Anthrobiology 11/01/11 Intro to paleo/primate evolution 1 Bone becomes completely mineral in fossil form.

(looks like a bone, material in the ground/soil replaced to molecular level-almost no organic material) 1.Foot prints can also be fossils. 2. Impressions(feather) 3.Molds/casts(endocast-inside of scull is filled up with stuff and maintains the structure of inside of the scull) 4.bone&teeth For fossile to be useful, they must have a context(know where it came from) Geology-placement within sediment/strata (where it comes from lets us age how old it is) -Stratigraphy: study of stratified rocks(sedimentary rocks that come in layers), their sequence in time, character of rocks and the correlation of beds in different localities. Things can happen that sort of changes the sequence of strata Original Horizontality: beds of sediments formed in water are laid down nearhorizontally Cross cutting relation: disrupted sediments are older than the cause of the disruption Erosion, disrupted can disrupt the order of strate-complex Superposition rule: strata are older than ones on top of it. Relative ages of fossilin a sequence but we don't know how old they are in absolute time by just looking at the order TO find absoloute time: use Principles of Radiometric Dating: Isotopes of certain elements are unstable. These isotopes decay at a constant rate to stable forms of that element, or to another element. (Use of Half-life) -works well for dating lava. [radioactive potassium in lavas and ashes, over time, potassium b/c radiactive, decay to its stable form, argon(completely diff element)] When lava erupts, 0 argon, but contains radioactive potassium-this is basically the 0, starting point for radiometric dating because argon is trapped in the lava. If you hava lava or ash is in the fossil sequence, can infer age of stratas around them, instead of directly finding the absolute age of each strata. Radiocarbon dating, because its half life is short, it can only date back to quite modern events. (events that happened less than 40,000years ago) Faunal Correlation(Biostratigraphy): works on principle certain ssociation of organisms with another. Because fossil species typically occur for a limited period of time and often in association with other species, you can then correlate the compoenets of an undated fossil assemblage to those of other sites with known dates.

Lithostratigraphy: Chronostratigraphy: Biostratigraphy: Depositional settings: Volcanic Deltaic( Fluvial(fossils adjacent to river) Laucustrine(lake-at much lower energy level than river fluvial) Cave (lime stone dissolved by water..major areas of fossil hominoids) East Africa: the most important geological area for studying hominine evolution. -huge amout of tectonic activity -rift (exposes sediment that older sediments are thrown near the surface) also stimulates volcanic activity that is essential for dating South Africa: cave sites where bones are carried in action of water Epoch names of geological time scales KNOW Paleocene to modern times, we have to know. Theories of Primate Origins: -arboreal hypothesis: explain all traits we see in living primates by the fact that their basic niche is arboreal one (forward-facing ideas, grasping hand, etc.) However, there were other mammals that live in trees yet lack these adaptations like squirrels(no forward facing eyes, no nails, no grasping hands) who are still successful as primates. -visual predation hypothesis: primate adaptations do have to do with living in the trees but have to do with specific niche, moving about in small branches, (grasping hand),convergent eyes have to do with visually directed predators. -angiosperm radiation hypothesis: So many primates that focus on plant material as well. (doesn't explain convergent eye). Angiosperms(flowering plants) started radiating. So perhaps primates co-evolved with flower and plants. Focus moved away from being a predator. We're still not sure which of these niches best describes the primate. Comparative approach: Caluromys: many traits that are similar to primate traits It is a visual predator and terminal branch feeder on angiiosperms. So it's very hard to say which hypothesis is true. We need fossils to determine diet and visual adaptations of earliest primates (Carpolestes) With actual fossils, we can reconstruct what oldest primates were like. Using fossil record can also be difficult because is it really a homologous trait or just a convergence? (Move on to second part of the powerpoint) If we go back in time, earth is overall a warmer place but since early part of

Miocene, now we're in colder times in earth history as a whole. Full-blown primates appear suddenly at base of Eucene, suggesting they migrated from unkown source like Africa or India. Adapoids vs Omomyoids (smaller, insectivorous, pointy teeth) big eyes small eyes fruit Still fair amount of diversity (diurnal, insect, body size) IN red, we have to know the specific names and remember. Aegyptopithecus Earliest anthropoids: very small Apidium: primitive anthropoid -fused metopic suture, fused mandible~postorbital closurel. (because if its derived features we think they are anthropoid) [bunodont-round] Oh my god, i totally have to go over this part 2 presentation because none of this makes any freaking sense. Faunal comparision:-looking at what other organisms were found around the same strata to estimate the age of a specific fossil. Proconsul: Stem members of the group (overally hominoid) Just slight features that suggest of it being hominoid Morotopithecus All living apes don't have tails (might suggest existence of homonoid) Scapula on the side of the rib cage constricts the mobility of the arm. However, Scapula on the back, like us, it puts it in the favorable position of putting arm above head and a lot of adaptations come about from being able to put hands over the head. O-> Intransitive something? can keep you from sloucing. making muscle attach further away. Good mechanical advantage to be upright. Where it attaches.....(more up means better upright, more down, meaps less upright)