General Features and Major Evolutionary Trends of Apes and Humans (Hominoidea) Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 131
First, Some Important Terms
“Anthropoids” = all living and extinct monkeys, apes and humans
Anthropoids
“Hominoids” = all living and extinct apes and humans
Hominoids
“Hominids” = modern humans and their nearest predecessors
Hominids
Hominids (Hominidae) Hominids are modern humans and their nearest predecessors
Hominids Useful markers of the earliest hominids: reduced canine length... adaptations for bipedalism...
Hominids “... in the final analysis only the evidence of habitual bipedalism unmistakably marks a fossil species as hominid.” -- Campbell-Loy, p. 188
Hominids Hominidae (Hominids) Australopithecus... Paranthropus... (maybe) Homo... Genus Family
Hominids Over-all Comparisons Gibbon Orangutan Chimpanzee Gorilla Modern Human
gibbons orangutans bonobos chimps gorillas humans Campbell and Loy, Humankind Emerging, 8 th ed, p. 138f
General Features and Major Evolutionary Trends of Apes and Humans (Hominoidea) Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 131
General Features / Trends of Apes / Humans 1. As a group the apes have been the subject of much mythology and many misconceptions
Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 168
General Features / Trends of Apes / Humans 2. “Dental apes” probably originated in the early Oligocene
Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 183
General Features / Trends of Apes / Humans Dental apes are “apes” with monkey-like bodies who did not hang or swing
General Features / Trends of Apes / Humans Dental apes are Oligocene Anthropoids
Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 191 Next: Oligocene AnthropoidsOligocene Anthropoids