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