First production of hominid toolmaking. Characterized by round stones with a clear core.
Olduvai Gorge
Gorge who's river bed Oldowan tools are found in.
Gradualism
Model of Human Evolution in which major changes are the result of a slow and steady accumulation of small changes.
Punctuated Equilibrium
Model of Human Evolution in which periods of rapid dramatic/drastic change occur over short periods of time seperated by long periods of little change.
Stasis
Long periods of little change
Ecological Niche
Habitat, Physical space and space in food web.
Adaptive Radiation
In which a set of related species "radiate out" to occupy a set of environmental niches.
Charles Darwin
Really? Again?
Alfred Wallace
Biologist/Anthropologist. Independently conceived a theory of evolution through natural selection and published his theory jointly with Charles Darwin.
Mary Leakey
Divided and categorized the Oldwan industry tools at the Olduvai Gorge.
Louis Leakey
Able to examine the geologic information of Olduvai Gorge.
Richard Potts
Argued that hominins created "caches" of raw material in sites such as the Olduvai Gorge.
Glynn Isaac
Worked with Mary Leaky on Oldowan limestone cave sites in South Africa, suggested that they were "home bases" for the hominids
Lewis Binford
Suggested that the limestone caves in south africa were where hominins scavenged carnivore leftovers
Robert Blumenschine
Thought the animal bones at Oldowan sites were leftover from scavenging based on cut marks
Kathy Schick
Considers larger Oldowan sites to be "favored places" where stones and bones were carred to an area with shade, protection, water and animal carcasses