Paleoanthropology Study

• Paleoanthropology study concentrate of the ancient human and human

ancestors to comprehend the biological evolution of the human species
and the lifestyle of its distant relations.

• Should address on preparing Paleoanthropology research design

- Description of the region and time period to examined.
- data that will be recovered
- explanation of how the proposed research would contribute as existing
knowledge.
Paleoanthropological studies rely on ;

• Paleontologist - Study of all aspect of human past and biologist of the

past

• Archaeologist - Concerned with past human culture, their lifestyle,

technology, and social system.

• Geologist - Processes that produce sedimentary deposits and

contribute to studies of prehistoric environment
Fossils and Fossil Localities
• Fossils
- preserved remains, impression, or traces of living creatures from past ages.
- fossils are formed when an organism dies and is buried n=by soft mud, sand or
silt
• Fossil localites
• Paleoanthropologist refers to place where fossils are found as fossil localities and
one particular importance interpreting fossils localities is the taphonomy.
• Taphonomy
• study of processes of fossilization "laws of burial"; study of diagenetic processes
acting on a dead animal's remains.
Limitations of Fossil Records
• Differential preservation
• Species representation
• Geography/ environment
• Differential survival of bones/ teeth
• Number of specimen
• Missing links preservation
• Fragmentary / distortion
• Sampling, dating, authenticity, etc..
What do fossils tell us? Scarcity of human Fossils

• Evolutionary processes • Paleoecological reasons

• Reconstruction of biology and • Paleontology factors
behavior • Human are a young species
• Sex, growth patterns, life
expectancies, diseases etc
Human Fossil Sites
• Quiet caves
• Open sites near water
• Scattered amongst animal remains.

* Fossil record is far fron complete.

• Only small portion of the creature have been lived are preserved.
Archaeological Research
• Objectives on Archaeological Research
• Terms of time period
• Geographic areas
• Research question
• Behavior of early human ancestors
• Complex political systems
Archaeological Record
• Archaeological record provides a record of past human behavior and
fossils record. Archaeological past is a well-worn and fragment cloth
rather than a complete tapestry
• Archaeological sites where places of past human activity that are
preserved in the ground
• Most of the Archaeologist devoted their time to study the artifacts-
any object made or modified by humans.
Locating Sites
• To locate a site researcher have to undertake systematic examination
or survey of a particular area, region or country.
• * the more ancient the place is, the more difficult to locate.
• Subsurface testing anf survey
• Digging anger holes or shovel test
• Proton magnetometer
• Electrical resistivity
Remote Sensing
• Aerial Photography or aerial archaeology
Archaeological Excavation
• Archaeological sites may be targeted for excavation. Before the
excavation, a site is divided into a grid, which allows each artifact to
be carefully located.
• Number of variations
• Type of site
• Length of occupation
• Soil present
• Areas environment history
Relative Dating
• Relative Dating
– determines only whether an object is older or younger than other
objects
• Stratigraphic Dating
– basic relative dating method and have a basic assumption forms
called law of supraposition.
• Law of Supraposition – the lowest rocks have been the longest and
the upper rocks have been in place for progressively shorter period. (
- Nicholas Steno)
• Faunal Succesion – means animal succession

• Palynology
• - a study of pollen grains, the male reproductive parts of plants.
• - by examining preserved pollen grains, we can trace the adaptations
vegetation underwent in a region from one period to another.
• Relative Dating Method for Bones - measuring the elements of FUN
Trio in the fossil specimen.

• Seriation - a relative dating technique based on the study of

archaeological materials.
Numerical or Absolute Dating ( Chronometric)
• Chronometric Dating provides an estimated of age in years based on radioactive decay
• Radiocarbon Dating - also known as carbon 14 dating,

• Potassium-Argon and Fission-Track Dating - scientists measure the decay of a radioisotope of potassium; into an inert gas, argon
• *Potassium known as potassium 40 (40K)
• * Argon (40Ar)

• Fission-Track Dating - based on the decay of a radioactive isotope of uranium (238U) that releases energy at a regular rate

• Thermoluminescene Dating - also based on radioactive decay differently than the method above. Thermoluminescence dating is based
on the amount of electrons trapped in crystalline minerals.

• Dendrochronology - unique type of absolute dating based on the annual growth rings found in some species of trees.
• *Tree-ring dating isa preserve record of environmental history.
• - thick rings represent years when the tree recieved ample rain.
• - thin rings donate dry spells.
Interpretations About the Past
• Interpretation of the past are inevitably influenced by the present. At
times theories have been used to supoort political ends and theories
can be revealed asfalse through testing and replaced by more
convincing arguments.
• Archaeological theories, often derived from the cultural anthropology,
helping archaeologists conceptualize how cultures work and what
aspects of a past culture might be preserved archaeologically