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Hands-On Human Evolution: a Laboratory Based Approach
Hands-on Human Evolution: A Laboratory Based Approach Developed by Margarita Hernandez Center for Precollegiate Education and Training Author: Margarita Hernandez Curriculum Team: Julie Bokor, Sven Engling A huge thank you to….. Contents: 4. Author’s note 5. Introduction 6. Tips about the curriculum 8. Lesson Summaries 9. Lesson Sequencing Guide 10. Vocabulary 11. Next Generation Sunshine State Standards- Science 12. Background information 13. Lessons 122. Resources 123. Content Assessment 129. Content Area Expert Evaluation 131. Teacher Feedback Form 134. Student Feedback Form Lesson 1: Hominid Evolution Lab 19. Lesson 1 . Student Lab Pages . Student Lab Key . Human Evolution Phylogeny . Lab Station Numbers . Skeletal Pictures Lesson 2: Chromosomal Comparison Lab 48. Lesson 2 . Student Activity Pages . Student Lab Key Lesson 3: Naledi Jigsaw 77. Lesson 3 Author’s note Introduction Page The validity and importance of the theory of biological evolution runs strong throughout the topic of biology. Evolution serves as a foundation to many biological concepts by tying together the different tenants of biology, like ecology, anatomy, genetics, zoology, and taxonomy. It is for this reason that evolution plays a prominent role in the state and national standards and deserves thorough coverage in a classroom. A prime example of evolution can be seen in our own ancestral history, and this unit provides students with an excellent opportunity to consider the multiple lines of evidence that support hominid evolution. By allowing students the chance to uncover the supporting evidence for evolution themselves, they discover the ways the theory of evolution is supported by multiple sources. It is our hope that the opportunity to handle our ancestors’ bone casts and examine real molecular data, in an inquiry based environment, will pique the interest of students, ultimately leading them to conclude that the evidence they have gathered thoroughly supports the theory of evolution. -
Models and Methods of Tectonic Geomorphology and the Reconstruction of Hominin Landscapes
This is a repository copy of Landscapes of human evolution : models and methods of tectonic geomorphology and the reconstruction of hominin landscapes. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/11178/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Bailey, G.N. orcid.org/0000-0003-2656-830X, Reynolds, Sally and King, G.C.P. (2011) Landscapes of human evolution : models and methods of tectonic geomorphology and the reconstruction of hominin landscapes. Journal of Human Evolution. pp. 257-80. ISSN 0047-2484 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.01.004 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ This is an author-created pdf. Cite as: In press, J Hum Evol (2010), doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.01.004 Landscapes of human evolution: models and methods of tectonic geomorphology and the reconstruction of hominin landscapes Geoffrey N. Bailey 1 Sally C. Reynolds 2, 3 Geoffrey C. -
Homo Erectus Infancy and Childhood the Turning Point in the Evolution of Behavioral Development in Hominids
10 Homo erectus Infancy and Childhood The Turning Point in the Evolution of Behavioral Development in Hominids Sue Taylor Parker In man, attachment is mediated by several different sorts of behaviour of which the most obvious are crying and calling, babbling and smiling, clinging, non-nutritional sucking, and locomotion as used in approach, following and seeking. —John Bowlby, Attachment The evolution of hominid behavioral ontogeny can be recon - structed using two lines of evidence: first, comparative neontological data on the behavior and development of living hominoid species (humans and the great apes), and second, comparative paleontolog- ical and archaeological evidence associated with fossil hominids. (Although behavior rarely fossilizes, it can leave significant traces.) 1 In this chapter I focus on paleontological and neontological evi - dence relevant to modeling the evolution of the following hominid adaptations: (1) bipedal locomotion and stance; (2) tool use and tool making; (3) subsistence patterns; (4) growth and development and other life history patterns; (5) childbirth; (6) childhood and child care; and (7) cognition and cognitive development. In each case I present a cladistic model for the origins of the characters in question. 2 Specifically, I review pertinent data on the following widely recog - nized hominid genera and species: Australopithecus species (A. afarensis , A. africanus , and A. robustus [Paranthropus robustus]) , early Homo species (Australopithecus gahri , Homo habilis , and Homo rudolfensis) , and Middle Pleistocene Homo species (Homo erectus , Homo ergaster , and others), which I am calling erectines . Copyrighted Material www.sarpress.org 279 S UE TAYLOR PARKER Table 10.1 Estimated Body Weights and Geological Ages of Fossil Hominids _______________________________________________________________________ Species Geologic Age Male Weight Female Weight (MYA) (kg) (kg) _______________________________________________________________________ A. -
Neither Chimpanzee Nor Human, Ardipithecus Reveals the Surprising Ancestry of Both Tim D
SPECIAL FEATURE: PERSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVE SPECIAL FEATURE: Neither chimpanzee nor human, Ardipithecus reveals the surprising ancestry of both Tim D. Whitea,1, C. Owen Lovejoyb, Berhane Asfawc, Joshua P. Carlsona, and Gen Suwad,1 aDepartment of Integrative Biology, Human Evolution Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; bDepartment of Anthropology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242–0001; cRift Valley Research Service, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and dThe University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0033, Japan Edited by Neil H. Shubin, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, and approved September 10, 2014 (received for review April 25, 2014) Australopithecus fossils were regularly interpreted during the late 20th century in a framework that used living African apes, especially chimpanzees, as proxies for the immediate ancestors of the human clade. Such projection is now largely nullified by the discovery of Ardipithecus. In the context of accumulating evidence from genetics, developmental biology, anatomy, ecology, biogeography, and geology, Ardipithecus alters perspectives on how our earliest hominid ancestors—and our closest living relatives—evolved. human evolution | Australopithecus | hominid | Ethiopia “...the stock whence two or more species have chimpanzees, can serve as adequate repre- (5). Indeed, a widely used textbook still pro- sprung, need in no respect be intermediate sentations of the ancestral past. claims that, “Overall, Au. afarensis seems very between those species.” much like a missing link between the living Background T. H. Huxley, 1860 (1) Africanapesandlaterhomininsinitsdental, ’ Darwin s human evolution scenario attemp- cranial, and skeletal morphology” (6). Charles Darwin famously suggested that ted to explain hominid tool use, bipedality, Australopithecus can no longer be legiti- Africa was humanity’s most probable birth enlarged brains, and reduced canine teeth (2). -
Mechanics of Bipedalism: an Exploration of Skeletal Morphology and Force Plate Anaylsis Erin Forse May 04, 2007 a Senior Thesis
MECHANICS OF BIPEDALISM: AN EXPLORATION OF SKELETAL MORPHOLOGY AND FORCE PLATE ANAYLSIS ERIN FORSE MAY 04, 2007 A SENIOR THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- LA CROSSE Abstract There are several theories on how humans learned to walk, and while these all address the adaptations needed for walking, none adequately describes how our early ancestors developed the mechanism to walk. Our earliest recognizable relatives, the australopithecines, have several variations on a theme: walking upright. There are varied changes as australopithecines approach the genus Homo. These changes occurred in the spine, legs, pelvis, and feet, and changes are also in the cranium, arms and hands, but these are features that may have occurred simultaneously with bipedalism. Several analyses of Australopithecus afarensis, specifically specimen A.L. 288-1 ("Lucy"), have shown that the skeletal changes are intermediate between apes and humans. Force plate analyses are used to determine if the gait pattern of humans resembles that of apes, and if it is a likely development pattern. The results of both these analyses will give insight into how modern humans developed bipedalism. Introduction Bipedalism is classified as movement of the post-cranial body in a vertical position, with the lower limbs shifting as an inverted pendulum, progressing forward. Simply, it is upright walking. Several theories have addressed why bipedalism evolved in hominids, with some unlikely ideas taking hold throughout the history of the issue. Other theories are more likely, but all lack the same characteristic: answering how bipedalism developed. -
Human Evolution: a Paleoanthropological Perspective - F.H
PHYSICAL (BIOLOGICAL) ANTHROPOLOGY - Human Evolution: A Paleoanthropological Perspective - F.H. Smith HUMAN EVOLUTION: A PALEOANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE F.H. Smith Department of Anthropology, Loyola University Chicago, USA Keywords: Human evolution, Miocene apes, Sahelanthropus, australopithecines, Australopithecus afarensis, cladogenesis, robust australopithecines, early Homo, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Australopithecus africanus/Australopithecus garhi, mitochondrial DNA, homology, Neandertals, modern human origins, African Transitional Group. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Reconstructing Biological History: The Relationship of Humans and Apes 3. The Human Fossil Record: Basal Hominins 4. The Earliest Definite Hominins: The Australopithecines 5. Early Australopithecines as Primitive Humans 6. The Australopithecine Radiation 7. Origin and Evolution of the Genus Homo 8. Explaining Early Hominin Evolution: Controversy and the Documentation- Explanation Controversy 9. Early Homo erectus in East Africa and the Initial Radiation of Homo 10. After Homo erectus: The Middle Range of the Evolution of the Genus Homo 11. Neandertals and Late Archaics from Africa and Asia: The Hominin World before Modernity 12. The Origin of Modern Humans 13. Closing Perspective Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary UNESCO – EOLSS The basic course of human biological history is well represented by the existing fossil record, although there is considerable debate on the details of that history. This review details both what is firmly understood (first echelon issues) and what is contentious concerning humanSAMPLE evolution. Most of the coCHAPTERSntention actually concerns the details (second echelon issues) of human evolution rather than the fundamental issues. For example, both anatomical and molecular evidence on living (extant) hominoids (apes and humans) suggests the close relationship of African great apes and humans (hominins). That relationship is demonstrated by the existing hominoid fossil record, including that of early hominins. -
A Reanalysis of Hominid Phylogeny
University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2004 Taxonomical structures of Australopithecus : a reanalysis of hominid phylogeny David Alexander Lukaszek The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Lukaszek, David Alexander, "Taxonomical structures of Australopithecus : a reanalysis of hominid phylogeny" (2004). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 7081. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/7081 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY The University of Montana Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. **Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature** Yes, I grant permission No, I do not grant permission ______ Author’s Signal Date: uf Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author’s explicit consent. 8/98 TAXONOMICAL STRUCTURES OF AUSTRALOPITHECUS: A REANALYSIS OF HOMINID PHYTOGENY By David Alexander Lukaszek A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The University of Montana November 4, 2004 Approved by: Chairperson Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP37882 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. -
Using Sub-Species Level Phylogenies
1 Reconstructing the ancestral phenotypes of great apes and 2 humans (Homininae) using sub-species level phylogenies 3 Keaghan Yaxley1 and Robert Foley2 4 1Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK 5 2Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, UK 6 7 8 1 9 Abstract 10 By their close affinity, the African great apes are of interest to the study of human evolution. 11 While numerous researchers have described the ancestors we share with these species with 12 reference to extant great apes, few have done so with phylogenetic comparative methods. 13 One obstacle to the application of these techniques is the within-species phenotypic variation 14 found in this group. Here we leverage this variation, modelling common ancestors using 15 Ancestral State Reconstructions (ASRs) with reference to subspecies level trait data. A 16 subspecies level phylogeny of the African great apes and humans was estimated from full- 17 genome mtDNA sequences and used to implement ASRs for fifteen continuous traits known 18 to vary between great ape subspecies. While including within-species phenotypic variation 19 increased phylogenetic signal for our traits and improved the performance of our ASRs, 20 whether this was done through the inclusion of subspecies phylogeny or through the use of 21 existing methods made little difference. Our ASRs corroborate previous findings that the Last 22 Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos was a chimp-like animal, 23 but also suggest that the LCA of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas was an animal 24 unlike any extant African great ape. -
Environmental Hypotheses of Hominin Evolution
YEARBOOK OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 41:93–136 (1998) Environmental Hypotheses of Hominin Evolution RICHARD POTTS Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0112 KEY WORDS climate; habitat; adaptation; variability selection; fossil humans; stone tools ABSTRACT The study of human evolution has long sought to explain major adaptations and trends that led to the origin of Homo sapiens. Environmental scenarios have played a pivotal role in this endeavor. They represent statements or, more commonly, assumptions concerning the adap- tive context in which key hominin traits emerged. In many cases, however, these scenarios are based on very little if any data about the past settings in which early hominins lived. Several environmental hypotheses of human evolution are presented in this paper. Explicit test expectations are laid out, and a preliminary assessment of the hypotheses is made by examining the environmental records of Olduvai, Turkana, Olorgesailie, Zhoukoudian, Combe Grenal, and other hominin localities. Habitat-specific hypotheses have pre- vailed in almost all previous accounts of human adaptive history. The rise of African dry savanna is often cited as the critical event behind the develop- ment of terrestrial bipedality, stone toolmaking, and encephalized brains, among other traits. This savanna hypothesis has been countered recently by the woodland/forest hypothesis, which claims that Pliocene hominins had evolved in and were primarily attracted to closed habitats. The ideas that human evolution was fostered by cold habitats in higher latitudes or by seasonal variations in tropical and temperate zones also have their propo- nents. An alternative view, the variability selection hypothesis, states that large disparities in environmental conditions were responsible for important episodes of adaptive evolution. -
Holen Et Al. Reply Replying to J
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS ARISING Contesting early archaeology in California ARISING FROM S. R. Holen et al. Nature 544, 479–483 (2017); doi:10.1038/nature22065 The peopling of the Americas is a topic of ongoing scientific interest 24,000-year-old Inglewood Mammoth Site (IMS), Maryland, USA. and rigorous debate1,2. Holen et al.3 add to these discussions with their As at the CM site, the IMS contains the remains of a single juvenile recent report of a 130,000-year-old archaeological site in southern proboscidean recovered in situ from a sealed deposit of sandy clays California, USA: the Cerutti Mastodon (CM) site, which includes the with pebbles and cobbles6. Haynes6 provides descriptions and images fragmentary remains of a single mastodon (Mammut americanum), of curvilinear and spiral ‘green-bone’ fractures on cranial, axial and spatially associated stone cobbles, and associated lithic debris that appendicular specimens. Some of these fractures are recent in origin, they claim indicates prehistoric hominin activity. In sharp contrast, we probably related to heavy earthmoving equipment working on-site6. contend that the CM record is more parsimoniously explained as the Other damage may reflect perimortem injuries sustained by the result of common geological and taphonomic processes, and does not mammoth. No evidence of prehistoric hominin activities are noted indicate prehistoric hominin involvement. Whereas further investiga- or suspected for the site. Post-burial bone notches, impact points and tions may yet identify unambiguous evidence of hominins in California impact scratches occurred on a number of specimens. around 130,000 years ago, we urge caution in interpreting the current We report a similar record of fractured proboscidean bones at the record. -
Verhaegen M. the Aquatic Ape Evolves
HUMAN EVOLUTION Vol. 28 n.3-4 (237-266) - 2013 Verhaegen M. The Aquatic Ape Evolves: Common Miscon- Study Center for Anthropology, ceptions and Unproven Assumptions About Mechelbaan 338, 2580 Putte, the So-Called Aquatic Ape Hypothesis Belgium E-mail: [email protected] While some paleo-anthropologists remain skeptical, data from diverse biological and anthropological disciplines leave little doubt that human ancestors were at some point in our past semi- aquatic: wading, swimming and/or diving in shallow waters in search of waterside or aquatic foods. However, the exact sce- nario — how, where and when these semi-aquatic adaptations happened, how profound they were, and how they fit into the KEY WORDS: human evolution, hominid fossil record — is still disputed, even among anthro- Littoral theory, Aquarboreal pologists who assume some semi-aquatic adaptations. theory, aquatic ape, AAT, Here, I argue that the most intense phase(s) of semi-aquatic Archaic Homo, Homo erectus, adaptation in human ancestry occurred when populations be- Neanderthal, bipedalism, speech longing to the genus Homo adapted to slow and shallow littoral origins, Alister Hardy, Elaine diving for sessile foods such as shellfish during part(s) of the Morgan, comparative biology, Pleistocene epoch (Ice Ages), possibly along African or South- pachyosteosclerosis. Asian coasts. Introduction The term aquatic ape gives an incorrect impression of our semi-aquatic ancestors. Better terms are in my opinion the coastal dispersal model (Munro, 2010) or the littoral theory of human evolution, but although littoral seems to be a more appropriate biologi- cal term here than aquatic, throughout this paper I will use the well-known and common- ly used term AAH as shorthand for all sorts of waterside and semi-aquatic hypotheses. -
Bipedal Hominins
INTRODUCTION Although captive chimpanzees, bonobos and other great apes have acquired some of the features of There is fairly general agreement that language is a language, including the use of symbols to denote uniquely human accomplishment. Although other objects or actions, they have not displayed species communicate in diverse ways, human anything like recursive syntax, or indeed any language has properties that stand out as special. degree of generativity beyond the occasional 4 The most obvious of these is generativity -the ability combining of symbols in pairs. To quote Pinker, to construct a potentially infinite variety of they simply don’t “get it.” This suggests that the sentences, conveying an infinite variety of common ancestor of humans and chimpanzee was meanings. Animal communication is by contrast almost certainly bereft of anything we might stereotyped and restricted to particular situations, consider to be true language. Human language and typically conveys emotional rather than must therefore have evolved its distinctive propositional information. The generativity of characteristics over the past 6 million years. Some language was noted by Descartes as one of the have claimed that this occurred in a single step, characteristics separating humans from other and recently -perhaps as recently as 170,000 years species, and has also been emphasized more ago, coincident with the emergence of our own recently by Chomsky, as in the following often- species. This is sometimes referred to as the “big quoted passage: bang” theory of language evolution. For example, Bickerton5 asserted that “… true language, via the “The unboundedness of human speech, as an emergence of syntax, was a catastrophic event, expression of limitless thought, is an entirely occurring within the first few generations of Homo different matter (from animal communication), sapiens sapiens (p.