Anthropology questions
in your post, please try to write at least three full sentences (or four comprehensible bullet-point-style notes) in response to each one of the five numbered items listed below. Write about the information you gained by listening to and viewing the video; do not include information from your textbook, the web, or any other source! Write in your own words. In order to demonstrate that you actually comprehend the material, don’t copy sentences or large parts of sentences from the video or from anywhere else.
1. How do his teeth help us to understand the rate at which Turkana Boy (also known as the Nariokotome skeleton in your textbook) grew up? How does Turkana Boy’s growth rate compare to those of chimpanzees and modern humans? What might be the evolutionary point of a prolonged childhood?
2. How and what can we learn about the cognitive abilities of Homo erectus by studying endocasts of their brains? What can we add to this understanding by examining their stone tools?
3. Why does Richard Wrangham think that H. erectus may have used fire? Explain his reasoning in terms of physical changes as well as social behavior.
4. What species is referred to as the “hobbit?” What reason is suggested for the small size of this hominin? Why do researchers think it is interesting that these hominins apparently made and used stone tools?
5. What is the evidence that elderly, ailing Homo erectus individuals received assistsnce from other group members? What is the name of the site where this evidence was found? How do we know that there were elderly individuals in the group? How long ago did these individuals live (that is, what is the date of the site where these fossils were discovered)?
I encourage you to copy these questions so you can paste them into a Word or text document (etc.) where you can answer them while viewing the video.
