Deck 8: Human Origins

Question 1

The origins of humanity date deep in geological time, to the

A)Cenozoic era.
B)Holocene period.
C)Oligocene epoch.
D)Eocene epoch.

Answer 1

Cenozoic era.

Question 2

The current view of human evolution can be described as

A)punctuated equilibrium.
B)gradual and progressive adaptation.
C)rapid and continual evolution.
D)long periods of relative instability.

Answer 2

punctuated equilibrium.

Question 3

Although there are problems with such categorizations, all of the following have been used in recent years to assign a fossil to the genus Homo EXCEPT

A)an absolute brain size of 600 cubic centimeters or more.
B)possession of some language.
C)opposable thumbs.
D)the ability to manufacture iron tools.

Answer 3

the ability to manufacture iron tools.

Question 4

Cladistic analysis tends to emphasize

A)diversity over homogeneity.
B)homogeneity over diversity.
C)morphological similarities.
D)monophyletic ancestry.

Question 5

Hominin evolution can be described as a series of adaptive radiations that took place over at least

A)50,000 years.
B)500,000 years.
C)5 million years.
D)50 million years.

Question 6

Louis and Mary Leakey are most closely associated with

A)the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
B)the Awash Desert, Ethiopia.
C)Koobi Fora, Kenya.
D)Koto Toro, Chad.

Question 7

Stone tool expert Nicholas Toth has studied replicas of Oldowan artifacts and has detected wear from all of the following activities EXCEPT

A)butchering meat.
B)sawing wood.
C)cutting soft plants.
D)mining for obsidian.

Question 8

Describe the Pleistocene environment and its environmental changes.

Question 9

Explain how potassium-argon dating is performed. Why is this process valuable when studying human evolution?

Question 10

Compare and contrast Homo habilis and hominins from Australopithecus.

Question 11

Define bipedalism. When did it develop in our early human ancestors? Why was it important in the evolution of humans?

Question 12

A team of researchers working in the Awash Desert in Ethiopia discovered teeth and skull fragments from a new hominin form dating to about 2.5 million years ago, which they named

A)Australopithecus garhi.
B)Australopithecus boisei.
C)Australopithecus robustus.
D)Australopithecus africanus.

Question 13

Dramatic confirmation of hominin bipedalism by 3.6 million years ago comes from Laetoli in Tanzania, where Mary Leakey discovered

A)evidence of elephant hunting by early hominins.
B)a complete Australopithecus skeleton.
C)two almost-intact Australopithecus feet.
D)footprints of two hominins.

Question 14

The famous Australopithecine Lucy belongs to the species

A)Australopithecus anamensis.
B)Sahelanthropus tchadensis.
C)Australopithecus afarensis.
D)Australopithecus robustus.

Question 15

The Pleistocene epoch

A)was a period of extremely hot temperatures.
B)was a continuous ice age.
C)is sometimes called the Age of Mammals.
D)is sometimes called the Age of Humanity.

Question 16

The Leakeys revolutionized the study of human evolution with their find in Olduvai Gorge in 1959 of a hominin skull they named

A)Homo sapiens.
B)Homo erectus.
C)Zinjanthropus boisei.
D)Australopithecus.

Question 17

Hominins adopted bipedalism

A)at least 4 million years ago.
B)at least 40,000 years ago.
C)before they progressed to knuckle walking.
D)as part of the adaptation toward eating more plants.

Question 18

All of the following are major adaptive problems early hominins faced EXCEPT

A)they were large mammals.
B)they were terrestrial.
C)they lived in an open savanna environment.
D)they were hunter-gatherers.

Question 19

Humans and most other tree-loving placental mammals are part of the order

A)Great apes.
B)Primates.
C)Prosimians.
D)Pongids.

Question 20

Of the two suborders of primates, apes, humans, and monkeys are

A)anthropoids.
B)primates.
C)prosimians.
D)pongids.

Question 21

The suborder of primates that includes lemurs and tarsiers is

A)anthropoids.
B)Old World monkeys.
C)prosimians.
D)pongids.

Question 22

Although we don't know exactly when humankind separated from the nonhuman primates, we do know this divergence took place in

A)Asia.
B)Australia.
C)Europe.
D)Africa.

Question 23

A deep-sea core from the Arabian Sea that probed nearly 1,000 feet of seabed deposits in an effort to understand climate conditions on Earth has revealed

A)swings from wetter to drier conditions and back about every 23,000 years.
B)continuous ice ages as recently as 10,000 years ago.
C)a perceptible rise in temperature dating to 23,000 years ago.
D)swings in temperature from hotter to cooler every 2,300 years.

Question 24

The earliest known hominin, found in Chad, Central Africa, has been named

A)Ardipithecus ramidus.
B)Sahelanthropus tchadensis.
C)Australopithecus africanus.
D)Australopithecus robustus.

Question 25

Discuss the "grandmother hypothesis." How does this idea change the way we think about gender roles in prehistoric society?