Chapter 9: How Did We Get Here?

Change over time in a species is called

evolution
mutagen
cultural relativity
copy editing

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

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

Remains of animals that have replaced by rock are called

relics
fossils
paleos
artifacts

All hominins were

bipedal
large-brained
knuckle-walkers
very tall

All australopithecines have been found in

Asia
Africa
South America
North America

Lucy is remarkable because

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

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

bipedality
the foramen magnum
medulla oblongata
laetoli

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.

False
True

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

handaxes
arrowheads
Oldowan choppers
atlatl darts

At the site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia

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

Neanderthals had slightly larger brains than humans.

True
False

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

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

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

False
True

The debate at The Pit of the Bones in Spain is

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

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

Evidence for Neanderthal care and sympathy is

cut marks on bone
sympathy cards
excalibur
healed wounds

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

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

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

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

Hunting

started in the last 10,000 years
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

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

Richard Wrangham thinks

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

Nina Jablonski argues that

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

Nina Jablonski thinks

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