils come from East
Turkana, from the same area where earlier
australopithecine and early Homo fossils have
been found
It seems likely that in East Africa around 2.0 –1.8
mya, some form of early Homo evolved into H.
erectus
 The smallest cranium of any H. erectus from
anywhere in Africa
 Dated at 1.5 mya, the skull has a cranial capacity of
only 691 cm3
 The skull shows more gracile features than other
East African H. erectus individuals
 It’s been proposed that this find is a female
 In 1984, Kamoya Kimeu discovered a small piece of
skull on the west side of Lake Turkana at the site
known as Nariokotome
 The excavations produced the most complete H.
erectus skeleton ever found
 Facial bones, a pelvis, and most of the limb bones,
ribs, and vertebrae
 The Nariokotome skeleton is
dated to about 1.6 mya
 The skeleton is that of a boy
about 8 years of age with an
estimated height of 5 feet 3
inches
 May have reached 6 feet by
adulthood
 Find by Louis Leakey in 1960, includes well-
preserved cranial vault with small part of upper
face
 Dated at 1.4 mya, the cranial capacity is the
largest of all the African H. erectus specimens
 The browridge is the largest known for any
hominin, but the walls of the braincase are thin
 Similar to East African H. erectus specimens; differs
from thick cranial bones in Asian H. erectus
 Female pelvis with
very wide birth canal,
indicating largebrained infants in
utero
 Newborn H. erectus
may have had a brain
comparable to typical
modern human baby
 When compared with Nariokotome
pelvis it suggests considerable sexual
dimorphism in skeletal anatomy is
linked to reproduction and body size
 Middle Awash of Ethiopia, date 1 mya
 Complete cranium more like Asian H. erectus than
most earlier East African remains discussed
 Discounts argument that East African fossils are
different species than Asian H. erectus
Early fossil Homo erectus from Africa
•KNM-ER 3833, from Koobi Fora, Kenya, 1.6
million years old
•KNM-ER 3733, from Ileret, Kenya, 1.65
million years old
•OH 9, from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,
around 1.2 million years old
•KNM-WT 15000, from Nariokotome,
Kenya, 1.5 million years old.
 Evolved in Africa about 2.0 mya
 A greater range of physical variation in specimens
outside of Africa at about 1.8 mya
 Reached Java, Indonesia by 1.6 mya
 Equates to less than 200,000 years to travel from
East Africa to Southeast Asia
 The discovery of the
Dmanisi materials in
Republic of Georgia
began in the early 1990s
 Four well-preserved
crania, with one being
almost complete
 Dates to ~1.77 mya
• Best-preserved remains of hominins of this
age found anywhere outside of Africa
 The most complete specimen has a less robust
and thinner brow ridge, a projecting lower face,
and a large upper canine
 All three Dmanisi crania have small cranial
capacities
 A number of stone tools, similar to Olduwan
industry from Africa, have been recovered at
Dmanisi
 Remains from four individuals allows
comparisons with H. erectus from other areas
 Skull found of an
older individual
 No teeth and
evidence of severe
bone loss
 Would have needed
to be cared for
 Six sites in eastern Java,
dating from 1.6 mya to 1
mya, during the Early to
Middle Pleistocene
 The Ngandong
individuals date from
27,000 ya
 Largest collection of H. erectus remains found to date
 40 male and female adults and children near Beijing,
at Zhoukoudian, excavated beginning in 1920s
 14 skullcaps, other cranial pieces, more than 100
isolated teeth, and scattering of postcranial remains
 Site occupied 530,000 years
“Peking Man” Zhoukoudian
Cranial capacity ~1100
 Interpretations for this range from ritualistic
treatment or cannibalism to the suggestion that
the H. erectus remains are the leftovers of the
meals of giant hyenas
 Cultural remains of more than 100,000 artifacts
indicate site occupation of several thousand years
 Lack of evidence of the control of fire and
suggestive evidence of bone accumulation of
carnivores cast doubt on whether the cave was
home or hearth
 Reconstructed cranium of
Homo erectus from
Lantian, China, dated to
approximately 1.15 mya
 Two adult females in
association with firetreated pebbles and flakes
 Mandible with several
teeth similar to those at
Zhoukoudian
 Date 800,000- 580,000 ya, at similar age to
Zhoukoudian
 Restored crania using imaging techniques
allows comparative analysis
 Fauna and paleoenvironmental analysis
suggests limited hunting of young and old
animals
 Closely related to
Zhoukoudian finds,
but later
 H. habilis
 H. rudolfensis
 H. erectus
 H. ergaster
 H. antecessor
 H. heidelbergensis
 H. neanderthalensis
 H. floresiensis
 H. sapiens
 Atapuerca region in northern Spain, 1.2 mya
 partial jaw with few teeth; closely resembles Dmanisi
fossils; simple flake tools and animal bones
 Spanish paleoanthropologists place these hominins into
a species called Homo antecessor
 Gran Dolina, dated to appx 850,000-780,000 ya
 Assigning the fossils to a particular species is
problematic, based on the fragmentary nature of the
remains
 From central Italy,
provisionally dated to
800,000–900,000 ya.
 A specimen close to H.
erectus, or perhaps a
different species?
 Expansion of the brain enabled H. erectus to
develop sophisticated tools that span two stone
tool industries: Oldowan and Acheulian
 Acheulian Biface - stone worked on both sides and used
to cut, scrape, pound, and dig
 Raw materials transported more consistently and
for longer distances
 Suggests foresight: knew they needed a stone tool
in the future and carried what they regarded as
useful
 Pertaining to a stone tool industry from the Lower and
Middle Pleistocene
 Characterized by a large proportion of bifacial tools
(flaked on both sides)
 Multifunctional tools, including uses for butchery
 A basic tool of the
Acheulian tradition.
•
•
•
•
•
Bifaces, stone tools worked on both sides
Flatter with straighter, sharper sides than Oldowan tools
More efficient tool
Basic Acheulian tool is the hand axe – used for meat
preparation
Also made Scrapers, used for cleaning animal flesh and
cleavers, used to break animal bones
 1.8 MYA in East Africa
 E. Turkana
 1.6 MYA in Java
 Sangiran
 1.8 MYA in Eastern Europe
 Dmanisi
 Australopithecine= 4.4 mya to 1 mya
 Did not go extinct that long ago
 Overlap with genus Homo
 Hominin = 2.5 mya to present
 2.5-1.9 mya: something gives rise to Homo
 H. habilis: 1.9 mya
 H. erectus: 1.8 mya
 White-Faced Capuchin
 New World Monkey in
Central and South America
 Most Encephalized
monkey
 Omnivorous though fruit is
a big part of their diet
 Highly territorial – they use
a double threat technique
when confronted
Superfamily: Ceboidea
Family: Cebidae
Subfamily: Cebinae
Genus and Species: Cebus capucinus