Question 1

The significance of the child's skeleton from Lagar Velho, Portugal, is that it

Accepted Answer

A) is over 100,000 years old. 
B) shows Neandertal and modern human features. 
C) clearly represents an intentional burial. 
D) is associated with a variety of animal bones.

Question 2

Which type of stone tool traditionally marks the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic?

Accepted Answer

A) cleaver 
B) chopper 
C) flake 
D) blade

Question 3

Scientists are sure that Neandertals were efficient hunters because

Accepted Answer

A) Neandertal skeletons demonstrate a chemical signature associated with high protein consumption. 
B) Neandertal bones are quite robust. 
C) Neandertals used stone tools to butcher animals. 
D) none of the above.

Question 4

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?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 5

Some Neandertal skulls have cranial capacities that are ________ those of the average modern human.

Accepted Answer

A) smaller than 
B) larger than 
C) equal to 
D) none of the above

Question 6

Some archaic Homo sapiens specimens resemble Homo erectus in having

Accepted Answer

A) employed finely made blade technology. 
B) a well-defined chin. 
C) cranial capacity in excess of 1,400 cc. 
D) a long, low cranial shape.

Question 7

Burial of the dead with elaborate grave goods is attributed to

Accepted Answer

A) Homo neanderthalensis. 
B) Homo sapiens. 
C) Homo erectus. 
D) both a and b

Question 8

Anatomically modern humans are characterized by all of the following except

Accepted Answer

A) a lightly built (gracile) postcranial skeleton. 
B) tiny or nonexistent browridges. 
C) average cranial capacity of 750 cc. 
D) a "globular" brain case.

Question 9

The first nonmodern human fossil to be discovered and recognized as such was the

Accepted Answer

A) Taung Baby from South Africa. 
B) Homo erectus skull from Java. 
C) Neandertal skull from Germany. 
D) Cro-Magnon skull from France.

Question 10

Partial skulls of two adults and of one child, dating to around 160,000 yBP and exhibiting mostly modern human features, come from

Accepted Answer

A) Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. 
B) Herto, Ethiopia. 
C) Border Cave, South Africa. 
D) Skhul, Israel.

Question 11

The two traditional models of modern human origins are out-of-Africa and multiregional continuity.Briefly describe the main tenets of these, and then discuss how the more recent assimilation model differs from each.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The two traditional models of modern human...

Question 12

Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are two widely recognized hominid species.In contrast, the hominids that are younger than most Homo erectus fossils but older than the majority of Homo sapiens fossils have been loosely categorized as "archaic" Homo sapiens.Why have these fossils not been given a distinct species name, and why do they remain so difficult to classify formally?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are two...

Question 13

Stress markers in the teeth that reflect growth disruption due to poor diets or to poor health are called ________ .

Accepted Answer

A) Harris lines 
B) porotic hyperostosis 
C) hypoplasia 
D) cribraorbitalia

Question 14

Shovel-shaped incisors are one of the most distinctive features of people from

Accepted Answer

A) East Asia and the Americas. 
B) South Africa. 
C) Australia. 
D) India.

Question 15

The distinctive fluted spear points used by early Native Americans (Paleoindians) to hunt large-bodied Ice Age mammals are

Accepted Answer

A) Mousterian points. 
B) Solutrean blades. 
C) Levallois flakes. 
D) Folsom points.

Question 16

All of the following sites contain hominid fossils displaying stone tool cutmarks except

Accepted Answer

A) Gran Dolina, Spain. 
B) Krapina, Croatia. 
C) Herto, Ethiopia. 
D) Klasies River Mouth, South Africa.

Question 17

Anatomically modern humans were found in all of the following sites except

Accepted Answer

A) Shanidar, Iraq. 
B) Cro-Magnon, France. 
C) Skhul, Israel. 
D) Omo, Ethiopia.

Question 18

Human beings first arrived in the Americas approximately

Accepted Answer

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

Question 19

To test hypotheses regarding modern human origins, it is important to clearly define what we mean by "modern human." What anatomical features are typically used to contrast modern humans' physical appearance with that of similar hominids?

Accepted Answer

The answer of To test hypotheses regarding modern human origins,...

Question 20

Fossil remains of archaic Homo sapiens

Accepted Answer

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

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