Prehistoric Diet
- Pollen analysis
- Wear patterns on teeth
- Types of tools used - hunting, plant processing
- Malnutrition - tooth decay
- Residue analysis
- Middens (trash)
- Cavities are generally not seen before the development of agriculture
Trade
Trade between sites can be analyzed via minerals are soil at different sites.
Dating Archeological Materials
- Relative vs. absolute dating
- Relative dating: stratigraphy
- Absolute dating: radiometric dating (Carbon-14, Potassium/Argon)
- Potassium/Argon: Dating Potassium distributed in crustal / volcanic sediments (rocks only)
- Dendrochronology (tree rings)
- Direct vs. indirect (date vs. date associated materials)
Evidence for Human Evolution
- What makes us human?
- What causes evolution?
- Mutations
- Gene Flow
- Natural Selection
- Genetic Drift
- Isolated population → different genetics
- Hominids: bipeds
- Hominin: humans, chimps, orangutans, gorillas
- Lots of early fossils found in Rift Valley in Africa
- Tectonic plates, so early layers get exposed
- Touma:
- Earliest fond biped, 6-7 million years ago
- Found just cranium, but they can see where the spine connects so it’s a biped