Mazi Rakhsha

Anthropology 1020-001
Extra Credit Paleoanthropology Museum Visit
4/28/2016

1. List of Hominin species:

a. Homo heidelbergensis: The first early humans to venture into the cold
latitudes of Europe. The museum seemed to summarize the
description into more simplistic terms.
b. Homo sapiens: Fossil and genetic evidence shows that our species,
Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago and began to
spread out from there by at least 100,000 years ago. The terms fossil
and genetic evidence are words seen in the textbook as well to remain
politically correct as to how long ago we lived.
c. Homo neanderthalensis: Neanderthals were the first early humans to
wear clothing, bury their dead, and use symbols. This statement was
very clear in the textbook that the Neanderthals buried their dead.
d. Homo floreslensis: Its small size earned it the nickname hobbit and
may have been due to the scarcity of resources on its island habitat.
The term hobbit was also seen in the textbook as a way to show how
small and short-limbed these people were.
e. Homo erectus: Evidence suggests that these were the first human
relatives to make hearths, eat significant amounts of meat, and care
for the old and weak. Caring for the elderly was focused on heavily in
the book and it was clear that these relatives of ours were meat eaters.
f. Australopithecus africanus: This species was mostly vegetarian, with a
diet similar to that of modern chimpanzees. The Australopithecus
diets were said to have been mainly plants, which could also be seen
by looking at their teeth.
g. Homo rudolfensis: Kenya, possibly northern Tanzania, and Malawi,
Africa. This species was well known to have larger teeth and longer
faces.
h. Paranthropus robustus: Sagittal Crest is the familiar aspect of this
species.
i. Paranthropus boisei: Along with the sagittal crest, the chewing muscles
are what stands out in the Paranthropus species.
2. Based upon how the fossils are set up on the hominin wall in the Museum of
Natural History University of Utah, my assumption is that the designer was
a lumper. The Homo heidelbergensis, sapiens, neanderthalensis, floreslensis,
and erectus were all vertically aligned with each other. The paranthropus and
Australopithecus were in another column, looking as though the hominins
were in decreasing order of skull size. The designer was probably trying to
make it look as though the smaller skull sizes were the oldest species starting
from the left and going right to the newer species such as the Homo sapiens.

3. The following geological epochs (Pleistocene, Pliocene, Miocene, Eocene, and

Mesozoic) could be seen at the museum.