Aim: Who came first? An exercise on Human Evolution

HW #14

Chapter 32 read pages 833-841

Motivation: tie your shoe laces without your thumb

Arrange the skulls according to who you think came first

• Make a list of the skull characteristics that you are looking at to determine who came first

Aim:What are the characteristics of Hominids?

………Humans share a common ancestor with other primates, we did not evolve

from them

Use your detective skills and Look at the tracks and answer

the following questions

1. Who probably made the tracks?2. How were they moving , walking,

running?3. What interactions do the tracks

suggest?

What are the characteristics of Hominids?

• In 1976, members of a team led by Mary Leakey discovered the fossilized footprints of human ancestors in Laetoli, Africa. The footprints were formed 3.5 million years ago when at least two individuals walked over wet volcanic ash. The wet ash hardened like cement and was then covered by more ash.

Characteristics of the Hominid Family

• Able to walk upright

-hominid footprints at Laetoli in Tanzania

• Developed thumbs

• Developed large brain (more brain matter)

Lucy

The Benchmark of

Human

Ancestry

Section 32-3

Modern GorillaModern Human

Comparing Human and Gorilla Skeletons

Modern Human Modern GorillaSkull atopS-shaped spine

Spinal cord exitsat bottom of skull

Arms shorter thanlegs; hands do not touch groundduring walking

Pelvis is bowl-shaped

Thigh bones angledinward, directlybelow body

Skull atopC-shaped spine

Spinal cord exitsnear back of skull

Arms longer thanlegs; hands touch ground during walking

Pelvis is longand narrow

Thigh bones angledaway from pelvis

Building bodies that stand up

Cladogram of Hominid evolution

Hominid Migration and the development of culture