Chapter 9, Paleoanthropology

1. Chapter 9, Paleoanthropology Key Terms

2. protohominidThe earliest members of the hominid lineage, as yet basically unrepresented in the fossil record; thus, their structure and behavior are reconstructed hypothetically. • paleoecologistsScientists who study ancient environments.

3. artifactsMaterial traces of hominid behavior. • taphonomyThe study of how bones and other materials came to be buried in the earth and preserved as fossils.

4. contextThe environmental setting where an archeological trace is found. • chronometric datingA dating technique that gives an estimate in actual numbers of years.

5. stratigraphyStudy of the sequential layering of deposits. • biostratigraphyDating method based on evolutionary changes within an evolving lineage.

6. paleomagnetismDating methodbased on the shifting of the geomagnetic pole. • flakeThin edged fragment removed from a core.

7. coreStone reduced by flake removal, and not necessarily a “tool” itself. • microlithsSmall stone tools usually produced from narrow blades punched from a core; found especially in Africa during the latter part of the Pleistocene.

8. pressure flakingA method of removing flakes from a core by pressing a pointed implement against the stone. • scenariosReconstructions derived from various scientific data.

9. environmental determinismAn interpretation that links simple environmental changes directly to a major evolutionary shift in an organism. • stable carbon isotopesIsotopes of carbon that are produced in plants in differing proportions.

10. evolutionary pulse theoryA view that postulates a correlation of periods of hominid diversification during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene with major shifts in several African mammalian species.