L26: Hominid Evolution
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where does the evidence for hominin evolution come from?
fossil records, moderns genetics and eDNA
when did hominins split from other apes?
between 6 and 8 Ma
where did the homo genus evolve? and when?
East Africa- 3 Ma
anatomically, what line did modern humans, homo sapiens, evolve from?
H. heidelbergenisis
how many separate hominin species were alive 50 Ka?
5
where did H. sapiens evolve? and when?
the East African Rift valley- 200 Ka
H. sapiens migrated out of Africa and to all other continents except?
Antarctica
why are the fossil records of the Hominin extremely poor?
because most hominins do not preserve in the environmental settings in which they die due to microbial and oxidative breakdown (decomposition)
what are some exceptions to the fossil record of Hominin? and why?
caves- highly calcareous peat bogs
what is the significance of Boxgrove, West Sussex?
preserved the earliest Hominin remains in Britain
what does the taxonomic tribe of the subfamily of Homininae include? and what does it exclude?
includes the genus Homo excludes Gorilla
do marine organisms or terrestrial organisms have better fossil records?
marine organisms
what is an example of preserved human remains? and where were they found?
Lindow man, discovered in peat bog near Wilmslow in Cheshire (1984)
what is the context surrounding the discovery of the Lindow Man?
was a high status (indicated by the belongings buried alongside) sacrificial offering by Romano-British or iron age indigenous communities within Britain to try and appease the gods as they were having issues with the Romans
what has helped transform the poor fossil record for the hominins?
genetic data from both modern populations and from ancient DNA (eDNA) extracted from well preserved fossils e.g. Neanderthals
what is an example of where ancient DNA can be extracted from?
DNA strands extracted from fossil hominin material from bone material
what is the extracted DNA then compared to? and why?
compared with the living human population to start to build up a family tree
true or false? we have a complete genome for Neanderthals
true
what does the fact that our DNA incorporates some neanderthal influence indicate?
that there was some crossbreeding at some point in the geological past
what is a relatively newly discovered hominin species?
Denisovans
genetic data can point to the existence of species we haven’t yet … in the fossil record
identified
what is the bimolecular clock?
tool used to measure the number of times a cell has undergone replication.
what does the biomolecular clock allow us to predict?
evolutionary events- the time in prehistory when two or more lifeforms diverged/split from genetic data