SDSU Anthropology 101 Week 7 Test
For directly dating hominin fossils from several thousand to about a million years old, what dating method might be used?
electron spin resonance
Some of the best information on climate history over the last several million years is based on the study of:
foraminifera
What is the time it takes for 50% of an unstable isotope to decay to a stable form called?
half-life
Who was the English surveyor who developed the technique of stratigraphic correlation between regions?
William Smith
The use of index fossils is applicable to which dating method?
biostratigraphic dating
Analysis of stable carbon isotopes in ________ can provide information on ancient diet.
bones and teeth
How is the process of stratigraphic correlation carried out?
by matching strata by chemical composition and color from several sites across distances
What can scientists use to determine the type of plant an organism consumed?
carbon 13 and carbon 12
A mummy is discovered whose stone tomb includes cloth, food, and other organic remains. What dating method would most likely be used to date the tomb?
carbon 14
During the Holocene artifacts like ________ began to appear.
ceramics
To reconstruct and interpret evolutionary changes, it is crucial to place each fossil in time. What is the resulting "placement" called?
chronological sequence
At a site in the American Southwest, you find only a single ceramic pot in association with an individual within a burial. By which method can you use the pot to date the burial?
cultural dating, since the pot may date to a known culture and time period
A wooden tomb is discovered with a well-preserved mummy inside. Which of the following methods could be used to date the tomb most accurately?
dendrochronology
What was the climate like when early hominins first appeared, about 5-10 mya?
increasingly dry and seasonal
Which of the following was one of the traits identified in the Ida fossil as a likely primate ancestor?
opposable thumbs
What is the study of fossils called?
paleontology
Igneous rock can be dated with which of the following methods?
radiopotassium dating
Which of the following traits separate haplorhines (monkeys, apes, and humans) from strepsirhines (lemurs, lorises) and may be found in the "missing link" between these two groups?
reduced snout
Thermoluminescence dating can be used to determine the age of which types of materials?
sediment, stone, and ceramics
Most of the early hominin fossils discovered in Africa come from the eastern and southern parts of the continent. Why is this?
These areas provided better preservation of fossils.
Fission track dating can be used to determine the age of which type of material?
volcanic ash and obsidian
Based on the molecular clock, when do geneticists believe the split between chimps and hominins occurred?
8-10 mya
The molecular clock has been useful to determine the phylogenetic relationships of species based on what assumption?
A species lineage accumulates genetic differences over time at a constant rate.
What are the three eras that make up earth history?
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic
What is crucial to creating a fossil record of a species?
a good representation in the fossil record
A hearth is discovered with bone fragments in it. Which of the following methods might be used to date the bone fragments?
amino acid method
If fossil species A is consistently recovered from geological deposits beneath layers containing fossil species B, then A is considered older than B. On what principle is this relative dating technique based?
superposition
Electron spin resonance dating can be used to determine the age of which type of material?
teeth
In the 1600s, what did Nicolaus Steno propose?
the law of superposition
What do taphonomists study?
the processes that affect an organism's remains after death
What is the basic difference between relative and absolute dating?
the use of years to express the age
What are the two components on which the study of fossils is focused?
time and environment
