Deck 5: The Origin of Modern Humans

Question 1

What is the archaeological evidence for the fate of the Neanderthals?

Answer 1

The arrival of modern humans did not signal the immediate extinction of Neanderthals. Transitional industries, such as the Châtelperronian, suggest interaction between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Question 2

How do Upper Paleolithic tools differ from the Middle Paleolithic industries?

Answer 2

The Upper Paleolithic industries had more varied tools than the preceding period, including microliths and bone tools, unknown in the repertoire of the Middle Paleolithic. Upper Paleolithic tools are made on blades. Perhaps the most striking aspect is the presence of sophisticated points used as light projectiles.

Question 3

What important human trait does Richard Klein suggest accounts for the Upper Paleolithic art and material culture?

A) bipedalism
B) religion
C) dexterity
D) language

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of these have been suggested as an interpretation of the purpose of cave art?

A) recordings of debt and payment
B) early architectural plans
C) fertility magic
D) mathematics

Question 5

What is the earliest known painted cave (ca. 38,000-33,000 years old)?

A) Qafzeh, Isreal
B) Lascaux, France
C) Altamira, Spain
D) Chauvet, France

Question 6

__________ found with the Gravettian industry are portable art objects depicting the female body.

A) "Venus" figurines
B) Eve idols
C) Lady stones
D) Graven images

Question 7

Beginning in the __________ Period, burials of individuals or groups are found with rich ornamentation.

A) Aurignacian
B) Magdalenian
C) Gravettian
D) Solutrean

Question 8

What is the study of the processes that affect organic remains after death?

A) paleoecology
B) zooarchaeology
C) necromodification
D) taphonmy

Question 9

Which of the following industries is transitional between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic?

A) Châtelperronian
B) Mousterian
C) Oldowan
D) Magdalenian

Question 10

Fossils of modern humans dated to between 120,000 and 70,000 years ago have been discovered at __________.

A) Klasies River Mouth, South Africa
B) Lascaux Cave, France
C) Kebara Cave, Israel
D) Howie Poort, South Africa

Question 11

How might different social statuses be suggested from some burials of the Upper Paleolithic?

Question 12

What is use-wear analysis?

Question 13

What evidence is there of open air Upper Paleolithic sites?

Question 14

What is the significance of the Blombos Cave objects?

Question 15

What is the African Middle Stone Age?

Question 16

What is a modern human?

Question 17

Discuss the various interpretations for the function of cave art in the Upper Paleolithic.

Question 18

Discuss the major differences between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic. How do archaeologists account for these dramatic differences?

Question 19

Discuss the scenarios for the fate of the Neanderthals.

Question 20

Explain the principle behind luminescence dating. What are the different types of luminescence dating and what materials can they date?

Question 21

Compare and contrast the African Middle Stone Age with the European Middle Paleolithic.

Question 22

What happened at the end of the Middle Stone Age/Paleolithic that led to the elaboration of the Upper Paleolithic?

Question 23

What differences are evident in the subsistence of modern humans and Neanderthals?

Question 24

The oldest modern human remains in Europe (ca. 36,000 years old) were found in __________.

A) Herto
B) Peştera cu Oase Cave
C) Klasies River Mouth
D) Saint Cesaire

Question 25

The __________ is marked by a dramatic change in material culture, including cave and mobiliary art.

A) Upper Paleolithic
B) Middle Paleolithic
C) Middle Stone Age
D) Lower Paleolithic

Question 26

The Châtelperronian is a transitional tool industry between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.

Question 27

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition is marked by a gradual elaboration of material culture associated with Neanderthals.

Question 28

It is common to find remains of Neanderthals and modern humans at the same sites in the Middle East.

Question 29

Neanderthal skeletons have been found at such Middle Paleolithic sites as Qafzeh and Skhul Caves.

Question 30

Bone tools, such as harpoons, have been found on Middle Paleolithic sites in England.

Question 31

Unlike the Middle Paleolithic in Europe, artwork has been found at Middle Stone Age sites such as Blombos Cave.

Question 32

Middle Stone Age tool industries included Gravettian and Solutrean.

Question 33

The Middle Stone Age refers to the archaeological period of the earliest modern humans in Africa.

Question 34

There are no modern human fossils found in southern Africa.

Question 35

The earliest Homo sapiens fossil was discovered at the site of Hadar, Ethiopia.

Question 36

The Neanderthals died out within decades of the appearance of modern humans in Europe.

Question 37

The stone tool industries of the Upper Paleolithic remain remarkably unchanged through time.

Question 38

The hallmark of the Upper Paleolithic is the dramatic appearance of a spectacular range of art objects.

Question 39

What type of absolute dating makes use of irregularities in the crystalline structure of materials such as flint, teeth, and sand grains?

A) uranium
B) argon
C) luminescence
D) radiocarbon

Question 40

Modern human skeletons have been found in the Middle Paleolithic levels of __________.

A) Blombos Cave, South Africa
B) Skhul Cave, Israel
C) Border Cave, South Africa
D) Shanidar Cave, Iraq

Question 41

Two pieces of incised ochre and a collection of pierced shells, the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens decorative matierals, were found at what Middle Stone Age site?

A) Clovis Mouth
B) Bourdes Cave
C) Chauvet Cave
D) Blombos Cave

Question 42

The oldest known bone harpoons have been found at the Middle Stone Age site of __________.

A) Kebara Cave, Israel
B) Katanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo
C) Klasies River Mouth, South Africa
D) Blombos Cave, South Africa

Question 43

What Middle Stone Age tool industry, found at Klasies River Mouth, South Africa, is characterized by the appearance of microliths?

A) Howiesons Poort
B) Levallois
C) Aterian
D) Acheulian

Question 44

Which of the following is a Middle Stone Age tool industry?

A) Acheulian
B) Aterian
C) Oldowan
D) Osteodontokeratic

Question 45

The archaeological period of the earliest modern humans in Africa is referred to as the __________.

A) Middle Stone Age
B) Middle Paleolithic
C) Acheulian
D) Old Stone Age

Question 46

Which of these physical skull traits distinguishes modern humans from Neanderthals?

A) big brain
B) pronounced brow ridges
C) vertical forehead
D) minimal chin

Question 47

The oldest known fossil of a Homo sapiens was discovered at __________.

A) Jebel Irhoud
B) Klasies River Mouth
C) Herto
D) Howiesons Poort

Question 48

The earliest known painted cave is Lascaux in northern France.

Question 49

The term "modern humans" refers to several subspecies of Homo sapiens, including Neanderthals.