digging up the past: paleoanthropology and archaeology
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Digging Up the Past: Paleoanthropology and Archaeology. Lecture Objectives. Identify the importance of fossil in understanding the behavior and anatomy of ancient hominins. Identify the differences between paleoanthropology and archaeology. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Digging Up the Past:
Paleoanthropology and Archaeology
Lecture Objectives
Identify the importance of fossil in understanding the behavior and anatomy of ancient hominins.
Identify the differences between paleoanthropology and archaeology.
Compare the similarities and differences between relative and chronometric dating.
Be able to identify and describes examples of relative and chronometric dating.
Paleoanthropology and Fossils
PaleoanthropologyBiological anthropology focus: study of
earlier hominids, including 1. 2. 3. 4.
Highly _____________
What do paleoanthropologists examine?
FOSSILS Remember Cuvier –
he recognized that fossils were once living organisms
BUT fossils were not important in the realm of science until William Smith (engineering surveyor)
Why Fossils? What information do they hold?
Provide direct ______________
Study of fossil centered on two factors Time
Environment
Taphonomy & FossilizationCommonly bones
and teeth sources (comprise 99 % of fossil record)
Taphonomy 1. 2.
Dating Methods
Dating – Why Bother?
Placing sites and fossils into a time frame
Dating techniques Relative Dating Chronometric Dating (numerical dating) What is
the numerical age? Isotope Dating rate at which various ___________
_____________________________________
Relative Dating
Tells the paleoanthropology that something is older or younger than something else
Does provide: 1. 2.
Does not provide: 1. 2.
Relative Dating #1: Stratigraphy
Study of __________________________ Variety of locations can be compared via chemical,
physical and other properties
Law of _______________ Lower stratum (layer) is older than a higher stratum
Problems Earth distributions Length of time to accumulate stratum
Relative Dating #2: Biostratigraphy
Employs the associations of fossils in strata to determine each _________________
Aim is ________________ Why?
Demonstrates that a particular geological section in one location represents the _______________ as another geological section at some other section
Relative Dating #2: Biostratigraphy
Index Fossils – _____________________Example of Irish Elk (died out: 10,600 yBP in
Europe)
Relative Dating #2: SeriationTypological sequences of artifacts
Assumption: ___________________ Frequency of co-occurrence of artifacts in
specific contexts_____________________Indicator of ____________________
Relative Dating #2: SeriationExample:
Contextual seriation Pottery --
style rather than function
Numerical Dating
Dating technique that gives an estimate in actual numbers of years _______________________
We will cover both isotopic and non-isotopic methods: Radiocarbon Radiopotassium Argon-Argon
Numerical Dating #1: Radiometric
Carbon isotopes: Ratio of 14C to 12C is measured
Baseline for start of clock – death of organism By calculating the ratio of 14C to 12C one can
determine ______________________________
Used for material younger than 50,000 – not the best for primate and human evolutionArchaeologists NOT __________________
Numerical Dating #2: Radiopotassium
Non-organic material (e.g. igneous (volcanic) rock)
40K decays slowly from its unstable form to a stable gas, 40Ar __________________________
Dates material older than _________________
Note – cannot date sedimentary rock
First used at ____________________
Numerical Dating #3: Argon-Argon
40Ar – 39Ar: volcanic rock is bombarded with “fast” neutrons in a nuclear reactor
Advantage: ______________________________
• Example: ______________________
Numerical Dating #3: Argon-Argon