Chapter 11

April 6, 2010

Humans

• Kingdom: Animalia• Phylum: Chordata• Class: Mammalia• Order: Primates• Family: Homonidea• Genus: Homo• Species: Sapiens• Subspecies: Homo sapiens sapiens

Other Primates

• Suborder: Haplorhini– Humans, tarsiers, monkeys, apes– Infraorder: Catarrhinni

• Humans, old world monkeys, apes– Infraorder: Platyrrhinii

• New world monkeys

• Suborder: Strepsirhini– Lemurs, lorises, indiriids

Primates

• Hominoidea – superfamily including humans, the small apes (gibbons), and the great apes (chimps, orangutans, gorillas)

• Similarities in blood and protein chemistry• Humans share 98% of DNA with chimps• Pentadactyl – having 5 fingers and toes• Prehensile – ability of hands and feet to

grasp objects

Primates

• Clavicle and scapula (shoulder blade) allow for great range of movement and strength

• Reduced sense of smell compared to other mammals

• Stereoscopic, color vision• More mobility in head movement versus other

mammals• Molars, canines, and incisors – adaptation to

generalist diet• Large brains

Adaptations to Arboreal Existence?

• Prehensile hands and feet, shoulder and arm design

• color stereoscopic vision – for judging distance, identifying food and predators

• Low numbers of offspring• Molecular clock – when did humans

diverge from chimp ancestors?– mtDNA from mother– 5 to 10 mya

Early Primates• Arose 70 may during late Cretaceous• Related by common ancestor to insectivores and bats• Extinct suborder Plesiadapiformes – appeared in North America

65 mya– Arboreal– Size of squirrels or house cats – rodent-like with primate teeth– Ate seeds and insects– Died out 55 mya

• 23 to 14 mya – great increase in ape diversity and range

• Extensive forests covered Africa and Eurasia• 20 different genera of Caterrhinii apes from

Africa, to western Europe, to southeast Asia– Pliopithecus – western Europe – similar to modern

gibbons– Gigantopithecus – China and India – larger than

modern gorillas• Ramapithecines – jaws and teeth like humans

and apes; skull like orangutans– 14 mya – climate changes requiring adaptation to

savanna climate – Lived at forest edge– Bipedal – uses less energy– Reduced canines

Gigantopithecus

Pliopithecus sp. (1); Dryopithecus sp. (2); Australopithecus afarensis (3)Homo habilis (4) (Mammiferi, Primati).

Pliopithecus sp.

Hominid• Hominid refers to humans and extinct bipedal

primate that are ancestral or closely related to humans

• Genus Australopithecus– Africa 5 mya– Forest-savanna ecotone– Reduced canines

Australopithecines

• Appeared between 4 and 3.8 mya• Disappeared by 1 mya• Fossils found only in Africa• 3.3–5 feet; 66–132 pounds; small brains• Closer to modern chimps and gorillas than

modern humans• No evidence of tool making or fire use• Ate nuts and grasses

Early Homo• Oldest Homo fossils 2.5 myo and from

Olduvai Gorge, east Africa• Homo habilis (handy man)• Small hominid• Bipedal• Increased brain size• Manufacture and use of specialized tools• Oldowan Tradition

Homo habilis

Homo erectus

Acheulean Tradition

Early Homo• Homo erectus – “Java Man” and “Peking

Man”• Older than Homo sapiens, younger than

Homo habilis• Found in western Europe, Republic of

Georgia, Java, China, east and south Africa

• 1.7 mya–300,000 years ago• Acheulean Tradition• Used fire

Homo sapiens• More prominent brow and thicker skull than

modern-day humans• Appeared 400,000 years ago in Europe, Africa,

and Asia• Eve Hypothesis – all modern humans

descended from one African Homo sapiens female that lived 200,000 years ago

• Multiregional Model – Homo sapiens evolved from Homo erectus separately at two or more geographic locations

• Most Anthropologists support Out of Africa Model

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis• Fossils from 130,000 to 35,000 years ago• Europe and Near East• Only hominids that unquestionably did not

evolve in sub-Saharan Africa• Not ancestral to modern humans• Evolved from archaic Homo sapiens• Mousterian Tradition• Fire, clothing, shelter, rituals, music

Homo sapiens sapiens• Adapted to warm

conditons and open countryside

• Human Revolution – 50,000 years ago rapid expansion inside of and out of Africa; creating art and ritual burials