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Digging Up the Past: Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

Digging Up the Past: Paleoanthropology and Archaeology. Lecture Objectives. Identify the importance of fossil in understanding the behavior and anatomy of ancient hominins. Identify the differences between paleoanthropology and archaeology.

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Digging Up the Past: Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

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  1. Digging Up the Past: Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

  2. Lecture Objectives • Identify the importance of fossil in understanding the behavior and anatomy of ancient hominins. • Identify the differences between paleoanthropology and archaeology. • Compare the similarities and differences between relative and chronometric dating. • Be able to identify and describes examples of relative and chronometric dating.

  3. Paleoanthropology and Fossils

  4. Paleoanthropology • Biological anthropology focus: study of earlier hominids, including • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4. • Highly _____________

  5. What do paleoanthropologists examine? • FOSSILS • Remember Cuvier – he recognized that fossils were once living organisms • BUT fossils were not important in the realm of science until William Smith (engineering surveyor)

  6. Why Fossils? What information do they hold? • Provide direct ______________ • Study of fossil centered on two factors • Time • Environment 

  7. Taphonomy & Fossilization • Commonly bones and teeth sources (comprise 99 % of fossil record) • Taphonomy • 1. • 2.

  8. Dating Methods

  9. Dating – Why Bother? • Placing sites and fossils into a time frame • Dating techniques • Relative Dating  • Chronometric Dating (numerical dating)  What is the numerical age? • Isotope Dating  rate at which various ___________ _____________________________________

  10. Relative Dating • Tells the paleoanthropology that something is older or younger than something else • Does provide: • 1. • 2. • Does not provide: • 1. • 2.

  11. Relative Dating #1: Stratigraphy • Study of __________________________ • Variety of locations can be compared via chemical, physical and other properties • Law of _______________ • Lower stratum (layer) is older than a higher stratum • Problems • Earth distributions • Length of time to accumulate stratum

  12. Relative Dating #2: Biostratigraphy • Employs the associations of fossils in strata to determine each _________________ • Aim is ________________ • Why? • Demonstrates that a particular geological section in one location represents the _______________ as another geological section at some other section

  13. Relative Dating #2: Biostratigraphy • Index Fossils – _____________________ • Example of Irish Elk (died out: 10,600 yBP in Europe)

  14. Relative Dating #2: Seriation • Typological sequences of artifacts • Assumption: ___________________ • Frequency of co-occurrence of artifacts in specific contexts • _____________________ • Indicator of ____________________

  15. Relative Dating #2: Seriation • Example: Contextual seriation • Pottery -- style rather than function

  16. Numerical Dating • Dating technique that gives an estimate in actual numbers of years • _______________________ • We will cover both isotopic and non-isotopic methods: • Radiocarbon • Radiopotassium • Argon-Argon

  17. Numerical Dating #1: Radiometric • Carbon isotopes: Ratio of 14C to 12C is measured • Baseline for start of clock – death of organism • By calculating the ratio of 14C to 12C one can determine ______________________________ • Used for material younger than 50,000 – not the best for primate and human evolution • Archaeologists NOT __________________

  18. Numerical Dating #2: Radiopotassium • Non-organic material (e.g. igneous (volcanic) rock) • 40K decays slowly from its unstable form to a stable gas, 40Ar  __________________________ • Dates material older than _________________ • Note – cannot date sedimentary rock • First used at ____________________

  19. Numerical Dating #3: Argon-Argon • 40Ar – 39Ar: volcanic rock is bombarded with “fast” neutrons in a nuclear reactor • Advantage: ______________________________ • Example: ______________________

  20. Numerical Dating #3: Argon-Argon

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