Chapter 9: How Did We Get Here?

Change over time in a species is called

cultural relativity
evolution
mutagen
copy editing

Archbishop James Ussher estimated the age of the earth and humans to be around

4.5 million years old
6,000 years old
4.5 billion years old
12,000 years old

Remains of animals that have replaced by rock are called

fossils
paleos
relics
artifacts

All hominins were

bipedal
knuckle-walkers
large-brained
very tall

All australopithecines have been found in

Africa
Asia
South America
North America

Lucy is remarkable because

she discovered the first australopithecine in 1924
she is the oldest australopithecine
much of her post-cranial skeleton was found
she is the oldest hominin

The opening for the spinal cord at the base of the skull is called

bipedality
laetoli
medulla oblongata
the foramen magnum

Skeletal evidence for bipedalism includes

the position of the foramen magnum
the shape of the pelvis
the orientation of the femurs
the lack of a divergent or grasping toe
the Laetoli trackway
all are correct

Homo habilis is a consistent and well-understood fossil.

False
True

Homo erectus had a similar body stature to modern humans, but had a smaller brain size.

True
False

A Homo erectus specimen from Lake Turkana in Afrca in which much of the post-cranial skeleton is preserved in called.

Lucy
Neanderthal Man
Handy Man
Turkana Boy

Homo erectus made stone tools called

arrowheads
Oldowan choppers
atlatl darts
handaxes

At the site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia

very primitive examples of Homo erectus were discovered
Neanderthals buried their dead
there is an Australopithecine trackway
Turkana Boy was discovered

Neanderthals had slightly larger brains than humans.

True
False

The Pleistocene from around 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago consisted of

the invention of agriculture
a series of Australopithecine footprints
the fusion of Africa and South America
a series of ice ages

The Neandertha genome has been sequenced, and it overlaps with some modern human populations.

True
False

The debate at The Pit of the Bones in Spain is

whether the remains represent ritual deposition of the dead
whether the handaxe "Excalibur" rightfully belongs to Arthur Pendragon
whether Homo habilis should be considered another Australopithecine
whether Homo erectus had language

We know Neanderthal buried their dead based on

skeletons that are oriented in manner
fully articulated skeletons
both are correct!

Evidence for Neanderthal cannibalism is

fully articulated skeletons
stone tool cut marks on Neanderthal bones
written historical records
cave paintings representing cannibalistic rituals

Evidence for Neanderthal care and sympathy is

healed wounds
sympathy cards
excalibur
cut marks on bone

Neanderthals overlapped in time with modern humans and interbred with them.

True
False

Compared to Archaic humans AMH’s have

smaller browridges
a smaller brain on average
a more domed-shaped skull
all are correct

Mitochondrial DNA is passed on

by recombining with nuclear DNA
from mother to offspring
only to sons
only to daughters

One of the first cases to link people to people living in the past was

Homo habilis
the OJ Simpson trial
the Syrian hamster revolution of 1918
the Romanov case

Hunting

is not interesting to paleoanthropologists since chimps also get most of their calories from meat
is at least hundreds of thousands of years old
started during the Industrial Revolution
started in the last 10,000 years

Hunting is thought to have

helped fund the cost of the hominin brain
done very little
arisen in gorillas first
been invented around 5,000 years ago

Gorilla diets

are high in protein
are supplemented with cooked foods
are similar to human diets
are insufficient to fund a bigger brain

Richard Wrangham thinks

cooking with fire provided extra energy to fund a larger brain
cooking foods ruins their nutrients
humans should eat more like gorillas
raw food diets are better for humans

Nina Jablonski argues that

humans sweat much like other mammals
human water sweat glands developed in response to a more open environment
furlessness in humans is a response to parasite load
sweat glands and furlessness are unrelated

Nina Jablonski thinks

increased pigmentation was a response to hominin furlessness
fire burned off human hair
humans have very few sweat glands
we inherited watery sweat from our Syrian hamster forebears