List three features seen on these specimens are characteristic of Homo erectus?

In order to complete this assignment, you will need to view the image file associated with it. There are two versions of this file posted: the original PowerPoint, which is a relatively large file, but that allows you to move images around to compare them directly (in the uploaded files). You can view them in the “Slide Sorter” view and drag images around to view them side by side. The second file is a pdf, which is much smaller and should open on any computer, but you will have to look at the images in order and scroll back and forth through the document to see the images as you need them.

In this assignment, you will investigate the differences and similarities among various Homo specimens and species, and you will look at Homo tool technologies. Consider as you work the skull, dental, and locomotor traits that distinguish these species, and what these traits say about evolutionary processes like natural selection and adaptation to a particular environment. Consider also the trends in the quality of stone tools over time (i.e., the amount of blade edge, size, specialization, raw materials, etc.), and consider what these advancements meant for the hominids who used them. You may use your book and Lessons to help you. You may also browse Lesson 23 for additional pictures of stone tools and AMH and Neandertal differences if this is helpful to you, but it is not required. Be sure to indicate to which specimen you are referring.

Question 1

Look at the pictures of the following Homo erectus specimens in the PowerPoint:

East Africa- KNM-ER 3733 and Nariokotome boy;

Southeast Asia (Indonesia)- Sangiran;

Mainland Asia(China)- “PekingMan” from Zhoukoudian.

This list is in approximate chronological order. Also look at Australopithecus africanus(“Mrs. Ples”) and ananatomically modern human (AMH) for comparison.

List three features seen on these specimens are characteristic of Homo erectus? Look at all views of the skulls to see possible features. Be specific.

Question 2

Some scientists consider Asian Homo erectus and African Homo erectus to be separate species, and call the African species Homo ergaster. The debate lies in the worldview of the researcher: were human ancestors one world-wide, variable species, or were they regional, less variable separate species? This argument is often called “lumping versus splitting” as we explored in the assignment for lesson 20.

As we discussed in earlier assignments, this argument is based on how much variation a researcher is willing to accept in a single hominid species. Given what you have read in your lessons and textbook, or what you see in the accompanying pictures, do you think these should be one or two species? Why? How does the level of modern human variation influence this argument?

This is a critical thinking question; you will be graded on your ability to support your opinion with evidence from the lesson or text and answer the full question thoughtfully.

Question 3

Take a look at the reconstructed Neandertal skull from the site of La Chapelle aux Saints inFrance (40 kya) and anatomically modern human (AMH) skull also from France from the site of Cro-Magnon (27 kya).

List three features seen on the Neandertal specimen that are characteristic of Neandertals (but that are not found on the AMH skull). Also list two features on the AMH skull that are not present in Neandertals.(So, you should be listing 5 well-described features). Look at all views of the skulls to see possible features.

Question 4

Neandertals lived in glacial conditions in Europe. Given this, how would you expect them to look? Think body size, limb proportions, limb lengths, etc. You should reference Bergman’s and Allen’s rules.

Question 5

NOTE: Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic usually refer to European stone tools, while Early, Middle, and Late Stone Age usually refer to African.

Take a look at the Lower Paleolithic or Early Stone Age tools (Oldowan tools and Acheulean handaxes) and the Middle Paleolithic or Middle Stone Age tools (Mousterian flakes). The images in the PowerPoint, Lessons 20-22, and your textbook images can also help you.

What is one difference you see between the Oldowan/Acheulean and Mousterian tool types that indicates that more thought and planning and better skill was required to manufacture the Mousterian tools (compared to the Acheulean or Oldowan)?

Question 6

Take a look at the images from this activity and from the Australopithecine activity from last week. Our ancestors clearly developed and changed through time in certain ways. From a Miocene ape ancestor to us today, many features of the skull have changed.

What are TWO of these changes? When does each change occur in the fossil record? Why might these skull changes have taken place?

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