Introducing

UNIT 1 INTRODUCING Palaeoanthropology

PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY*

Contents
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Definition
1.2 Aim of Paleoanthropology
1.3 Scope of Palaeoanthropology
1.4 Fossils and their Preservation
1.5 Process of Fossilization
1.5.1 Physico-Chemical Conditions for Fossilization
1.6 Significance of Fossils
1.7 Summary
1.8 References
1.9 Answers/Hints to Check Your Progress
Learning Objectives:
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 understand the definition, aim and subject matter of Palaeoanthropology;
 comprehend the relationship of Palaeoanthropology with other
disciplines; and
 know what are fossils, their process of preservation and fossilization and
significance of fossils.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Paleoanthropology emerged as a science during the late nineteenth century. The
discovery of prehistoric artifacts in Pleistocene deposits soon led to the excavation
of fossilized human bones. The archaeologists and geologists who unearthed
these artifacts were primarily concerned with determining whether the human
fossils and the artifacts found by them actually dated from the Pleistocene, thus
offering evidence for the geological antiquity of humans. Prehistoric
archaeologists reconstructed the way of life of prehistoric peoples through the
artifacts found, while anthropologists examined the human fossils. They wanted
primarily to identify the races of prehistoric humans. It was within this context
that French anthropologists began to use the term “pale´o-anthropologie” to
refer to a new scientific discipline devoted to the study of prehistoric human
races and human paleontology.The field of paleoanthropology studies origin and
development of early humans as an interdisciplinary branch of anthropology
(Goodrum, 2014).

The field draws from and combines paleontology, biological anthropology,

and cultural anthropology. As technologies and methods advance, genetics plays
an ever-increasing role, in particular to examine and compare DNA structure as
a vital tool of research of the evolutionary kinship lines of related species and
genera.
*Dr. Monika Saini and Prof. Rashmi Sinha, Faculty of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences,
Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. 9
Palaeoanthropology and
Primate Evolution 1.1 DEFINITION
The term paleoanthropology derives from Greek palaiós ( ò ) “old, ancient”,
ánthrôpos (ἄνθρωπος) “man, human” and the suffix -logía (- o ) “study of”.
Louis Lartet was one of the first to use the term “pale´o-anthropologie.”
Paleoanthropology emerged within the context of the growing archaeological
evidence from the late 1850s and early 1860s for the presence of humans in
Europe during the Pleistocene. Thus as the name indicates, Palaeoanthropology
is the study of man of ancient times. Now how do we study ancient man in
current times, its evolution through the fossils of our early ancestors. Now what
are fossils? It’s a Latin word Fodre which means dig up.

Paleoanthropology is commonly considered as the study of human fossils and a

descriptive and broadly narrative discipline that is dominated by poorly researched
and media-friendly “findings” that cause changing views on the process of human
evolution. Today’s paleoanthropology or human palentology is a sub discipline
of evolutionary biology that aims to describe, analyze, and interpret the process
of human evolution mainly through a vast set of inductive approaches and
deductive hypothesis testing. The palaeoanthropological approach helps to
reconstruct our evolutionary history from the recovery and analysis of any relevant
fossil evidence. Current palaeoanthropological research does not only ask what
our forerunners looked like and when, where, and how they evolved but also
specifically asks, for example, why humans evolved while other primate species
died out. In paleoanthropology-as in other life sciences with a chronological
perspective-the experiment is the historical process of nature itself(Henke and
Tattersall, 2007).

Zoology Functional morphology Botanics

Construction morphology
Paleontology Evolutionary morphology Paleobotanics

Zoogeography Taphonomy Geology

Clmatology
Oceanography
Ecology
Primatology
Evolutionary Ecology
Geo-and
Astrophysics
Ethology
Paleoanthropology
Geochemistry
Cytogenetics Serology
Molecular biology System theory of evolution
Biochemistry
Archeology
Osteology Archeometry
Systematics
Paleopathology

Paleogenetics Cognitive research Ethnology

Paleopopulation genetics Paleoneurology Linguistics

Fig. 1: Scientific disciplines that participate in the approach to reconstruct the process of
human evolution (After Henke and Rothe, 1994)

In the early beginning of paleoanthropology, the main question was quite simple:
is there a fossil record which proves the existence of our ancestors from ancient
10 times? The protagonists of paleoanthropology soon recognized the need for a
sophisticated empirical approach. The best basis for such a development existed Introducing
Palaeoanthropology
in France, where Pierre Marcelin Boule (1861-1942), a qualified geologist,
paleontologist, and archaeologist, unified in persona all necessary attributes to
establish the Discipline of Paleoanthropology. His classical processing of the
Neandertal skeletons from La Chapelle-aux-Saints (Boule 1911-1913) became
a landmark in the history of human palentology. He aimed to understand the
patterns of variation and the significance of anatomical differences. For this
reason, Boule, invented special instruments for qualification(s) and simple
statistical concepts to analyze the variation in human skeletons. Boule established
a palentology of humans, later on called paleoanthropology, as a scientific
discipline (Henke and Tattersall, 2007).
Check Your Progress
1) What is meant by Paleoanthropology?
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2) How does the field of Paleoanthropology reconstruct human past?
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1.2 AIM
Paleoanthropology is the study of human evolution and that of our closest living
relatives, the other primates. Humans, of course are primates and
paleoanthropologists recognize the importance of understanding primate evolution
as a necessary condition in understanding human evolution. This is the reason
primate evolution is most commonly considered a part of paleoanthropology as
opposed to the larger field of vertebrate paleontology. Paleoanthropology also
includes a variety of other fields that contributes to the study of various areas
like human evolution and variation. These include primate biology, systematics,
ecology, genetics and geology. And of course, since paleoanthropologists are
interested in the behavior of fossil humans, and since many of these humans left
material evidence of their behaviour in the fossil record, the analysis of this
record. Paleolithic archeology is also a major part of paleoanthropology. Because
the material evidence of the behavior of fossil humans is so ubiquitous, while it
is essentially non-existent in other animals, paleoanthropology is unique among
the historical sciences (Begun, 2013).
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Palaeoanthropology and
Primate Evolution 1.3 SCOPE OF PALEOANTHROPOLOGY
To adequately understand human bio-cultural evolution, we need a broad base
of information. Paleoanthropologists recover and interpret all the clues left by
early hominins. It is a diverse multidisciplinary pursuit that seeks to reconstruct
every possible bit of information concerning the dating, anatomy, behaviour,
and ecology of our hominin ancestors. In the past few decades, the study of
early hominins has marshaled the specialized skills of many different kinds of
scientists. This growing and exciting adventure includes, but is not limited to,
geologists, vertebrate paleontologists, archeologists, physical anthropologists and
paleoecologists.

Geologists, usually working with other paleoanthropologists, do the initial survey

to locate potential early hominin sites. Many sophisticated techniques can
contribute to this search, including aerial and satellite photography. Vertebrate
paleontologists are also involved in this early survey work, for they can help
find geological beds containing faunal remains where conditions are favorable
for the preservation of bone from such species as ancient pigs or baboons,
conditions may also be favorable for the preservation of hominin fossils.
Paleontologists can also (through comparison with known faunal sequences) give
quick and approximate ages of fossil sites in the field without having to wait for
the expensive and time-consuming chronometric analyses.

Once identified, fossil beds likely to contain hominin finds become the focus for
further extensive surveying. For some sites, generally those postdating 2.6 mya
(the age of the oldest identified human artifacts), archaeologists take over in the
search for hominin material traces. We don’t necessarily have to find remains of
early hominins themselves to know that they consistently occupied a particular
area. Such material clues as artifacts inform us directly about early hominin
activities. Modifying rocks according to a consistent plan or simply carrying
them around from one place to another over fairly long distances (in a manner
not easily explained by natural means, like steam or glaciers is characteristic of
no other animal but hominins (Jurmain et al., 2011).

We have learnt that Palaeoanthropology being an offshoot of anthropology and

archaeology focuses on the reconstructing the modern human on evolutionary
lines working on biological indicators e.g.petrified skeletal remains, bone
fragments, footprints and cultural information as stone tools, artifacts, and
settlement localities. With such broad spectrum of this branch, palaeoanthropology
is broadly of significance in educating about our past and that of nature and
economic applications.

1.4 FOSSILS AND THEIR PRESERVATION

The term fossil (Lat. Fossils = to dig up), according to Lamarck, is defined as
remains of plants and animals which have existed on the earth in prehistoric
times and are found preserved within sedimentary rocks or superficial deposits
of the earth, not only mostly as petrified structures of organisms but also whatever
was directly connected with or produced by these organisms. Fossils provide
some idea about the shape, size, appearance and activities of the organism (Jain
and Anantharaman, 1996).
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Much of what we know about the history of life comes from studying fossils. Introducing
Palaeoanthropology
Fossils are traces of ancient organisms and can be formed in many ways. The
oldest fossils found thus far date back to more than 3 billion years ago, because
they are the remains of microorganisms, they are extremely small and are called
microfossils (Jurmain et al., 2011).

Fossils are the most important link between our past and present, in fact it’s
around fossil only that we can trace our evolutionary history. Fossils occur in
two forms: the actual remains of organisms, which are generally incomplete,
including three-dimensional molds of their external body, and the remains of an
animal’s activity, such as trackways. The remains of an animal’s activity are
called trace fossils (Cachel, 2015). Fossils are assessed by the techniques
of physical anthropology, comparative anatomy, and the theory of evolution.

Types of Preservation
The study of the formation and preservation of fossils is called taphonomy. There
are several different types of preservation and several different approaches to
classification. It is important to be able to understand the different ways that
fossils can be formed in order to know what they can look like. It is also worth
noting that a single fossil may fall into more than one of these categories.

Original preservation, preservation of the original chemical composition, is

typically confined to geologically young fossils where the associated sediments
have not yet undergone lithification. Examples of this type of preservation include
soft-tissue preservation and original hard part preservation. Soft-tissue
preservation, where organic materials such as organs, skin, and hair are preserved,
only occurs under exceptional conditions. Forms of this type of preservation
include encasement in amber and mummification via freezing, chemical reaction,
lack of oxygen, extremely arid conditions, or dehydration and preservation in
oily plant debris (as in the Geiseltal Formation in Germany) or tar (as in the
Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles). This only occurs for geologically young
specimens that date back at most a few million or tens of millions of years,
beyond which time nothing but chemicals residues of organic matter will remain.
Most well-known examples of this type of preservation are not technically
considered fossils. Otzi, the Iceman is a famous example of soft-tissue
preservation. Also in this category are finds of ice age mammals such as woolly
mammoths, horses, caribou, and several other species in the Tundra of Siberia,
Alaska, and the Canadian Yukon which presents the famous examples of soft-
tissue preservation. They are sometimes mistaken for modern animals but break
roughly into two groups, those aged 50,000-25,000 years old and those aged
15,000-10,000 years old.

Much more common is preservation of original hard parts. Sometimes, organic

materials can be preserved intact or nearly intact, without any significant
alteration. Teeth, bones, and shells may survive for many millions of years almost
unchanged if they are incorporated into suitable, low-oxygen sediment. The
enamel that coats teeth is very resistant, as is calcium carbonate and the calcium
phosphate that forms bones. Pollen and some microfossils can also survive for
long periods virtually unaltered from their original form. Geologically speaking,
fossils in this state of preservation are still quite young. The longer a fossil is

13
Palaeoanthropology and subjected to burial, compression, and differing chemical environments, the more
Primate Evolution
likely the original material is to be changed.

The older the fossil, the more likely it is to be in a state of altered preservation.
As sediments are buried deeper in the Earth and gradually lithify into rock, the
associated fossils also undergo alteration to a greater or lesser extent. Examples
of this type of preservation include permineralization, recrystallization,
replacement, formation of casts and or molds, and carbonization.
Permineralization, the most common form of alteration, is a process in which
porous organic structures, such as wood and bone, have their microscopic pore
spaces, left vacant by decay, filled by minerals precipitated from groundwater.
The original hard parts remain but are encased in extra material that fills in the
pores. The resulting fossil is heavier and denser than the original material. With
this type of fossilization, the fine details of microscopic structure are generally
preserved, occasionally even preserving details of cell structure. Petrified wood
is a fairly common example of permineralization.

Recrystallization is a type of preservation where the crystalline minerals forming

an organism’s hard parts fuse to form larger, more stable crystals. The original
chemical composition can sometimes be preserved, but in other cases, unstable
minerals, such as aragonite, recrystallize into a more stable, chemically identical
form, such as calcite. The original chemical composition remains, and much of
the original shape of the fossil is preserved, but the texture difference is obvious
under the microscope and much of the fine detail of the structure is lost.

Replacement is a process in which an organism’s original hard parts are dissolved

by chemical action and replaced by another mineral, such as calcite, silica, iron,
or pyrite. The result is a chemically different replica of the original fossil. The
replacement process takes on the name of the secondary mineral, for example
silicification, which is the most common form, entails replacement of the original
mineralogy by silica; pyritization is the replacement of calcite or softtissues with
pyrite (like the sand dollars that you often see in stores); phosphatization usually
involves replacement of low-phosphate apatite with high-phosphate apatite; and
dolomitization is usually the incorporation of magnesium into hard parts that
were originally calcite-forming dolomite. Growth of a replacement mineral occurs
at the expense of the original mineral components, destroying fine detail while
preserving the original size and shape of the fossil.

Sometimes the original material dissolves away completely, leaving a void in

the surrounding sediment and leading to the formation of molds and/or casts.
Molds are surface impressions created in the sediment surrounding the original
material. Think, for example, of leaving a footprint in the sand. Molds can be
found around extant fossils or, if the original material dissolved from the rock
matrix, are left behind as impressions called external molds. If the original fossil
material becomes filled with sediment internally, an impressions of the inside,
called an internal mold, can also form. If a cavity in a fossil is completely filled
in, it can form a nodular internal mold called a steinkern. A complete mold forms
when internal and external mold surfaces are compacted together to produce
impressions in the same layer of sediment.

Casts are formed when a mineral, sediment, or some other material fills in a
mold and hardens to form a copy of the original structure. True casts are relatively
rare in the fossil record, and internal molds (especially steinkerns) are often
14
confused with them. A mold is a negative image of the original, while a cast is a Introducing
Palaeoanthropology
positive image, or duplicate of the original. Since molds and casts occur as a
result of the dissolution or destruction of the original material after the surrounding
matrix of sediment has hardened, only a limited amount of fine detail is usually
preserved.

Carbonization occurs when organic material is preserved through rapid burial in

an anoxic (very low or no oxygen) environment. The organics do not decay.
Instead, the volatile elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are driven
off, leaving behind organic-rich hard parts and soft parts to be preserved as thin,
black films of organic carbon. The fossil loses its three-dimensional shape, but
this process often will preserve the outline of soft tissues, hair, or feathers, and
can reveal fine details that would have been destroyed by other form of
fossilization. Plants are also often preserved in this way. Some of the fantastic
details of the 47-million-year-old fossil primate called Ida (incorrectly cited in
the media as a missing link), such as the hair and skin shadow (an outline of an
animal’s soft tissue or flesh), are due to carbonization of the soft tissue around an
animal’s preserved bones. This combination gives an unprecedented amount of
information about extinct organisms. Carbonized fossils are most commonly
found on the bedding planes of sandstone and shale.

Different organisms have differing potential for fossilization. Organisms with

hard parts are much more commonly preserved than organisms with no hard
parts. The number and size of hard parts also affects preservation. Organisms
with one or two large, robust shells are more likely to be preserved intact than
organisms with lots of smaller, more delicate parts. The environment in which
an organism lives also plays an important role in preservation. Organisms that
live in environments where there is lots of chemical and physical weathering,
and/or substantial erosion, such rapid burial and are preserved by lithification of
the host sediments themselves, hopefully without significant distortion. Study of
trace fossils (ichnofossils) is a specialized area of palentology called ichnology.
Because trace fossils are very rarely found directly in contact with the organisms
responsible for their creation, ichnologists have developed their own separate
methods of classification.

1.5 PROCESS OF FOSSILIZATION

The very early traces of life are fragile and very rare. Most of our evidence
comes later in time, and usually these fossils are pieces of shells, bones, or teeth,
all of which, even in a living animal, were already partly made of mineral. After
the organism died, these “hard” tissues were further impregnated with other
minerals, being eventually transformed into a stone like composition. This process
is mineralization (Jurmain et al., 2011).

Fossilization is the process by which the body of an organism is converted into a

fossil by petrification or by gradual addition or replacement of organic material
by inorganic substance. For the process of fossilization normally the organisms
must have hard parts like skeleton, nail, tooth, bone etc. because the soft parts
shall generally be decomposed. After the death of an organism, it must be
immediately buried so that it does not get destroyed. Since most of the dead
organisms get deposited in water, therefore, the most favorable conditions for
fossilization are present in sea. Fossilization takes place when the tissues of an
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Palaeoanthropology and organism are replaced by minerals. Sometimes replicas of soft tissue are preserved
Primate Evolution
by bacteria that leave a mineral coat of phosphate or pyrite over the surface of
the tissue. Alternatively, fine-grained sediments may sometimes preserve a
hardened external cast of an organism. In addition to hard parts (pollen, shell,
bone, teeth) that are more apt to fossilize, other materials, such as wood, may
also sometimes be fossilized. Fossil wood may be so abundant in some areas
that partial reconstruction of an ancient forest may be possible. Sometimes the
fossil wood is not mineralized. The cellulose has decayed, but the lignin may
still be present. A partial fossil forest of the swamp cypress (Taxodium) has been
preserved as lignin stumps in 8 mya deposits in Hungary. The trees had been
quickly buried in sands that partly preserved the plant material up to the point of
burial. Similar swamp forests from the Late Miocene of Hungary once housed
Rudapithecushungaricus, one of the last survivors of the once diverse European
fossils ape radiation (Cachel, 2015).

There are, however, many other ways in which life-forms have left traces of
their existence. Sometimes insects were trapped in tree sap, which later became
hardened and chemically altered. Because inside the hardened amber there was
little or no oxygen, the insects have remained remarkably well preserved for
million of years, even with soft tissues and DNA still present. This fascinating
circumstance led author Michael Crichton to conjure the Jurassic Park novel
and motion pictures. Leaf imprints in hardened mud, or similar impressions of
small organisms, or even the traces of dinosaur feathers are fossils (Jurmain et
al., 2011).

1.5.1 Physico-chemical Conditions For Fossilization

Environmental conditions: Preservation of fossils is a fairly exceptional
phenomenon that necessitates particular conditions. The body must be rapidly
isolated from oxygenated environment, immediate burial by fine grained
sedimentary deposits, the subsequent deposition of large quantities of sedimentary
deposition (load) leading to prevent oxidation, the expulsion of water and to
compaction. However, the best sediments for good preservation are (a) the water
borne sediments from the degradation and decomposition of older rocks in the
form of argillaceous and (b) the wind borne material in the form of loess or
volcanic ashes has yielded fossils of terrestrial organisms.

Geographic, topographic and climatic conditions also influence preservation,

winds and currents in particular encourage accumulation of organic remains.
Similarly, certain modes of life are shown to lend themselves to a greater or
lesser extent to fossilization. Colonising, gregarious, fixed, boring or burrowing
organisms are more easily preserved than those which live in isolation or lead a
wandering existence(Jain and Anantharaman, 1996).

Chemical conditions: Soon after death the soft parts of organism undergo
decomposition by the activity of bacteria. Similarly, organic matter associated
with the mineralized parts like proteinaceous material of shells, bones, tests etc.
often disappear, regarding these initially hard parts porous and brittle. Chemical
exchanges also occur between the decomposing organism and the sediment which
contains it. The organic matter engaged in this process infact results from
photosynthesis by phytoplankton; about a million tons of organic substances
having this origin are deposited annually in the oceans in present day conditions.
16 However, it has been known for some years that organic substance themselves
have been able to “fossilize” in many sediments and preservation of the substance Introducing
Palaeoanthropology
of the soft parts can occasionally occur. The constant refinement of methods of
investigation in chemical analysis makes it possible to reveal the preservation of
an ever increasing number of constituents of living matter. Palaeobiochemistry
has thus grown up, the results of which are of interest to various branches of
modern palentology. The absence of fossils in the Pre-Cambrian formations may
have resulted from the absence of proteins in the hard parts of the organisms
(Jain and Anantharaman, 1996).

Check Your Progress

3) How do geologists and paleontologists contribute to the field of
Palaeoanthropology?
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4) Explain one important technique of fossil preservation?
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1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF FOSSILS

The value of any fossil depends upon its position in the geologic column and
geographic location. There is definite relation between the fossil contents of
rocks and the position of those rocks in geologic column. Older rocks have simpler
organisms and recent rocks have more complex and varied assemblage of the
contained fossil organisms (Jain and Anantharaman, 1996).

Study of Chronostratigraphy: The purpose of chronostratigraphy is to

organize the sequence of rocks on a global scale into chronostratigraphical
units so that all local as well as worldwide events can be related to a single
standard scale. It is concerned with the age of strata and their time relations.
The organisms now represented as fossils lived at definite times during the
geologic past and hence have chronological sequence. The character of the
included fossil indicates conclusively the time when the sediments were
laid down.

Study of Biostratigraphy: Marine sediments have several fossil species

occurring in a particular sequence; each species confined to one part of the
succession only and representing the time when that species was living.
Here in lies the application of palaeontology: Biostratigraphy. Using the
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Palaeoanthropology and sequence of fossil fauna/flora, the geologic column has been divided into
Primate Evolution
geochronological units (era, period, epoch and age). In biostratigraphy fossil
contents of the beds are used in interpreting the historical sequence.

Study of Paleogeography: The adaptations of organisms are characteristic

of particular environments, hence those shown by fossil forms may indicate
the extent and boundaries of former lands, water deltas, mountains, deserts,
lakes, rivers, shore lines and the positions of deep and shallow seas(Jain
and Anantharaman, 1996).

Study of Palaeoclimate: The variation of temperature and the degree of

moisture is perhaps most clearly indicated by fossil plants and animals. The
palm fossil indicates warm climate, corals exhibit warm tropical climate
and forams exhibit temperate climate. It is also provided by the rapid
diminution in the number and kind of growing animals and the increase of
grazing forms after the beginning of Miocene.

Study of Palaeoecology: Palaeoecology is the study of ancient organisms

in relation to their total physical, chemical and biological environment. It
also explains how these organisms have adapted to a particular ecological
niche in which they feed and breed. It also helps to find out the nature of
these adaptations and the relationships of the animals with each other and
their environments.

Study of Organic Evolution: No line of evidence more forcefully and clearly

supports the fundamental postulate of evolution-”descent with accumulative
modifications”- than that furnished by fossils. The panorama of organic
evolution is visualized by paleontologists from the study of the fossil record
left in the rocks by former organism(Jain and Anantharaman, 1996).

Check Your Progress

5) What do you understand by fossilization?
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6) Write a short note on significance of fossils.
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 Introducing
1.7 SUMMARY Palaeoanthropology

The field of Palaeoanthropology emerged in Europe during the Pleistocene period

for the discovery of humans from the growing archaeological evidences.
Paleoanthropology is an interdisciplinary branch of anthropology that
is concerned with the origins and development of early humans.
Paleoanthropologists reconstruct the way of life of prehistoric peoples through
the artifacts and fossils found. The field draws from and combines geology,
vertebrate paleontology, archeology, physical anthropology, and paleoecology.
Paleoanthropology finds applications in education, economy and in reconstruction
of human past. Palaeoanthropologist with their knowledge of the past life can
reconstruct the palaecology, palaeoenvironment and community structure which
can provide important clues about early humans and their interaction and
competition with past fauna and flora as well as about the evolution of man.Much
of what we know about the history of life comes from studying fossils. This unit
explores how fossils are formed and preserved. Examples are drawn from human
body, fossil halls of natural museum and Dinosaur fossil remains.

1.8 REFERENCES
Begun, D. R. (2013). A Companion to Paleoanthropology. UK: Blackwell
Publishing Ltd.

Cachel, S. (2015). Fossil primates. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Goodrum, M. R. (2014). Crafting a new science: defining paleoanthropology

and its relationship to prehistoric archaeology, 1860–1890. Isis, 105(4), 706-733.

Henke, W., & Tattersall, I. (Eds.). (2007). Handbook of paleoanthropology (Vol.

3). Heidelberg: Springer.

Jain, P. C. &Anantharaman, M. S. (1996). Palaeontology: Evolution and Animal

Distribution. Jalandhar, India: Vishal Publications.

Jurmain R., Kilgore, L. &Trevathan, W. (2011). Essentials of Physical

Anthropology.8th Edition. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

1.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) The field of paleoanthropology studies origin and development of early
humans as an interdisciplinary branch of anthropology. For further details
refer section 1.1.

2) The field of Paleoanthropology reconstruct past of humans by gaining

information from fossil record of primates, genetics analysis of humans and
other surviving primate species, and the history of changing climate and
environments in which the human species evolved.

3) Geologists do the initial survey to locate potential early hominin sites. Many
sophisticated techniques can contribute to this search, including aerial and
satellite photography. Paleontologists can also (through comparison with
known faunal sequences) give quick and dirty approximate ages of fossil
19
Palaeoanthropology and sites in the field without having to wait for the expensive and time-consuming
Primate Evolution
chronometric analyses.

4) Recrystallization is a type of preservation where the crystalline minerals

forming an organism’s hard parts fuse to form larger, more stable crystals.
For further details refer section 1.4.

5) Fossilization is the process by which the body of an organism is converted

into a fossil by petrification or by gradual addition or replacement of organic
material by inorganic substance. For further details refer section 1.5.

6) Fossil records are widely used in the study of the following: (a)
Chronostratigraphy (b) Biostratigraphy (c) Paleogeography (d) Palaeoclimate
(e) Palaeoecology and (f) Organic Evolution. For further details refer section
1.5.

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