Question 1: Describe the basis of the principle of superposition as well as why we cannot date a 1 million year old hominid with radiocarbon dating.
According to Hull (191), the principle of superposition states that for any layers or sequence of surface-deposited material, a bed is older than the one above it and younger than the one below it. However, this is not always the case since rocks and beds can buckle causing younger rocks to go underneath older bed. Therefore, the principle should be applied critically. Basically, the principle states that younger rockers lie on older rocks (Martin, 140). The half- life of carbon-14 is used in dating. But the half-life of the mentioned carbon-14, in this case, is 5730 years. This implies that after 11,460 years, only a quarter of what was in an organism will be present. Furthermore, if the organism is more than 50,000 years old, there will be no any remaining carbon-14 and therefore carbon-14 cannot be used to date a million-year old hominid.
Why is it important to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of a hominid site and at least one method used to do so?
Palaeoenvironmental should be reconstructed since it improves the understanding of evolution as it provides the context of human behavioral and morphological evolution. Plate tectonic geomorphology is used to do this reconstruction.
Describe two reasons why primate and hominid teeth receive so much attention by Palaeoanthropologists – why are they so important?
The primate and the hominid teeth are of significance to Palaeo-anthropologists since they give an indication of the age of the organisms. Additionally these teeth are used to show the different ages of evolution. As an animal changes from quadrupedal to bipedal locomotion, the pelvis must get broader and lower to support the joints of the hip and the necessary muscle required for bipedalism. Since large foot with a greater surface area is required for bipedal locomotion, the toe of an animal becomes elongated as well as aligned with the rest of the toes enabling it to make the last contact with the ground during motion (Tomkins, 61).
There are various changes that occur in the pelvis of an animal when it evolves from being a Qudrupedal to a Bipedal. In this case, the pelvis becomes longer in order support the larger amount of weight that rests on it since the bipedal walk uprightly. In addition to this, it attains a shorter and broader shape owing to the changes that happen on the vertebral column to the effect that it comes closer to the hip joint.
Contrast a gracile to a robust australopithecine by providing at least 3 distinctive anatomical differences as well as a species example of each.
There are differences between gracile and a robust australopithecine. For instance, the gracile had a small temporal fossa while that in robust was large. Additionally, the snout in gracile was longer than that of a robust. The robust had a flat forehead while that of the gracile was steep. The gracile had large incisors and canines than those of robust. However, the molars and premolars of a robust were larger compared to those of a gracile. Examples of the species are Australopithecus anamensisand Australopithecus afarensis.
