ASSIGNMENT #3- Becoming Human

Becoming Human Part 1: Film Questions

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3km6fx (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Watch the video and answer the following questions.

What genus and species is “Selam”? Where was she discovered? How old was she?

How did Donald Johansen know that “Lucy” walked bipedally (upright)?

What was the environment like in Africa before the time of “Selam”? How do the researchers know?

How much more energy is exerted by a chimpanzee walking quadrapedally, than a hominid walking bipedally?

Based on the molecular clock, when did we share a last common ancestor with Chimpanzees?

How many expeditions did it take for researchers to find the fossil of Sahelanthropus tchadensis?

Why is the study of the position of the lunate sulcus important to human evolutionary studies?

What species made the first stone tools? How long ago did this occur?

What were these stone tools used for?

What might have driven the evolution of multiple species in Africa over 2 million years ago?

Becoming Human Part 2: Birth of Humanity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ra1IX1aPY (Links to an external site.)

What is the Broca’s area in the brain?

Why were stone tools important?

What are some of the costs of a larger brain?

What is “persistence hunting”?  What did it allow humans to do?

What is one theory why Homo erectus has smaller teeth, a much smaller gut, and became more social?

What was a key factor in causing humans to leave Africa?

What is the molecular clock and why is it important??