Deck 3: African Roots

Question 1

The key paleoanthropological discovery made at the site of Laetoli, in Tanzania, was of:

A) the fossil skeleton of "Lucy" dating to approximately 3 million years ago
B) the oldest anatomically modern human fossil dating to approximately 100,000 years ago
C) the oldest tools made by our hominin ancestors, dating to about 2.5 million years ago
D) a 23-meter-long trackway of human-like footprints dating to more than 3.5 million years ago

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Habitual bipedalism is a behavioral characteristic typical only for the:

A) hominins
B) pongids
C) anthropoid monkeys
D) modern humans

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Laetoli footprints provide direct evidence for bipedalism in our ancestors at least how long ago:

A) 4.5 million years ago
B) 3.5 million years ago
C) 2.5 million years ago
D) 1.0 million years ago

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Pongids:

A) are incapable of walking bipedally
B) can walk bipedally only by holding on to branches with their arms
C) are, in fact, habitually bipedal
D) are capable of bipedal locomotion, but inefficiently

Question 5

The Miocene Epoch was marked by the predominance of what kind of habitat:

A) forest
B) desert
C) arctic tundra
D) savanna

Question 6

The Miocene Epoch is dated to:

A) 235 million to 65 million years ago
B) 1.5 million to 10,000 years ago
C) 23 million to 5 million years ago
D) 10,000 years ago to the present

Question 7

Between 16 million and 15 million years ago, ape species thrived because:

A) the earth warmed, leading to an expansion of tropical and subtropical conditions
B) their natural enemies, like lions and leopards, declined in population
C) they began using tools
D) the apes did NOT thrive during this period

Question 8

The end of the Miocene is marked by the:

A) extinction of the dinosaurs
B) appearance of the first hominins
C) appearance of the first apes
D) extinction of most of the ape species

Question 9

What major habitat change accompanies the end of the Miocene:

A) contraction of the forests
B) glacial advance into the world's temperate regions
C) the appearance of land bridges connecting Australia to Asia and Asia to North America
D) an increase in the world's major deserts

Question 10

By the end of the Miocene, the habitat of east Africa can be best described as a:

A) grassland
B) tropical forest
C) desert
D) mosaic

Question 11

When the forests diminished at the end of the Miocene, what replaced them:

A) deserts
B) tundra
C) fossil lakes
D) savanna

Question 12

Savannas are characterized by:

A) dwarf tree species
B) grasses
C) a lack of plant life
D) apes

Question 13

Most trees follow which photosynthetic pathway:

A) C4
B) C3
C) C8
D) C14

Question 14

Most grasses follow which photosynthetic pathway:

A) C4
B) C3
C) C8
D) C14

Question 15

In the photosynthesis pathway employed by most grasses, the uptake of the ¹³C isotope of carbon is:

A) much less than in the pathways used by trees or succulents
B) about the same as in the pathway used by trees
C) about the same as in the pathway used by succulent plants
D) higher than in the pathways used by trees or succulents

Question 16

Evidence of the worldwide expansion of the savannas at the expense of the forests at the end of the Miocene is found in the:

A) increase in ¹⁴C in the earth's atmosphere at that time
B) increase in ¹³C found in soils, bones, and teeth that date to that time
C) decrease in ¹⁴C found in soils, bones, and teeth that date to that time
D) decrease in ¹³C found in soils, bones, and teeth that date to that time

Question 17

In the history of the earth, extinction is:

A) overall quite rare
B) always the result of environmental catastropes
C) unknown until the evolution of human beings
D) extremely common

Question 18

Human beings evolved from:

A) an ape species that outcompeted the other apes living in the diminishing Miocene forests
B) an ape species that could not compete in the diminishing Miocene forests and was pushed out onto the savanna
C) chimpanzees
D) the catarrhine monkeys

Question 19

The contraction of forest habitat at the end of the Miocene epoch:

A) caused the evolution of bipedal locomotion
B) selected against apes with the ability to walk on two feet
C) made an already existing ability to walk on two feet newly advantageous
D) caused the proliferation of ape genera and species

Question 20

The characteristic possessed by our ancestors that enabled them to survive the dislocations wrought by the shrinking forest habitat at the end of the Miocene was their ability to:

A) brachiate
B) outthink their ape cousins
C) outfight their ape cousins
D) walk on two feet

Question 21

Bipedal primates considered to be in the human family or evolutionary line are called:

A) Homo sapiens
B) australopithecines
C) prosimians
D) hominins

Question 22

The oldest evidence for bipedal primates dates to the period:

A) between 6 million and 7 million years ago
B) 5 million to 4 million years ago
C) about 3.5 million years ago
D) about 2.5 million years ago

Question 23

Sahelanthropus is thought to have been bipedal based on the positioning of its:

A) pelvis
B) thoracic vertebrae
C) foramen magnum
D) metatarsals

Question 24

Orrorin is thought to have been bipedal based on the morphology of its:

A) femur
B) tibiae
C) sacrum
D) all of the above

Question 25

Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, and Ardipithecus have in common the fact that they:

A) had brains larger than those of any ape species
B) were bipedal
C) made tools
D) had expanded their territory outside of Africa

Question 26

We know that Ardiptithecus ramidus walked upright on the basis of its preserved:

A) pelvis
B) thoracic vertebrae
C) foramen magnum
D) metatarsals

Question 27

Though upright, Ardipithecus ramidus is quite different from later australopithecines in that:

A) Ardipithecus had a much larger brain
B) Ardipithecus made stone tools, whereas Australopithecus did not
C) Arditpithecus had a brain only one-third the size of Austalopithecus
D) Arditpithecus had an ape-like foot

Question 28

Ardipithecus lived in a habitat best described as:

A) playa
B) woodland
C) tundra
D) desert

Question 29

Paleoanthropologist Tim White and his colleagues view Ardipithecus ramidus as representing:

A) the creature at the base of the hominin line
B) a creature that spent an equal amount of time on the ground and in the trees
C) the creature that gave rise to the australopithecines
D) all of the above

Question 30

The australopithecines are placed in the taxonomic family Homininae because they:

A) had large brains
B) made and used tools
C) hunted
D) walked upright

Question 31

The "First Family" and Lucy are possible early representatives of what fossil genus:

A) Australopithecus
B) Homo
C) Paranthropus
D) Pithecanthropus

Question 32

The single most important consideration for placing a 4 million-year-old fossil in the hominin family is:

A) how it walked
B) the size of its brain
C) evidence of a significant reliance on culture
D) evidence of the use of fire

Question 33

The name applied to the australopithecine species that dates to more than 4 million years ago and therefore predates Lucy's species is:

A) afarensis
B) ramidus
C) aethiopicus
D) anamensis

Question 34

What species is the fossil "Lucy" considered to be:

A) Australopithecus afarensis
B) Australopithecus anamensis
C) Australopithecus aethiopicus
D) Australopithecus robustus

Question 35

Australopithecus afarensis is so important because it:

A) is the first hominin
B) is the oldest tool-using hominin
C) provides the most extensive fossil evidence of the early hominins
D) was Louis Leakey's first discovery and paved the way for most of the paleoanthropology conducted in Africa ever since

Question 36

The most significant feature of the fossil Lucy is:

A) she is the first hominin associated with stone tools
B) she is more than 40% complete
C) her well-preserved cranium
D) evidence that her body was cannibalized by her comrades

Question 37

Australopithecus afarensis fossils have been dated to the period:

A) 6 million to 3 million years ago
B) 3 million to 1 million years ago
C) 4 million to 2 million years ago
D) 4 million to 3 million years ago

Question 38

During its lengthy history, Australopithecus afarensis shows:

A) essential stability and homogeneity
B) slow change, especially in increasing brain size through time
C) slow change, especially in increasingly efficient bipedal locomotion
D) the evolution of tool use

Question 39

A comparison of the oldest and most recent examples of Australopithecus afarensis and the oldest fossils labeled Homo habilis lends support to the perspective of:

A) survival of the fittest
B) neotony
C) lagomorphism
D) punctuated equilibrium

Question 40

From the neck down, the anatomy of all australopithecine species is best characterized as:

A) ape-like
B) monkey-like
C) human-like
D) unknown

Question 41

The cranial anatomy of all the australopithecines is best characterized as:

A) ape-like
B) monkey-like
C) human-like
D) unknown

Question 42

The skeletal element that most clearly indicates that the australopithecines were bipeds is their:

A) mastoid
B) supra-orbital torus
C) baculum
D) pelvis

Question 43

The fossil designated A. L. 444-2 shows that Australopithecus afarensis possessed:

A) a small but remarkably human-like cranium
B) a prognathous face
C) a skull larger than any modern or fossil ape
D) an anatomically modern pelvis

Question 44

Australopithecus africanus is now seen as representing:

A) a branch of the hominin line that led to extinction
B) a direct ancestor in the line that led to us
C) a recent evolutionary throwback
D) the oldest fossil evidence for hominins in Australia

Question 45

Australopithecus africanus dates to how long ago:

A) 5.6-4.5 million years ago
B) 4.0-2.4 million years ago
C) 3.0-2.2 million years ago
D) 2.5-1.78 million years ago

Question 46

Australopithecus africanus brain size is comparable to that of:

A) the Neandertals
B) modern humans
C) modern gibbons
D) modern chimpanzees

Question 47

The teeth of Australopithecus africanus exhibit a pattern reflective of a diet of:

A) meat and soft vegetal foods like leaves and fruits
B) seeds, nuts, and other hard foods
C) insects
D) bamboo

Question 48

Australopithecus robustus dates to about what time period:

A) 3.0-2.2 million years ago
B) 2.5-1.8 million years ago
C) 2.0-.05 million years ago
D) 2.2-1.0 million years ago

Question 49

A significant feature of the period from about 4 million to 2 million years ago is:

A) a simple pattern of successive hominin species replacing each other though time
B) the existence of multiple, contemporaneous hominin species
C) slow, methodically increasing brain size in the hominin line
D) evidence of increasingly proficient and more human-like upright locomotion

Question 50

50: The oldest stone tools made by our hominin ancestors date to about how long ago?

A) 5.1 million years ago
B) 3.3 million years ago
C) 2.5 million years ago
D) 1 million years ago

Question 51

51: The key discovery made at the Lomekwi site in Kenya was:

A) 3.5 million year old hominin footprints
B) the oldest stone tools
C) the oldest bipedal fossils
D) the oldest evidence for the use of fire by human ancestors

Question 52

The earliest specimens of Homo habilis date to about how long ago:

A) 3 million years
B) 2.4 million years
C) 1.78 million years
D) 1.25 million years

Question 53

The most significant behavioral distinction that can be made between Homo habilis and the australopithecines is the former's:

A) bipedal locomotion
B) controlled use of fire
C) use of the wheel
D) reliance on stone tools

Question 54

Compared to the australopithecines, the Homo habilis brain was:

A) about the same size but differently proportioned
B) less neotonous
C) about 50% bigger
D) twice as big

Question 55

Fossil hand anatomy suggested that:

A) Homo habilis was the first hominin capable of making stone tools
B) at least some of the australopithecines had been physically capable of making stone tools
C) Homo habilis could not have manufactured stone tools
D) Homo erectus was the first hominin capable of making stone tools

Question 56

The name given to the stone tool industry of Homo habilis is:

A) Levallois
B) Oldowan
C) Acheulean
D) Maglemosian

Question 57

In the Oldowan technology, it is now understood that the principle object was to produce:

A) a number of sharp flakes
B) a large chopping tool
C) a hand axe
D) long, symmetrical blades

Question 58

We know that flakes produced in core reduction in the Oldowan technology were used to cut and scrape, as a result of:

A) trace element analysis
B) paleopathology
C) thermoluminescence
D) wear pattern analysis

Question 59

The Oldowan technology seems to have been:

A) expedient; tools were made only as needed from whatever was immediately at hand
B) well-planned out; cores were transported great distances from their point of origin
C) an advanced form of the older Acheulean technology
D) based on the use of bone and not stone

Question 60

The first hominins were, essentially:

A) quadrupedal human beings
B) non-brachiating chimps
C) bipedal apes
D) arboreal

Question 61

The brain size of the australopithecines was about what percentage of modern human brain size:

A) 75%
B) 55%
C) 45%
D) 33%

Question 62

Paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman based her conclusion that Homo habilis was, at least in part, a meat eater on the basis of her analysis of:

A) stone tool cut marks on animal bones
B) Homo habilis coprolites
C) the carbon isotope analysis of Homo habilis bones
D) all of the above

Question 63

The proliferation of a number of different hominin species after 3 million years ago may be a result of:

A) ape extinction and the resulting creation of new niches
B) general cooling of the planet and resulting expansion of the savannas
C) the Pleistocene
D) expansion of the forests after their low at the end of the Miocene

Question 64

In the view of Owen Lovejoy, bipedalism is advantageous because it:

A) provides a broader view of the savanna and its resources-and its dangers
B) frees the hands for tool making
C) allows males to carry food to provision females with children
D) allows scavengers to search for food more efficiently across the savanna

Question 65

In the view of Pat Shipman, bipedalism is advantageous because it:

A) provides a broader view of the savanna and its resources-and its dangers
B) frees the hands for tool making
C) allows males to carry food to provision females with children
D) allows scavenging hominins to search for food more efficiently across the savanna

Question 66

In their analysis of the biomechanics of human locomotion, Dennis Bramble and Daniel Lieberman show that human beings are very well adapted for:

A) tree climbing
B) walking
C) long-distance running
D) trucking

Question 67

Based on an analysis of ancient hominin skeletons, the percentage of deaths that resulted from inter-species violence has been calculated to be about:

A) 20%
B) 10%
C) 5%
D) 2%

Question 68

Based on an analysis of ancient hominin skeletons, the percentage of deaths that resulted from inter-species violence has been calculated to be about the same as seen in:

A) monkeys and apes
B) modern hunting and gathering people
C) agriculturalists
D) modern industrial nations

Question 69

What do the Laetoli footprints tell us about hominin behavior 3.5 million years ago?

Question 70

What happened to many ape species at the end of the Miocene? Why?

Question 71

What evidence is there for the contraction of the forests and the spread of the savanna at the end of the Miocene? Include a discussion of the carbon isotope evidence.

Question 72

What are the names given to the oldest hominins of the period between 6 million and 7 million years ago? How many species have been designated? Where did they live? On the basis of what evidence are they categorized, at least by some researchers, as hominds?

Question 73

What is so important about Ardipithecus ramidus? What's surprising about its morphology? What is its position in the evolution of the hominins?

Question 74

Discuss the genus Australopithecus. Create a timeline placing the early hominins, including the australopithecinces, in chronological context.

Question 75

It is said that the first hominins were essentially "upright apes." Explain this statement.

Question 76

Discuss australopithecine anatomy. In what ways was it ape-like? In what ways was it more modern (in the sense of more like a modern human)?

Question 77

What seems to be the evolutionary pattern of the australopithecines; over time, what anatomical features seem to become emphasized?

Question 78

Describe the Lomekwi stone tools. How old are they? Who made them?

Question 79

How did Homo habilis differ-anatomically and behaviorally-from the australopithecines?

Question 80

How were Oldowan tools produced? Walk me through the steps for producing the tools. What were Oldowan flake tools used for? How do we know?