Deck 12: The Origins, Evolution, and Dispersal of Modern People

Question 1

The last Neandertals date to ________ yBP.

A) 250,000
B) 100,000
C) 75,000
D) 32,000

Answer 1

32,000

Question 2

Anatomically modern human fossils were discovered in the European Upper Paleolithic site of

A) Atapuerca, Spain.
B) Mauer, Germany.
C) Petralona, Greece.
D) Cro-Magnon, France.

Answer 2

Cro-Magnon, France.

Question 3

Examples of Neandertal include

A) Arago, Petralona, Atapuerca 5, and Steinheim.
B) Amud, Kabara, and Shanidar.
C) Aramis and Ramidus.
D) Cro-Magnon.

Answer 3

Amud, Kabara, and Shanidar.

Question 4

Modern humans have

A) traits like large browridges, large nasal sinuses, and a large masticatory complex.
B) a high vertical forehead, a round and tall skull, and small browridges.
C) a small face, small teeth, and a projecting chin.
D) a high vertical forehead, a round and tall skull, small browridges, a small face, small teeth, and a projecting chin.

Question 5

If you happen to get on a bus full of Neandertals, according to recent reconstructions, you

A) would not notice, if they were dressed in appropriate attire.
B) would be immediately cannibalized.
C) could easily tell that you were sitting with a group of hominins that were of a different species or subspecies.
D) would have the largest brain on the bus.

Question 6

Cannibalism was

A) practiced by Neandertals but not modern humans.
B) practiced by modern humans but not Neandertals.
C) not practiced by any form of Homo sapiens.
D) practiced by Neandertals and modern Homo sapiens.

Question 7

Analyses of modern human genetic variation by Rebecca Cann's group suggest that Homo sapiens may have first appeared approximately ________ yBP.

A) 50,000
B) 200,000
C) 750,000
D) 1 million

Question 8

Neandertals

A) ate some plants, but only for medicinal purposes.
B) hunted a very narrow range of animals.
C) ate almost no meat.
D) ate a lot of meat.

Question 9

The first widely reported Neandertal find, the Feldhofer Cave skeleton, was correctly interpreted as

A) a modern human afflicted with rickets and arthritis, according to Rudolf Virchow.
B) the remains of a Russian soldier from an earlier invasion.
C) a very large gibbon.
D) a probable ancestor to modern humans, according to Thomas Henry Huxley.

Question 10

Broken Hill, Dali, and Atapuerca are sites where specimens of ________ have been discovered.

A) Homo erectus
B) modern Homo sapiens
C) archaic Homo sapiens
D) Neandertals

Question 11

In Atapuerca 5, early archaic Homo sapiens and Neandertal specimens show heavy wear on the incisors and canines, indicating

A) the use of the front teeth for gripping materials.
B) the purposeful modification of teeth to demonstrate social rank, as with the Aztecs.
C) their use for shaping the cutting edges of stone blades.
D) the chewing of massive amounts of fibrous materials.

Question 12

Examples of archaic Homo sapiens include

A) Arago, Petralona, Atapuerca 5, and Steinheim.
B) Amud, Kabara, and Shanidar.
C) Aramis and Ramidus.
D) Cro-Magnon.

Question 13

To date, the majority of Neandertal fossils have been found in

A) India.
B) Europe and western Asia.
C) northern Africa.
D) southeast Asia.

Question 14

Neandertals' cold-adapted traits include

A) a narrow nasal aperture.
B) long limbs.
C) a thin torso.
D) a projecting midface.

Question 15

Archaic Homo sapiens

A) occurs only in Europe and Asia.
B) shows a mixture of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens traits.
C) is dated to the late Pliocene.
D) is often found with Oldowan stone tools.

Question 16

In the study of human evolution, scientists define modern in terms of

A) a series of distinctive anatomical traits that contrast with archaic traits from earlier hominins.
B) a designated time frame between the Upper and Lower Paleolithic.
C) a series of anatomical traits that distinguish Cro-Magnon features from Neandertals.
D) traits like large browridges, large nasal sinuses, and a large masticatory complex.

Question 17

The people represented by the Denisova fossils likely

A) interbred with Homo erectus.
B) share a common ancestor with Neandertals.
C) were isolated to the point of extinction.
D) looked very much like Neandertals.

Question 18

The multiregional continuity hypothesis supposes that

A) modern Homo sapiens first evolved in Africa and then spread to Asia and Europe, replacing archaic Homo sapiens populations.
B) the transition to modernity took place regionally and without involving replacement.
C) Homo erectus populations migrated out of Africa to replace archaic Homo sapiens.
D) archaic Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa to replace Neandertals in Europe.

Question 19

The Neandertal world included

A) North Africa, East Africa, and Europe.
B) western Europe only.
C) the entire Mediterranean region in Europe and North Africa.
D) most of western Europe (France, Spain), the entire European Mediterranean, and western Asia.

Question 20

Traits of anatomically modern humans include

A) a robust build of the postcranial skeleton.
B) large browridges.
C) an average cranial capacity of 1,500 cc.
D) a long and low brain case.

Question 21

Compared to modern Homo sapiens, archaic Homo sapiens has a

A) long and low skull, a smaller brain size, and a large masticatory complex.
B) taller and wider nasal aperture, a more projecting occipital bone, a larger browridge, and no chin.
C) longer and lower skull, a smaller browridge, and a bigger and more projecting face.
D) smaller nasal aperture, a small occipital bone, and a smaller brain case.

Question 22

The Levallois method of stone tool production is associated with the

A) Mousterian.
B) Upper Paleolithic.
C) Levallois.
D) Solutrean.

Question 23

Painted perforated shells are evidence that Neandertals

A) traded with modern humans.
B) used body ornaments.
C) used symbolism.
D) used body ornaments and symbolism.

Question 24

A distinctive trait of people from East Asia and the Americas is

A) shovel-shaped incisors.
B) a large nose.
C) thick, long bones.
D) extra muscles on the scapula.

Question 25

The discovery of modern/archaic hybrid fossils supports which model of modern human origins?

A) out-of-Africa
B) multiregional continuity
C) assimilation
D) None of these models supports such a discovery.

Question 26

According to John Relethford, the MOST likely reason(s) for modern humans to have migrated out of Africa during the late Pleistocene include

A) disease.
B) loss of food supply and climate change.
C) predator pressure.
D) random movement (population drift).

Question 27

The Homo floresiensis specimen

A) had a small brain due to a pathology.
B) lived about 20,000 yBP.
C) is the result of genetic drift.
D) fits Allen's rule in body proportions.

Question 28

The oldest Neandertal site dates to ________ yBP, at ________.

A) 130,000; Krapina, Croatia
B) 32,000; Krapina, Croatia
C) 130,000; La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France
D) 25,000; La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France

Question 29

Early Native Americans used which distinctive fluted spear points to hunt large-bodied Ice Age mammals?

A) Mousterian points
B) Solutrean blades
C) Levallois flakes
D) Clovis points

Question 30

The Neandertals' disappearance after 30,000 yBP likely involved

A) a measurable degree of genetic assimilation into modern human (African) populations.
B) isolation into small groups that eventually disappeared one by one.
C) rapid extinction due to climate change.
D) migration into parts of Asia where they were not well adapted, and thus, died out.

Question 31

The fossils called Homo floresiensis were dated to

A) between 250,000 and 100,000 yBP.
B) between 100,000 and 60,000 yBP.
C) about 40,000 yBP.
D) younger than 25,000 yBP.

Question 32

Human beings first arrived in the Americas approximately ________ yBP.

A) 50,000
B) 25,000
C) 15,000
D) 5,000

Question 33

The morphology of the Paleoindian skull from Kennewick indicates that it

A) was recovered from an elaborate burial.
B) represents an early Eskimo population.
C) looks quite different from modern Native Americans' skulls.
D) is about 3,000 years old.

Question 34

The Middle Paleolithic prepared-core stone tools that are associated with Neandertals are called

A) Mousterian.
B) Gravettian.
C) Solutrean.
D) Acheulean.

Question 35

The Herto skulls from Ethiopia

A) are distinctly modern.
B) have a combination of archaic and modern features.
C) are distinctly archaic.
D) are considered Homo habilis.

Question 36

The best fossil evidence to suggest that Neandertals could produce a language like that of modern humans comes from which bone(s) collected at Kebara, Israel?

A) the cervical (neck) vertebrae
B) the mandible
C) the ribs
D) the hyoid

Question 37

The Middle Paleolithic is associated with ________ tools, which Neandertals produced.

A) blade
B) Acheulean
C) flake
D) Mousterian

Question 38

The European archaeological period that is marked by a great increase in technology and various kinds of art starting about 35,000 yBP is called the

A) later Stone Age.
B) Upper Paleolithic period.
C) Neolithic period.
D) Eurocentric period.

Question 39

All fossils of archaic Homo sapiens and earlier Homo erectus show

A) continued increase in skeletal robusticity and tooth size.
B) expansion of the brain and increased cultural complexity.
C) a decrease in cranial capacity.
D) continued decrease in body size.

Question 40

The earliest archaeological evidence of humans in Australia is from ________, dating to ________ yBP.

A) Kow Swamp; 13,000
B) Lake Mungo; 42,000
C) Melbourne; 25,000
D) Tasmania; 35,000

Question 41

Sub-Saharan Africans show the largest genetic diversity of any human population.This is likely to have resulted from the

A) accumulation of genetic mutations over the last 10 years.
B) group's small breeding population, maintaining genetic diversity.
C) accumulations of genetic mutations over time.
D) introduction of genetic diversity from Europe and Asia.

Question 42

A hominid fossil that has a long, low skull; projecting face and occipital bone; and large nasal aperture is likely to be classified as having ________ characteristics.

A) modern
B) australopithecine
C) archaic
D) apelike

Question 43

What symbolic behavior is evident in the archaeological record and associated with Neandertals and anatomically modern humans in Europe beginning around 35,000 yBP (during the Upper Paleolithic)?

Question 44

The MOST distinctive traits about the cold adaptation complex of Neandertals are

A) the suprainiac fossa and globular shape of the skull.
B) thick bones and extra muscles.
C) the body and the length of the arms and legs.
D) the retromolar space and heavy wearing on the teeth.

Question 45

What kinds of environmental pressures contributed to the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens around the world? What do the migrations of modern humans into Australia tell us about the range of human variation and adaptability in the past compared to the diversity we see in human populations today?

Question 46

While on an archaeological dig in Europe, you find a stone tool that is rounded on one side and has had flakes removed from the other side, giving it the appearance of a tortoise shell.This is likely to be a(n)

A) Oldowan core typical of the Lower Paleolithic.
B) example of the Levallois technique of the Middle Paleolithic.
C) completed tool that is similar to those you have seen from the Solutrean toolkit.
D) Clovis point.

Question 47

Discuss the two models of modern human origins-out-of-Africa and multiregional continuity.
Briefly describe their main tenets and discuss how the more recent assimilation model differs from each.

Question 48

Discuss Neandertals in terms of biological adaptation and other forces of evolution.

Question 49

Discuss which anatomical traits are used to contrast modern humans' physical appearance with that of similar hominids.Which are derived and which are ancestral? Are these traits biological adaptation, as in the case of Neandertals?

Question 50

The Shanidar site

A) demonstrates that Neandertals intentionally buried their dead.
B) demonstrates that Neandertals practiced cannibalism.
C) is the earliest evidence of modern humans in western Europe.
D) contained no hominin remains but is the earliest occurrence of the prepared platform technique.

Question 51

The out-of-Africa model asserts

A) a single origin of modern people and eventual replacement of archaic Homo sapiens throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.
B) the importance of gene flow across population boundaries.
C) migrations of australopithecines out of Africa.
D) migrations of Homo habilis out of Africa.

Question 52

Allen's and Bergmann's rules have been used to explain

A) the overall body shape of chimpanzees as compared to humans.
B) differences in stone tool technologies across the world.
C) the extinction of Neandertals.
D) variation in body shape across Neandertals and different human groups who live in vastly different climates.