The second midterm covers the australopithecines and early Homo species (except Homo erectus, which will be on the third exam).
 

STUDY GUIDE

The test material is divided into six categories:  key terms, taxa, sites, people, concepts, and textbook material.  Some ideas fall into two or more of these categories.

TERMS

You may be asked the definitions of some of the following terms but certainly not all of the terms.  You will, however, need to know what these terms mean in order to understand test questions and answers, and you will be expected to use key terms in essay answers.  So try to balance your time in studying these terms.

GENERAL TERMS

• extinct
• family
• subfamily
• genus / genera
• species
• adaptive radiation
• osteodontokeratic
  

• ancestral (primitive) trait
• derived trait
• cranial
• post-cranial
• bipedalism
• prognathism
• diastema
• post-orbital constriction
• cranial capacity
• sagittal crest
• divergent toe
• sexual dimorphism

TAXA

For general taxonomic names, you need to know the definitions of the terms.  For example, you need to know that hominids include all humans (extinct and extant).

For specific taxa, you need to know the type of australopithecine (if applicable), the time period, and the geographic location.  For example, for Australopithecus anamensis you need to know that it is a provisional australopithecine, dates to 4.1 to 3.9 mya, and is found in Kenya, east Africa.  For example, for Homo rudolfensis you need to know that it dates to 2.4 to 1.6 mya and is found in east Africa.

• hominoid
• hominid
• australopithecine
• provisional australopithecine
• gracile australopithecine
• robust australopithecine
• early Homo species

• Ardipithecus ramidus
• Australopithecus anamensis
• Australopithecus bahrelgahzali
• Australopithecus gahri
• Kenyanthropus platyops
• Sahelanthropus chadensis

• Australopithecus afarensis
• Australopithecus africanus

• Paranthropus aethiopicus
• Paranthropus boisei
• Paranthropus robustus

• Homo rudolfensis
• Homo habilis
• Homo ergaster

SITES

What significant australopithecine discoveries were made at each of these sites and what is significant about each discovery?

• Hadar, Ethiopia:  AL 288-1, AL 666-1
• Aramis Ethiopia:  A. ramidus material, BOU-VP 12/130, stone tools, butchered animal bones

• Lake Turkana, Kenya:  KP 29281, KP 29285, KNM-WT 17000, KNM-WT 40000, KNM-ER 992, KNM-ER 1470, KNM-ER 15000

• Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania:  OH 5, OH 7
  
• Laetoli, Tanzania:  LH 4, footprints

• Uraha Hill, Malawi:  UR 501

• Bahr el Ghazal, Chad:  KT 12/H1
• Toros-Menalla, Chad:  Toumai

• Kromdraii, South Africa: TM 1517
  
• Drimolen Cave, South Africa: DNH 7
  
• Taung, South Africa:  Taung child
• Sterkfontein, South Africa:  STS 5
• Swartkrans, South Africa:  SK 54
  

• Dmanisi, Georgia:  D2280

PEOPLE

What significant discoveries are credited to each of these individuals and/or in what countries do (did) they work?

• Raymond Dart
• Robert Broom
• Louis and Mary Leakey
• Richard and Meave Leakey
• Donald Johanson
• Tim White
• Berhane Asfaw
• Gen Suwa
• Alan Walker
• Michel Brunet
• Bernard Ngeneo
• Peter Nzube
• Kamoya Kimeu

CONCEPTS

• status of australopithecines within the hominid family
• general trends in australopithecine physical evolution
• physical similarities and differences between gracile and robust australopithecines
• range of cranial capacities of australopithecines as one group
• evidence of cultural developments by the australopithecines

• general trends in physical evolution of early Homo species
• physical similarities and differences between "large" Homo and "small" Homo
• range of cranial capacities for early Homo species as a group
• cultural developments associated with each early Homo species

• phylogenetic relationships among australopithecines and early Homo species
 

TEXTBOOK MATERIAL

• Orrorin tugenensis
• explanations for the origins of bipedalism
• ecological context for the origins of bipedalism
  
• Australopithecus crassidens
• ecological context of Australopithecus afarensis
• lumping vs. splitting
• key questions in hominin phylogeny (and possible answers)
• stone tool "modes"
• early hominin adaptive radiations
• evolutinary grades of early hominins
  

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS

1.    Fossil specimen UR 501 is significant because

a. it provides tentative evidence of late Miocene humans.
b. it is the type specimen for Homo ergaster.
c. it is the oldest fossil of Homo rudolfensis.
d. it was the first fossil discovery of human remains in South Africa.
e. it is the oldest human remains outside of east Africa and South Africa.

a. Louis and Mary Leakey.
b. Donald Johanson and Tim White.
c. Gen Suwa and Tim White.
d. Meave and Richard Leakey.
e. Raymond Dart.

a. AL 333.
b. AL 288-1.
c. LH 4.
d. OH 5.
e. KNM-WT 40000.

a. Australopithecus afarensis
b. Kenyanthropus platyops
c. Australopithecus africanus
d. Australopithecus gahri
e. Paranthropus robustus

a. 1.8 to 1.1 mya
b. 2.5 to 2.6 mya
c. 2.7 to 2.3 mya
d. 2.2 to 1.3 mya
e. 4.0 to 2.5 mya

7.    True or False:  Cranial capacities of the australopithecines range from 410 to 530 cc.

8.    True or False:  The type specimen for Paranthropus boisei is KNM-WT 17000, which was recovered from Lake Turkana, Kenya by Richard Leakey and Alan Walker.

9.    True or False:    The three types of australopithecines are provisional, gracile and robust.

10.   True or False:  Because australopithecines lived in caves, we find their skeletal remains in many South African limestone caves.
 

Click here for answers to the objective practice questions.
 

SHORT-ANSWER ESSAY QUESTIONS

1.    Compare and contrast the cranial anatomy of gracile and robust australopithecines.

2.    What adaptive advantages might the first bipedal humans have experienced compared to quadrupedal primate relatives?

3.    What are the possible phylogenetic relationships among the australopithecines?

4.    Do you think the australopithecines should be classified in the family Hominidae or in a new family Australopithecidae?  Why?

5.    Which australopithecine species overlapped in time and space?  What is the significance of this potential coexistence?

6.    What is your opinion about the classification of australopithecines into four genera and 10 species - based on the current fossil evidence, is this substantiated or not?

7.    Compare and contrast Oldowan and Acheulean stone tools.

8.    What are possible relationships among human migrations from Africa, physical changes in Homo species, and cultural developments?