Deck 7: The Genus Homo 

Question 1

What is the most likely explanation of why early Homo left Africa and spread into Eurasia?

A) overpopulation in Africa
B) Homo's smaller bodies, which made them more fit for long-distance travel
C) a hyperspecialization in vegetarian diets
D) the pursuit of meat
E) a maladaptation to a more energy-inefficient system of locomotion

Answer 1

the pursuit of meat

Question 2

H. erectus is generally associated with which of the following technologies?

A) Mousterian
B) Acheulean
C) Neolithic
D) Upper Paleolithic
E) Oldowan

Answer 2

Acheulean

Question 3

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 1.77 to 1.7 m.y.a., these fossils

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

Answer 3

suggest a rapid spread, by 1.77 m.y.a., of early Homo out of Africa and into Eurasia.

Question 4

European fossils and tools have contributed disproportionately to our knowledge and interpretation of anatomically modern H. sapiens. What explains this?

A) the richness of data from the Zhoukoudian site
B) that AMHs were driven to Europe by the more aggressive Cro-Magnons
C) that anatomically modern humans evolved in France
D) the long history of Paleolithic archaeology in Europe relative to other regions in the world
E) stratigraphic disturbances caused by glaciers

Question 5

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

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

Question 6

Biological and cultural changes enabled H. erectus to exploit a new adaptive strategy-gathering and hunting. This in turn was crucial for H. erectus to

A) overcome its greatest challenge: an imperfect bipedal gait.
B) bring about the onset of complex language.
C) push the hominin range beyond Africa, into Asia and Europe.
D) diminish the rate of mortalities due to violent encounters with large animals and other hominins.
E) beat out H. habilis in competition for key ecological niches.

Question 7

What is the name of the time period that evolved out of the Oldowan, or pebble tool, tradition and lasted until about 15,000 years ago?

A) Chalcolithic
B) Neolithic
C) Acheulean
D) Oldowan
E) Paleolithic

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

Which of the following statements describes a key difference between Oldowan and Acheulean tools?

A) Acheulean tools, such as the hand ax, represent a predetermined shape based on a template in the mind of the toolmaker, suggesting a cognitive leap between earlier hominins and H. erectus.
B) Acheulean tools constitute a move away from wood toward more plastic media like clay.
C) Oldowan tools are based on the production of blades, associated with an increasing range of ways hominins exploited their biological and cultural environments.
D) Oldowan tools show an increase in size and a focus in being used for hunting.
E) Acheulean tools show representations of the human form on nonfunctional surfaces.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about H. erectus fossils is NOT true?

A) They indicate increasing hunting proficiency.
B) They are often found associated with Acheulean stone tools.
C) They show an increasing reliance on cultural adaptation.
D) They had a thicker skull bone and a very robust skeleton.
E) They have hyperrobust chewing muscles and broad, flat molars.

Question 11

Which of the following is a difference between H. erectus and the australopiths?

A) H. erectus had the largest sagittal crest of any hominin.
B) H. erectus exhibited full bipedalism.
C) The mortuary practices of H. erectus were less elaborate.
D) The cranial capacity of H. erectus was much larger.
E) The australopiths' teeth suggest that they ate a lot more meat.

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

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

A) Java
B) China
C) the country of Georgia
D) South Africa
E) Alaska

Question 14

What is so significant about the recent fossil finds of an H. erectus and an H. habilis from Ileret, Kenya, east of Lake Turkana?

A) They prove that H. erectus and H. habilis coexisted in the same ecological niche and eventually interbred to result in a single species.
B) They prove that functional differentiation in toolmaking preceded the advent of Homo.
C) They prove that sexual dimorphism was finally absent as a trend in human evolution by 2 m.y.a.
D) They negate the conventional view held since 1960 that habilis and erectus evolved one after the other. Instead, they lived side by side in eastern Africa for perhaps half a million years.
E) They confirm that H. habilis evolved from H. erectus.

Question 15

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

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

Question 16

What have researchers learned by looking at the molars and other cranial features of H. erectus?

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

Question 17

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

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

Question 18

Which of the following fossil finds from South Africa's Rising Star cave was announced in 2015?

A) evidence of the earliest recorded stone tools
B) the skull and skeletons of miniature people, H. floresiensis
C) the earliest known member of the hominin lineage, fossil LD 350-1
D) hominin fossils, dubbed Homo naledi, that have a mix of primitive and modern features
E) australopith remains with surprisingly large craniums

Question 19

Which of the following statements about the appearance of H. habilis is true?

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

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT associated with H. erectus?

A) the use of fire
B) more sophisticated toolmaking
C) cave painting
D) the development of Acheulean tools
E) a massive ridge above the eyes

Question 21

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

Question 22

What is the name of the stone-tool tradition associated with Neandertals?

A) Oldowan
B) microliths
C) Mousterian
D) Acheulean
E) blades

Question 23

The Paleolithic tool tradition associated with H. erectus is the Acheulean.

Question 24

Several different kinds of hominin lived in Africa before and after the advent of Homo.

Question 25

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?

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

Question 26

In addition to their stocky bodies, adapted to conserve heat, Neandertals made clothes, developed elaborate tools, and hunted reindeer, mammoths, and woolly rhinos in order to adapt to the cold climate in Europe during the Würm glaciation.

Question 27

The recent hominin fossil finds from Ileret, Kenya, negate the conventional view held since 1960 that H. habilis and H. erectus evolved one after the other. Instead, they lived side by side in eastern Africa for perhaps half a million years.

Question 28

The discovery of the jaw of a H. heidelbergensis near Heidelberg, Germany, proves that H. sapiens evolved in Europe.

Question 29

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

A) suggestion that this species had developed capacities for language despite their small brains, as is evidenced in their cave art.
B) suggestion that anatomically modern humans may have reached the Americas much earlier than expected.
C) archaeological evidence of sophisticated astronomical knowledge.
D) their disproportionate feet.
E) evidence that this new species may have replaced Neandertals in the Middle East later than expected.

Question 30

The Acheulean hand ax, shaped like a teardrop, represents a predetermined shape based on a template in the mind of the toolmaker. Evidence for such a mental template in the archaeological record suggests a cognitive leap between earlier hominins and H. erectus.

Question 31

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

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

Question 32

Although the Neandertals are remembered more for their physiques than for their manufacturing abilities, their tool kits were sophisticated. In fact, the Mousterian technology with which Neandertals are associated

A) provides the first definitive evidence of tool construction based on a template in the mind of the toolmaker.
B) included a variety of categories of tools designed for different jobs.
C) included a very complex technique involving chipping the core bilaterally and symmetrically, something never before seen in hominin toolmaking.
D) illustrates how blades became progressively more important in human evolution, particularly in Middle and Upper Paleolithic toolmaking.
E) was characterized by a revolutionary use of metals in combination with wood and stone.

Question 33

Which of the following cold-weather adaptations predates the appearance of Neandertals?

A) the use of fire
B) a stocky anatomy
C) a facial projection
D) wearing clothes
E) massive nasal cavities and brow ridges

Question 34

Which of the following traits does NOT characterize a Neandertal skull?

A) huge front teeth
B) a broad face
C) an average cranial capacity larger than that of modern humans
D) huge molars
E) a large brow ridge

Question 35

Biological and cultural changes enabled H. erectus to exploit a new adaptive strategy-gathering and hunting.

Question 36

Who were the Denisovans?

A) distant hominin cousins of the Neandertals
B) the earliest known members of the genus Homo
C) AMHs with thick skulls, jutting jaws, and flat faces
D) tiny human descendants of H. erectus
E) the most recent australopiths

Question 37

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

Question 38

The earliest (1.76 m.y.a.) Acheulean tools associated with H. erectus come from a site near Lake Turkana in Kenya. What are the characteristics of these tools?

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

Question 39

From where does mitochondrial DNA come?

A) the cytoplasm of cells
B) the nucleus of cells
C) plant-based cells
D) specific strains of cells

Question 40

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

Question 41

How was the blade-core method, which characterizes the tools of Upper Paleolithic traditions, superior to Mousterian technology?

A) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method was faster, more efficient, and more productive than previous stone tool making.
B) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method produced sharper and longer cores than was typical of the Mousterian method.
C) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method was faster but also more difficult to achieve, resulting in many tries that yielded no results.
D) There was no difference between the two methods-only a greater diversity of tool uses among Upper Paleolithic traditions.
E) The Upper Paleolithic blade-core method used naturally occurring metal ores to strike blades off cores.

Question 42

In 1987, a group of molecular geneticists at the University of California at Berkeley offered support for the idea that anatomically modern humans arose fairly recently in Africa, then spread out and colonized the world. The geneticists analyzed genetic samples of 147 women whose ancestors came from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. By estimating the number of mutations that had taken place in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of each of these samples, the researchers concluded that

A) establishing a "genetic clock" to model human evolution is reliable only when focusing on 50,000 years into the past.
B) everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed "Mitochondrial Eve") who lived in Asia around 50,000 years ago, and her descendants left Asia 100,000 years ago.
C) everyone alive can count the Neandertal of western Europe as their ancestor.
D) Neandertals coexisted with modern humans in the Middle East for at least 2,000 years.
E) everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed "Mitochondrial Eve") who lived in sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 years ago, and her descendants left Africa no more than 135,000 years ago.

Question 43

To what does the advent of behavioral modernity refer?

A) when hominids became hominins
B) the beginning of life beyond the forest and in the open grasslands
C) when early anatomically modern humans began to manipulate fire
D) when early anatomically modern humans became fully human in behavior (relying on symbolic thought and elaborating cultural creativity) as well as in anatomy
E) the beginning of a truly civilized and sedentary life, achieved about 10,000 years ago

Question 44

Compared to Neandertal skulls, anatomically modern specimens found at the Skhūl and Qafzeh sites in Israel have a modern shape. Their brain cases

A) are thicker, the result of an adaptation to increased interspecies violence.
B) are the largest of all hominins, even beyond modern dimensions.
C) have heavier brows, smaller chins, and wider and flatter faces.
D) are rounder and heavier, with a less marked chin.
E) are larger and longer, with marked brows.

Question 45

Although the debate over the origin of behavioral modernity continues, archaeological work in many world areas

A) shows that examples of behavioral modernity are obvious among material remains once they are found.
B) provides undisputed evidence that human anatomical modernity was achieved in Asia.
C) suggests strongly that neither anatomical modernity nor behavioral modernity was a European invention.
D) illustrates how archaeological evidence is often more reliable than fossil evidence.
E) continues to prove that anatomical modernity preceded behavioral modernity.

Question 46

All of the following characterized the changeover from the Mousterian to the Upper Paleolithic EXCEPT

A) increasing standardization in tool manufacture.
B) increasing local cultural diversity as people specialized in particular economic activities.
C) growth in Homo's total population and geographic range.
D) marked social and economic stratification among members of society.
E) an increase in the number of distinct tool types, reflecting functional specialization.

Question 47

Anatomically modern humans (AMHs) evolved from an archaic Homo sapiens African ancestor. Eventually, AMHs spread to other areas, including Western Europe, where they replaced or interbred with the Neandertals, whose robust traits eventually disappeared.

Question 48

Which of the following is NOT a general trend in hominin evolution?

A) a greater reliance on biological means of adaptation
B) population growth
C) an increase in the quantity and quality of tools
D) a greater reliance on cultural means of adaptation
E) an increase in cranial capacity

Question 49

Which of the following characterize(s) Upper Paleolithic traditions?

A) metallurgy
B) hand axes
C) plant domestication
D) pebble tools
E) blade tools

Question 50

In South Africa's Blombos Cave, 100,000-year-old paint was recently discovered. This find indicates that

A) artistic behaviors developed before anatomically modern bodies.
B) modern behavior is much older than anthropologists once believed.
C) Neandertals used paint in different ways than anatomically modern humans.
D) Neandertals created art and had symbolic thought.
E) humans made red paint for functional but not symbolic reasons.

Question 51

Anatomically modern humans spread out of Africa and eventually replaced what nonmodern human type in the Far East?

A) H. floresiensis
B) H. erectus
C) H. habilis
D) Neandertals
E) H. antecessor

Question 52

One of the most surprising aspects of the recent discovery of H. floresiensis, a species of tiny people who lived, gathered, and hunted on the Indonesian island of Flores from about 95,000 B.P. until at least 13,000 B.P., is the specimens' very large skulls; yet they lacked behaviors associated with anatomically modern humans.

Question 53

There is much debate among scientists about when, where, and how anatomically modern humans achieved behavioral modernity. Some researchers suggest that about 50,000 years ago a genetic mutation acted to rewire the human brain, allowing for an advance in language and other related modern behaviors. Others propose

A) a hearth hypothesis, suggesting that the most important trigger to behavioral modernity was Homo's capacity, achieved 50,000 years ago, for manipulating fire and thus living in caves and cooking their meat.
B) that the advent of the nuclear family within larger nomadic groups made possible intense social interactions that triggered more complex social behaviors.
C) that instead of a sudden event in Europe due to a mutation, behavioral modernity resulted from a slow process of cultural accumulation within Africa, where Homo sapiens became fully human long before 40,000 years ago.
D) a culinary hypothesis, suggesting that Homo's capacity to increase the range of foods in the diet triggered the necessary brain development to make modern behaviors possible.
E) that drastic climatic changes 40,000 years ago led archaic humans to turn to ritual-a definite sign of behavioral modernity-to explain the unforeseen environmental changes that suddenly altered their way of life.

Question 54

Compared to anatomically modern humans, Neandertals exhibited a greater degree of sexual dimorphism.

Question 55

What species is associated with the cave paintings in Western Europe?

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

Question 56

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

Question 57

Although there is now evidence that several human groups colonized the Americas, those that crossed over through Beringia to reach the Americas did so

A) because they were gradually forced into new territories by the expansion of more advanced agricultural groups in Asia.
B) following herds of big-game animals.
C) in order to take advantage of large flint deposits in South America.
D) because they were fleeing from warlike Cro-Magnon groups.
E) in their search for colder climates, because these Neandertals were adapted to cold weather.

Question 58

According to mtDNA analyses, when did the first modern humans leave Africa?

A) 2 m.y.a.
B) 1 m.y.a.
C) over 735,000 years ago
D) 535,000 years ago
E) no more than 135,000 years ago

Question 59

Climate changes had a profound impact on the hominin way of life. In southwestern Europe, for example,

A) hominins were forced to migrate northward during the Würm glacial interval.
B) the melting of the ice sheets with the end of the Würm glacial period gradually lured big game farther north, pressuring hominins to use a greater variety of foods.
C) hominins began a sedentary life after the end of the Würm glacial period, forming the first villages in human history.
D) hominins turned to a more specialized diet based on big-game meat after the glacial retreat.
E) the melting of the ice sheets with the end of the Würm glacial period caused animal diversity to drop, challenging hominins to shift their diets from meat to coarse grasses.

Question 60

The Clovis tradition, a sophisticated stone technology based on a sharp point that was fastened to the end of a hunting spear, flourished (widely but briefly) in the central plains and in what is now the eastern United States. Until recently, the Clovis people were considered the first settlers of the Americas. Recent research now suggests, however, that

A) the members of the Clovis tradition depended on the domestication of horses to make travel possible.
B) most likely the Americas were settled by several colonists who came at different times and perhaps by different routes.
C) the wheel, which has never been found in Clovis sites, was a critical part of an even earlier arrival to the Americas.
D) the Americas were settled by one haplogroup-a lineage marked by one or more specific genetic mutations.
E) various groups of colonists entered the Americas, but they all used the same route.

Question 61

Unlike the Mousterian technology, which had many different kinds of stone tools, the tool traditions of the Upper Paleolithic included only a few different types of implements.

Question 62

The evidence from the Mount Carmel caves in Israel indicates that anatomically modern humans may have inhabited the Middle East before the Neandertals did.

Question 63

With an estimated date of 195,000 B.P., the Omo Kibish remains appear to be the earliest anatomically modern human fossils yet found in Asia.

Question 64

The dry land that connected Australia and Tasmania is known as Beringia.

Question 65

Although scientists agree on the nature of behavioral modernity, they disagree on how and where it originated.

Question 66

Recent genetic research comparing Neandertal DNA and modern human DNA supports the theory that Neandertals evolved into the European populations of anatomically modern humans.

Question 67

Some authors attribute the rise of modern human behavior more to increasing social competition than to population increase or a mutation that led to reconfigurations of the brain.

Question 68

The stone-tool traditions of the Upper Paleolithic were based primarily on blade tools that, compared to those of the Mousterian, are made more quickly and are better at maximizing the amount of cutting edge from the same amount of stone.

Question 69

With the end of the Würm glacial period, human groups shifted their subsistence strategies to a broader spectrum of species that they exploited.