...nature of the problem, ranging from limited information, contradictory evidence, and an increasingly curious mystery regarding the gradual decline of the population while temporally coexistent with Homo sapiens. An interesting observation can be made about the peculiar way in which biological anthropologists have considered the development of their own species. The old maxim that it is nearly impossible to turn an objective eye towards one’s self is especially valid, even in this context. Historically, anthropologists have seen the development of Homo sapiens as something gradual and transformative. The presence of Homo neaderthalis throws a wrench into the quaint linearity of this way of thinking. The paleoanthropological record of the Neanderthals continues up to a certain point and their presumed extinction has always been troublesome and anthropologists continue to debate as to why they became extinct. There are several ideas competing for prominence, four of which being the major considerations. The first states that they entered into resource competition with Homo sapiens and lost, that climate change occurred and that they were unable to adapt, that Homo sapiens engaged in genocidal behavior, or that they genetically merged with Homo sapiens and thus disappeared as a distinct group. Speculation and scientific inquiry into this matter will be particularly useful as these to species represent a relatively recent epoch in our own...
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...Neanderthals are extinct members of the homo neanderthalensis species (Wong 99). They lived on the European continent about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. The Neanderthals are very similar looking to humans in their physical appearance. They are even considered to be humans, before we humans came along. When we humans are compared to Neanderthals we are considered to be modern humans. The extinction of Neanderthals could have been caused by many reasons. But scientists believe that the cause of extinction is due to evolutionary forces. There are a few evolutionary forces that may have taken place in the extinction of the Neanderthals. But if we, modern humans, are still alive wouldn’t the species that are similar to us also be alive? This means that the Neanderthals were different from modern humans and evolutionary forces had a role to play. Modern humans and the Neanderthals came from the same linage. Humans did not develop from the Neanderthal. The Neanderthals weren’t studied until a skull was found in Germany (Wong 99). They were classified as a whole different species because of their structural differences. But it turns out that their differences were not so major at all. Compared to the early modern European, Neanderthals had a receding forehead, strong brow ridge, and no chin. The early modern European had steeper forehead, delicate brow ridge, and a chin (Wong 100). The Neanderthals adapted to their environment. An example would be their big bodies that were built as...
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...and genetic lineage of Denisovan’s, and the genetic lineage of Neanderthals. These studies are helping to piece together an origin to a known human or bipedal species that can trace their lineage to the modern day humans. Dmanisi, the oldest hominin who was found outside of Africa, is being examined closely to find when and where the ancestors to Dmanisi broke off and left Africa to live elsewhere. The Denisovan’s have been a recent discovery and are still a mystery as to how they fit into the fossil and genetic lineage to us. One of the most surprising findings comes from the Neanderthal lineage, specifically a female Neanderthal genome that has unveiled an unknown human lineage. Everyday new bones, DNA fluctuations, and more are being uncovered and helping to paint a picture of all the ancestors who would have contributed to our being. Recently, Dmanisi (Figure 1), has had his teeth examined, and has drawn conclusions to some once unexplainable phenomena’s. These studies show that, of Dmanisi. This has lead to the dating of the teeth and an estimated date of 1.8 million years ago. The discovery has also left a wide range of disparity that has left the researchers incapable of an explanation of such...
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...Study Questions: 1. Write a short statement on Homo erectus. Be sure to 1) identify at least one important distinctive feature each of the head, chest and femur of H.erectus and discuss the way in which each of these structures is different from that found in modern humans; 2) discuss what the anatomy of H.erectus tells us about this species: a) diet and b) locomotor capabilities. * Head: H.erectus had a significant increase in brain size with a skull vault of about 1000 cc. This size is bigger than all the previous members of the genus Homo and similar to that of humans. * Chest: H.erectus had narrow rib cages similar to modern humans’, which indicates that H.erectus did not have complex guts like Lucy’s and was probably meat eaters. * Femur: H.erectus had extremely long femoral necks which were ever longer than humans’ which indicated that they might be even more adapted in bipedalism. * Diet and Locomotion: The anatomy of H.erectus indicates that their diet probably contained mainly meat and they are probably no longer foliovores. Like modern humans they relied on high protein, meat concentrated diet. Their means of locomotion was a kind of bipedalism probably even more efficient than modern humans’. 2. Identify what it means to be a) altricial, b) precocial and c) secondarily altricial. Then discuss the evidence that leads researchers to believe that H. erectus was secondarily altricial. * Altricial: Born helpless, the babies need time in a nest/den...
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...us as humans? Calling ourselves human is our way of categorizing ourselves as a superior species. Although we are distinctly different, we should accept that we are in the same family as chimpanzees. Acknowledging that fact doesn't mean you are calling yourself a chimp. For example, a dog isn't a wolf even though they are from the same family. We are humans. What is it about our physical and behavioral traits that enable us to develop uniquely human capabilities? Traits like language, hunting skills, spiritual and ritual beliefs, bipedalism, and brain capacity The human language might not be universal among humans, but the physical traits that make language possible are universal. About 300,000 or more years ago, the basicranium started evolving to a more flexed or bent position. The basicranium is the floor of the brain's case. With the basicranium flexed, the larynx (voice box) is low in the neck so we can produce more speech sounds. The basicranium is an indicator of how well an animal can articulate sounds. Other evolutionary, corporeal indications are the position and shape of the hyoid bone that anchors muscles connected to the jaw, larynx, and tongue. The Broca's area of the brain controls these muscles as they function to produce speech sounds. These, and other, adaptations like breathing control, vertebral canals larer, tongue innervations and length of the pharynx are all physical characteristics of communication. The evolution of language also enhanced human intelligence...
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...Magidson, this essay examines what makes us human internally and externally. Drawing on articles consistent in humanity and compassion exploration, biological research, chimpanzee research and analysis, and a look at our distant Neanderthal ancestors, we can combine the crucial pieces of humanity to look at it as a whole. Baraka depicts not only diversity, but importance of religion, ritual, traditions, and culture in the world. At first, the film seems to be a jumbled mixture of images and non-verbal sounds, but in fact it is strategically linked and results in one final theme: Life. 3 For centuries, humans have made themselves superior over our predecessor: Earth. While science has proved that the earth,with its animals and nature, have existed long before we have, we continue to oversee its power and lose our humanity. Our humanity, in my opinion, is not what makes us human biologically, but rather internally and cognitively. According to the dictionary, humanity is described as "the quality of being humane" and followed by words such as compassion, brotherly love, understanding, sympathy, and consideration. Is humanity an instinct, something we are born with? Or is humanity learned, taught, and projected? There are many things that we can relate to being human. Biologically, the DNA that lies within the cells that make up our physical body can tell whether we are human.We can also relate being human through cognition, which is the mental action...
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...as “wise man” in Latin or in other words the binomial nomenclature scientific name for the human species. One of the most hotly debated issues in paleoanthropology focuses on the origins of modern humans, Homo sapiens. Specifically where did we come from or evolve from. There are several ideas of where we originated or came from depending on how you view it such as a religious view or scientific view. For this purpose we will be discussing the scientific view methods which include the regional continuity method and the replacement method. 1.5 to 2 million years ago there was the Homo-habilis species. The earliest form of man. They were the first 'great apes.' 500,000 years ago lived the Homo-erectus species. They lived during the Pleistocene period and are considered the first homo species to walk upright on two legs. Then came the Neanderthal (about 100,000-30,000 years ago). They were very primitive and animalistic, but they lived in groups, wore clothing, used fire and made basic hunting tools. They got their name from Neander Valley, the location in Germany where they were first discovered. Next up in the evolution process was the cro-magnum or early modern humans (40,000-10,000 years ago). There cranial features were elongated to allow for a larger brain, more evolved tools and grinding rocks and the developers of religion. There are 2 theories for the origin of modern humans. One of them is the replacement theory or “Out of Africa” model by Stringer. According to Stringer...
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...the evolution of modern humans took place in different parts of the world – a process termed regional continuity (Pettitt, P 2009a: 125-173) . This theory places great emphasis on the notion of steady evolutionary alterations or changes that happen in different regions and produce diverse variations of the species. Evolution of this kind is kept at a regular rate due to an amalgamation of cultural progress and ‘gene flow’ or interbreeding, thus keeping all lineages evolving at the same time (EP 2006a:70). This process is characterized as parallel evolution, which suggests a subtle morphological resemblance between populations of species who are geographically separated (EBO 2011). This idea was first postulated in 1940 by Franz Weidenreich (1873-1948), who noticed considerable similarities between the archaic Peking man fossils and modern humans from China. However, Weidenreich did not refer to his evolutionary hypothesis as the ‘multi-regional model’ - instead, he used the term ‘Polycentric’ (Wikipedia 2011). Milford Wolpoff, American Paleoanthropologist and advocate of the multi-regional hypothesis, developed Weidenriech’s theory along with Alan Thorne, allegorically suggesting that gene flow can be likened to that of individuals swimming in a pool – although they maintain their individuality, they are often influenced by the spreading ripples made by the activity of other people in the water. This, they suggest, is the ‘equivalent of genes flowing between populations’ (Wolpoff...
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...What is Anthropology??? • • • 20:41 Anthropology • Scientific Approach, OBJECTIVE • Study of Humankind- human groups • Seeks to produce useful GENERALIZATIONS about people and their BEHAVIORS • To arrive at an UNBIASED UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN DIVERSITY • Only scientific discipline that attempts to embrace an understanding of all of humanity • Helps us understand ourselves an others Anthropology Perspectives • Holistic Approach (broadest view) o To view things in the broadest possible contest o To cover the whole scope of humanity o To provide a total or composite view o Human culture as a system, functional whole, all parts relate o Biocultural Perspective Studies both the PHYSICAL and SOCIAL EX: kuru disease (neurological disease)- disease caused by culture, transmitted by mortuary practices • Cultural Relativism o To view the beliefs and customs of other peoples within the context of their culture not one’s own o Practice of not judging other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture o ENDOCENTRISM Group centeredness Tendency to see ones own culture as the center of everything The measure or standard against which all other lifeways are evaluated Tendency to consider ones own culture as superior or better than all others o Anthropologists must be unbiased, objective o Involves an effort to remain unbiased in ones observations o Acknowledges that cultures are DIFFERENT, but NOT RANKED o No right or wrong cultures...
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...evidence of the human evolution. Within Biological Anthropology, evolution is observed as the change of humans and human ancestors over time. These changes that occur do not take place over night, nor do they happen over a decade. It takes thousands of years to produce changes in an organism to the effect that it would be classified as evolution. Physical Anthropologists study the remains of Hominins and other ancestors of humans to discover the link that connects us all. They also study other creatures to compare them to humans in an effort to understand where humans come from and what makes us human (Gonder, 2013). One way that Physical Anthropologists have found links of evolution from early Humans and Neanderthals is through dental evidence found and investigated by Professor Alan Mann. He concluded that modern humans did in fact evolve from Neanderthals by finding links in the dental history of each species. Though his evidence is disputed by some, like any other scientific evidence, there have been some that support him and have come to the same conclusion of the relationship between Humans and Neanderthals. One piece of evidence that supports his theory is from a group of researchers from Germany that came to the conclusion in May 2010 “ based on DNA analysis, that Neanderthals and humans had mated, and 1 to 4 percent of the human genome of non-Africans today came from Neanderthals” (Patel, 2011). Mann goes on to say that through his research of human evolution, Evolution...
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...the way human beings might live contrasted with the thoughts of how weasels live. In this beautifully written essay, Dillard describes her chance encounter with an ordinary weasel and how it helped her receive understanding into the difference between the way human beings live their lives and the way wild animals go about theirs. She does this by offering up vivid descriptions and images concerning her quick, but thought provoking run in with the reclusive weasel. Dillard is attempting to show us that we can discover a lot about the true way to live by observing nature's other creations. Yet, at the same time telling us that the way we live is totally up to us, which leads me to my personal interpretation. One could argue humans that lived during the Neanderthal period were similar to that of a weasel. Throughout time the mental capacity of the human has grown to be far more complex and sophisticated than earlier times. With that being said the weasel as we know acts off of pure instinct, whereas the human mind needs to process and articulate each move we make. People often search a definite answer on how to live their lives, as if there is a road map or instructions that will lead you to resolution. Actually, the truth is we, humans, are blessed with an ability that separates us from any other creature; the capacity to intelligently choose to live as we please, instead of how we were created to. I believe that in earlier times humans lived as Neanderthals and were...
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...Describe and evaluate the evolutionary explanation of gender roles (8+16) One way in which the evolutionary theory can explain how gender roles differ can be explained by mate choice. Men tend to look for women with small waists and bigger hips as it shows fertility. They also look for signs of healthiness such as smooth skin, glossy hair, and red lips. Women also seek signs of healthiness and youth but are more concerned in looking for a male that is able to provide resources for them. This can explain why women take care of themselves more and try to make themselves look as youthful as possible, whereas men promote themselves as successful and hardworking. By both genders adopting these roles, individuals are attracting partners that will increase the survival of their offspring and increase reproductive success. A study to support this idea of mate choice being related to evolutionary advantages was carried out by Singh (1993). In a series of studies done by Singh, men used waist to hip ratio (WHR) and fat distribution to determine a woman’s attractiveness. In his first study, men were shown a series of 12 drawings of women with various WHR’s and body fat distribution. Drawings with normal body fat distribution and a moderate WHR were associated with the most positive traits (i.e. attractive, sexy, intelligent and healthy). The drawings with the low WHR were not associated with any positive traits except youthfulness. Singh found that men have a preference for women with...
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...ANTH 151 Literature Review Topic article: Evolution of the human body size Target Article Grabowski, Mark et al. 'Body Mass Estimates Of Hominin Fossils And The Evolution Of Human Body Size'. Journal of Human Evolution 85 (2015): 75-93. The article outlines the evolution of the human body size from unique fossils research technique. There was not research processed in last two eras in hominin body size. Since then, tremendous amount of fossils had been discovered and developing technology has improved the method to research and can discover more from the fossils. The cutting edge methodology shows that early hominins were slightly smaller than the previous species. One of the discover that we can say from this research is that we make the assumption...
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...CRST 290 ALL TESTS Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwaid.com/shop/crst-290-all-tests/ • Question 1 4 out of 4 points Apologetics is a branch of theology that provides a rational defense of Christianity. • Question 2 4 out of 4 points The creation model predicts that organisms will remain essentially the same to the present or go extinct. • Question 3 4 out of 4 points Evolutionary theories are scientific and not subject to change • Question 4 4 out of 4 points A set of related hypotheses that are bound together to describe a phenomenon is called a law • Question 5 4 out of 4 points Germany only embraced Darwinian evolution after Hitler and the Nazi's came to power. • Question 6 4 out of 4 points Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood was a promoter of eugenics. • Question 7 4 out of 4 points Hermeneutics is the branch of theology that deals with the defense of doctrine and defense of the Christian faith. • Question 8 4 out of 4 points The scientific method has proven that evolution is an unguided process. • Question 9 4 out of 4 points Which of the following is a good hypothesis to use with the scientific method? • Question 10 4 out of 4 points The best current Creation Model looks like • Question 11 0 out of 4 points Which of the following is a reason(s) why evolution and creation are beyond the scope of empirical science...
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...now modern day Iraq and Kuwait was once a region known as ancient Mesopotamia. It is thought to be the cradle of civilization which lied between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The word Mesopotamia means” between the rivers” in Greek. Sumer was inhabited around 4500 BC, but this claim has been contested or the years by archaeologists, due to artifacts unearthed in excavated mounds. So, the Sumerians were not the first settlers in this region, according to the dates of the artifacts it was the Proto-Euphrateans, inhabitants of the Euphrates River. These inhabitants moved from being hunters-gathers to agrarian society evidence by the stone tools from hoes, knives and clay aircrafts! So, when did the Sumerians enter this era? The first ruler of Sumer was a king named Etana of Kish, who came to throne as early as the third millennium B.C. According to the kings list, he is described as the one who stabilized the land. The (kings list) is a scribe document located in the city of Lagash, time frame 2100BCE, that list all of the kings and their great accomplishments during their reign, in other words an attempt to show the continuity of order in their society dating back to the beginning of civilization. Both the Mesopotamians and the Sumerians believed that civilization was a result of the god’s triumphs of order over the chaos of men. Who were these Gods? The Sumerians called them the” Anunnakis!” The Mesopotamians and the Sumerians both believed that the Gods created human beings...
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