Dinosaurs | Egypt | Mesopotamia |Human Ancestors

Glossary

Accession number : a number or letter combination assigned by each museum or institute to the specimens it collects. Also called a catalog number.
(accession number key)

Apes : gorillas, common chimpanzees, pygmy chimpanzees (bonobos), orang-utans and gibbons.

Archaeology: the study of past human cultures through the material remains they left behind.

A. ramidus: oldest know hominid species. Discovered by White and Asfaw in 1994. Dates from ~4.4 MYA

Artifact: objects made or modified by humans. Usually, but not always, applied to portable objects.

Australopithecus: "southern ape". The name of the genus to which our earliest ancestors belong. The various species within the genus are known collectively as the australopithecines .

A. aethiopicus: "the Black Skull" discovered by Alan Walker in 1985 is the most complete specimen. The name comes from an earlier find made at Omo, Ethiopia. Dates from ~2-2.7 MYA (KNM-WT 17000, More information)

A. afarensis: "southern ape from Afar," gracile australopithecine that may have been a direct ancestor to Homo. Dates from ~3-4 MYA More information.

A. africanus: gracile australopithecine first discovered in South Africa in 1924 by Raymond Dart at Taung, South Africa. Dates from ~2.2-3.5 MYA (Sts 5, More information).

A. anamensis: oldest known australopithecine. Found at Kanapoi, Kenya. Dates from ~4 MYA (More information)

A. bahrelghazali: a gracile australopithecine from Chad. Important because it indicates the presense of these creatures farther west than was previously known. Dates from ~3-3.5 MYA

A. boisei: originally given the genus Zinjanthropus. An extremely robust australopithecine that lived ~1.4-2.5 MYA.
(OH-5,.More information )

A. robustus: a robust australopithecine found in South Africa. Dates from ~1-2 MYA. (SK-48, More information)

Bed a distinct rock unit in a stratigraphic sequence.

Bipedlism: a two-legged upright gait.

Cranial capacity: The volume of the brain case; used as a measure of the size of the brain. Modern human cranial capacities average about 1500cc for males and 1300cc for smaller bodied females. This is three times that of the australopithecines.

Early Homo: includes the various species in genus Homo that preceed Homo ergaster. (see H. habilis, H.rudolfensis)

Family: the grouping above Genus in Linean classification. For hominids it is Hominidae. (see classification)

Fossil: trace of past life. Usually a bone, footprint, leaf, seed or insect preserved in rock. The science of how fossils form and how they are preserved is called taphonomy.

Fossiliferous: a fossil-bearing deposit.

Generic name: The genus name, always capitalized. It should be italicized, but sometimes is not when it appears without the species name. The generic name is frequently abbreviated to a single letter, as in "H. sapiens.." (see classification)

Hadar, Ethiopia: site of numerous hominid findsincluding the discovery of A. afarensis.

Hand axe: a large, roughly oval stone tool with a sharp edge that could have been used for cutting, digging and other tasks. Hand axes are usually termed bifaces because both faces are fashioned in the same way. They are believed to have been manufactured by Homo erectus . They first appear about 1.4 million years ago.

Hominidae: the Family which includes humans and their early relatives, but excludes the apes. Often abbreviated to hominid. (see classification)

Hominoidea: the superfamily which includes the families Pongidae (apes) and Hominidae. Often abbreviated to hominoid. (see classification)

H. erectus: "upright man," an early member of the genus Homo. (More information)

H. ergaster: "upright man," the African precursor to Homo erectus. frequently considered synonymous with H. erectus in the literature. (KNM-ER 3733, KNM-WT 15000, More information )

H. habilis: "handy man," earliest known member of the genus Homo. Shares features with australopithecines as well as H. erectus.

H. rudolfensis: the name given the specimen KNM-ER 1470 discovered by Richard Leakey. Taken from the old name for Lake Turkana. 1470 is an extremely large specimen otherwise similar in many ways to H. habilis. (KNM-ER 1470)

H. neanderthalensis: "Neander valley man," discovered in 1856 by laborers in a limestone quarry in the Neander Valley of Germany.

H. sapiens: "wise man," anatomically modern man. Older finds sometimes called "archaic Homo sapiens." (see Modern Human)

in situ: Latin for "in place." This term is used to indicate that a specimen has been excavated from the place where it was originally deposited and has not eroded out or moved from of its original position.

Living floor: a surface usually found by excavation where humans lived or partook of some activity and left debris on the surface as a result of their activities.

Mammalia: The class to which all mammals including primates belong. Mammals have hair and mammary glands and give birth to live young. (see classification)

Mandible: the lower jaw bone.

Maxilla: the part of the skull that holds the all the upper teeth except the incisors.

Miocene: The epoch between 24 and 5 million years ago, preceding the Pliocene.

Morphology: the study of physical features (shape). In paleoanthropology it is the study of the surfaces of bones.

Occipital: the bone that forms the back of the skull.

Pleistocene: The epoch between 2 million and 10,000 years ago following the Pliocene.

Pliocene: The epoch between the Miocene and Pleistocene, dating 5 to 2 million years ago.

Pongidae: the Family to which the great apes chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans belong. (see classification)

Postcranial: "behind the head," refers to the rest of the skeleton not including the skull.

Primates: the Order to which lemurs, tarsiers, galagos, lorises, monkeys, apes and humans belong. (see classification)

Rift Valley: a steep sided valley formed by the uplift and subsequent subsidence of the earth's crust. In Africa the Great Rift Valley runs from the Red Sea to Mozambique.

Sediments: layers. In geology, rocks that are created through the repeated deposition of soils (sand, mud, etc.) are called sedimentary rock. Sandstone and slate are good examples.

Site: a term used to designate a particular location that has yielded fossil or archaeological remains. (see sites)

Species: the smallest taxonomic unit defining a group of animals that are unable to breed to produce fertile offspring. (see classification)

Strata: layers of geological deposits. Since strata are laid down one on top of another, the lowest are the oldest and the upper the youngest. Singular, stratum.

Stratigraphy: the study of the relative positions of deposits, and the sequence of events associated with them.

Taxonomy: The science of classification. The Linnaean taxonomy shows the relationships of living things.

Tools: objects modified or made by animals or humans for a specific purpose.

Vertebrata: The Phylum to which all animals that possess a bony or cartilaginous support for the spinal cord belong. (see classification)

[Leakey Ancestors]