Documents for "Human Evolution":

• Çatal Hüyük Neolithic settlement on the Konya Plain in S Turkey that flourished c.6500-c.5800 BC The site, excavated (1961-65) by British archaeologist James Mellaart, occupies 32 acres (12.8 hectares) and is...

• Abbevillian see Paleolithic period.

• Acheulian see Paleolithic period.

• Australopithecus an extinct genus of the hominid family found in Africa between about 4 and 1 million years ago. At least seven species of australopithecines are now generally recognized, including Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus, A. bahrelghazali, A. anamensis, A. boisei, A. robustus, and A. aethiopicus. Among their many shared anatomical traits were a fully erect posture and bipedal gait. The most "primitive" anatomical feature was a small and apelike braincase, comparable in size to those of gorillas and chimpanzees when measured relative to overall body size. Other species have been reported found,...

• Azilian see Mesolithic period.

• Bronze Age period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately...

• Chellean-Abbevillian see Paleolithic period.

• Clactonian see Paleolithic period.

• Clovis culture a group of Paleo-Indians (see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the ) known through artifacts first excavated in the early 1930s near Clovis, N.Mex. The artifacts, including chipped flint points known as Clovis points and a variety of additional stone tools, were...

• Copper Age see Bronze Age.

• crannog see lake dwelling.

• Cro-Magnon man an early Homo sapiens (the species to which modern humans belong) that lived about 40,000 years ago. Skeletal remains and associated artifacts of the of the Aurignacian culture were first found in 1868 in Les Eyzies,...

• Dryopithecus an extinct group of apes. Fossils about 20 million years old have been found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Dryopithecus had a semierect posture and is generally believed to be ancestral to modern apes...

• early man see human evolution.

• Folsom culture a group of Paleo-Indians (see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the ) known through artifacts first excavated (1926) near Folsom, E of Raton, N.Mex. The artifacts, including chipped flint points known as Folsom points and a variety of other stone tools, were found...

• Heidelberg man see Homo erectus.

• Homo erectus extinct hominid living between 1.6 million and 250,000 years ago. Homo erectus is thought to have evolved in Africa from H. habilis, the first member of the genus Homo. Anatomically and physiologically,...

• human evolution theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology , anthropology , and genetics , and involves the process of natural selection (see Darwinism ). Although gaps in the fossil record due to differential preservation prevent the complete specification of the line of human descent, H. sapiens share clear anatomical, genetic, and historic relationships to other primates. Of all primates, humans bear particularly close affinity to other members of a group known as hominoids, or apes , which includes orangutans , gibbons , gorillas , chimpanzees , and humans. Humans and their immediate ancestors, known as hominids, are notable among hominoids for their bipedal locomotion, slow rate of maturation, large brain size, and, at least among the...

• Iron Age period in the development of industry that begins with the general use of iron and continues into modern times. In Asia, Egypt, and Europe it was preceded by the Bronze Age. It did not begin in the Americas until the coming of the Europeans. Iron beads were worn in Egypt as early as 4000 BC, but these were of meteoric iron, evidently shaped by the rubbing process used...

• Java man see Homo erectus.

• lake dwelling prehistoric habitation built over the shallow waters of a lake shore or a marsh, usually erected on pile-supported platforms, but sometimes on artificial mounds. Such a site afforded easy access to...

• Magdalenian see Paleolithic period.

• Maglemosian see Mesolithic period.

• man see anthropology ; human evolution ; race.

• man, prehistoric or early man: see human evolution.

• Mesolithic period or Middle Stone Age, period in human development between the end of the Paleolithic period and the beginning of the Neolithic period. It began with the end of the last glacial period over 10,000 years ago and evolved into the Neolithic period; this change involved the gradual domestication of plants and animals and the formation...

• Mousterian or Levalloiso-Mousterian: see Paleolithic period.

• Natufian see Neolithic period ; Mesolithic period.

• Neanderthal small valley, W Germany, E of Düsseldorf. In 1856 the remains of Neanderthal man were discovered there.

• Neanderthal man or Neandertal man , a subspecies of Homo sapiens, the species to which contemporary humans belong, known as H. sapiens neandertalensis after Neanderthal, Germany, the valley where the first specimen...

• Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of settled...

• New Stone Age see Neolithic period.

• Old Stone Age see Paleolithic period.

• Oreopithecus extinct genus of apes whose fossils have been found in E Africa and Italy. It is best known through specimens preserved in coal deposits. It lived in swampy areas, was herbivorous, and had long...

• Paleolithic period pā&180;lēelĬth´Ĭk, -lēō-, păl&180;- or Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coextensive with the Pleistocene geologic epoch, beginning about 2 million years ago and...

• Paranthropus see Australopithecus.

• Peking man see Homo erectus.

• pile dwelling see lake dwelling.

• Piltdown man name given to human remains found during excavations (1908-15) at Piltdown, Sussex, England, by Charles Dawson. The find led to much speculation and argument. Since they were found with remains of...

• Pithecanthropus erectus see Homo erectus.

• Plesianthropus see Australopithecus.

• prehistoric man see human evolution.

• Ramapithecus an extinct group of primates that lived from about 12 to 14 million years ago, for a time regarded as a possible ancestor of Australopithecus and, therefore, of modern humans. Fossils of Ramapithecus were discovered in N India and in E Africa, beginning in 1932. Although it was generally an apelike creature, Ramapithecus was considered a possible human ancestor on the basis of the reconstructed jaw and dental characteristics of fragmentary fossils. A complete jaw discovered in 1976 was clearly nonhominid, however,...

• Rhodesian man see Neanderthal man.

• Sinanthropus pekinensis see Homo erectus.

• Solo man see Neanderthal man.

• Stone Age see Paleolithic period ; Mesolithic period ; Neolithic period.

• Tardenoisian see Mesolithic period.

• Zinjanthropus see Australopithecus.