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The Ape that Stood on Its Own Two Feet: Hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene

The Ape that Stood on Its Own Two Feet: Hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene. We’re just a blink of Time’s eye. What's this "Plio-Pleistocene" thing?. Or, What caused human evolution?. The Pleistocene: Ice Ages. Why glaciers? Perhaps a ‘wobbly’ earth. Glaciers and the earth.

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The Ape that Stood on Its Own Two Feet: Hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene

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  1. The Ape that Stood on Its Own Two Feet:Hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene

  2. We’re just a blink of Time’s eye

  3. What's this "Plio-Pleistocene" thing? Or, What caused human evolution?

  4. The Pleistocene: Ice Ages

  5. Why glaciers? Perhaps a ‘wobbly’ earth

  6. Glaciers and the earth Compression of climatic zones up to 30° latitude

  7. Massive ice sheets as much as 1.5 kilometers thick covered much of the northern hemisphere. 32% of land mass was ice-covered (10% now)

  8. Glaciers and the earth Climatic compression detail: North America

  9. Glaciers and the earth Sea level changes of up to 100m (300+ feet)

  10. As the glaciers went away, sea levels rose

  11. World glacial sequences: A complex sequences of advances and retreats

  12. All this led to… • Environmental stresses on species • Increased mutation • Increased competition for econiches • Population movements

  13. Which led to… Early Man

  14. Home The Great Rift Valley of East Africa

  15. One view of the sequence Homo floreiensis Click for a list with details of these and other specimens Click on skull image for information.

  16. A slightly different view

  17. 1 HOMO HABILIS ~ NICKNAME: Handyman LIVED: 2.4 to 1.6 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous – nuts, seeds, tubers, fruits, some meat2 HOMO SAPIEN ~ NICKNAME: Human LIVED: 200,000 years ago to present HABITAT: All DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts, pizza, sushi3 HOMO FLORESIENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Hobbit LIVED: 95,000 to 13,000 years ago HABITAT: Flores, Indonesia (tropical) DIET: Omnivorous - meat included pygmy stegodon, giant rat4 HOMO ERECTUS ~ NICKNAME: Erectus LIVED: 1.8 million years to 100,000 years ago HABITAT: Tropical to temperate - Africa, Asia, Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, tubers, fruits, nuts5 PARANTHROPUS BOISEI ~ NICKNAME: Nutcracker man LIVED: 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous - nuts, seeds, leaves, tubers, fruits, maybe some meat6 HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Goliath LIVED: 700,000 to 300,000 years ago HABITAT: Temperate and tropical, Africa and Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts7 HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Neanderthal LIVED: 250,000 to 30,000 years ago HABITAT: Europe and Western Asia DIET: Relied heavily on meat, such as bison, deer and musk ox

  18. ‘Co-evolution’ of biology and culture

  19. Controversial, but exciting

  20. Why don’t we know all that much? Why all the controversy? All the fossil specimens we’ve found so far would fit into the back of one pickup truck!

  21. Ardipithecus ramidus

  22. The Australopithecines Australoptihecus anamensis

  23. The Australopithecines Raymond Dart and the 1924 Taung discovery Mary and Louis Leakey with a Zinjanthropus boisei palateand a modern human skull Taung Child  (Australopithecus africanus)

  24. Australopithecus afarensis Tim White Laetoli footprints Donald Johanson with "Lucy"

  25. Homo habilis

  26. The Paleolithic

  27. Homo erectus What did Homo erectus look like?

  28. The origins of complex cultural practices Homo erectus • Stone-knapping advances that resulted in Acheulean bifacial tools • The beginnings of shelter construction • The control and use of fire • Increased dependence on hunting • Communal Hunting • Care of the infirm

  29. Neanderthal 100,000 to 30,000 years ago The original caveman

  30. Neanderthal culture Well developed family and clan structures Intentional burial Walking with Cavemen Walking with Cavemen

  31. Key questions about Neanderthal • What is there relationship to modern humans? • DNA evidence suggests a shared ancestor at about 550,000 years ago. See Neanderthal DNA • Did the overlap humans in some areas? • Did they interbreed with humans? • Did AMH competition drive Neanderthal to extinction? • Did Neanderthals have language?

  32. We have finally arrived!

  33. Anatomically Modern Humans,that is, Us

  34. Anatomically Modern Humans Music Sophisticated art Sophisticated stone and other tools

  35. What cave art means about us

  36. A firm sense of individual identity Palm prints at Chauvet (above right shows hand placement of palm prints at left

  37. Searching for meaning Cave Bear altar, Chauvet Cave, 32,600+/-490 and 21,390+/-420 ybp Altamira, Bison, 40,000 ybp

  38. A search for control of the unknown? Or just documentation of life? Cattle herding? Hunting magic?

  39. Shamanic trance states?

  40. and more… Sophisticated , permanent shelter Burials Firm identity as individuals Visit Chauvet cave

  41. Modern Human Migration

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