Year 10 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 18
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Learning Goals
Read the chart
Approximate brain volume (cm³) across key hominin species
Data: Approximate mean endocranial volumes based on fossil evidence. Sources: Holloway et al. (2004), Homo fossil literature.
(a) Describe the trend in brain volume across the four hominin species shown.
(b) Approximately how much larger is the Homo sapiens brain compared with Australopithecus? Calculate the difference.
(c) Brain enlargement is one trend in hominin evolution. Name two other key trends and explain their adaptive value.
Real-world context
The remains known as Mungo Man and Mungo Woman were found at Lake Mungo in far western New South Wales and are about 40,000–42,000 years old. Mungo Woman’s cremation is at least 42,000 years old and is among the earliest known evidence of cremation; the burials are of great cultural significance to Aboriginal Traditional Owners and provide important evidence of the deep history of Aboriginal Australia. They are not the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils outside Africa: fossils from Skhūl Cave in Israel are about 90,000 years old. Mungo’s age is evidence of people living in Australia by that time, but it does not by itself establish the exact date or route of their ancestors’ arrival.
(a) What does the age of the Mungo Man fossil tell us about when Aboriginal Australians' ancestors arrived in Australia? Connect this to the Out of Africa hypothesis.
(b) The Mungo Man fossil shows evidence of ochre burial ritual. Why does this type of evidence matter for our understanding of human cognitive evolution?
1. Modern non-African humans carry 1–2% Neanderthal DNA. What does this tell us about the interaction between Homo sapiens and H. neanderthalensis?
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?