Chapter 8 Q&A
Which of the following is needed for fossilization to occur?
Protection from scavengers
Which of the following elements can be used in radiometric dating?
Uranium (U)
Scientists can determine the type of plant consumed based on
Carbon 13 and carbon 12
A mummy is discovered whose tomb includes cloth, food, and other organic remains. What dating method would MOST likely be used to date the tomb?
Carbon 14
Your professor is conducting a chemical isotope analysis of diet for her latest paleoanthropology project. Which of the following is true regarding isotopic analysis of diet?
Carbon analysis of bones and teeth will give insight to the types of plant material the hominin consumed.
During the Holocene, artifacts like ________ began to appear.
Ceramics
Some of the best information on climate history over the last several million years is based on the study of
Foraminifera.
The time it takes for 50% of an unstable isotope to decay to a stable form is called the
Half-life
What is the term for the time it takes for 50% of an unstable (radioactive) isotope to decay to a stable isotope?
Half-life
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.
This graphic represents Steno's law of superposition. (https://services.wwnorton.com/aws/image?u=0&file=/wwnorton.college.public/coursepacks/anthro/essbioan4/imgs/tESSBIOAN4_Fig08.11a.jpg)
True
An index fossil is
A fossil used to categorize a strati graphic layer
Which of the following sedimentary environments is MOST likely to destroy bone and thus contain few if any fossils?
Acidic sediment with plenty of groundwater
Which of the following would NOT be an ideal environment for fossilization?
Acidic soil (as in a jungle)
A stratigraphic layer in one location overwhelmingly represents one species, while the same species is discovered in a similar stratigraphic layer hundreds of kilometers away. What method is used to provide an estimate of age for this layer and this species?
Biostratigraphic dating
Analysis of stable carbon isotopes in ________ can provide information on ancient diet.
Bones and teeth
Strati-graphic correlation is
Matching strata by chemical composition and color from several sites across distances
The study of fossils is called
Paleontology
Which of the following is an absolute method of dating?
Radiocarbon dating
The law of superposition created by Nicolaus Steno helped lay the foundation for which of the following?
Relative dating
If fossil species A is consistently recovered from geological deposits beneath layers containing fossil species B, then A is considered to be older than B. This relative dating technique is based on the principle of
Superposition
What do we call the study of what happens to the remains of an organism?
Taphonomy
Electron spin resonance dating can provide dates when used on which type of material?
Teeth
An index fossil, such as the Irish Elk, is
The fossil remains of a species that existed during a well-established time period, to use in Biostratigraphic dating
Paleontologists find a fossil ape with long arms. What type of environment can they infer it inhabited?
Woodland
