OCN 105/SUST 115 EXAM 2

What adaptations allowed humans to migrate from Africa and into Asia?

Humans did what they did in Africa and followed river "highways."

Which statement is false?

The Arabian Peninsula was a vast desert 125,000 years ago.

Recent evidence suggest that humans co-existed with large Australian animals (megafauna) such as:

giant wombats wallabies

The evidence suggests that humans co-existed with large animals for between 20,000 to 25,000 years after first arriving in Australia, which meant that:

humans didn't immediately wipe these animals out upon discovering Australia.

What percent of the current world population lives within 10 miles of a river?

90%

100,000 years ago when humans were migrating through Arabia, the monsoons were weaker which meant that Arabia was wetter and greener than today. T/F

False

The first Americans (Paleo-Americans) had distinctly different facial features and behavioral characteristics than modern Native Americans, so they were probably not the ancestors of modern Native Americans. T/F

False

Match the time period with its significance for migration to the Americas. A. Humans from Eurasia and East Asia first populated western Beringia. Sea level was 120 m lower than today. B. Deglaciation along the Northwest Pacific coast opens a migration route into the Americas along the coast. Fewer than 5,000 individuals take this path south, but they reach the southern tip of South America in just a few hundred years. C. An interior corridor opens between two Canadian ice sheets allowing further migration across the continent. Early hunters likely followed big game prey. D. A population with ⅔ East Asian and ⅓ Eurasian DNA became isolated in Beringia during the last glacial maximum. Isolation resulted in genetic differences with Asian peoples that got passed down to modern Native Americans.

A - 1. 32,000 years ago D - 2. 25,000-15,000 years ago B - 3. 16,000-15,000 years ago C - 4. 14,000-13,000 years ago

Why is it an important discovery that some of our early ancestors migrated out of Africa and through southern Arabia?

A. Arabian descendants would later develop Emiran tools. B. It was a secondary path toward the Levant in the Middle East. C. Arabia was a green oasis where humans lived for 50,000 years.

Which statement is false? A. Homo erectus was much larger than Homo sapiens and was extinct when Homo sapiens emerged. B. Green Sahara periods can be identified through cave paintings and fossils of hippos and crocodiles in North Africa regions that are now in dry desert climate (e.g. the Sahara Desert). C. Green Sahara periods allowed for a North African corridor and migration out of Africa. D. Migration out of Africa through the northern and southern routes occurred in waves. E. Green Sahara periods can be identified through dust records from marine sediments. F. Green Sahara periods were caused by stronger Northern Hemisphere seasons (warmer summers) and stronger African monsoon.

A. Homo erectus was much larger than Homo sapiens and was extinct when Homo sapiens emerged.

How did climate affect the survival of Homo sapiens versus Neanderthals?

A. Homo sapiens were likely more successful in utilizing scarce glacial food resources as compared to Neanderthals, thus outcompeting and slowly absorbing them into their species. C. Homo sapiens had higher reproduction rates and resulting faster migration speeds which allowed Homo sapiens to move away from areas that underwent a rapid decline in food resources due to rapid past climate changes and re-populate elsewhere.

Where could you look for evidence of the first peoples in the Americas? Select all that apply.

A. Hundreds of feet underwater miles from the current Pacific shoreline because sea levels are 300 to 400 feet higher than at the end of the last glacial maximum. B. Islands, such as the Channel Islands, along the Pacific coast. C. Inland, since people traveling along the coast would likely have explored rivers and inlets along the way.

Why is the Levant (a historic area in the Eastern Mediterranean) important? Select all that apply.

A. It was intermittently occupied by early humans during the waves of migration out of Africa. C. It is where Homo sapiens first encounter archaic humans outside of Africa.

Why was the distance traveled by the first humans who migrated into SE Asia and into Australia shorter compared to the distance they would travel today?

A. More land was exposed during the ice age due to lower sea level. B. Because of the ice age, more water was trapped as ice in glaciers.

Match the name and description. A. Crossing the Sinai Peninsula to reach the Levant. B. Crossing the Red Sea near Bab-el-Mandeb to reach the Arabian Peninsula.

A. Northern Route B. Southern Route

Why are the remains found in the Tam Pa Ling cave important?

A. They show that humans migrated to Asia on an inland path. B. They prove that humans left Africa at least 70,000 years ago. C. They show that humans used large river systems like the Mekong River to migrate. D. They are the oldest evidence of humans in Southeast Asia.

The discovered artifacts suggest that the first people arrived in Australia at least 65,000 years ago. What were some of the artifacts that were found at the Madjedbebe rock shelter?

A. fireplaces B. graves C. painting material D. stone axes

For the last several hundred thousand years, global sea level and temperatures have increased and decreased together. This is driven by the Milankovitch cycle, which determines how much sunshine (heat) reaches the Northern Hemisphere. The heat influences:

A. global temperatures B. land ice volume C. sea levels

The recent scientific dates from the Madjedbebe rock shelter:

A. indicated that humans were in Australia 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, which suggests that modern humans left Africa earlier than previously estimated. B. made archeologists rethink when our species started to colonize Asia. C. suggested that humans were moving through Indonesia at the same time as Homo floresiensis, a now extinct human species also referred to as "the hobbits."

Match the item with its significance or explanation. A. The 'highway' that allowed Homo sapiens to migrate to Europe. B. The amount of shared DNA between present-day humans of primarily European and Asian descent and the now extinct Neanderthals. C. The time of arrival of Neanderthals in Eurasia. D. The time of arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe. E. Evolutionary cousins to Homo sapiens.

B - 1. 1-2% C - 2. 400,000 years ago D - 3. 40,000 years ago A - 4. Danube River E - 5. Neanderthals

Which statements are true? Select all that apply. A. All genes that are inherited from Neanderthals are harmful to modern humans. B. Genes that some humans inherited from past interbreeding with Neanderthals can control susceptibility to certain diseases. C. Neanderthals had complex cognitive abilities and behaviors possibly including rituals. D. Neanderthals died out because they were primitive and inferior to Homo sapiens, lacking any social organization or ability to use tools, fire, art, and language.

B. Genes that some humans inherited from past interbreeding with Neanderthals can control susceptibility to certain diseases. C. Neanderthals had complex cognitive abilities and behaviors possibly including rituals.

Clovis point technology (very sharp, fluted spearheads used to hunt mammoths, giant bison, and other large prey) have only been found in Clovis, New Mexico. T/F

False

Migration from Africa to Arabia occurred 75,000 years ago when Arabia had lush interconnecting rivers and lakes. T/F

False

Migration through Arabia towards Asia occurred along the Oman coast where there were plentiful resources. T/F

False

Neanderthals were better adapted to the colder climate in Eurasia because of their tall and slim body shape which helped them conserve heat. T/F

False - Neanderthals were better adapted to colder climates because they had large nasal chambers that helped warm and humidify the cold and dry air.

Around 100,000 years ago archaic humans (the variety of Homo species before modern humans) first left Africa.

False - There is evidence that archaic humans first left Africa 2,000,000 years ago. Homo sapiens first left Africa approximately 100,000 years ago, though migration on a mass scale began only 60,000 years ago.

What traits may have allowed early human ancestors to first leave Africa? Select all that apply

Intelligence Tools

What made the trail of the first people in Asia difficult for archeologists to follow?

Materials likely used by these first peoples for tools, like bamboo, are not well preserved.

Why was the sea level approximately 200 ft lower (compared to present day level) when the first humans migrated into SE Asia and then into Australia at least 65k years ago?

Most of the water was still trapped in continental glaciers.

Why do scientists study Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis)?

Neanderthals are distant cousins and their behaviors and evolutionary history hold clues to our own identity as Homo sapiens.

What role did Neanderthals play in human migration through southern Arabia?

Neanderthals developed similar tools to the Arabian descendants that created Emiran tools in the Middle East.

What evidence did archeologists use to determine where, when, and how humans migrated through the Arabian Peninsula?

Nubian point tools made from chert along inland river beds.

When the first humans migrated into SE Asia into Australia, why was the world in a warm period?

The world was not in a warm period, but rather still in an ice age.

Homo erectus was in the same genus as Homo sapiens, but had different skull morphology. T/F

True

Monsoons lead to more rainfall when there is strong solar radiation on land (strong summers) creating a low pressure system which pulls in ocean winds. T/F

True

Since carbon dating is only accurate to 50,000 years ago, scientist Sophie Verheyden measured uranium levels of broken stalagmites to date the presence of Neanderthals in the Bruniquel Cave in France (approximately 175,000 years ago!). T/F

True

The Kelp Route Hypothesis asserts that the highly productive kelp marine systems along the eastern coast of Asia, the southern coast of Alaska, and down to the western/Pacific coast of North and South America provided a variety of foods (kelp, fish, shellfish, etc.) to fuel and support the first human migration to the Americas. T/F

True