Anthropology Assignment: The Archaeology of Extinction
The midterm examination will include information covered in the lectures and required readings through Lecture 9.
1. Provide Each of the Anthropology word definition of:Archaeology, Extinction, Extirpation, Material Culture, Evolution, Mass Extinction (How many?), Quaternary Period, Sunda, Sahul, Wallace Line, Weber Line, Lydekker Line, Firestick Farming, Carnassial Teeth, Beringia, Anzick, Wally's Beach, Paisley Caves, Clovis Point, Fishtail Point, Western Stemmed Point, Pre-Clovis, Great American Interchange.
2. Be able to explain:
Bergmann's Rule, Allen's Rule, Foster's Rule, The Island Rule, Evolution by Natural Selection, The Overkill Hypothesis (4 premises) and Blitzkreig Model.
3. How can a species escape predation?
a. Be able to discuss evolutionary and ecological differences between vertebrates on islands and continental land-masses and provide some examples of the results.
b. Be able to discuss the basics of the Pleistocene Epoch; Time, Stadials, Interstadials, Ice Sheets.
c. Pleistocene Homo species vs. Holocene Homo species and ranges.
d. Initial population date estimates for all continents we have covered in lecture.
4. Paleolithic Archaeological Ages and Material Culture and Homo species associated with them:
a. Lower Paleolithic - 2.58 mya - 300 kya,
i. Oldowan - H. habilis, H. ergaster, 2.6 mya - 1.7 mya
ii. Acheulean - H erectus, H. antecessor, H. heidelbergensis, 1.76 mya - 100 kya
b. Upper Paleolithic - 300 kya - 10 kya,
i. Mousterian - H. neanderthalensis, 150 kya - 10 kya,
ii. Various (Solutrean, Clovis) - H. sapiens sapiens, 200 kys - 10 kya,
5. Which species went extinct and where in the Pleistocene? Does size have anything to do with extinction in the Pleistocene?
6. What extinct Pleistocene taxa show clear evidence of direct association/predation with/by Homo and why? (Genyornis, in Australia) Which in Eurasia (Cave art, houses, bones)? Which in the Americas (kill sites, butchered specimens)?
7. How do African Pleistocene extinctions compare with those in the Americas and Australia?
8. How late did megafauna persist into the Holocene? Which species and where?
9. How and when did people get to the New World? What is the evidence for this? (3 potential migration routes; Ice Free Corridor, Coastal Migration, Solutrean).
10. Anachronistic Plants - who were the seed dispersers? How can you tell an anachronistic fruit/seed? How do these plant's seeds survive consumption so as to disperse? Name some.
11. How can you distinguish a Clovis Point from a Fishtail Point from a western stemmed point from an el Jobo point? What are their similarities?
12. What is so special about the Fin del Mundo Site, Sonora, Mexico (Sanchez et al. 2014)?
13. What is the deal with the Cerruti Mammoth site? How does it compare to other known proboscidean kill/butchery sites? Do the authors present a convincing argument? What are some glaring issues with their contentions?
14. What is so special about Monte Verde, Chile?
15. What is so special about Clovis, New Mexico?
16. What is so special about the Wally's Beach Site, Canada?
17. What is so special about the Debra Friedkin/Buttermilk Creek Site, Texas?
18. Which extinct Pleistocene terrestrial vertebrate would you want to have around today and why?
19. Be sure to Read: All the required readings and especially;
Barnosky et al. 2004; Barnosky& Lindsey 2010; Grayson & Meltzer 2015; Martin 1973; Holener al. 2017; Braje et al. 2017; Janzen & Martin 1982;Martin 1973; Meltzer 2015;Lyons et al. 2004;Saltré et al. 2016; Johnson 2009; Van der Geer et al. 2016.