10/25/2022
CHAPTER 9
HOMININ ORIGINS:
FROM APE
TO AUSTRALOPITHECINE
AFRICA: THE “CRADLE OF HUMANITY” (OR
AT LEAST THE EARLY HOMININS…) Memorize the names and
people fossils
1925 Dartin Brome
Darwin ‐ Africa as the
birthplace of humanity –
why?
Piltdown Hoax – 1912 ‐
1953
Taung baby – Raymond
Dart, 1925 Australopithecus
LUMPERS AND SPLITTERS Noright or wronganswers
Since then (1950s) LOTS of Speciose same as splitter
new material, lots of new
Lumpers Typicalvariation in fossils
taxa
Speciose vs Less speciose
Lumpers vs Splitters so theylumpthemall together
Splitters Separatingfossilsbased
Names not necessarily
permanent
Box 9.1 of the text
on thelook of thefossils
, 10/25/2022
OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS Based on geneticevidance
4‐7 ma GorillaBranchesoff beforehuman
Chimp – Human split ma
Ape + hominin characteristics,
but disagreement about what makingknucklewalkingprimative
LCA
hominins inbetween apeand
Proto
the LCA actually looked like
Protohominins
Very few panini or gorillanini
fossils earlyhominins
Slow or fast speciation?
See Box 9.2 The two lines may
have been interbreeding for a
million years
ALTERNATIVE MODELS Alt models don'tmemorize
Alternative models of the hominin–panin last common ancestor (LCA). The branching pattern of living
apes as inferred from genomic data is agreed upon; however, reconstruction of ancestral nodes differs
among researchers. (A) In the African ape (AA) model, hominins derive from a knuckle-walking
African ape-like LCA, typically conceived of as chimpanzee-like. (B and C) Ape convergence (AC)
models hypothesize that the LCA is either a more generalized great ape or an unknown primitive
ancestral Miocene ape. AQ, arboreal quadrupedalism
WHAT WAS IT LIKE IN EAST AFRICA AT THAT
Forestbreaking becoming
TIME? up dryerclimatechange
Mosaic habitat in East Africa at Sav ouradaptationsinresponseto growingSav
this time (spatial)
SpecAnyalterationto habitat couldbe
Climate changing (temporal)
detrimental to survival of species
Savannah hypothesis
Forest hypothesis
Variability selection hypothesis Gen takes advantageof different
(generalist better than
specialist) habitats
CHAPTER 9
HOMININ ORIGINS:
FROM APE
TO AUSTRALOPITHECINE
AFRICA: THE “CRADLE OF HUMANITY” (OR
AT LEAST THE EARLY HOMININS…) Memorize the names and
people fossils
1925 Dartin Brome
Darwin ‐ Africa as the
birthplace of humanity –
why?
Piltdown Hoax – 1912 ‐
1953
Taung baby – Raymond
Dart, 1925 Australopithecus
LUMPERS AND SPLITTERS Noright or wronganswers
Since then (1950s) LOTS of Speciose same as splitter
new material, lots of new
Lumpers Typicalvariation in fossils
taxa
Speciose vs Less speciose
Lumpers vs Splitters so theylumpthemall together
Splitters Separatingfossilsbased
Names not necessarily
permanent
Box 9.1 of the text
on thelook of thefossils
, 10/25/2022
OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS Based on geneticevidance
4‐7 ma GorillaBranchesoff beforehuman
Chimp – Human split ma
Ape + hominin characteristics,
but disagreement about what makingknucklewalkingprimative
LCA
hominins inbetween apeand
Proto
the LCA actually looked like
Protohominins
Very few panini or gorillanini
fossils earlyhominins
Slow or fast speciation?
See Box 9.2 The two lines may
have been interbreeding for a
million years
ALTERNATIVE MODELS Alt models don'tmemorize
Alternative models of the hominin–panin last common ancestor (LCA). The branching pattern of living
apes as inferred from genomic data is agreed upon; however, reconstruction of ancestral nodes differs
among researchers. (A) In the African ape (AA) model, hominins derive from a knuckle-walking
African ape-like LCA, typically conceived of as chimpanzee-like. (B and C) Ape convergence (AC)
models hypothesize that the LCA is either a more generalized great ape or an unknown primitive
ancestral Miocene ape. AQ, arboreal quadrupedalism
WHAT WAS IT LIKE IN EAST AFRICA AT THAT
Forestbreaking becoming
TIME? up dryerclimatechange
Mosaic habitat in East Africa at Sav ouradaptationsinresponseto growingSav
this time (spatial)
SpecAnyalterationto habitat couldbe
Climate changing (temporal)
detrimental to survival of species
Savannah hypothesis
Forest hypothesis
Variability selection hypothesis Gen takes advantageof different
(generalist better than
specialist) habitats
