Question 1

What species is associated with the broad-spectrum revolution?
A) robust australopithecines
B) Neanderthals
C) anatomically modern humans
D) archaic Homo sapiens
E) Homo erectus

Accepted Answer

The broad-spectrum revolution is a term used to describe a major shift in human subsistence strategies around 10,000 years ago, characterized by increased reliance on a wider variety of plant and animal resources. This shift coincided with the emergence of agriculture and sedentary lifestyles. Anatomically modern humans are associated with this revolution, as they were the ones who developed and spread these new subsistence strategies.

Question 2

According to the mtDNA analyses, when did the first modern humans leave Africa?
A) 2 m.y.a.
B) 1 m.y.a.
C) over 735,000 years ago
D) 535,000 years ago
E) no more than 135,000 years ago

Accepted Answer

The mtDNA analyses suggest that the first modern humans left Africa no more than 135,000 years ago. This is supported by genetic and fossil evidence, which indicate that modern humans originated in Africa and then migrated to other parts of the world relatively recently, around 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Question 3

All of the following characterized the changeover from the Mousterian to the Upper Paleolithic EXCEPT
A) growth in Homo's total population and geographic range.
B) an increase in the number of distinct tool types, reflecting functional specialization.
C) marked social and economic stratification among members of a society.
D) increasing local cultural diversity as people specialized in particular economic activities.
E) increasing standardization in tool manufacture.

Accepted Answer

The other options all describe features that are associated with the transition from the Mousterian to the Upper Paleolithic, such as changes in tool technology, increased population and geographic range, and diversification of economic activities. However, there is no evidence of marked social and economic stratification during this time period.

Question 4

In 1997, ancient DNA was extracted from one of the Neandertal bones originally found in Germany's Neandertal Valley in 1856. This was the first time that the DNA of a premodern human has been recovered. When comparing this DNA with that of modern humans, the researchers found
A) 27 differences between the two, many more than would be expected in closely related humans, suggesting that there may have been little interbreeding between Neandertals and the direct ancestors to modern humans.
B) only 5 to 8 differences between the two, as is typical of closely related humans, placing Neandertals within modern humans' direct line of descent.
C) many more mutations in the Neandertal DNA, suggesting that the species had been around 100,000 years longer than previously estimated.
D) no differences, since Neandertals and modern humans are the same species.
E) that the two samples were not comparable, since the Neandertal DNA was molecularly different from the DNA of the reference sample.

Accepted Answer

The researchers found 27 differences between Neandertal DNA and modern human DNA, indicating that Neandertals were not closely related to modern humans and suggesting limited interbreeding.

Question 5

Compared to Neandertal skulls, anatomically modern specimens found at the Skhūl and Qafzeh sites in Israel have a modern shape. Their brain cases are
A) higher, shorter, and rounder, with a more filled-out forehead region and a marked chin.
B) larger and longer, with marked brows.
C) thicker, the result of an adaptation to increased interspecies violence.
D) rounder and heavier, with a less marked chin.
E) the largest of all hominins, even beyond modern dimensions.

Accepted Answer

The Skhūl and Qafzeh specimens have a more modern shape compared to Neandertal skulls, with higher, shorter, and rounder brain cases, a more filled-out forehead region, and a marked chin.

Question 6

In 1987, a group of molecular geneticists at the University of California at Berkeley offered support for the idea that modern humans (AMHs) arose fairly recently in Africa, then spread out and colonized the world. The geneticists analyzed genetic markers in placentas donated by 147 women whose ancestors came from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. By estimating the number of mutations that had taken place in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of each of these samples, the researchers concluded that
A) everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed Eve) who lived in sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 years ago and that her descendants left Africa no more than 135,000 years ago.
B) everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed Eve) who lived in Asia around 50,000 years ago and that her descendants left Asia 100,000 years ago.
C) establishing a "genetic clock" to model human evolution is reliable only when focusing on 50,000 years into the past.
D) everyone alive counts the Neandertal of western Europe as their ancestor.
E) Neandertals coexisted with modern humans in the Middle East for at least 2,000 years.

Accepted Answer

The geneticists concluded that everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed Eve) who lived in sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 years ago and that her descendants left Africa no more than 135,000 years ago.

Question 7

During the Upper Paleolithic, the hominin range
A) was limited to Europe and Africa prior to the anatomically modern humans' stage of human evolution.
B) moved away from the coasts because of natural disasters like flood and drought.
C) reached its territorial maximum by 50,000 B.P.
D) expanded to its maximum when Neandertal foragers entered the New World.
E) expanded significantly, in large part due to Homo's increasing reliance on cultural means of adaptation.

Accepted Answer

During the Upper Paleolithic, there was a significant expansion of the hominin range, largely due to the development of cultural adaptations such as improved hunting techniques, tool-making, and the use of fire. This allowed hominins to inhabit and thrive in a wider range of environments, including colder regions and areas with less abundant resources. This expansion eventually led to the colonization of the Americas by anatomically modern humans around 15,000 years ago.

Question 8

There is much debate among scientists about when, where, and how anatomically modern humans achieved behavioral modernity. Some researchers suggest that about 50,000 years ago a genetic mutation acted to rewire the human brain, allowing for an advance in language and other related modern behaviors. Others propose
A) that drastic climatic changes 40,000 years ago led archaic humans to turn to ritual-a definite sign of behavioral modernity-to explain the unforeseen environmental changes that suddenly altered their way of life.
B) that the advent of the nuclear family within larger nomadic groups made possible intense social interactions that triggered more complex social behaviors.
C) a culinary hypothesis, suggesting that Homo's capacity to increase the range of foods in the diet triggered the necessary brain development to make modern behaviors possible.
D) that instead of a sudden event in Europe due to a mutation, behavioral modernity resulted from a slow process of cultural accumulation within Africa, where Homo sapiens became fully human long before 40,000 years ago.
E) a hearth hypothesis, suggesting that the most important trigger to behavioral modernity was Homo's capacity, achieved 50,000 years ago, to manipulate fire and thus live in caves and cook their meat.

Accepted Answer

The passage notes that there is much debate among scientists about when, where, and how anatomically modern humans achieved behavioral modernity. The passage goes on to suggest that some researchers believe this occurred due to a genetic mutation roughly 50,000 years ago, while others suggest it may have been a slower process of cultural accumulation within Africa. Choice D aligns with the latter perspective of a slow process of cultural accumulation within Africa.

Question 9

Although the debate on the origin of behavioral modernity continues, archaeological work in many world areas
A) provides undisputed evidence that human anatomical modernity was achieved in Asia.
B) continues to prove that anatomical modernity preceded behavioral modernity.
C) illustrates how archaeological evidence is often more reliable than fossil evidence.
D) suggests strongly that neither anatomical modernity nor behavioral modernity was a European invention.
E) shows that examples of behavioral modernity are obvious among material remains once they are found.

Accepted Answer

The passage suggests that archaeological work around the world has "strongly" suggested that both anatomical and behavioral modernity were not inventions exclusive to Europe. Choice A is incorrect as there is no mention of Asia being the origin of anatomical modernity. Choice B is incorrect as the debate is ongoing and no definitive conclusion has been reached on the relationship between anatomical and behavioral modernity. Choice C is incorrect as the passage does not make a comparison between the reliability of archaeological and fossil evidence. Choice E is incorrect as the passage does not suggest that examples of behavioral modernity are always obvious once found.

Question 10

Anthropologists have recently recalibrated the radiocarbon dating of Neandertals and AMHs in Europe. What did they find?
A) Modern humans and Neandertals first coexisted in Europe for 2,000 years, but then the modern humans moved southeast into the Middle East while Neandertals remained in western Europe.
B) Modern humans may have been in Europe longer than previously thought-perhaps for 50,000 years-and their time of overlap with the Neandertals was less than previously thought, perhaps no more than 2,000 years in western Europe.
C) Radiocarbon dating is useless for Neandertal remains, since all these remains are actually much older than 50,000 years.
D) The advent of behavioral modernity-as gleaned from cave art, symbolic artifacts, and personal ornamentation-occurred much later than previously thought.
E) During a spike of human dispersal through Africa that occurred 30,000 years ago, cosmic radiation altered the proportions of carbon 14 to carbon 12, thus introducing a source of error in the carbon dating of fossils from that period.

Accepted Answer

Anthropologists found that modern humans may have been in Europe longer than previously thought, and their time of overlap with Neanderthals may have been less than previously thought, perhaps no more than 2,000 years in western Europe. This was determined through recalibrated radiocarbon dating.

Question 11

Recent discoveries in a cave at Pinnacle Point, South Africa, suggest that humans had achieved behavioral modernity as early as 164,000 B.P. All of the following were found at this site EXCEPT evidence of
A) a diet that included shellfish and other marine resources.
B) the very early use of pigment, likely for symbolic behavior.
C) animal butchery for the first time.
D) bladelet stone-tool technology, previously dating to 70,000 years ago.
E) the human capacity to exploit coastal environments.

Accepted Answer

Evidence of animal butchery was not found at the Pinnacle Point site. However, the other options (A, B, D, and E) were found and suggest early behavioral modernity in humans.

Question 12

In 2003, scientists announced the 1997 discovery in an Ethiopian valley of three anatomically modern skulls-two adults and a child. Known collectively as the Herto skulls, the researchers dated them to 154,000-160,000 B.P. All of the following clues suggested that these skulls in fact were of anatomically modern humans, EXCEPT
A) their long and broad midfaces.
B) their tall and narrow sagittal crests.
C) their high cranial vaults, falling within modern dimensions.
D) their tall and narrow nasal bones.
E) evidence of the skulls' cutting and handling, suggesting they had been detached from their bodies and used-perhaps ritually-after death.

Accepted Answer

The presence of tall and narrow sagittal crests is a characteristic of non-modern (archaic) human species such as Neanderthals, and is not a feature of anatomically modern humans. Therefore, the presence of tall and narrow sagittal crests would suggest that the skulls were not of anatomically modern humans. However, all of the other features listed are characteristic of anatomically modern humans, suggesting that the Herto skulls were in fact of this species.

Question 13

Why was the broad-spectrum revolution a significant event in human evolution?
A) It consisted of a massive fluorescence of colored cave paintings beginning about 70,000 B.P., which suggests the evolution of color vision and a truly human-style brain organization.
B) It brought about a new tool tradition based on flaked tools.
C) It provided the environmental circumstances that selected for the evolution of "mitochondrial Eve."
D) It provided new environmental circumstances that made important sociocultural adaptations like the development of plant cultivation more likely.
E) It led to the extinction of the Neandertals, who had survived until then by eating big-game animals.

Accepted Answer

The broad-spectrum revolution provided new environmental circumstances that made important sociocultural adaptations like the development of plant cultivation more likely. This allowed for the evolution of agriculture and a shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more settled, agricultural way of life that had significant impacts on human societies and civilizations.

Question 14

Which of the following characterizes Upper Paleolithic traditions?
A) hand axes
B) pebble tools
C) metallurgy
D) plant domestication
E) blade tools

Accepted Answer

Upper Paleolithic traditions are characterized by the use of blade tools, which are thinner and more efficient than earlier pebble tools. Hand axes were more commonly used during the Lower Paleolithic period and metallurgy and plant domestication did not begin until much later in human history.

Question 15

Recent fossil finds from Ethiopia such as the Herto skulls (160,000-154,000 B.P.) and the Omo remains (estimated date 195,000 B.P.) provide accumulated evidence to support the
A) Asia origin of broad-spectrum revolution.
B) idea that Neandertals originated in Africa and never left the continent.
C) African origin of anatomically modern humans (AMHs).
D) European origin of AMHs.
E) crucial role that the manipulation of fire played in the advent of behavioral modernity.

Accepted Answer

The recent fossil finds from Ethiopia support the theory of the African origin of anatomically modern humans (AMHs). The Herto skulls and Omo remains provide evidence of early Homo sapiens in Africa, which supports the Out of Africa theory that modern humans evolved in Africa and migrated to other parts of the world.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a general trend in hominin evolution?
A) a greater reliance on cultural means of adaptation
B) an increase in the quantity and quality of tools
C) an increase in cranial capacity
D) a greater reliance on biological means of adaptation
E) population growth

Accepted Answer

The trend is towards a greater reliance on cultural means of adaptation and not biological means.

Question 17

What does the advent of behavioral modernity refer to?
A) when early anatomically modern humans became fully human in behavior (relying on symbolic thought and elaborating cultural creativity) as well as in anatomy
B) when hominids became hominins
C) the beginning of a truly civilized and sedentary life, achieved 10,000 years ago
D) when early anatomically modern humans began to manipulate fire
E) the beginning of life beyond the forest and in the open grasslands

Accepted Answer

The advent of behavioral modernity refers to the point in time when early anatomically modern humans became fully human in behavior, which includes relying on symbolic thought and elaborating cultural creativity, in addition to their anatomical characteristics.

Question 18

How was the blade-core method, which characterizes the tools of Upper Paleolithic traditions, superior to Mousterian technology?
A) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method was faster and produced 15 times as much cutting edge from the same amount of material.
B) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method was faster but also more difficult to achieve, resulting in many tries that yielded no results.
C) There was no difference between the two methods, only a greater diversity of tool uses among Upper Paleolithic traditions.
D) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method produced sharper and longer cores than was typical of the Mousterian method.
E) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method used naturally occurring metal ores to strike blades off cores.

Accepted Answer

The blade-core method of Upper Paleolithic traditions produced 15 times as much cutting edge from the same amount of material, making it more efficient and productive than the Mousterian method.

Question 19

Which of the following has NOT been suggested as an explanation for why Upper Paleolithic people made cave paintings?
A) The paintings were fertility magic, intended to increase the number of game animals.
B) The paintings gave Homo erectus a way of recording and transmitting information across generations.
C) The paintings were historical representations.
D) The paintings were associated with rites of passage.
E) The paintings were magical representations of successful hunts.

Accepted Answer

None of the other options have been suggested as explanations for why Upper Paleolithic people made cave paintings, but option B suggests a different species (Homo erectus) altogether, which is an unrelated explanation.

Question 20

Climate changes had a profound impact on the hominin way of life. In southwestern Europe, for example,
A) the melting of the ice sheets with the end of the Würm glacial period gradually pushed big game farther north, pressuring hominins to use a greater variety of foods.
B) hominins turned to a more specialized diet based on big-game meat after the glacial retreat.
C) hominins began a sedentary life after the end of the Würm glacial period, forming the first villages in human history.
D) the melting of the ice sheets with the end of the Würm glacial period caused animal diversity to drop, challenging hominins to shift their diets from meat to coarse grasses.
E) hominins were forced to migrate northward during the Würm glacial interval.

Accepted Answer

The melting of the ice sheets with the end of the Würm glacial period pushed big game farther north, which meant hominins had to look for a greater variety of foods to survive. This had a significant impact on their way of life.

Quiz 10: The Origin and Spread of Modern Humans

What species is associated with the broad-spectrum revolution?

According to the mtDNA analyses, when did the first modern humans leave Africa?

All of the following characterized the changeover from the Mousterian to the Upper Paleolithic EXCEPT

In 1997, ancient DNA was extracted from one of the Neandertal bones originally found in Germany's Neandertal Valley in 1856. This was the first time that the DNA of a premodern human has been recovered. When comparing this DNA with that of modern humans, the researchers found

Compared to Neandertal skulls, anatomically modern specimens found at the Skhūl and Qafzeh sites in Israel have a modern shape. Their brain cases are

During the Upper Paleolithic, the hominin range

Although the debate on the origin of behavioral modernity continues, archaeological work in many world areas

Anthropologists have recently recalibrated the radiocarbon dating of Neandertals and AMHs in Europe. What did they find?

Recent discoveries in a cave at Pinnacle Point, South Africa, suggest that humans had achieved behavioral modernity as early as 164,000 B.P. All of the following were found at this site EXCEPT evidence of

Why was the broad-spectrum revolution a significant event in human evolution?

Which of the following characterizes Upper Paleolithic traditions?

Recent fossil finds from Ethiopia such as the Herto skulls (160,000-154,000 B.P.) and the Omo remains (estimated date 195,000 B.P.) provide accumulated evidence to support the

Which of the following is NOT a general trend in hominin evolution?

What does the advent of behavioral modernity refer to?

How was the blade-core method, which characterizes the tools of Upper Paleolithic traditions, superior to Mousterian technology?

Which of the following has NOT been suggested as an explanation for why Upper Paleolithic people made cave paintings?

Climate changes had a profound impact on the hominin way of life. In southwestern Europe, for example,