The fossil context / early hominins
Rayan29
Chapter7slides.pptxChapter 7
Understanding the
Fossil Context
Sarah S. King, Ph.D.
CC BY-NC
Describe the Age of Wonder and its impact on anthropology
Identity types of fossils
Understand fossil formation
Discuss relative and chronometric dating methods
Describe methods to reconstruct past environments
Learning Objectives
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Mary Anning (1799-1847)
Excavations of fossilized dinosaurs
Science vs Religion
Darwin
Genesis story
Mary Anning and the Age of Wonder
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Scientific Revolution
James Hutton
Deep Time
Charles Lyell
Uniformitarianism
Charles Darwin
Evolution by natural selection
Developing Modern Methods
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Earth: It’s Older than Dirt
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Pangea
Breakup began 200 mya
Continental drift
Tectonic Plate Theory (Wegener)
Breakup of Pangea and earthquakes
Geologic Processes
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Taphonomy
Processes affecting organism after death
Example: P78 (pit burial in England)
Insight into culture and evolution
Preservation of biological remains
Bog bodies
Ice mummies
Fossils: Preserving Prehistoric Life
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Soft tissue decays
Bones and teeth preserve
Sediment accumulation
Lithification
Permineralization
Fossilization
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Plants (fern, petrified wood)
Human/animal remains
Amber
Asphalt
Igneous rock
Trace fossils
Types of Fossils
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Tanzania
Early hominin footprints
Three hominins walked across
wet volcanic ash
Analysis
Bipedal, modern gait, short stride
Family organization
Types of Fossils: Laetoli Footprints
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Stratigraphy
Law of Superposition
Biostratigraphy
Cultural dating
Chemical dating
Fluorine dating
Piltdown Man
Dating Methods: Relative Dating
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Atoms
Stable isotopes
Unstable isotopes
Radioactive decay
Dating Methods: Chronometric Dating
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Radiocarbon dating
N14 → C14
Half-life: 5,730 years
Dating Methods: Chronometric Dating
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Potassium-argon (K-Ar)
K40 half-life=1.3 billion
Argon-argon (Ar-Ar)
Fission track dating
U238 half-life=4,500 million years
Dating Methods: Chronometric Dating
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Luminescence dating
Thermoluminescence
Optically stimulated luminescence
Electron spin resonance dating
Dendrochronology
Dating Methods: Chronometric Dating
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Amino acid racemization (AAR)
D-form
L-form
Paleomagnetic/
geomagnetic reversals
Dating Methods: Chronometric Dating
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Sediment cores
Pollen
Ancient flora
Stable isotopes
Plants
Animals
Global temperature changes
Foraminifera
Environmental Reconstruction
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Diet
Stable isotope analysis (bones and teeth)
Plants: carbon analyses
Ratios of stable nitrogen isotopes
Migration
Isotopic signatures
Information on where individuals lived
Environmental Reconstruction
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Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
15-16 yr old female
11,000 years ago
Poor nutrition
Injury
mtDNA
Modern Native
Americans
Cold Case: Naia
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| Slide # | Figure # | Attribution |
| 3 | 7.1 | Mary Anning by B. J. Donne from the Geological Society/NHMPL is in the public domain. |
| 3 | 7.4 | Mary Anning Plesiosaurus by Mary Anning (1799-1847) is in the public domain. |
| 4 | NA | Charles Darwin photograph by Herbert Rose Barraud, 1881 2 is in the public domain. |
| 5 | 7.7 | Geologic time scale by United States Geological Survey is in the public domain. |
| 5 | NA | Holocene-Pleniglacial by Rudolf Pohl is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License. |
| 6 | 7.9 | Pangaea continents by LucasVB is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License. |
| 7 | 7.14 | Coyote remains by Sarah S. King is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
| 8 | 7.15 | Fossilization process original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Mary Nelson is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
| 9 | 7.16 | PetrifiedWood at the Petrified Forest National Park by Jon Sullivan has been designated to the public domain (CC0). |
| 9 | 7.18 | Amber2 by Anders L. Damgaard (www.amber-inclusions.dk - Baltic-amber-beetle) is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License. |
| 10 | 7.23 | NHM - Laetoli Fußspuren by Wolfgang Sauber is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 License. |
Attributions
CC BY-NC www.explorations.americananthro.org
| Slide # | Figure # | Attribution |
| 11 | 7.28 | Stratigraphic cross-section original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Mary Nelson is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
| 11 | 7.30 | Sterkfontein Piltdown man by Anrie is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License. |
| 12 | 7.31 | Atom Diagram by AG Caesar is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 License. |
| 13 | 7.32 | Radiocarbon dating original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Mary Nelson is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
| 14 | 7.33 | Çjkgfmj by Abdulkadirtiryaki is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License. |
| 15 | 7.34 | Dendrochronology original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Mary Nelson is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
| 16 | 7.35 | Blue Globe by Ken Teegardin is used under a CC BY 2.0 License. |
| 17 | 7.36 | Oxygen in deep sea sediment carbonate by NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, originally from "Science Briefs: Cold Climates, Warm Climates: How Can We Tell Past Temperatures?", is in the public domain. |
| 19 | 7.39 | Hoyo Negro cenote original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Mary Nelson is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. |
Attributions
CC BY-NC www.explorations.americananthro.org
This presentation was developed by the editors of Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology.
Unless otherwise specified, all content is made available under a Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC
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