Mystery Fossils and Sites

Mystery fossil #1

This section will take a bit more searching than your texts. Hand in your best guess for the following mystery fossils and sites. The oldest entry is number one, so go look at the timeline in the Smithsonian Human Origins and it will give you clues to which species you should search.

Look up words that you do not understand! Note: Please submit in separate assignment slot than parts I and III of this assignment.

Web Resources:

Smithsonian Institution – Hall of Origin

Talk Origins

1. Mystery fossil # 1

a. Found in Germany.

b. It is a nearly complete skull but lacks the mandible.

c. Its date is uncertain, probably between 300-250,000 y.a.

2. Mystery fossil #2

a. Dates to 35,000 y.a.

b. Found in southwestern France.

c. Found in association with Chatelperronian tools.

3. Mystery fossil #3

a. Found in cave deposits near Kabwe, Zambia.

b. Has a massive brow ridge, a low vault, and a prominent occipital torus.

c. It dates to about 130,000 y.a.

4. Mystery fossil #4

a. Dates to the late Middle Pleistocene (230-180,000 y.a.)

b. It is the most complete skull of a premodern human from China.

c. It has a relatively small cranial capacity of 1120 cm³.

5. Mystery fossil #5

a. A Neandertal burial discovered in Israel in 1983.

b. It has the most complete Neandertal pelvis yet found.

c. It has the only Neandertal hyoid bone ever discovered.

6. Mystery site #6

a. At least 28 individuals were recovered from this premodern human site.

b. It is a cave in the northern hills of Spain.

c. It dates to around 350,000 y.a.

7. Mystery fossil #7

a. A 30-45 year old Neandertal male recovered from a cave site in Iraq.

b. He survived extreme trauma including a crushing blow to the side of his skull.

c. He was 5'7" tall and had a cranial capacity of 1600 cm³.

8. Mystery site #8

a. At least 70 individuals were recovered from this Neandertal site.

b. It is located in Croatia, in central Europe.

c. It is relatively ancient for Neandertals, dating to 130,000-110,000 y.a.

9. Mystery fossil #9

a. Marcellin Boule's description of this fossil is partially responsible for today's caricature of Neandertals as "brutish cavemen."

b. Discovered in a cave in southwestern France in 1908.

c. He was an old individual afflicted with arthritis and other pathologies.

10. Mystery fossil #10

a. The eastern-most Neandertal fossil found in a cave in Uzbekistan.

b. A nine-year-old child's burial.

c. He was, perhaps, buried with five pairs of wild goat horn

3 question are giving below, and each question have two parts.

1. A) Describe how the homo-Neanderthals adapted to climate changes?

B) What are the distinct key physical characteristics that defines the homo georgics?

2. A) Outline some examples of the Neanderthal culture?

B) what type of environment did the Homo georgics live in and in this environment, what skills or specific method of survival did the homo georgics learn in order to survive?

3. A) Describe the skull of a Neanderthal?

B) what type of diet did the homo georgics prefer? Provide examples?