Final Human Origins 4-7

Which of the following best describes the two competing hypotheses regarding the relationships among the robust australopiths?

1. Australopithecus boisei and A. robustus are sister taxa that evolved from A. aethiopicusOR, 2. the South African and East African taxa are separate lineages

A prime example of human symbolic expression is the cave at Lascaux, France, which contains cave art dated to how many years ago?

17,000

Lucy was found in which year?

1974

Meat appears to have become important in hominins diets starting around __________ million years ago.

2.5

Homo habilis existed between __________ million years ago.

2.8-1.5

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

The Australopithecus afarensis fossil known as "Lucy" is which of the following?

3.2 million years ago

Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, existed between _________ million years ago.

3.9-3.0

Neandertals and humans shared their last common ancestor how many years ago?

500, 000 years ago

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

A prognathic (projecting) face

Lee Berger and his team argue that Australopithecus sediba is which of the following?

Ancestral to Homo

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

The species best characterized by large chewing muscles, a frontal trigon, significant postorbital constriction, a dish-shaped face, and forward zygomatic bones is which of the following?

Australopithecus boisei

A typical Acheulean handaxe is which of the following?

Bifacial (i.e., having a cutting edge on two sides)

The Upper Paleolithic is characterized by:

Blade technology

Of the following, who was the first to use a tree with branches to illustrate the evolution of species?

Charles Darwin

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

Cooling

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

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

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

Who was the first person to find Homo erectus fossils?

Eugene Dubois

Neandertals were initially discovered during the 19th century on what continent?

Europe

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

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

Complete skeletons of Neandertals are very rarely found.

False

True or False Lucy's fossils remains were discovered during an excavation at approximately two meters below the ground surface.

False

True or false? Australopithecus boisei was probably a carnivore.

False

True or false? Lucy and modern humans belong in the same genus.

False

True or false? Members of the genus Australopithecus were all extinct at the time that Homo first appears in the hominin fossil record.

False

True or false? The earliest (oldest) evidence of the genus Homo in the hominin fossil record is 2.2 years old.

False

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

False

True or false? Upper Paleolithic tools are ONLY associated with Homo sapiens.

False

Fossils from the Gran Dolina layer of Atapuerca, Spain belong to which of the following species?

Homo antecessor

Thanks to the work of Franz Weidenreich, paleoanthropologists have descriptions of Chinese fossils lost during WWII -- fossils now attributed to the which of the following species?

Homo erectus

A very fragmented partial skeleton (OH 62) was discovered by Dr. Johanson at Olduvai Gorge in the 1980s. This specimen was assigned to which of the following species?

Homo habilis

The "Creative Explosion" is attributed to which of the following species?

Homo sapiens

The hominin footprints at Laetoli preserve evidence of which of the following?

Human-like foot adapted to bipedalism

It had a sagittal cWhich of the following is true about Australopithecus robustus?

It had a sagittal crest

Which of the following is true about Australopithecus africanus?

It had no sagittal crest

Why is Selam, the Dikika Baby specimen, so important?

It is one of the most complete fossils of a juvenile Australopithecus.

Which of the following is a famous primatologist who is best known for her work studying chimpanzees in the wild?

Jane Goodall

The first Australopithecus afarensis fossil found at Hadar was which of the following?

Knee joint

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

Larger

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 first fossils of the Homo habilis species were discovered in the 1950s by:

Louis and Mary Leakey

Australopithecus sediba is a 1.9 million year old taxon found at which of the following sites?

Malpa

In posterior view (viewed from behind), the cranium of Homo erectus has which of the following features?

Maximum breadth at a low point (at the temporal bones)

In 2012, new Homo rudolfensis fossils were found in Kenya by a research team led by:

Meave Leakey

The face of Australopithecus robustus is which of the following?

Orthognathic (flat)

Which of the following traits does A. afarensis share with modern chimpanzees?

Parallel tooth rows

Are the incisors of Australopithecus robustus enlarged or reduced in size compared to Australopithecus africanus?

Reduced

The sagittal crest, large cheek teeth, and other cranial adaptations lead scientists to believe that Australopithecus boisei ate mostly:

Roots and tubers

Fossil remains of Australopithecus sediba were discovered in:

South Africa

The first hominin fossil was discovered in 1924 in _____.

South Africa

Australopithecus underwent an adaptive radiation between 2-4 million years ago.

True

Homo erectus/ergaster is the first species in the genus Homo to have a "modern" body plan (human like stature and limb proportions).

True

Paleolithic art more often depicted animals rather than people

True

Skeletal remains of Homo heidelbergensis found in Atapuerca suggest the species may have buried its dead.

True

The first recognized human ancestors were Neandertals.

True

True or False The Australopithecus fossils found at Hadar likely belong to one sexually dimorphic species.

True

True or false? Acheulean tools represent an adaptation for habitual and systematic butchery, but not necessarily hunting.

True

True or false? Although it has a smaller birth canal and more flaring blades, Lucy's pelvis is more similar to a human pelvis than it is to a chimpanzee pelvis.

True

True or false? Australopithecus afarensis was a sexually dimorphic species.

True

True or false? In 1978, Dr. Johanson proposed that Australopithecus afarensis was ancestral to Homo.

True

True or false? Louis Leakey excavated at Olduvai Gorge for two decades without recovering anything significant.

True

True or false? Not only is Ethiopia the location of many early hominin fossil discoveries, it is also where the oldest specimen of Homo sapiens was found.

True

True or false? Other than occasional human hand stencils, paleolithic cave art rarely depicted human figures.

True

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

True

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

Volcanic ash

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

argon dating

An imprint of the braincase, such as the one found along with the Taung child fossil, is called which of the following?

endocast

True or False Most of the East African hominins have been found in cave sites.

false

True or false? The size and shape of Lucy's birth canal is evidence that infants of her species were born with very large brains, like modern humans.

false

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.

Cutmarks found on fossilized hominin bones from the middle Pleistocene of Bodo, Ethiopia are often used as evidence of what?

potential cannibalism

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?

saggital

Compared with other Homo erectus specimens, is average brain size larger or smaller in Homo erectus from Georgia (also known as Homo georgicus)?

smaller

True or false? Australopithecus africanus sites tend to be geologically older than Australopithecus robustus sites.

true

True or false? The Taung Child was found during a mining operation.

true

Which of the following combinations of features characterizes modern humans?

vertical forehead and relatively small brow ridges