Question 1

What are the main morphological differences between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans? How have these differences been interpreted?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the main morphological differences between...

Question 2

Until the recent-and surprising-discovery of H. floresiensis, few scientists

Accepted Answer

A)  could understand how H. erectus, with its chimplike brain size, could develop tool technologies. 
B)  imagined that a different human species had survived through 12,000 B.P., and possibly even later. 
C)  believed the theory of multiregional evolution. 
D)  were convinced to give up the use of the term hominid for the more accurate hominin. 
E)  traveled to Indonesia.

Question 3

The fossil finds near Beijing, China (including Zhoukoudian) yielded the remains of more than 40 specimens of

Accepted Answer

A)  H. habilis. 
B)  H. erectus. 
C)  archaic Homo sapiens. 
D)  Neandertals. 
E)  anatomically modern humans.

Question 4

The geological epoch known as the ________ has been considered the epoch of early human life.

Accepted Answer

A)  Pleistocene 
B)  Cenozoic 
C)  Mousterian 
D)  Miocene 
E)  Würm

Question 5

The earliest Acheulean tools associated with H. erectus come from the Kokiselei site near Lake Turkana in Kenya. What are the characteristics of these tools?

Accepted Answer

A)  symmetry, uniformity, and planning 
B)  less sophistication than Oldowan tools 
C)  a low degree of functional differentiation 
D)  symbolic etchings that indicate ritual behavior 
E)  a high degree of variance in shape, indicating styles were not uniform

Question 6

Recently, a team uncovered a 1.2-million-year-old jawbone fragment from a species known as Homo antecessor in the Atapuerca mountains of Spain. The oldest hominid fossil ever found in western Europe, it provides conclusive evidence that Neandertals interbred with archaic modern humans.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

The stone-tool tradition associated with Neandertals is called the Mousterian.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Generations of scientists have debated whether the Neandertals were ancestral to modern Europeans. The current prevailing view, which denies the ancestry, proposes that

Accepted Answer

A)  Neandertals died out because they retained too many australopithecine characteristics that were poorly adapted to the northern latitudes. 
B)  Neandertals migrated eastward through Siberia and into the Americas until they died out. 
C)  H. erectus killed off the Neandertals even prior to the emergence of anatomically moderns humans (AMHs). 
D)  H. erectus split into separate groups, one ancestral to the Neandertals, the other ancestral to AMHs, who first reached Europe around 100,000 B.P., long before Neandertals. 
E)  modern humans evolved in Africa and eventually colonized Europe, displacing the Neandertals there.

Question 9

What have researchers learned by looking at the molars and other cranial features of H. erectus, such as a supraorbital torus and an occipital bun?

Accepted Answer

A)  H. erectus was more dependent on tubers than earlier hominins. 
B)  H. erectus was more dependent on hunting-and the lifestyle it demanded-than were earlier hominins. 
C)  The chewing apparatus of H. erectus was essentially the same as that of H. habilis. 
D)  The paucity of dental remains of H. erectus has made it difficult for researchers to say anything significant. 
E)  H. erectus had yet to make the shift to hunting seen later on with Neandertals.

Question 10

The Acheulean tradition is characterized by cobble choppers that were made by removing flakes from one end of a cobble.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

Which of the following sites is NOT included in the probable range of H. erectus?

Accepted Answer

A)  Java 
B)  China 
C)  South Africa 
D)  Alaska 
E)  Europe

Question 12

In this chapter we learn how the Acheulean hand ax represents a predetermined shape based on a template in the mind of the toolmaker. How might have scientists analyzing these tools made that assessment? What are the implications of such a finding?

Accepted Answer

The answer of In this chapter we learn how the...

Question 13

One fairly complete skull, one large mandible, and two partial skulls were found in the 1990s at the Dmanisi site in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Dated to 1.7 to 1.77 m.y.a., these fossils

Accepted Answer

A)  suggest a slow spread of early Homo out of Africa and into Eurasia. 
B)  exhibit no anatomical diversity, unlike the variable anatomically modern humans. 
C)  establish an undisputed new species, H. rudolfensis. 
D)  are older than the fossils of the Nariokotome boy found in Kenya. 
E)  suggest a rapid spread, by 1.77 m.y.a, of early Homo out of Africa and into Eurasia.

Question 14

One of the most surprising aspects of the recent discovery of H. floresiensis is

Accepted Answer

A)  the suggestion that this species had developed capacities for language despite their small brains, as is evidenced in their cave art. 
B)  the evidence that this new species may have replaced Neandertals in the Middle East later than expected. 
C)  the archaeological evidence of sophisticated astronomical knowledge. 
D)  the suggestion that anatomically modern humans may have reached the Americas much earlier than expected. 
E)  the evidence of sophisticated cultural abilities typically associated with anatomically modern humans, not with a hominin with a chimplike brain and extremities.

Exam 9: Archaic Homo

What are the main morphological differences between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans? How have these differences been interpreted?

Until the recent-and surprising-discovery of H. floresiensis, few scientists

The fossil finds near Beijing, China (including Zhoukoudian) yielded the remains of more than 40 specimens of

The geological epoch known as the ________ has been considered the epoch of early human life.

The earliest Acheulean tools associated with H. erectus come from the Kokiselei site near Lake Turkana in Kenya. What are the characteristics of these tools?

Recently, a team uncovered a 1.2-million-year-old jawbone fragment from a species known as Homo antecessor in the Atapuerca mountains of Spain. The oldest hominid fossil ever found in western Europe, it provides conclusive evidence that Neandertals interbred with archaic modern humans.

The stone-tool tradition associated with Neandertals is called the Mousterian.

Generations of scientists have debated whether the Neandertals were ancestral to modern Europeans. The current prevailing view, which denies the ancestry, proposes that

What have researchers learned by looking at the molars and other cranial features of H. erectus, such as a supraorbital torus and an occipital bun?

The Acheulean tradition is characterized by cobble choppers that were made by removing flakes from one end of a cobble.

Which of the following sites is NOT included in the probable range of H. erectus?

In this chapter we learn how the Acheulean hand ax represents a predetermined shape based on a template in the mind of the toolmaker. How might have scientists analyzing these tools made that assessment? What are the implications of such a finding?

One fairly complete skull, one large mandible, and two partial skulls were found in the 1990s at the Dmanisi site in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Dated to 1.7 to 1.77 m.y.a., these fossils

One of the most surprising aspects of the recent discovery of H. floresiensis is