Exam 8 Review - Bio/Physical Anthropology

Why might some other figurines may seem grotesque, with sexual characteristics being exaggerated?

Perhaps to promote fertility or serve some other ritual purpose.

What advantage did H. sapiens have during the Wurm in Eurasia?

The elaboration of increasingly sophisticated technology and probably other components of culture as well.

What are the three earliest fossil sites of modern humans?

Tianyaun cave, Niah Cave, and Ust'-Shim.

How many stages of migration of humans into Asia and the south pacific occurred?

Two

Did modern humans interbreed with any other hominins besides Neandertals? If so, with who? Where is the evidence?

Yes, with the Denisovans. Evidence of their genes can still be found in Southeast Asian, Pacific Islands, and Australian populations.

When did the Upper Paleolithic begin in western Europe?

Approximately 40kya

What do Cidalia Duarte, Erik Trinkaus, and their colleagues suggest about the child's skeleton from Abrigo do Lagar Velho and why?

As a result of the highly mixed set of anatomical features, they suggest that the young child was the result of interbreeding between Neandertals and modern humans.

Describe the early modern human finds from Oase Cave in Romania

Cranial remains of three individuals were recovered, including a complete mandible and a partial skull.

In what ways did the Flores hominins compare to H. erectus from Dmanisi.

Cranial shape, thickness of cranial bone, and dentition.

Where does the most well-known sample of Western European early H. sapiens come from?

Cro-Magnon, a rock-shelter in southern France.

Describe the child's skeleton from Abrigo do Lagar Velho site in Portugal (include dating)

Dated back to 24.5kya (5,000 years more recent than the last clearly identifiable Neandertal fossil), this skeleton was found in association with an Upper Paleeolithic industry and buried with red orcher and pierced shell. The skeleton is fairly complete.

What artworks were found at Dolni Vestonice and Premosti in Czech Republic and when do they date to?

Dating to 27-26kya, small animal figures fashioned form fired clay were excavated.

What are the five Upper Paleolithic cultures and what are they divided by?

Divided based on stone tool technologies: Chatelperronian, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian.

Why is it considered a long shot for the FLores bones to be sequenced?

Due to poor bone preservation.

How modest was the degree of interbreeding between modern H. sapiens and Neandertals according to recent findings from DNA analysis?

From 1-4 percent in modern populations outside Africa (perhaps closer to 1.5 to 2.1 percent).

What are the Herto remains?

From the Middle Awash region, these fossils include a mostly complete adult cranium, an incomplete adult cranium, a fairly complete (but heavily reconstructed) child's cranium, and a few other fragments.

Where did the complete replacement model get the idea that transitions from premodern forms to modern H. sapiens happened only in Africa?

From the Stringer and Andrews theory

What is insular dwarfing?

Extreme body size reduction as an adaption to reduced resources, with natural selection favoring smaller body size.

Besides cave art, what is the most famous small sculpture excavated that dates back to the Upper Paleolithic? Where are they found?

Female figurines, popularly known as Venuses, founda t such sites as Brassempouy in France, and Grimaldi in Italy.

What is a telling factor that Cro-Magnon 1 is definitely not correct as the original model for the Upper-Paleolithic race of Europe?

First, there's no such valid biological category, and Cro-Magnon 1 is not typical of Upper Paleolithic western Europeans- and not even all that similar to the other two male skulls found at the site.

What did humans exploit systematically for the first time during the Upper Paleolithic?

Fish and fowl

Describe the Sungir site burials

Grave groods included a bed of red ocher, thousands of ivory beads, long spears made of straightened mammoth tusks, ivory engravings, and jewelry.

What did humans turn to when traditional prey animals were depleted or disappeared altogether?

Grinding hard seeds or roots, propagating plants

Who are the predecessors of the Liang Bua Cave finds?

H. erectus

What is the species name given to the Liang Bua Cave hominins?

H. floresiensis

Who was "the Old Man," Cro-Magnon 1?

He became wrongly termed the original model for what was once termed the Cro-Magnon, or Upper Paleolithic, "race" of Europe.

What do the press call the Liang Bua Cave finds?

Hobbits

What would cast doubts on replacement models in China?

If the dating on the Jinniushan skeleton with modern features prove correct at 200,000ya.

Describe the cave art from Lascaux Cave

Immense wild bulls dominate what's called the Great Hall of Bulls; and horses, deer, and other animals drawn with remarkable skill adorn the walls in black, red, and yellow.

Where was there more interbreeding and eventual gene flow of Denisovan genes?

In Asia and the Pacific

What kind of habitats did humans live during the Upper Paleolithic?

In caves, open-air camps, and large shelters they built.

What are the steps in the punch blade technique?

1) A large core is selected and the top portion removed by use of a hammerstone to create a flat surface called a striking platform. 2) The core is struck by use of a hammer and punch to remove the long narrow flakes OR 2) The blades are removed by pressure flaking.

How does the multiregional model, apart of the regional continuity model, claim that so many different local populations around the globe happened to evolve with such similar morphology if its true that local populations in Africa, Europe, and Asia continued their indigenous evolutionary development locally?

1) by denying that the earliest modern H. sapiens populations originated exclusively in Africa. 2) by asserting that significant levels of gene flow (migration) between various geographically dispersed premodern populations were extremely likely throughout the Pleistocene.

What are the most spectacular and most famous of the cave art sites?

1. Lascaux in France 2. Grotte Chauvet in France 3. Altamira in Spain

What are the key early modern Homo sapiens discoveries from Africa and the Near East?

100kya - Qazfeh (Israel) - H. sapiens sapiens 115kya - Skhul (Israel) - H. sapiens sapiens 160-154kya - Herto (Ethiopia) - H. sapiens idaltu 195kya - Omo (Ethiopia) - H. sapiens

How many sites have cave art, and where are most from?

150, the vast majority being from southwestern France and northern Spain.

What are the key early modern H. sapiens discoveries from Europe and Asia?

24.5kya - Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) 30kya - Cro-Magnon (France) 40kya - Tianyuan Cave (China) 45-40kya - Niah Cave (Borneo, Indonesia) all are H. sapiens sapiens

How close is Tianyuan Cave to Zhoukoudian Cave?

4 miles

How long did it take to decode and reassemble the Neandertal genome?

4 years

How many generations/years removed from a Neandertal ancestor are the fossils from Oase Cave suggested to be?

4-6, or about 200 years.

How old is the child represented by his skeleton from Abrigo do Lagar Velho site in Portugal?

4-years-old

How many early modern human localities are there in China?

7

What is Omo 1?

A fragmentary skull from Omo Kibish.

What are the early modern human finds from Tianyuan Cave in China? Including dating

A fragmentary skull, a few teeth, and several postcranial bones all dated by radiocarbon at close to 40kya.

What early modern human find was found at Ust-Ishim in western Siberia?

A human femur dated to approximately 45kya

What is the regional continuity model?

A model most closely associated with paleoanthropologist Milford Wolpoff who suggests that local populations (not all of course) in Europe, Asia, and Africa continued their indigenous evolutionary development from premodern Middle Pleistocene forms to anatomically modern humans.

What is the complete replacement model?

A model that proposes that anatomically modern populations arose in Africa within the last 200kya then migrated from Africa, completely replacing populations in Europe and Asia.

Describe the cave art from Grotte Chauvet

A multitude of images, including dots, stenciled human handprints, and most dramatically, hundreds of animal representations.

What early modern human find was found at Niah Cave in Borneo? Include dating

A partial skull dated back to 35-45kya making it perhaps older than Tianyuan.

What find provides the best skeletal evidence of possible interbreeding between Neandertals and anatomically modern H. sapiens?

A recently discovered child's skeleton from Portugal.

Who is Fred Smith?

A researcher who, from his study of fossil remains, has proposed an "assimilation" model that hypothesizes that more interbreeding between humans and other hominins did take place, at least in some regions.

What technique developed during the Solutrean industry?

A skill in modifying rock called "knapping" developed to the finest degree ever known.

What was the barbed harpoon of the Magdalenian industry?

A skillfully crafted tool for catching salmon and other fish.

What is the punch blade technique?

A tool making technique popularized during the Magdalenian industry.

What does the complete replacement model not account for?

A transition from premodern forms to modern H. sapiens anywhere in the world except Africa.

What was the spear thrower, otherwise known as an atlatl, of the Magdalenian industry?

A wooden or bone hooked rod that extended the hunter's arm, enhancing the force and distance of a spear throw.

What are the most likely ancestors of the earliest modern H. sapiens?

African populations of H. heidelbergensis

What did researchers soon discover after sequencing the entire Neandertal nuclear genome?

After comparing the Neandertal genome with that of people living today, it was discovered that some populations still retain some Neandertal genes.

What is Omo 2?

An onstensibly contemporary cranium of Omo 1.

What does new genetic evidence suggest about all native Australians and their lineage?

They are descendants of a single migration dating back to about 50kya.

How closely related to H. sapiens is the Herto remains? What does evidence show?

They are very closely related, as the cranial capacity is 1450, well within the range of contemporary H. sapiens, and the face does not project in stark contrast to Eurasian Neandertals.

What does the Stringer and Andrews theory argue regarding the emergence of anatomically modern humans?

They argue that anatomically modern humans appeared as the result of a biological speciation event.

What is interesting about the premodern human finds from Liang Bua Cave, on the island of Flores, east of Java?

They found an extremely small-bodied, small-brained hominin.

What is the Aurignacian tool industry?

An upper Paleolithic stone tool industry in Europe beginning at about 40kya

Where is it most likely that the first Neandertal and modern H. sapiens interbreeding occurred?

In the middle east

Where is it the hardest to obtain DNA that is thousands of years old and why?

In torpical areas, as DNA degrades rapidly.

Where do new data taken from a wide variety of DNA sequences made available through new genetic techniques show the most diverse population in the world being from?

Indigenous African populations

What was the gender of the Ust'-Ishim find?

Male

What is the evolutionary significance of the Skhul Cave finds?

Minimum of 10 individuals; like Qafzeh modern morphology, but slightly earlier date; and the earliest modern humans known outside of Africa.

What are replacement models?

Models that all emphasize that modern humans first evolved in Africa and only later dispersed to other parts of the world, where they replaced those hominins already living in these other regions.

What is interesting about the DNA of the Oase Cave early humans?

Neandertal DNA comprises approximately 6-9% of the total genome of this individual. Yet, he does not appear to show a close affinity with later modern humans from Europe.

What is an example of a premodern population outside of African being classified as belonging to a different species of Homo taxonomically thanks to the Stringer and Andrews theory, as well as the complete replacement model?

Neandertals would be considered H. neanderthalensis

Do contemporary Africans have any trace of Neandertal genes? What does this suggest?

No, which suggests that the interbreeding occurred after modern humans migrated out of Africa.

Where and when do the earliest modern human fossils in Europe come from?

Oase Cave in Romania dated back to 40-35kya

Where does the earliest modern human find in Africa come from?

Omo Kibish in southernmost Ethiopia

What is the evolutionary significance of the Tianyuan Cave finds?

Partial skull and a few postcranial bones; oldest modern human find from China.

What is the evolutionary significance of the Niah Cave finds?

Partial skull recently redated more accurately; oldest modern human find from Asia.

How much earlier were the Grotte Chauvet artworks than others discussed in the book?

Radiocarbon dating has placed the paintings during the Aurignacian, likely more than 35kya, making them considerably earlier than the Magdalenian sites of Lascaux and Altamira.

What are "near-modern" humans?

Recently discovered fossils from Africa that are also clearly H. sapiens, but with some minor differences from living people.

When do findings suggest that interbreeding occurred between Neandertal and non-African modern H. sapiens?

Soon after modern humans emigrated out of Africa, as the most likely scenario suggests that the intermixing occurred around 80-50kya.

What does chronometric calibration for the Tabun Cave suggest for Neandertal inhabitance in the Near East? What is the significance?

That they had been there as early as 120kya, meaning there was chronological overlap in the occupation of this area by Neandertals and early modern H. sapiens.

What is the nickname of the premodern human find from Liang Bua Cave?

The "Little Lady of Flores," usually simply referred to as "Flo."

What site has the most spectacular elaborate burial from the Upper Paleolithic?

The 24,000 year old Sungir site near Moscow.

What are some exceptions to the typical instance in which ancient DNA is not preserved?

The Ice Man, as well as two very recently sequenced 7,000 year old Iberian hunter-gatherers.

What was the last stage of the Upper Paleolithic?

The Magdalenian industry

What is the Magdalenian Industry?

The final phase of the Upper Paleolithic stone tool industry in Europe that included more advances in technology, such as the creation of the spear thrower (atlatl), the barbed harpoon, and bows and arrows.

What are the Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian early modern human finds?

The fossils consist of three skulls found with cultural remains in a cave site that humans clearly regularly inhabited.

Describe the Chinese early anatomically modern human localities (including dating)

The fossils from these sites are all fully modern, and all are considered to be from the Late Pleistocene, with dates probably less than 40kya.

What did Western Europe or portions of Africa achieve at the time of the Upper Paleolithic?

The highest population density in human history up to that time.

What is the evolutionary significance of the Omo finds?

The oldest modern human found anywhere; two crania found, one more modern looking than the other.

What model does Cidalia Duarte and Erik Trinkaus' claims about the child's skeleton from Abrigo do Lagar in Portugal support?

The partial replacement model

What is the result of the punch blade technique?

The production of highly consistent sharp blades, which can be used, as knives; or they can be further modified to make a variety of other tools like burins, scrapers, and awls.

What are the two contrasting views regarding the explanation of modern human origins?

The regional continuity model and various versions of the replacement model.

Describe the finds of Liang Bua Cave on the island of Flores (include dating)

The remains consist of an incomplete skeleton of an adult female (LB1) as well as additional pieces from approximately 13 other skeletons. These hominins date back to 13kya despite their small bodied, small brained nature.

Decribe the early modern H. sapiens finds at Qafzeh Cave in Israel

The remains of at least 20 individuals have been yielded.

What is Homo sapiens idaltu?

The subspecies given to the Herto remains in order to distinguish them from fully modern humans.

What is the Wurm in Eurasia?

The time by which the continental glaciations reached their maximum extent for this entire glacial period, causing another climatic "pulse," leading the weather to become noticeably colder in Europe and Asia.

Describe the cave art from Altamira Cave

The walls and ceiling of an immense cave are filled with superb portrayals of bison in red and black. The artist even took advantage of bulges in the walls to create a sense of relief in the paintings.

In addition to their reputation as hunters, what are western Europeans of the Upper Paleolithic even better known for?

Their symbolic representation, what we know today as art.

What was the result of a great deal of data accumulating in Western Europe in the nineteenth century due to scholarly interest in the area and finds of early humans?

Theories of human evolution were based alomst exclusively on the western European material.

What is the taxonomic classification between premodern humans and modern humans under the multiregional model?

There is no taxonomic distinction, thus all hominins following H. erectus are classified as a single species: H. sapiens.

What is significant about the Cro-Magnon finds?

These individuals represent the earliest of France's anatomically modern humans.

What is wrong with the multiregional/regional continuity model?

These models provide little insight on the dispersal of modern H. sapiens, and most recent data suggest that the model cannot account for the origins of modern humans.

What does C. Loring Brace suggest about the relation between the biology of Upper Paleolithic populations and more effective tools, as well as the use of fire?

They allowed for more efficient food processing, thus anatomically modern H. sapiens wouldn't have required the large teeth and facial skeletons seen in earlier populations.

What does Tim White suggest about the Herto remains and their relation to modern H. sapiens anatomy?

They are clearly H. sapiens and are a population that is on the verge of anatomical modernity, but not fully modern yet.

How are mtDNA data limited?

They are limited by the fact that mtDNA is a fairly small segment of DNA; and because it is transmitted between generations without recombination with male DNA, it provides information only regarding the maternal lineage.

What is the significance of the Czech artworks?

They are the first documented use of ceramic technology anywhere; preceding later pottery invention by more than 15,000 years.

What is the evolutionary significance of the Cro-Magnon finds?

They are the most famous early modern human find in the world; earliest evidence of modern humans in France

What archaic cranial traits of the Kow Swamp fossils of Australia show?

They have receding foreheads, heavy supraorbital tori, and thick bones.

What is the significance of the Skhul and Qafzeh Cave's finds?

They pose some problems for those advocating the influence of local evolution, as proposed by the multiregional model, as these finds date to around 130-92kya.

What is interesting about Omo 1 and Omo 2 from Omo Kibish?

They show vast variation, as Omo 1 is essentially modern in most respects, but Omo 2 is much more robust and less modern in morphology.

What do the Herto remains suggest about modern human evolution?

They suggest that there was an African origin of modern humans because they are the right age and come from the right place; and they also support some form of replacement model for human origins.

What do most researchers suggest about how common interbreeding between modern H. sapiens and Neandertals occurred and where it happened?

They suggest that very little occurred, and it mostly happened outside of Africa.

What do Kow Swamp fossils in Australia suggest about people who lived there between about 14-9kya?

They were ifferent from the more gracile early Australian forms from Lake Mungo.

What is interesting about the beautiful parallel-flaked lance heads created during the Solutrean industry?

They were so delicate that they can be considered works of art that quite possibly never served, nor were they intended to serve, a utilitarian purpose.

According to the multiregional hypothesis, what was the effect of gene flow and natural selection on local populations of the earliest modern humans?

They would not have evolved totally independently from one another, and such mixing would have "prevented speciation between the regional lineages and thus maintained human beings as as single, although obviously polytypic, species throughout the Pleistocene.

What is the significance theory-wise of modern populations retaining some Neandertal genes?

This shows that some interbreeding took place between Neandertals and modern humans, which argues against complete replacement and supports some form of partial replacement.

What were borers?

Tools used for drilling holes in skins, bones, and shells.

What are the two most influential versions of the replacement model?

complete replacement and partial replacement

What does the well-preserved cranium of LB1 (Flo) most closely resemble?

early H. erectus from Java

Why were the H. floresiensis finds so small?

1) Because isolated island populations can quite rapidly diverge from their relatives elsewhere. 2) Among such isolated animals, natural selection favors reduced body size. 3) Insular dwarfing

Why would it seem obvious that there is no trace of Neandertal genes in contemporary Africans?

Because there is no sign that Neandertals lived anywhere in Africa.

Why do researchers believe that interbreeding between Neandertals and modern H. sapiens occurred in the Near East?

Because there was considerable chronlogical overlap in such a small area.

What new materials did humans use during the Upper Paleolithic?

Bone, ivory, and antler.

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What is one telling modern feature about Omo 1?

The presence of a chin

Describe the early modern H. sapiens finds at Skhul Cave at Mt. Carmel, Israel

At least 10 individuals were found.

How long were the Liang Bua Cave hominins living on Flores? What evidence suggests this?

At least 1mya, as recently discovered stone tools have been radiometrically dated to this time.

What may have been used by early humans to cross the ocean between the islands of New Guinea and Australia?

Bamboo rafts

Why is it unlikely that we will be able to obtain thousands of years old DNA from Africa and Southeast Asia?

Because DNA degrades rapidly in these warmer climate areas.

Why do researchers suggest that H. floresiensis evolved from ancestors that left Africa even before H. erectus did?

Because of the ancient date, as well as the overall similarities to the Dmansini hominins.

Why do researchers who did most of the initial work reject the conclusion that Flo suffered from microcephaly?

Because recent analyses of the cranial and postcranial morphology, including bones from the wrist, further support the hypothesis that LB1 (Flo) represents a separate species rather than a pathological individual.

Why must one be weary about the finds from Ust'-Shim?

Because the individual does not appear to show a strong affinity to any modern human population, suggesting he may have been part of a lineage that went extinct.

Why was the Upper Paleolithic considered an age of innovation?

Because the innovation of the time compared to the past few hundred years in our reent history of amazing technological change.

Why is the Tianyuan Cave finds important?

Because they are the best-dated early modern H. sapiens from China and one of the three earliest from anywhere in Asia.

Why are the archaic cranial traits of the Kow Swamp fossils of Australia difficult to explain?

Because they contrast with the postcranial anatomy of the fossils match that of living indigenous Australians.

Why is the Ust'-Shim femur find important?

Because they provide the earliest genetic information about early modern H. sapiens and show evidence of interbreeding with Neandertal populations.

When did early modern humans migrate to southern Africa?

By 100kya

At about what time did modern humans begin to inhabit Sahul - the area including New Guinea and Australia?

By 50kya; earliest datings of Australian occupation is 55kya.

When did early modern humans appear in East Africa?

By shortly after 200kya

What is the evolutionary significance of the Abrigo do Lagar Velho finds?

Child's skeleton; possible hybrid between Neandertal and modern human causing some controversy.

When did the first modern H. sapiens populations appear in Africa?

Close to 200,000ya

When did prehistoric art reach its climax?

During the Magdalenian

What animals were found in the same geological beds as H. floresiensis?

Dwarf elephants that had also evolved on Flores and experienced insular dwarfing.

Describe the early human finds at Cro-Magnon in France (include dating)

Eight individuals dated back to 28kya were found in association with an Aurignacian tool assemblage

What are portable art?

Elaborate engravings on tools and tool handles that can be found in many parts of Europe and was already well established early in the Aurignacian by 33kya.

Where is it easiest to obtain DNA that is thousands of years old?

It can be obtained from hominin remains found in environments that have been persistently cold (or at least cool.

What does complete sequencing of the genome of the human femur from Ust'-Ishim suggest about its relation to Neandertals?

It has 2.3% genetic admixture with Neandertals, which is similar to modern non-African populations.

What is the dating proposed for the Mongolian Ordos skull? How secure is this dating?

It has considerable antiquity like the skulls found from Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian, but this dating is not very secure and has therefore been questioned.

What do the Stringer and Andrews theory, as well as complete replacement model, imply by claiming that H. sapiens appeared as the result of a biological speciation event?

It implies that: 1) migrating African modern H. sapiens could not have interbred with local non-African populations because the African modern humans were a biologically different species. 2) All of the premodern populations outside Africa would be taxonomically classified as belonging to different species of Homo.

What is the significance of Omo 1?

It is dated back to 195kya making it the earliest modern human yet found anywhere including Africa.

Where did the ancestral, earliest Australian modern humans come from?

It is suggested that they came from Indonesia, but no one knows for sure.

How did the Liang Bua Cave hominins get to Flores from Java?

It is suggested that they rafted from island to island, but there's no way to be sure exactly about what they did.

What does idaltu mean?

It means "elder" from the Afar language.

What does recent research using the whole-genome analysis of an Aboriginal Australian male suggest about the divergence of native Australian populations?

It occurred sometime between 75-62kya.

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Where do the earliest early human finds come from in Australia? What is the dating?

Lake Mungo in southeastern Australia; dated back to 30-25kya.

What is the evolutionary significance of the Qafzeh Cave finds?

Large sample of at least 20 individuals; definitely modern, but some individuals are fairly robust; early date.

Why is the female skeleton of Flo remarkable?

Resembling Dmansini hominins, she was barely 3 ft tall, as short as the smallest austrapolith, and her brain, estimated at a mere 417cm^3, was no larger than that of a chimpanzee.

What was the utilization of knives during the Magdalenian industry?

Scraping wooden shafts into a variety of tools.

What is the richest find from Sungir, Russia?

Skeletons of two teenagers, a male and a female, dated to 24kya.

What are Solutrean tools a good example of for Upper Paleolithic tool industry advancement?

Skill and likely aesthetic appreciation.

What are burins?

Small, chisel-like tools with a pointed end that were thought to have been used to engrave bone, antler, ivory, or wood.

What have some researchers argued about the small-brained hominin, Flo, from Flores after the first publication of these remains?

Some argued that she was actually a pathological modern H. sapiens individual afflicted with a severe disorder called microcephaly.

Describe the Venuses sculptures

Some of these figures were realistically carved, and the faces appear to be modeled after actual women.

What are the most significant early anatomically modern human localities in China?

Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian, Tianyuan Cave (very near Zhoukoudian), and Ordos, in Mongolia.

What is the evolutionary significance of the Herto finds?

Very well-preserved cranium; the best-preserved early modern human found anywhere.

Why did Herto remains cause a sensation among paleoanthropologists?

Well-controlled radiometric dating securely placed the remains between 160-154kya, making these the best dated hominin fossils from this time perio from anywhere in the world.

When did the rate of change during the Pleistocene start to quicken?

When the brain, and presumably, intelligence, expanded and reorganized.

With whom did many of the cultural innovations seen in the Upper Paleolithic begin?

With Neandertals

Were artworks found in Africa from prehistoric times?

Yes