Deck 4: From Homo Erectus to Neanderthals

Question 1

What is the Berekhat Ram figurine?

Answer 1

It is a small pebble of volcanic rock found at the Lower Paleolithic of Berekhat Ram, Golan Heights. It exhibits signs of human modification and may be representative of a human female. At 230,000 years old, it may be the earliest evidence of a human representation.

Question 2

What is the genetic relationship of Neanderthals to modern humans?

Answer 2

The sequences of Neanderthal DNA that have been analyzed are significantly different from modern human DNA, with only minimal shared DNA. This finding indicates that the Neanderthal lineage evolved separately from the modern human lineage.

Question 3

Mary Stiner characterized Neanderthal populations as __________.

A) warlike and savage
B) exceptionally small and mobile
C) quite civilized and peaceful
D) fully sedentary cave-dwellers

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Skeletal evidence from the site of Moula-Guercy suggests that Neanderthals __________.

A) buried their dead
B) could speak
C) practiced cannibalism
D) hunted Homo erectus

Question 5

Which site has sparked claims of intentional Neanderthal burials?

A) Shanidar Cave
B) Lascaux Cave
C) Moula-Guercy
D) La Cotte de St. Brelade

Question 6

The site of La Cotte de St. Brelade shows evidence of __________.

A) cannibalism
B) the controlled use of fire
C) hunting by stampeding animals over a cliff
D) intentional human burial

Question 7

A prepared core technology characteristic of Middle Paleolithic tools is the _________ method.

A) Aurignacian
B) Neanderthal
C) Acheulian
D) Levallois

Question 8

The ________ refers to the entire life history of a stone tool, from gathering the raw material to discard.

A) lithic use cycle
B) method lithique
C) artifact genesis effect
D) chaîne opératoire

Question 9

What is the study of the processes that affect organic remains after death?

A) paleoecology
B) zooarchaeology
C) necromodification
D) taphonmy

Question 10

What is the cultural period associated with the Neanderthals?

A) Mousterian
B) Lower Paleolithic
C) Oldowan
D) Middle Paleolithic

Question 11

Where was the oldest fossil from France that can clearly be classified as Neanderthal (175,000 years ago) found?

A) Biache-Saint-Vaast
B) Le Moustier
C) Mezmiaska Cave
D) Shanidar Cave

Question 12

What is the Frison Effect?

Question 13

What was the role of meat in the Neanderthal diet?

Question 14

What is the significance of the site of Zhoukoudian?

Question 15

What might explain the absence of handaxes in the East Asian Acheulian?

Question 16

What has archaeology revealed about Neanderthal residence patterns and social life?

Question 17

What is the evidence related to Neanderthal diet?

Question 18

What was the basis for the Binford-Bordes debate regarding the interpretation of Neanderthal stone tools?

Question 19

Discuss the three scenarios that have been proposed for the evolution of Neanderthals.

Question 20

Discuss the various theories explaining the variation in the Lower Paleolithic tool assemblages.

Question 21

What is the basis for our stereotype of Neanderthals as ʺhulking ape-menʺ?

Question 22

What is micromorphology and how can it help interpret an archaeological site?

Question 23

How did the Neanderthal dispose of their dead?

Question 24

What specimen from Atapuerca has been proposed as intermediate between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens?

A) Homo habilis
B) Homo rudolphensis
C) Homo ergaster
D) Homo antecessor

Question 25

The recovery of a hyoid bone from the Kebara site suggests that Neanderthals were __________.

A) closely related to chimpanzees
B) physically capable of speech
C) fully bipedal
D) incapable of making stone tools

Question 26

Which of the following features distinguish Neanderthals from modern humans?

A) physical adaptations to cold weather
B) a hairy, brutish caveman appearance
C) a brain size comparable to that of the modern chimpanzee
D) reduced sexual dimorphism

Question 27

DNA recovered from Neanderthal fossils indicates that Neanderthal DNA is significantly different from the DNA of any living human.

Question 28

The hyoid bone found at Kebara suggests that Neanderthals hunted the herds of hyoids found in the prehistoric Middle East.

Question 29

The hominin Homo antecessor is intermediate between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Question 30

The site of Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, has produced a number of fossils of Homo antecessor.

Question 31

The Clactonian is contemporary with the Acheulian.

Question 32

Artifacts were left in place during excavations at Boxgrove to preserve context.

Question 33

The site of Boxgrove, England is among the youngest known Mousterian sites in Europe.

Question 34

The handaxe is the characteristic tool of the Eurasian Acheulian.

Question 35

The global climate record, as revealed by the oxygen isotope curve, has been remarkably stable for the past 100,000 years.

Question 36

The Pleistocene is characterized by the frequent buildup and retreat of continental ice sheets.

Question 37

The Levallois technique for making stone tools was much simpler than the preceding Acheulian industry.

Question 38

Wooden artifacts, such as the spears found at Schöningen, are so rare on hominin sites because during the Stone Age most tools were made of stone.

Question 39

Which of the following scenarios has been advanced to account for the evolution of Neanderthals?

A) Neanderthals were the direct ancestors to modern humans.
B) Neanderthals evolved from Homo erectus, and modern humans evolved from Homo habilis.
C) Neanderthals and modern humans each evolved separately from Homo erectus.
D) Neanderthals and modern humans were separated by time and by geography.

Question 40

Early examples of tools as possible funerary offerings can be found at __________.

A) Kebara Cave
B) Sima de los Heusos
C) Lascaux Cave
D) Divje Babe 1 Cave

Question 41

What 400,000 year-old remarkable find has been discovered at the site of Schöningen, Germany?

A) over 100,000 stone tools, all chippers and flakes
B) a mammoth vertebra with a spear point embedded in it
C) the remains of more than 40 Homo erectus individuals
D) three wooden spears

Question 42

This simple flake tool industry was an English contemporary of the Acheulian.

A) Boxgrovian
B) Clactonian
C) Mousterian
D) Levallois

Question 43

Which of the following European sites have occupations dating to over 500,000 years ago?

A) Atapuerca
B) Boxgrove
C) Bose
D) Schöningen

Question 44

What does the climate record produced by the analysis of deep sea cores show?

A) The world was covered by glaciers for the past 800,000 years.
B) There were only two distinct ice ages.
C) Today's global warming is unique in geologic history.
D) The extent of glaciation and the rapidity of climate change vary considerably.

Question 45

The record of global climate fluctuations can be found in the __________.

A) oxygen isotope curve
B) tree rings of bald cypress
C) oxygen reduction line
D) straight line regression

Question 46

Excavations have produced conclusive evidence for intentional burial of Neanderthal dead.

Question 47

Stable isotope studies of skeletons from Europe suggest that Neanderthals were actually mostly vegetarian.

Question 48

Marcelin Boule's characterization of the Neanderthal as a degenerate side branch of human evolution has been recognized as generally correct.

Question 49

Which of these physical distinctions does NOT occur among Neanderthals, when compared with Homo Sapiens?

A) Occipital bun
B) Thicker skull bones
C) Pronounced chin
D) Broad rib cage

Question 50

The following are names given to cycles of ice advances and retreats in North America

A) Günz, Mindel, Riss,
B) Illinoian, Wisconsin
C) Petra, Clovis
D) Texonian, Angeles