A 140 – WRITING ASSIGNMENT– CONTENT MODULES 4 & 5
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11:59pm on Saturday, 5/21/2022
Aegyptopithecuszeuxis≈30 million year old fossil “dawn anthropoid” from the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt
Aegyptopithecus is an early fossilcatarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys). It is known from a single species, Aegyptopithecuszeuxis, which lived around 30 million years ago in the early part of the Oligocene epoch.
Afropithecusturkanensisfossil ape from earlier Miocene (16-18 mya) East African localities.
Afropithecus is a genus of Miocenehominoid with the sole species Afropithecusturkanensis, it was excavated from a small site near Lake Turkana called Kalodirr in northern Kenya in 1986 and named by Richard Leakey and Meave Leakey.[1] The estimated age of Afropithecus is between 16 and 18 million years old
Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus) largest of the colobines
The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey is an arborealOld World monkey with an unusually large nose, a reddish-brown skin color and a long tail. It is endemic to the southeast Asian island of Borneo and is found mostly in mangrove foreststhat grow in coastal areas of the island.This species co-exists with the Bornean orangutan.
Mandrill (Mandrillus sphynx) largest of the Cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys)The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a primate of the Old World monkey (Cercopithecidae) family.[5] It is one of two species in the genus Mandrillus, along with the drill. Although they superficially resemble baboons, they are more closely related to mangabeys of the genus Cercocebus. Mandrills are found in southern Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of the Congo. Mandrills mostly live in tropical rainforest and in large groups. Mandrills are the world’s largest monkeys.
Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas)The hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons, being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural predators than central or southern Africa where other baboons reside. The hamadryas baboon was a sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians and appears in various roles in ancient Egyptian religion, hence its alternative name of ‘sacred baboon’.
Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genusPongo, orangutans were originally considered to be one species. From 1996, they were divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan (P. pygmaeus) and the Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii). A third species, the Tapanuli orangutan (P. tapanuliensis), was identified definitively in 2017.
Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genusGorilla is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos. Gorillas are the largest livingprimates, reaching heights between 1.25 and 1.8 metres, weights between 100 and 270 kg, and arm spans up to 2.6 metres, depending on species and sex. They tend to live in troops, with the leader being called a silverback.
Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), also known simply as chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. The chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo are classified in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is humans‘ closest living relative.
The Bonobo (Pan paniscus)) is an endangeredgreat ape. It is one of the two species making up the genusPan, the other being the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). The bonobo is distinguished by relatively long legs, pink lips, dark face, tail-tuft through adulthood, and parted long hair on its head. The bonobo is found in a 500,000 km2 (190,000 sq mi) area of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa.
Ardipithecus ramidus4.4 million year old hominin from Aramis, EthiopiaArdipithecus ramidus is a species of australopithecine from the Afar region of Early Pliocene Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago (mya). A. ramidus, unlike modern hominids, has adaptations for both walking on two legs (bipedality) and life in the trees (arboreality). However, it would not have been as efficient at bipedality as humans, nor at arboreality as non-human great apes. Its discovery, along with Miocene apes, has reworked academic understanding of the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor from appearing much like modern day chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas to being a creature without a modern anatomical cognate.
Australopithecus afarensis(Lucy and her kin from Hadar, Laetoli, Dikika, Lomekwi, etc.)Australopithecus afarensis is an extinctspecies of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa.[2] The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not take place until the 1970s. From 1972 to 1977, the International Afar Research Expedition—led by anthropologists Maurice Taieb, Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens—unearthed several hundreds of hominin specimens in Hadar, Ethiopia, the most significant being the exceedingly well-preserved skeleton AL 288-1 (“Lucy“) and the site AL 333 (“the First Family”). Beginning in 1974, Mary Leakey led an expedition into Laetoli, Tanzania, and notably recovered fossil trackways. In 1978, the species was first described, but this was followed by arguments for splitting the wealth of specimens into different species given the wide range of variation which had been attributed to sexual dimorphism (normal differences between males and females).
Homo habilis (includingHomo rudolfensis) associated technology: Oldowanstone-toolindustry
Homo habilis (“handy man”) is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya).
Homo ergaster (also referred to as African Homo erectus)associated technology: Acheuleanstone tool industry
Homo ergaster is an extinct speciesof archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether H. ergaster constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into H. erectus is an ongoing and unresolved dispute within palaeoanthropology. The name Homo ergaster roughly translates to “working man”, a reference to the more advanced tools (large bifaces) used by the species in comparison to those of their ancestors (Oldowan Industry). H. erectus is credited with inventing the Acheulean stone tool industry, succeeding the Oldowan industry, and were the first to make lithic flakes bigger than 10 cm (3.9 in), and large bifaces includinghand axes, picks, knives, and cleavers.
PART II Compose illustrated mini-reports summarizing what scientists have discovered or inferred regarding the biological and cultural patterns characteristic of the Neanderthals and the biological and cultural patterns characteristic of early modern Homo sapiens about 45,000 years ago when early modern humans spread across a Europe already occupied by Neanderthals for thousands of years.
Be sure to include illustrations and information summarizing what is known of the rather simple and monotonous Mousterian toolkits (occasional bifaces,prepared core scrapers, crude points, possible stabbing spears) made by Neanderthals, as well as the much more sophisticated and varied Upper Paleolithic tool kits made by early modern humans. Upper Paleolithic (modern human’s) industries are all characterized by long thin stone blades retouched for many different purposes, carved and polished bone and ivory implements, carved figurines and other art objects, jewelry, cave paintings, decorative art, musical instruments, projectile technologies with beautiful stone and bone spear points, elaborately carved spear throwers and harpoons, as well as an amazing variety of other indicators that the early modern humans of the Upper Paleolithic possessed full cultural capacity, symbolic consciousness including spoken language, a propensity for cultural innovation and change, and what Joseph Campbell referred to as a mythic imagination in full career.
Neanderthals (Associated material culture: Middle Paleolithic/ Mousterian Industry)
Neanderthals(also Neandertals, or Homo neanderthalensis) are an extinct speciesof archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the cause of their extinction remains “highly contested,” demographic factors like small population size, inbreeding, and random fluctuations are considered likely factors. Other scholars have proposed competitive replacement, assimilation into the modern human genome (bred into extinction), great climatic change, disease, or a combination of these factors.
Early Modern Homo sapiens (associated material culture: various Upper Paleolithic Industries)
Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (Homo sapiens) to settle in Europe, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 48,000 years ago. They interacted and interbred with the indigenous Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis), who went extinct about 40,000 years ago; Early European modern humans (EEMH) produced Upper Palaeolithic cultures, the first major one being the Aurignacian, which was succeeded by the Gravettian by 30,000 years ago.
PART III. Taking into account what you have learned about human evolutionary patterns, develop a list of specific ways that we (modern humans living in the 21st Century) can adjust our own personal behavioral patterns and lifeways (diet, exercise, sleep, social activities, leisure time pursuits, etc.) to put our bodies and minds in better accord with what evolutionary anthropologists have discovered regarding our deep evolutionary heritage. Use the Doc Talks,course handouts, and the Youtube videos: “Your Inner Fish” series, “Hominid Paleobiology” by Dr. Tim White, HHMI lecture, “The History of Naked, Sweaty, Colorful Skin in the Human Lineage” by Nina Jablonski, “Why Exercise Really is the Best Medicine” by Dan Leiberman, as well as other suitable text and video online resources.
DIET
SLEEP
EXERCISE
LIESURE-TIME ACTIVITIES: READING, MUSIC, DANCE, COMMON INTEREST ASSOCIATIONS, ETC.
MENTAL AND/OR PHYSICAL “WELLNESS” STRATEGIES -MEDITATION, ART, CRAFTS, MARTIAL ARTS, PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT, ETC.