CARTA Glossary

Displaying 1 - 40 of 40 defined words for "Anthropogeny: The Perspective from Africa". To see all CARTA defined words, please view the complete glossary.

Word	Definition	Related Vocabulary
"Archaic" Homo sapiens	Earlier forms of Homo sapiens who were anatomically and behaviorally distinct from modern humans.	Homo sapiens
Acheulean (Mode 2)	A stone tool type characterized by oval or pear-shaped bi-faced “hand axes” and are typically associated with Homo erectus. ~1.76 mya - 130 kya.
Australopithecus	A genus of extinct hominins dating ~4 mya to 2 mya, and found primarily in eastern and southern Africa. Homo may have evolved from a late australopithecine. Australopithecine brain size is ~35% of the size of the modern human brain. Most species were short in stature, although sexual dimorphism was pronounced. Some examples of australopithecines: A. anamenis: Kenya and Ethiopia. ~4 mya. A. afarensis: Eastern Africa. Most famous example is “Lucy.” ~3.9 mya to 2.9 mya. A. bahrelghazali: Central Africa. ~3.6 mya A. africanus: Southern Africa. ~3.3 mya to 2.1 mya. A. garhi: Ethiopia. Possible transitional stage between Australopithecus and Homo. ~2.5 mya. *A. boisei: East Africa. Robust australopithecine. There is debate as to which genus they belong, Australopithecus or Paranthropus. ~2.4 to 1.4 mya. A. sediba: South Africa. Possible transitional stage between Australopithecus and Homo*. ~2 mya.
Behavior	The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially toward others.
Clade	A group of organisms consisting of a common ancestor and all descendants on a particular lineage. Represents a single branch on the “tree of life.”
Cladogram	A branching diagram used to show hypothetical relations among groups of organisms and their hypothetical most common ancestors. It is not an evolutionary tree as it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show evolutionary distance or time.
Culture	Behavior and norms that are shared, learned, and socially transmitted.
Denisovans	An extinct hominin population contemporary with Neanderthals that hybridized with ancient humans and Neanderthals. Knowledge of Denisovan morphology is limited to two small fossils found in Siberia and a jaw in Tibet.	Hominin, Neanderthals
Djurab Desert	Northern Chad. A fossil rich desert that is most famous for the discovery of Sahelenthropous tchadensis (Toumai) in 2001.
Ecology	The interaction of organisms with their physical environment, along with other organisms.
Falémé Valley	Eastern Senegal. Excavations have led to the the discovery of paleolithic occupations from different periods, cultures, and lithic technologies.
Foraging	Searching for wild food or provisions as opposed to cultivating food crops or breeding livestock.
Genus	A taxonomic rank used in biological classification of living and fossil organisms to group closely related species. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name plus species name forms the binomial species name (e.g. Homo sapiens).	Homo sapiens, Species
Great apes	A taxonomic family denoting the extant chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. This is biologically invalid grouping given that chimpanzees and bonobos are more closely related to humans.	Bonobos (Pan paniscus), Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Holocene	The current geological epoch, from about 11,700 years ago (after the end of the last Ice Age cycle) to the present that is marked by globally warmer and more stable climates.
Hominid	A classification comprising all living and extinct “Great Apes” and humans.	Great apes
Hominin	A classification of species comprising humans and our extinct relatives following the divergence from the common ancestor with chimpanzees.	Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Species
Homo	The genus that comprises the species Homo sapiens, as well as several extinct species classified as ancestral to, or closely related to, humans.	Genus, Homo sapiens, Species
Homo erectus	An extinct hominin species with fossil evidence from at least 1.9 million years to 70 thousand years ago and found from Africa to Indonesia. H. erectus may have been the first hominin to leave Africa. H. erectus DNA may be retrievable from other species due to archaic admixture.	Archaic admixture, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Hominin, Species
Homo habilis	An extinct archaic species of the genus Homo dating to ~2.1 to 1.5 mya. H. habilis means “handy man” and was named so because of its association with stone tools. H. habilis has intermediate morphology between Australopithecus and Homo erectus. There is ongoing debate if H. habilis should be moved to the Australopithecus genus. Initial discovery was made by Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania between 1962 and 1964.
Howiesons Poort	A lithic technology cultural period in the Middle Stone Age in Africa named after the Howieson’s Poort Shelter archeological site near Grahamstown, South Africa. Dates range from ~65.8 kya to 59.5 kya. Examples include composite weapons hafted with ochre and gum compound glue and microlith blades, bone arrows, and needles.
Hunting and gathering	A subsistence strategy in which most or all food is obtained by foraging and is in contrast to agriculture, which rely mainly on domesticated species.	Agriculture, Foraging
Immediate Return Hunter-Gatherers	Those who do not store food, but consume it within a day or two of obtaining it. This means there is no opportunity to accumulate surplus.
Klasies-River	A river and cave system in the Tsitsikamma coast, Humansdorp district, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Evidence for middle stone age-associated human habitation has been found in the nearby cave system dating to ~125 kya.
Konso-Gardula	A palaeoanthropological area in the southern Main Ethiopian Rift that was discovered 1991 The Konso-Gardula sediments span ~ 1.9 mya to 1.3 mya. Early Homo fossils and Acheulean stone tools have been found here.
KYA	Thousand years ago.
Mitochondrial DNA	Maternally inherited DNA found only in the mitochondria, the energy producing organelles of eukaryotic cells. Mitochondria are thought to descend from symbiotic bacteria that have become part of eukaryotic cells.	Bacteria, Chromosome, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Eukaryotes
MYA	An abbreviation for “millions of years ago.”
Oldowan (Mode 1)	A stone tool type characterized by simple “choppers” for pounding, breaking, and bashing. ~2.6 - 1.7 mya.
Paranthropus	A genus of extinct bipedal hominins dating to ~ 2.6 mya to 1.1 mya that lived throughout eastern and south Africa. Their robust cranialdental anatomy suggests an adaptation to a diet of tough vegetation. Possible tool use is indicated by hands adapted for precision grasping. They probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominids (Australopithecus) ~2.7 million years ago, hence their alternative name, robust australopithecine, and ongoing debate on genus.
Phenotype	Observable traits of an organism that result from interactions between genes and environment during development.	Gene
Phylogenetic Tree	A branching diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among biological species, or other entities, based on their physical or genetic characteristics.
Pleistocene	A geological epoch from ~2.5 mya to 11.7 kya characterized by a period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archeology. Subdivisions: Early (Lower) Pleistocene: ~2.58 mya - 781 kya. Middle Pleistocene: Emergence of Homo sapiens. 781 - 126 kya. Late (Upper) Pleistocene: 126 - 11.7 kya.
Primates	A group of mammals that include humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians.
Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumaï)	An extinct archaic species of hominin dating close to the split between the chimpanzee-human split, ~7 mya. A probable ancestor to Orrorin tugenensis and may have walked bipedally.
Scavengers	Organisms that search for and feed on carrion, dead plant material, or refuse.
Stable Isotope	Isotopes that do not decay into other elements. These isotopes, found in biological material, including fossils, and can be used to study paleo-diet and ecology.
Stone Age	The prehistoric period during which stone was used to make tools and weapons and is synonymous with the Paleolithic. ~3.4 million years ago (mya) - 10 thousand years ago (kya). In African archaeology, stone age chronology is divided into Early Stone Age (ESA): ~2.6 mya to ~300 kya; Middle Stone Age (MSA): ~300 kya to ~50 kya; and Later Stone Age (LSA): ~ 50 kya to ~39 kya. Early Stone Age is characterized by the development of the first African stone tools, such as the Oldowan technology used by Australopithecines, and the later Acheulean technology, used by Homo erectus. Middle Stone Age is characterized by a transition from Acheulean to Levallois technology and the earliest known modern human behavior. Later Stone Age is characterized by microlithic industries and punch-struck blades, revealing fully modern human behavior.	Paleolithic
Variation (Biology)	The differences among the individuals of the same species.
Y-chromosome	One of the two allosomes of the mammalian genome that determine sex. The Y-chromosome can only be inherited paternally.	Allosomes, Chromosome, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), Genome