human origins final quiz review

Anthropology

"The study of the whole of the human condition; past, present and future; biology, science, language and culture."

T or F? No stone tools have yet been found at Olduvai Gorge.

F

True or false? Very early hominin fossils from before 4 million years ago are numerous, common finds.

False

Among apes and humans, the Y-5 molar pattern can be described as which of the following?

Homologous

According to Dr. Svante Paabo, which of the following is true about the Denisovans?

Their DNA is distinct from both Neanderthals and modern humans. Evidence of interbreeding with modern humans can be seen in the DNA of some populations today.

True or false? Proconsul possessed some features that were more monkey-like than ape-like.

True

Culture

"a system of shared meanings that people learn from their society and use to cope with their surroundings, communicate with others, and make sense of their world; also the artifacts they use in these processes"

The two major groupings of primates are prosimians and ______.

anthropoids

When a dog breeder chooses to breed two particular dogs because they are relatively small and good hunters, the biological process that is occurring is ____________ selection for the traits "size" and "hunting ability."

artificial

On your quest to discover early hominins in Africa, you find some geologic strata with fossils that resemble early hominins. You would like to know when these Hominins lived; of the following, which would be the best way to proceed with finding an age for these fossils?

collect a sample of the volcanic ash layers above and below the fossil layer and date the volcanic deposits with Argon dating methods correct

Carl Vondra is a scientist who has worked at Hadar, Ethiopia, where Dr. Johanson discovered the famous skeleton, Lucy. Dr. Vondra collects samples of volcanic tuffs, determines the age of these tuffs, and measures and describes the rocks exposed at Hadar. Dr. Vondra is what type of researcher?

geochronologist

Which of the following is NOT true about the species Homo floresiensis?

it lived as recently as 5 thousand years ago

What was the most common theme in European Paleolithic cave art?

large animals

Primate teeth tend to be ________________ specialized relative to other mammals.

less

The Black Skull (KNM-WT 17000) has which of the following?

prognathic (projecting) face

The evolutionary process known as adaptive ________ takes place when life-forms rapidly expand into newly available ecological niches.

radiation

The smallest classification in Carolus Linneaus' taxonomic hierarchy is the:

species

Which of the following traits associated with bipedalism is found in Orrorin tugenensis?

Thick inferior femoral neck

Olduvai Gorge was once a lake that attracted many animals including Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

True

T or F? Anatomically modern humans evolved around 200,000 years ago.

True

T or F? Features of primates such as grasping hands and nails instead of claws suggest primates were adapted to an arboreal habitat.

True

T or F? Fossils that lack geological contextual information are almost useless to paleoanthropologists.

True

T or F? Genetic data provides evidence about where Homo sapiens originated and migrated.

True

T or F? Humans evolved from chimpanzees.

True

T or F? Humans have a well-balanced skull because our foramen magnum is positioned relatively anteriorly compared to other apes.

True

T or F? The development of antibiotic resistant bacteria is an example of evolutionary change.

True

True or False. Fossilized pollen provides information about ancient vegetation communities.

True

True or False? Paleoanthropology is a science.

True

True or false? All Homo sapiens share a common ancestry in Africa

True

True or false? Argon dating methods rely on the radioactive decay of Potassium-40 (40K).

True

True or false? Asian Homo erectus has more exaggerated features including thicker skulls and larger brow ridges compared to African Homo erectus/ergaster.

True

True or false? At the time of its discovery, many scientists, including Sir Arthur Keith, did not accept that the Taung child was a fossil of a human ancestor.

True

True or false? Fossil specimens from Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia are the oldest direct evidence of Homo found outside of Africa.

True

True or false? Fossils of some of the earliest euprimates (i.e., true primates) have been discovered in North America.

True

True or false? In a phylogeny branches are proportional to the amount of change and time between organisms.

True

Modern paleoanthropology was first established as a scientific discipline, integrating earth and biological sciences with archaeology, based on field work conducted on which continent?

Africa

Which contemporary of Charles Darwin also developed a theory of evolution by means of natural selection?

Alfred Russel Wallace

True or false? One difference between New World monkeys (i.e, platyrrhines) and Old World monkeys (i.e., cercopithecoids) is that they have a different number of premolars.

True

True or false? Phylogenetic trees are typically created from DNA, RNA or protein sequence data or from morphological similarities and differences.

True

True or false? The Regional-Continuity model of modern human origins proposes that Homo erectus in different parts of the world evolved independently into modern Homo sapiens.

True

True or false? The Regional-Continuity model of modern human origins suggests that modern humans evolved independently in different regions of the world.

True

True or false? The biological species concept states that populations of a species are united by gene flow.

True

True or false? The genus Homo generally has larger brow ridges than the genus Australopithecus.

True

True or false? The genus Homo is characterized by a general increase in brain size over time.

True

True or false? The regions of the brain that are involved in language in humans have similar analogues in apes and monkeys.

True

True or false? The site of Shanidar in northern Iraq suggests some Neandertals may have ritually buried their dead.ts.

True

True or false? When Neandertals were first discovered they were believed to be abnormal humans.

True

Which of the following tool industries is associated with chisels and spear throwers?

Upper Paleolithic

Who is typically credited with the discovery of the structure of DNA?

Watson and Crick

The majority of the Afar Triangle is located in what countries?

Ethiopia

T or F? Australopithecus afarensis fossils exhibit very little variation in size.

F

T or F? Lucy's fossils remains were discovered during an excavation at approximately two meters below the ground surface.

F

T or F? Most of the East African hominins have been found in cave sites.

F

T or F? The Olduwan tools found at Olduvai Gorge were likely made by Australopithecus bosei.

F

T or F? Compared to quadrapedal primates, the sacrum of the hominid pelvis is narrower and tilted backward.

False

T or F? Facultative bipedalism is when an organism routinely walks on two legs.

False

T or F? Hominin fossils have been found in all regions of Africa.

False

T or F? Modern humans are the only living primates that use tools.

False

T or F? Most Upper Paleolithic peoples lived inside caves.

False

True or false? Darwin understood genetics and the mechanism of inheritance.

False

True or false? In general, members of the genus Homo have much larger molars than members of the genus Australopithecus.

False

True or false? Richard Leakey discovered "Zinj" (OH5)

False

True or false? Symbolic rock art is known only from Europe and has not been discovered on any other continent.

False

True or false? The brain size of some Neandertal specimens exceeds the size of modern human brains.

False

True or false? The first Neandertals were found after Darwin published his theory of evolution.

False

True or false? There is overwhelming evidence that Homo erectus/ergaster was an expert hunter and not a scavenger.

False

The remains of small-statured hominins and stone tools on which island of Indonesia are evidence that Homo sapiens was not the only hominin on the planet as recently as 13,000 years ago?

Flores

The presence of which molar (and the absence of other molars) indicated that the Taung child was not an adult?

adult 1st molar

Lee Berger and his team argue that Australopithecus sediba is what?

ancestral to homo

The hominin fossil sites surrounding Lake Turkana in East Africa, are primarily dated using which absolute dating technique?

argon dating

Homo habilis is NOT known from which of the following countries?

chad

Darwin was a naturalist on what ship?

HMS Beagle

The 150,000 year old human subspecies, Homo sapiens idaltu, is known from which of the following sites in Ethiopia?

Herto

What discoveries were made at the Tanzanian site of Laetoli?

Hominin footprints

Lasting from about 1.9 million years ago to as recently as 50,000 years ago, which of the following species were the longest-lived hominin species?

Homo erectus

Sinanthropus pekinensis was a name once used for fossils currently known as which of the following?

Homo erectus

The Mousterian culture is associated with:

Homo neanderthalensis

Which of the following species is associated with the production of Venus figurines?

Homo sapiens

Olduvai Gorge is a well-known fossil site in Tanzania. Which paleoanthropologist(s) made significant early discoveries there?

Louis and Mary Leakly

_______________ discovered Zinjanthropus (Australopithecus boisei) at Olduvai Gorge in 1959.

Mary and LSB Leakey

Australopithecus robustus is known from what country?

South Africa

The late Pliocene is characterized by which type of trend, warming or cooling?

cooling

As the brain of Homo got bigger, what happened to the gut size and the size of other organs? Were they increased or decreased?

decreased

Homo heidelbergensis is characterized by a:

double arched brow ridge

True or false? Australopithecus boisei was probably a carnivore.

false

True or false? Humans have relatively larger guts and relatively smaller brains than other primates.

false

True or false? Scientists are very certain about the evolutionary relationships between modern humans and all human ancestors who lived in the past.

false

Sivapithecus was once thought to be an early hominin because, like members of the genus Homo, Sivapithecus:

had thick enamel

At Malapa, the fossil remains of Australopithecus sediba were discovered ______.

in a cave

The skeleton at the Abrigo do Lagar Velho burial site is evidence that Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens may have:

interbred. However, the skeleton is too young geologically to be a hybrid.

The brain capacity of Homo habilis was _____ than that of Australopithecines.

larger

Homo heidelbergensis is characterized by which of the following when compared to earlier hominins?

larger, more rounded cranium and double-arched brow ridges

Primatology is the study of...

nonhuman primates

The ___________ of Australopithecus sediba is highly reminiscent of that of Homo.

pelvis

Humans are classified into the order ______.

primates

One of the most surprising discoveries in the field of paleoanthropology is the species Homo floresiensis. This species is characterized by which of the following?

relatively small cranial capacity compared to other homo species

One character that defines Homo erectus is the presence of what type of keel?

sagittal

Which trait does NOT characterize Australopithecus africanus?

sagittal crest

Which of the following in NOT a characteristic of Australopithecus boisei?

shallow zygomatic

Tarsiers are small primates that are a classic example of...

terrestrial quadrupeds

Surveying

the paleoanthropology practice of walking the landscape looking for fossils on the surface

In Carolus Linneaus' classification system, organisms are named with __________ names.

two

index

type of fossils are used in biostratigraphy to correlate the ages of different fossil sites

The femur of a human forms an angle with a horizontal plane; this angle results in humans having what type of knee?

valgus

Which of the following combinations of features characterizes modern humans?

vertical forehead and relatively small brow ridges

The Laetoli footprints were preserved because they were covered with ___________ followed by light rain.

volcanic ash

Studies of the ancient ecology of Ardipithecus ramidus show it lived in a __________________ environment.

wooded

Which of the following is the best known taxon from the Early Miocene that lacks a tail and is represented by fossils from Rusinga and Mfangano Islands of Kenya?

Proconsul

T or F? Lucy's skeleton has both ape and humanlike characteristics.

T

T or F? The jaw anatomy of Paranthropus or Australopithecus boisei suggests it relied on a diet of hard foods, such as nuts and seeds.

T

Lucy was found in which year?

1974

Homo habilis existed between __________ million years ago.

2.8-1.5 mya

Which of the following is the best age estimate for the common ancestor of all modern humans based on genetic evidence,?

200,000 years ago

Approximately, when did the adaptive radiation of the apes occur?

25 million years ago

Although molecular evidence suggests that prosimians diverged between 67 and 84 million years ago, the oldest prosimian fossils are about how old?

50 million years old

What best describes an evolutionary lineage?

A sequence of species that form a line of descent. Each new species is the direct result of speciation from an immediate ancestral species.

A young Ethiopian scholar named Yohannes Haile-Selassie is known for discovering some of the oldest hominin fossils in the Afar Triangle, dating between 5.2 and 5.8 million years ago. These fossils have been assigned to which of the following species?

Ardipithecus kadabba

Under the Regional Continuity Model:

Asian Homo erectus evolved directly into Asian Homo sapiens correct

The Laetoli footprints are evidence that which species was bipedal?

Australopithecus Afarensis

Which of the following species is a potential ancestor to Australopithecus afarensis?

Australopithecus anamensis

Dr. Johnason and the Omo Research Expedition team found a gigantic mandible in Omo, Ethiopia belonging to which of the following species?

Australopithecus boisei

Which of the following is the name of the river at Hadar from which drinking water is pumped? This river helped deposit the sediments and fossils found at Hadar over 3 million years ago.

Awash

Who wrote "Principles of Geology" and emphasized the principle of uniformitarianism?

Charles Lyell

Currently, the most ancient Homo sapiens fossils date to 195,000 years ago and are from Omo Kibish in the Omo River valley, which is in which of the following regions of the world?

East Africa

Which of the following researchers became involved in the Chinese Geological Survey, excavated fossils at Dragon Bone Hill, and called them "Sinanthropus pekinensis"?

Davidson Black

Which of the following places was the site of the 1868 first significant discovery in Europe of Paleolithic anatomically modern Homo sapiens burials?

Les Eyzies, France

The earliest (oldest) fossil evidence of the genus Homo is from which of the following sites?

Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia

Of the following, who was the first to propose a mechanism by which species change known as the 'Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics'?

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

The first fossils of Australopithecus anamensis were discovered in:

Kenya

The Dmanisi hominins are characterized by:

Oldowan tools

The fossil hominoid Sivapithecus from Asia had a skull that most closely resembles which of the following?

Orangutans

Which epoch saw the emergence of early hominins like Ardipithecus?

Pliocene

The name Australopithecus africanus was coined by which scientist who identified the Taung baby skull in a shipment of fossils?

Raymond Dart

What is NOT a human adaptation to bipedal walking found in the femur?

Rounded bottom surface of the femur

Who said "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."

Theodosius Dobzhansky

What paleoanthropologist led the team that discovered Selam, the baby Australopithecus afarensis from Dikika?

Zeresenay Alemseged

In contrast to Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus robustus has:

a flat face

Biostratigraphy

a relative dating technique

Theory

a scientific explanation of observable facts based on multiple hypotheses, extensive observation, and experimentation