Question 1

The "Neandertals" are

Accepted Answer

The answer of The "Neandertals" are
...

Question 2

Associated with Neandertal finds in Europe and southwestern Asia is a new stone-tool tradition called the

Accepted Answer

The Mousterian stone-tool tradition is associated with Neandertals in Europe and southwestern Asia.

Question 3

Recent advances in the sequencing of ancient DNA seem to indicate that

Accepted Answer

Recent advances in ancient DNA sequencing have shown that modern non-African humans have inherited about 1% to 4% of their DNA from Neandertals, indicating interbreeding between the two groups.

Question 4

Denisovans and Neandertals

Accepted Answer

The answer of Denisovans and Neandertals
...

Question 5

The Denisovans are a population of

Accepted Answer

Denisovans are known primarily from DNA evidence extracted from fossils found in Denisova Cave in Siberia, rather than from extensive fossil records.

Question 6

What is the name given to the period of highly elaborate stone-tool traditions in Europe in which blades were important, 40,000-10,300 years ago?

Accepted Answer

The period from 40,000 to 10,300 years ago in Europe is known as the Upper Paleolithic or Late Stone Age, characterized by advanced stone tool technology, including the production of blades.

Question 7

Stone tools that are at least twice as long as they are wide are

Accepted Answer

Blades are stone tools that are at least twice as long as they are wide, characterized by their elongated shape.

Question 8

Tools in which several different materials are combined to produce the final working implement are considered

Accepted Answer

Composite tools are made by combining different materials to create a single, functional implement.

Question 9

The theory of punctuated equilibrium is based on the observation that

Accepted Answer

The theory of punctuated equilibrium suggests that species remain relatively unchanged for long periods (stasis) and that significant evolutionary changes occur relatively quickly, often associated with speciation events, which is why new species appear in the fossil record alongside their unchanged ancestors.

Question 10

Most hominin fossils older than 3 million years of age are called

Accepted Answer

Australopiths are a group of hominins that lived more than 3 million years ago and include species like Australopithecus afarensis.

Question 11

The bones of the fingers and toes of Au. afarensis are slightly curved, and the toes are much longer than the toes of modern human beings. This suggests to paleoanthropologists that

Accepted Answer

The curved fingers and longer toes suggest that Au. afarensis retained some adaptations for tree climbing, indicating that their bipedalism was not as fully developed as in later hominins who had a full striding gait.

Question 12

The Laetoli footprints

Accepted Answer

The Laetoli footprints, dated to about 3.6 million years ago, show evidence of a bipedal hominin with a striding gait and short, straight toes, characteristics associated with Australopithecus afarensis, not Homo habilis or Homo erectus.

Question 13

Australopiths with small and lightly built faces are known as

Accepted Answer

Gracile australopithecines are characterized by their smaller and more lightly built facial features compared to robust australopithecines.

Question 14

Australopiths with rugged jaws, flat faces, and enormous molars are known as

Accepted Answer

Robust australopithecines are characterized by their rugged jaws, flat faces, and large molars, adaptations for a diet that required heavy chewing.

Question 15

The fossils of Australopithecus sediba, from the site of Malapa in South Africa,

Accepted Answer

The answer of The fossils of Australopithecus sediba, from the...

Question 16

Paleoanthropologists suspect that perhaps more than one species belonging to the genus Homo may have coexisted in eastern Africa in the early Pleistocene because

Accepted Answer

Homo habilis shows significant internal variation, suggesting the possibility of multiple species within the genus Homo coexisting in the early Pleistocene.

Question 17

The paleoanthropologists who discovered the fossils they called Homo naledi justified classifying the fossils as a variety of early Homo for which reason?

Accepted Answer

The classification of Homo naledi as a variety of early Homo was justified by the similarities in morphology between the Homo naledi fossils and other early Homo fossils, rather than cranial capacity, stone tools, or firm dating.

Question 18

The oldest human tools were part of which tradition?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The oldest human tools were part of...

Question 19

Richard Potts has argued that the most efficient way for early hominins to get stones for stone tools together with the animal carcasses to be processed with those tools would be for early hominins

Accepted Answer

Storing stones at various spots and bringing carcasses to the nearest supply of stones would minimize the need to transport heavy stones over long distances, making it an efficient strategy.

Question 20

Homo erectus finds from Dmanisi, in the Republic of Georgia,
appear to show the first hominin species to migrate out of Africa at a
date to 1.8 mya.

Accepted Answer

The Dmanisi fossils, dated to about 1.8 million years ago, are among the earliest evidence of Homo erectus outside Africa, indicating early migration.

Quiz 4: What Can the Fossil Record Tell Us About Human Origins