Deck 9: The Origins of Culture and the Emergence of Homo

Question 1

The widening of the female pelvis is related to

A) reduction of the face, teeth, and jaws.
B) decreased cranial capacity.
C) larger brained babies.
D) smaller brained babies.

Answer 1

larger brained babies.

Question 2

According to Theodosius Dobzhansky, socialization and learning processes on which the transmission of culture wholly depends are tied to

A) the length of the dependency period of human infants.
B) the length of human life.
C) migration patterns.
D) meat eating.

Answer 2

the length of the dependency period of human infants.

Question 3

Richard Potts suggests that caches of stone tools and stones for tool making were left at various sites in East Africa

A) for home bases.
B) to facilitate recurrent food collecting and processing.
C) accidentally.
D) for all of the above reasons

Answer 3

to facilitate recurrent food collecting and processing.

Question 4

The tool tradition identified with Homo erectus is the

A) Oldowan.
B) Mousterian.
C) Acheulian.
D) none of the above

Question 5

Homo ergaster is a name given by some archaeologists to what others consider to be Homo erectus found in

A) Asia.
B) North America.
C) Africa.
D) Europe.

Question 6

The fundamental difference between culture and most other forms of animal behavior is that culture is

A) inherited through the genes.
B) learned and shared.
C) individual.
D) static.

Question 7

The first hominid species to be widely distributed in the Old World was

A) Australopithecus afarensis.
B) Homo habilis.
C) Homo rudolfensis.
D) Homo erectus.

Question 8

Homo erectus had a brain capacity of about _______ percent of modern humans.

A) 40
B) 50
C) 60
D) 70

Question 9

Anthropologists speculate that early stone tools found in East Africa were made by

A) Homo sapiens.
B) Australopithecus robustus.
C) Early Homo.
D) Australopithecus afarensis.

Question 10

Davidson Black found a Homo erectus he termed

A) Java Man.
B) Indonesia Man.
C) Peking Man.
D) Taung Baby.

Question 11

The creation of home bases or home ranges among early Homo groups may have increased the likelihood of

A) food sharing.
B) vegetarianism.
C) bipedalism.
D) none of the above

Question 12

Generally, the greater the sexual dimorphism, the _________ the social dominance of males over females.

A) less
B) greater
C) the more equal
D) none of the above

Question 13

Sexual dimorphism in Homo erectus is

A) the same as in Homo habilis.
B) greater than that found in Homo sapiens.
C) greater than that found in Homo habilis.
D) about the same as in Homo sapiens.

Question 14

Early Olduvai hominids

A) were vegetarians.
B) exploited a wide range of animals.
C) ate only a few animals.
D) none of the above

Question 15

Homo erectus dates from ________ million years ago.

A) 4.8
B) 3.8
C) 2.8
D) 1.8

Question 16

Homo erectus fossils were first discovered by

A) Louis Leakey.
B) Mary Leakey.
C) G. H. R. von Koenigswald.
D) Eugene Dubois.

Question 17

Among the cultural adaptations Homo erectus may have made is

A) use of fire.
B) use of clothing.
C) better organization for scavenging, hunting, and defense against predators.
D) all of the above

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of culture?

A) It is generally adaptive
B) It changes
C) It is learned and shared
D) It is not important to modern humans

Question 19

The earliest identifiable stone tools from East Africa date from about ________million years ago.

A) 5.5
B) 4.5
C) 3.5
D) 2.5

Question 20

Acheulian sites were usually located close to

A) water sources.
B) lush vegetation.
C) large stocks of herbivorous animals.
D) all of the above

Question 21

Why does the presence of tools means culture existed?

A) because along with the tools were elaborate instructions on how to use them
B) making tools is a pattern of behavior shared by a group of individuals
C) each generation had to start over again in developing the tools
D) no one really know why, but it seems logical

Question 22

Why is there no consensus on how to characterize the Olduvai sites which contain concentrations of stone tools and animal bones?

A) there are several ideas, each of which is believed by certain anthropologists
B) the areas might or might not represent a home base
C) the areas may or may not be sites to process food only
D) all of the above

Question 23

Full bipedalism may have made possible

A) larger male pelvises.
B) social life.
C) the development of more efficient tool making and consequently more efficient scavenging and foraging.
D) multiple births among humans.

Question 24

Discuss archaeological speculations about the lifestyles of early hominid lifestyles from the Olduvai remains.

Question 25

What characterizes early Homo so that we begin to see the start of new trends in hominid evolution?

A) expansion of the brain
B) modification of female pelvis
C) general reduction in the size of teeth
D) all of the above

Question 26

One early tool of the Acheulian tradition is known as the hand-axe. We think the hand-axe was mostly used for

A) butchering large animals.
B) cutting down trees.
C) digging trenches.
D) being displayed as an art form.

Question 27

Why is the evolution of Homo erectus important in understanding modern humans?

Question 28

Discuss how archaeologists "know" that something is a tool.

Question 29

About 1.8 million years ago a remarkable hominid species existed (Homo erectus). What made them remarkable?

A) they were the first hominids to use tools
B) they were the first bipedal hominids
C) they were the first hominid species to be widely distributed in the Old World
D) they were confined to a very small area in Southern Africa

Question 30

The average size of the brain of Homo sapiens is _________ cc.

A) 440
B) 1000
C) 1300
D) 1500

Question 31

Discuss three major trends in hominid evolution.

Question 32

What can the study of chimpanzees tell us about early hominids?

Question 33

Culture probably evolved over time because

A) the population got larger.
B) early hominids were very individualistic in their lifestyles.
C) early Homo had home bases and families which might have encouraged learned and shared behaviors.
D) actually, the archaeological record proves the opposite.

Question 34

Discuss the significance of Lower Paleolithic cultures.

Question 35

What are the major physical characteristics of Homo erectus? Why do these characteristics matter?

Question 36

Discuss the importance of tools in the development of human culture.

Question 37

One of the biggest differences between culture and other forms of animal behavior is that in culture, it is learned and shared. Why is this so?

A) cultural behavior is not innate and it has to be learned
B) actually, all animal behavior is learned and shared
C) actually, there is no difference between culture and other forms of animal behavior
D) because cultural behavior requires writing to pass it to the next generation

Question 38

We cannot accurately determine the lifestyle of early hominids from early tool sites because

A) very little else was found with the tools that were dug up.
B) the eyewitness accounts are spotty.
C) early hominids probably had no lifestyle.
D) the mathematical formula to measure lifestyle didn't exist back then.

Question 39

When Homo erectus hunted they may have used fire. How would this be an advantage?

A) large areas of land could be cleared
B) it was a safer technique than hunting without fire
C) the yields were less and this preserved many animal species
D) animals were driven out of their hiding places into hunters positioned downwind

Question 40

Archaeologists have experimented with the Oldowan tools. They did this because

A) they would give a perfect picture of early hominid lifestyle.
B) they wanted to show how superior modern tools were.
C) they wanted to know what the tools were used for.
D) they wanted to use the tools to measure intelligence.

Question 41

Discuss Dean Falk's theory of how bipedalism changed the human brain.

Question 42

What does Chapter 9 tell us about the importance of the emergence of culture?