Deck 3: The Beginnings of Human Culture

Question 1

Jane Goodall is a prominent primatologist.What does she study?

A) gorillas
B) orangutans
C) macaques
D) chimpanzees

Answer 1

chimpanzees

Question 2

In most primate species,which group is at the core of the social system?

A) dominant males
B) mating pairs
C) females and their offspring
D) submissive females

Answer 2

females and their offspring

Question 3

Which area of the brain enlarged dramatically in primates?

A) cerebellum
B) cerebral hemispheres
C) medulla
D) notochord

Answer 3

cerebral hemispheres

Question 4

Which of the following learned behaviours has been observed among chimpanzees?

A) making tools by stripping branches to use as a "fishing rod" for termites
B) making simple clay pots to get water for drinking
C) an infant breaking open a birds nest to get eggs
D) wooden "spear" fishing

Question 5

In what direction has evolution tended to change the teeth of primates?

A) towards fewer,smaller teeth
B) towards fewer,larger teeth
C) towards more,smaller teeth
D) towards sharper,larger teeth

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a member of the primate order?

A) tarsiers
B) bonobos
C) indrids
D) meerkats

Question 7

How have the canine teeth in most primates changed over time?

A) They grew smaller as softer,fleshier foods became available.
B) They disappeared altogether.
C) They developed projectile cusps.
D) They grew longer to facilitate tearing opening tough husks of fruits.

Question 8

If you were to visit a primate group in the wild,which type of activity would you be most likely to see?

A) sex
B) grooming
C) adult play
D) territorial defence

Question 9

The spinal cord passes through an opening in the skull and connects to the brain.Which development in human evolution does the study of this feature of our anatomy shed light on?

A) primate vision
B) primate intelligence
C) a trend towards upright posture
D) increased manual dexterity

Question 10

As apes and humans evolved,an anatomical strut shifted the arms from the front to the side of the body.What is this strut called?

A) clavicle
B) scapula
C) spine
D) pelvis

Question 11

All primates have a number of characteristics in common,and these are an indication that primates are adapted to living in one particular environment.Which environment?

A) on the ground
B) in the trees
C) on the open grasslands
D) in a temperate climate

Question 12

Which of the following primates are found in the wild in Madagascar?

A) lemurs
B) tarsiers
C) Old World monkeys
D) orangutans

Question 13

Which of the following activities have chimpanzees have been known to do?

A) draw on stone
B) make clay representations of other animals
C) use tools to solve new problems
D) spear rivals in conflicts

Question 14

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes primates from other mammals?

A) a large complex brain in which the area devoted to smell is quite large
B) the development of more teeth of a highly specialized nature
C) increased visual acuity because of stereoscopic and colour vision
D) the development of a specific breeding season and increased number of offspring

Question 15

In primates,which sense declined significantly as vision improved?

A) touch
B) smell
C) sight
D) hearing

Question 16

What kind of vision did primates develop to meet the demands of travelling through trees?

A) two-dimensional
B) retroflex
C) sympathetic
D) stereoscopic

Question 17

At the genetic level,what percentage of human and chimpanzee genes are identical?

A) 52 percent
B) 76 percent
C) 87 percent
D) 98 percent

Question 18

Which aspect of the mother-infant bond is similar in both chimps and humans?

A) There is actually very little similarity.
B) It does not last much beyond the fifth year.
C) It is very strong for the first five years of life.
D) It remains strong until the age of thirteen.

Question 19

Which of the following best characterizes the evolution of non-human primates?

A) They have not evolved as effectively as humans.
B) They have evolved differently than humans,in order to be better adapted to their own environments.
C) They continue to become more human-like as they evolve in the modern world.
D) Their evolutionary development has paralleled human evolution.

Question 20

How many chimpanzees typically live together in the wild?

A) They live in groups of 20 or more.
B) They live in groups of 50 or more.
C) They live in solitary units.
D) They live in isolation from others.

Question 21

Why is Ardipithecus considered a hominin?

A) It was fully bipedal.
B) It was larger than modern chimpanzees.
C) It was the same size as Homo erectus.
D) It made tools.

Question 22

If chimpanzees and gorillas were both hominins,what would this mean?

A) They are both part of the family of great apes.
B) They are closer to monkeys than to humans.
C) They are more closely related to humans than they are to other primates.
D) Their behaviour is human,while their anatomy is ape-like.

Question 23

Approximately how old are the earliest fossilized remains of Homo erectus found in Java?

A) Homo erectus has never been found in these areas
B) 50,000 years old
C) 200,000 years old
D) 1.6 million years old

Question 24

Which of the following options represents the food that had a major effect on the evolution of the human brain?

A) Nuts
B) Grains
C) Vegetables
D) Meat

Question 25

How did Homo habilis acquire meat?

A) They hunted with stone-pointed spears.
B) They drove game over a cliff.
C) They set traps.
D) They scavenged it from other carnivores.

Question 26

Which behaviour was the evolution of the human brain NOT directly related to?

A) toolmaking
B) nomadism
C) food storage and sharing
D) foresight

Question 27

What conclusion can be drawn from the Homo fossils found in the Republic of Georgia?

A) Populations of the genus Homo did not evolve anywhere in Africa until the late Paleolithic era.
B) Brain size did not expand beyond that of Australopithecus until early humans migrated out of Africa.
C) Homo georgicus was capable of living in a very cold climate thus indicating fire making.
D) Homo georgicus probably had developed language.

Question 28

Which of the following is most true about the shift to meat-eating among hominins?

A) It led to more exploration of the environment.
B) It came about through male competition for resources.
C) It was aided by their being active during the night.
D) It led to skeletal shrinkage.

Question 29

What was probably the most important function of the first stone tools?

A) to increase the amount of meat in the diet
B) to build hearths and collect firewood
C) to build shelters for the group
D) to defend a home base

Question 30

Your text classifies all direct descendants of Ardipithecus as australopithecines.Why?

A) size
B) speciation
C) for the sake of simplicity
D) locality

Question 31

Which feature of Australopithecus was more like an ape than a human?

A) teeth
B) jaws
C) brain-body ratio
D) posture and form of locomotion

Question 32

Which characteristic of Australopithecus was more like a human than an ape?

A) the gap present between lower canines and premolars
B) the brain-weight to body-weight ratio
C) a skeleton adapted to bipedal posture
D) a prominent sagittal crest

Question 33

Which of the following had a geographic range that included Africa,Southeast Asia,Europe,and China?

A) Australopithecus
B) Neanderthal
C) Homo erectus
D) Homo ergaster

Question 34

How big was the brain of Homo erectus,as compared to other hominins?

A) It was significantly smaller than that of modern chimpanzees.
B) It was about the same as that of Homo habilis.
C) It was larger than that of all earlier hominins.
D) It was significantly larger than that of Homo sapiens.

Question 35

Most fossil remains of hominins are extremely fragmentary,but about 45 percent of one individual known as Ardipithecus has been found.Where was it discovered?

A) South Africa
B) East Africa
C) Iraq
D) Egypt

Question 36

How much bigger than female hominins were the male hominins of 4 million years ago?

A) They were not noticeably bigger.
B) They were 10% bigger.
C) They were 50% bigger.
D) They were almost twice the size.

Question 37

What climatic change coincided with the addition of meat to Homo habilis's diet?

A) cooler,wetter weather
B) cooler,drier weather
C) an increase in frost-free days
D) increased rainfall

Question 38

Which statement best describes australopithecine teeth?

A) They were more ape-like than human-like.
B) They have large front canine teeth.
C) They lack grinding molars.
D) They were more human-like than ape-like.

Question 39

The transition to bipedalism probably occurred in a context where primates spent a lot of time in the trees but ventured out periodically onto the open savannah.What advantage did bipedalism give primates that promoted this transition?

A) the ability to leap between trees more effectively
B) the ability to hide from predators
C) the ability to free their hands for a variety of purposes
D) the ability to locate plant foods more effectively

Question 40

The earliest known tool tradition

A) Is called Oldowan.
B) Began about 1 million years ago.
C) Marked the beginning of the Mesozoic.
D) Developed in China.

Question 41

Which term refers to the evolutionary mechanism by which individuals with characteristics best suited to a particular environment survive and reproduce with greater frequency than those without them?

A) Darwin's Law
B) survival of the fittest
C) natural selection
D) environmental selection

Question 42

Which two types of Homo have a common ancestor in Homo Heidelbergensis?

A) habilis and erectus
B) erectus and ergaster
C) sapiens and neanderthalensis
D) sapiens and africanus

Question 43

There is evidence of the use of fire 700,000 years ago by Homo erectus.In what country is the rock shelter site located where this evidence was found?

A) Thailand
B) China
C) Africa
D) Iraq

Question 44

What evidence indicates that the tools made by Homo erectus were more efficient than those of the Oldowan tradition?

A) a greater range of tool types
B) more copious use of wood
C) the use of limestone to create sharper edges
D) more tool making by females

Question 45

What was the atlatl used for?

A) grinding wild nuts and seeds into a coarse flour
B) increasing the force on an arrow,enabling it to travel farther and with greater effectiveness
C) increasing the force with which a hunter could throw a spear
D) pulverizing grubs used in making healing poultices

Question 46

What name is given to the tool-making tradition of the Neanderthals of Europe,Southwest Asia,and North Africa?

A) Mousterian
B) Oldowan
C) Cro-Magnon
D) Upper Paleolithic

Question 47

Upper Paleolithic peoples all had characteristically modern-looking faces.To what can this be attributed?

A) speciation
B) colder climates,which generated increasing layers of fat on the cheeks
C) the development of cooking,which led to smaller teeth and jaws
D) migrant populations wiping out local groups

Question 48

What discovery provides evidence of complex social and ritual behaviour among Neanderthals?

A) ritual cremations
B) medical instruments
C) deliberate burials
D) organized warfare

Question 49

How did the body of Homo erectus from that of Homo sapiens?

A) Homo erectus had a smaller birth canal.
B) The musculature of Homo erectus was lighter.
C) The dentition of Homo erectus was smaller.
D) Homo erectus lacked the opposable thumb and flexible fingers.

Question 50

There is a debate about whether fossils should be assigned to Homo erectus or to archaic Homo sapiens.What issue is at the centre of this debate?

A) how big or small the differences between advanced Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens are
B) whether or not abnormal specimens should be discarded
C) allegations that academic politics often rule over evidence
D) acknowledgement that assigning a fossil to a given species is often just guesswork

Question 51

What was the burin used for?

A) butchering small animals
B) carving bone and antler fishhooks and harpoons
C) throwing at small animals to stun them
D) cutting the hides from large game animals

Question 52

Ancient eastern Siberian travellers who reached what is now the Yukon were blocked from land access to locations further south.What caused this?

A) inadequate technology for land travel
B) higher sea levels
C) continental glaciers
D) inadequate food supplies

Question 53

What conclusion can be drawn from the discovery of Homo erectus sites in Russia dated to 1.8 million years ago?

A) Human evolution was confined to Northern Europe by this time.
B) Fire was possibly used quite early in human history.
C) Homo erectus was manufacturing warm clothing by this time.
D) Russia's climate at that time must have been tropical.

Question 54

What is the "Eve hypothesis"?

A) the belief that humans did not evolve,but were created by God
B) the evidence that modern humans are descended from a single African population
C) the fossil evidence that Neanderthal was wiped out by modern humans
D) the evidence that one highly evolved woman gave rise to all Homo sapiens

Question 55

Why was bone,antler,or wood used to press off small flakes from a flint tool core?

A) to produce the first razors for shaving
B) to give the toolmaker greater control over the tool's shape
C) to allow for the production of the first three-dimensional stone tools
D) to work low-quality flint

Question 56

Where did the first Aboriginal peoples who migrated to the New World come from?

A) Polynesia
B) Northeast Asia
C) Scandinavia
D) North Africa

Question 57

In which of the following was an appreciation of art,expressed through engravings,paintings,and body decorations,clearly present?

A) Neanderthals
B) Upper Paleolithic people
C) Archaic Homo sapiens
D) Homo erectus

Question 58

Fossils found in Steinheim,Germany,and Swanscombe,England,are transitional between two forms of hominins.Which two forms?

A) Homo erectus and Homo sapiens
B) Australopithecus and Homo erectus
C) Australopithecus and Homo habilis
D) Homo habilis and Homo erectus

Question 59

Approximately how long have humans been in the New World,according to archaeological evidence?

A) 1 million years
B) 500,000 years
C) 50,000 years
D) 15,000 years

Question 60

What development among ancestral hunters is a reflection of the shift from scavenging to hunting for meat?

A) increased physical strength
B) greater cardiovascular capacity
C) an increase in the number and size of teeth
D) increased organizational ability

Question 61

If you had to present three pieces of evidence for human evolution,which three would be most consistent with a scientific approach?

A) survival of the fittest,ongoing expansion of the brain,good fossil excavation methods
B) survival of the fittest,ongoing expansion of the brain,genetic/DNA evidence
C) ongoing expansion of the brain,paleontology,good fossil-dating techniques
D) ongoing expansion of the brain,genetic/DNA evidence,good fossil-dating techniques

Question 62

Which term is an alternate name for the archaic Homo sapiens that lived from 500,000 years ago up to the appearance of Neanderthals?

A) Cro-Magnon man
B) advanced Homo erectus
C) Homo Heidelbergensis
D) Homo robustus

Question 63

What form of subsistence has the Tanzanian government tried to convert the Hadzabe to?

A) settled farmers
B) settled pastoralists
C) settled horticulturalists
D) civilized wage labourers

Question 64

A particular feature of primate evolution has been the increase in the sense of smell.

Question 65

Which of the following activities was carried out as part of the Institute of Human Origins research program?

A) the collection of 4 to 1 million year old drill cores from paleolake sediments adjacent to human fossil and artifacts sites
B) the excavation of partly digested human remains from a bog
C) calculating the tilt of the earth's axis as it was 4 to 1 million year to determine climactic characteristics of that period
D) the analysis of human blood samples found trapped in amber

Question 66

Which three factors are most characteristic of the upper Paleolithic period?

A) specific regional adaptations;better hunting,fishing,and gathering techniques;complex tools
B) specific regional adaptations;better hunting,fishing,and gathering techniques;higher reliance on physical adaptation
C) an enhanced sense of smell;better hunting,fishing,and gathering techniques;complex tools
D) the first smelting of bronze tools;better hunting,fishing,and gathering techniques;higher reliance on physical adaptation

Question 67

What characteristic of Paleolithic animal art clearly indicates that the people who made the paintings had other skills besides their technical skills as artists?

A) the depiction of abstract imaginary animals
B) the artist's knowledge of the animal's anatomy
C) the artist's knowledge of animal reproduction
D) the use of gold and precious stones

Question 68

What evidence is there to support the idea that culture may play as significant a role as gender in the research of primatologists?

A) Japanese primatologists have been said to use approaches that fit the stereotype of Western female scholars.
B) Some cultures have been shown to communicate more effectively with animals than others.
C) It is only logical that gender and culture always play a role in research outcomes.
D) There is little evidence that either culture or gender affects academic research.

Question 69

Which of the following principles underlies the central goals of the Institute of Human Origins?

A) the use of paleoanthropology to pursue integrated solutions to the most important questions regarding the course,pause,and timing of events in human evolution
B) the use of interdisciplinary expertise to pursue integrated solutions to the most important questions regarding the course,pause,and timing of events in human evolution
C) the use of genetic science to pursue integrated solutions to the most important questions regarding the course,pause,and timing of events in human evolution
D) the use of the four fields of anthropology to pursue integrated solutions to the most important questions regarding the course,pause,and timing of events in human evolution

Question 70

Studies of monkeys and apes living today indicate that learned social behaviour plays an important role in adaptation.

Question 71

Jane Goodall's long-term study of the orangutans of Indonesia has made it clear that higher primates can make and use tools and frequently hunt cooperatively.

Question 72

What can we learn from studying the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Tanzania?

A) that foragers now require a 10-hour workday to survive
B) that foraging for a living is no longer possible
C) how African peoples have adapted to technology
D) how early humans may have lived

Question 73

The environment that selected for the distinctive characteristics of the primates was arboreal.

Question 74

A particular feature of primate evolution has been a decrease in the number of teeth.

Question 75

What is the name of the tool tradition that lasted over a million years and is associated with Homo ergaster in Africa and Europe?

A) Attawanderon
B) Acheulian
C) Oldowan
D) Mousterian

Question 76

Which primate group is composed of highly evolved variants of an early primate model and lack the typical primate characteristics shared by monkeys,apes,and humans?

A) South American monkeys
B) orangutans
C) Japanese macaques
D) the lemurs of Madagascar

Question 77

Among chimpanzees,young males may not stay with females at all.

Question 78

Taking into consideration the evolutionary difference between ape and human mothers,why would apes be less likely to carry their infants than humans?

A) because they are hairy,baby apes can hold onto them securely
B) because of their smaller brains,apes do not realize the danger inherent in not holding their infants securely
C) because they are not fully bipedal,apes still need to use their arms for locomotion
D) because humans have advanced consciousness,they are more protective of their infants

Question 79

What evidence is there to support the notion that the gender of a scholar is the most important consideration in the field of primate research?

A) Human females have more natural relationships with nonhuman primates.
B) The research of many male primatologists has frequently been found to be inaccurate.
C) Very few males have ever undertaken these studies.
D) Male dominance in general,and especially in academia,may bias research undertaken by males.

Question 80

What percentage of the Hadzabe can still maintain themselves through their traditional lifestyle?

A) 0 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 90 percent