Question 1

With the movement of H.erectus out of Africa,H.erectus eventually colonized Europe and Asia.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Excavations between Bed I and Bed II at Olduvai suggest that significant changes in technology occurred during a comparatively short 200,000-year period.The tools found illustrate a shift toward functional differentiation,which means that

Accepted Answer

A)  the tools were being made and used for different jobs, such as smashing bones or digging for tubers. 
B)  the same tools were being used more creatively for a variety of uses. 
C)  there was a broadening of the range of staples in diet, despite the fact that the tools remained unchanged. 
D)  males used heavier tools, females lighter ones. 
E)  some tools were used for utilitarian purposes, whereas others served ritualistic purposes.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 4

Scientists continue to debate the relationship between two Homo fossil finds: KNM-ER 1470,named H.rudolfensis by some,and KNM-ER 1813,generally considered to be an exemplar of H.habilis.Is the smaller KNM-ER 1813 a distinct species? Could it be a female version of KNM-ER 1470,both being simply a female and male pair of the highly variable H.habilis? The only sure conclusion is that

Accepted Answer

A)  females are poorly represented in the hominin fossil record. 
B)  there is a trend in hominin evolution toward large molars. 
C)  no hominin fossil younger than 2.5 m.y.a. has exhibited chimplike features. 
D)  KNM-ER 1470 is more like an australopithecine than a Homo. 
E)  several different kinds of hominin lived in Africa before and after the advent of Homo.

Question 5

The spread of H.erectus from tropical and subtropical climates into temperate zones was facilitated by all of the following EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)  the use of fire for defense. 
B)  living in rock shelters and caves. 
C)  blade-toolmaking traditions. 
D)  increasingly efficient hunting methods. 
E)  the use of fire for cooking.

Question 6

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 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. 
D) H.erectus split into separate groups,one ancestral to the Neandertals,the other ancestral to anatomically modern humans,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 7

The recent discovery of H.floresiensis has captivated scientists and the general public alike.Why? What is so surprising about this find? Based on what you have learned so far about human evolution,what seems to you the more plausible explanation for H.floresiensis?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The recent discovery of H.floresiensis has captivated...

Question 8

Summarize the fossil evidence for the evolution of H.erectus out of australopithecine ancestors.Make sure to identify major trends and how they correlate with different uses of the environment.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Summarize the fossil evidence for the evolution...

Question 9

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)  established 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 10

Which of the following statements about the appearance of Homo habilis is true?

Accepted Answer

A)  H. habilis evolved from Au.boisei, the hyperrobust australopithecines. 
B)  H. habilis demonstrates the adaptive advantage of sedentism. 
C)  H. habilis was relatively small in stature compared to H. erectus. 
D)  H. habilis shows evidence of a shift from an arboreal to an open-grassland environment. 
E)  H. habilis represents a gradual shift away from predation to vegetarianism.

Question 11

Archaic H.sapiens (300,000? to 28,000 B.P.)constitute the earliest members of our species,along with

Accepted Answer

A) H.floresiensis of the Indonesian island of Flores. 
B) the Neandertals of Europe and the Middle East and their Neandertal-like contemporaries in Africa and Asia. 
C) the Neandertals of China. 
D) gorillas and chimps. 
E) the late australopithecines of Africa.

Question 12

The recent Dmanisi fossil finds suggest a rapid spread,by 1.77 m.y.a.,of early Homo out of Africa into Eurasia.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

What archaic H.sapiens group was found to have a pronounced brow ridge,stocky build,and massive nasal cavities,characteristics that were adaptations to cold weather?

Accepted Answer

A)  H. habilis 
B)  H. rudolfensis 
C)  H. erectus 
D)  Neandertals 
E)  anatomically modern humans

Question 14

At the site of Terra Amata,in southern France,archaeologists have documented human activity dating back some 300,000 years.What do findings there indicate?

Accepted Answer

A)  Neandertals were not fully human. 
B)  Homo habilis had language. 
C)  Early hominids cultivated plants. 
D)  The site's inhabitants led an essentially human lifestyle. 
E)  Cro-Magnons and Homo erectus engaged in warfare.

Exam 9: Archaic Homo