Anthropologists - include physical anthropologists, archaeologists, botanists, palaeoecologists, zoologists, geologists whose chief concern is the study of human physical and cultural development.

Australopithecines (‘southern ape’) – the early hominid group that lived in Southern Africa between 4.5 and 1 mya.  They are sometimes divided into gracile (A. afarensis, A. garhi and A. africanus) and robust (A. robustus, A. boisei).

Bedu - the traditional occupants of the southern Arabian Peninsula.  Known in English-speaking countries as the Bedouin.

Brain size and diet - John Wilford (NYT 21 October 2003) examines the debate in paleoanthropology as to which came first, a significant advance in the brain that enabled human ancestors to make tools, or the toolmaking ability that led to an enriched diet and then to an evolutionary change in the brain.  He quotes Sileshi Semaw (Indiana University): 'I believe the use of stone tools came first and the larger brain came later with a more substantial meat diet'.

Cro-Magnon - (French for large cliff) reminds us that the first of these Upper Paleolithic discoveries were made in a rock shelter at the foot of a cliff being excavated beside the Dordogne village of Les Eyzies.  Five skeletons were discovered and their description was published in the same year.  This caught the public imagination as a contrast to the stockier Neanderthals (discovered 1856) who had been depicted as brutish and clumsy.  The reputation of the Cro-Magnons has been further enhanced with their association with the cave paintings at Chauvet (35,000 ya), Lascaux (20,000 ya) and Altimira (17,000 ya).The Cro-Magnons are representatives of 'early modern people' of the Upper Paleolithic who are associated with the Aurignacian, Perigordian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian tool industries.As well as being favourably compared with the Neanderthals and their creation of sophisticated art, there is also the anatomical evidence: their skulls indicate larger brains - and, therefore, possibly greater intelligence - than present-day humans.  Their skeletons are of an elegant (rather than stocky) frame but with tendon attachments indicating greater muscular strength than people today.  Donald Johanson (FLTL 244) declares, however, that the Cro-Magnons were 'unnecessarily valorized'.

Evolutionary Health Principle - Stephen Boyden has defined the Evolutionary Health Principle as: The principle that, if an animal is removed from its natural environment, or if the environment changes in some way, then it is likely that the animal will be less well-adapted to the new conditions, and will consequently show some signs of physiological or behavioural maladjustment.

Garhi - Australopithecus garhi fossils have been found in the Afar area of Ethiopia from 2.5 mya.

HG = hunter-gatherer

Holocene - the present geological epoch, beginning with the end of the ice ages about 10,000 ya.

Hominids and Hominines - the collective term for all human-related species since the split from the common chimpanzee/human ancestor 5-7 mya.  For further detail on the use of these terms, see this article by Lee Berger. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/12/1204_hominin_id.html

Hominoids - the primate superfamily Hominoidea including gibbons, the great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans) and several extinct species.

Homo – the genus to which humans belong.  The genus includes H. habilis (possibly two species, large and small, beginning 2.5 mya), H. ergaster (from 1.8 mya), H. erectus (from 1.3 mya), H. neanderthalis and H. sapiens (generally divided into two species, archaic Homo sapiens (from 400,000 ya) and modern H. sapiens, the last-named sometimes referred to as H. sapiens sapiens (from 125,000 ya).

Homo habilis (handy man) - the earliest species of the Homo genus.  For Evfit purposes H. habilis is especially significant as it marks several evolutionary transitions to H. sapiens: (1) the transition from being primarily vegetarian to being omnivorous (2) a significant growth in brain size over previous species (3) the application of increased brain size to begin the use of stone tools (4) the use of these stone tools to butcher meat (5) a re-proportioning of the body approaching the contemporary norm.  (These defining characteristics are still speculative, but they represent the general consensus among paleontologists today, in 2002).

Homo sapiens - Carl Linnaeus named our species Homo sapiens in his Systema Naturae published in 1758.  J R and P H Napier write: "In 1758 it must have seemed rather controversial to place man squarely in the animal kingdom, but anatomical characteristics compelled Linnaeus to do so." Linnaeus cited the inscription at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: 'Nosce te ipsum' (know thyself).  "Linnaeus implied, first, that man is the only being capable of studying his own anatomy and physiology and his moral and political propensities and, second, that this self-knowledge is the first step on the road to wisdom.  This concept underlies the use of what would otherwise seem the rather smug adjective with which Linnaeus named the human race Homo sapiens, or wise man."

Ketosis - When fats are burned incompletely, ketones are produced. Fats are burned incompletely in the absence of sufficient glucose. When enough ketones are produced that they start being excreted via sweat, urine, and breath, the condition is called ketosis. (Definition by Todd Moody)

Inuit - name given to the traditional occupants of Arctic north America.

Matuyama boundary - the name given to the reversal of Earth's magnetic polarity 1.77 mya.

Miocene - the geological epoch from 23.3 - 5.2 mya.  The Miocene was followed by the Pliocene (to 1.64 mya) and the Miocene-Pliocene boundary coincided with the appearance of the first hominids (Australopithecines) and marks the refilling of the Mediterranean and the joining of North and South America at the Isthmus of Panama.

Mornington Island - in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the north Queensland coast.  The transition from hunter-gatherers of the native peoples has been well documented.

Neolithic - The New Stone Age era of human history, usually associated with the beginnings of agriculture, pottery and sedentism in Eurasia and, later, Africa.  Agriculture began about 10,000 ya in the 'fertile crescent' and the highlands of Papua New Guinea and spread to northern Europe about 5,000 years ago.

Null hypothesis - The hypothesis that there is no significant difference between specified populations - any observed difference being due to sampling or experimental error. (NODE)

Paleolithic - the era of human history which begins with the development of the first recognizable stone tools, 2.6 mya in Olduvai Gorge in the African Rift Valley and which ends, by some accounts, 12,000 ya with the Mesolithic era or, by other accounts, 10,000 ya with the beginning of settled agriculture, the Neolithic era.

Paranthropines – the genus name sometimes given to the more robust Australopithecines: A. robustus and A. boisei.

Pleistocene - the geological epoch from 1,640,000 - 10,000 ya, characterized by a series of ice ages and the associated inter-glacials.

Pliocene - the geological epoch from 5.2 - 1.64 mya.  The Pliocene was followed by the Pleistocene.  The Pliocene was a period of gradual cooling leading up to the Pleistocene ice ages.  Geologically, the Red Sea opened with the breaking of the Ethiopean-Yemen isthmus and the later Pliocene saw the rapid uplift of the Tibetan plateau.  Bipedalism dates from the early Pliocene and the Hominines (H. habilis) from the late Pliocene.  The Paleolithic era began in the Pliocene epoch with the development of the first stone tools, 2.6 mya.

Prehistoric - pre-writing, that is, before recorded history.

Rabbit starvation - was described by Stefansson and other explorers.  It's because we are limited in how much ammonia we can convert to urea.

Stone Age - like the Paleolithic era, a categorization of human pre-history, based on the types of stone tools used.  Whereas the Paleolithic generally refers to Europe and the Middle East, the Stone Age generally refers to Sub-Saharan Africa and South and South-East Asia.

References - these are the main references I have consulted in drafting the glossary entries.  Some of the glossary entries are direct quotes, some are paraphrases and others are merely places to look for more information.
NODE - The New Oxford Dictionary of English
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution
J R and P H Napier - The Natural History of the Primates (MIT Press) 1985

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