Self-study
P1
Darwin's conception of early prehistoric humans as confident, clever hunter-gatherers has long dominated anthropology. ███
Traditional perspective ·
Early prehistoric humans were hunter-gatherers
Why this perspective persists ·
Most recent ancestors were discovered first
People confuse modern hunter-gatherer lifestyles with the lifestyle of our ancestors.
Author's criticism ·
Traditional perspective overlooks important differences
Modern hunter-gatherers are very advanced, and their environments are very different from our ancestors'.
P2
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New methodology and new perspective ·
Taphonomy questions perspective that ancesetors were hunters
Taphonomy involves studying bones. Example: pattern of bone pile deposits and the nature of markigns on bones.
P3
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Evidence against traditional view ·
Grooves on animal bone fossils
Markings made by stone tools on animal bone fossils are different from those made by carnivores' teeth or sedimentary abrasion. Animal bone fossils had carnivore markings underneath markings made by tools, and the tool markings were not systematically at joints. (The implication is that if our ancestors were hunters, we'd expect to see tool markings at joints and we wouldn't see carnivore marking underneath the tool markings.)
P4
███
New hypothesis ·
Ancestors were scavengers, not hunters
Additional evidence ·
Ancestors' teeth show diet primarily of fruit, only occasionally meat
Develop new hypothesis ·
Ancestors may have used trees to spot animal carcasses
Fossil record suggests our ancestors climbed trees and foraged or scavenged for food, rather than hunted live prey.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
25.
Which one of the following ██████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████
a
Traces of an ███████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ █ █████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████
This isn’t analogous, because it doesn’t involve a situation in which we made assumptions about an earlier period based on evidence from a more recent period.
b
Art historians who ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████
The late paintings are analogous to modern hunter-gatherers. The similar paintings done a few years prior to the late paintings are analogous to the evidence of Neanderthals, who were the most recent early hominids. The artists’ first paintings are analogous to the earlier hominids. Due to the similarity between the late paintings and the paintings done a few years prior, we conclude that the first paintings were probably similar, too, just as we concluded that earlier hominids were probably hunter-gatherers, due to the similarity between Neanderthals and modern hunter-gatherers.
c
Two manuscripts written ██ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████████
This isn’t analogous, because it doesn’t involve a situation in which we made assumptions about an earlier period based on evidence from a more recent period.
d
Pottery dating back █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ █ ████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███ ███████ █████ ████
This isn’t analogous, because it doesn’t involve a situation in which we made assumptions about an earlier period based on evidence from a more recent period.
e
A fossil of ██ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███████████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ███████
This isn’t analogous, because it doesn’t involve a situation in which we made assumptions about an earlier period based on evidence from a more recent period.