Deck 4: The Human Lineage

Question 1

The fossil species Homo erectus dates to what period:

A) 3 million to 1 million years ago
B) 1.8 million to .4 million years ago
C) 1.5 million to .8 million years ago
D) 15 million to 5 million years ago

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The mean cranial capacity of Homo erectus was about what percentage larger than the mean of Homo habilis:

A) 100%
B) 70%
C) 35%
D) 15%

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The mean cranial capacity of Homo erectus was about what percentage of the mean modern human cranial capacity:

A) 100%
B) 70%
C) 35%
D) 15%

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Homo erectus is the first human ancestor to:

A) walk erect
B) use tools
C) expand beyond Africa
D) migrate into the New World

Question 5

The Nariokotome boy probably was about how old when he died:

A) 18
B) between 8 and 10
C) 4
D) 2

Question 6

At death, the Nariokotome boy exhibited the physical maturity of a modern human at about age:

A) twelve
B) nine
C) four
D) two

Question 7

Some researchers divide the hominins dating from 1.8 million years ago to 400,000 years ago into three geographically separate species:

A) Pithecanthropus erectus; Homo neanderthalensis; Homo sapiens
B) Pithecanthropus erectus; Sinanthropus pekinensis; Eoanthropus dawsoni
C) Homo ergaster; Homo erectus; Homo antecessor
D) Homo habilis; Homo rudolphensis; Homo leakeyi

Question 8

Mean cranial capacity of Homo erectus was about:

A) 1450 cc
B) 960 cc
C) 760 cc
D) 560cc

Question 9

Compared to the skull of Homo habilis, the skull of Homo erectus is:

A) very similar in form, but larger
B) less prognathous, with a steeper forehead and larger cranial capacity
C) more symmetrical
D) less neotonous

Question 10

Examination of Homo erectus cranial endocasts indicates that the hemispheres of its brain were:

A) symmetrical, like in apes
B) asymmetrical, like in modern people
C) symmetrical, like in modern people
D) asymmetrical, like in apes

Question 11

Below the skull, the Homo erectus skeleton is:

A) essentially ape-like
B) essentially monkey-like
C) essentially human-like
D) no post-cranial bones of Homo erectus have been found

Question 12

It has been speculated that because the two halves of the Homo erectus cranium differ, their brains were asymmetrical, and individuals of this species:

A) could speak
B) used their jaws as a "third hand"
C) invariably died young
D) often suffered neck injuries, probably as a result of their reliance on hunting

Question 13

The supra-orbital torus of Homo erectus was:

A) massive
B) present only in males
C) much smaller than in the more primitive Homo habilis
D) about the same size as in modern human beings

Question 14

Evidence of Homo erectus has been found in:

A) just Africa
B) just Africa and Asia
C) just Africa, Asia, and Europe
D) Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia

Question 15

The dating of Homo erectus sites generally supports the notion that they:

A) appeared in Europe first
B) arrived in Europe by about 1.2 million years ago
C) arrived in Europe only after about 500,000 years ago
D) never populated Europe

Question 16

Homo erectus first turns up outside of Africa about how long ago:

A) 1.75 million years ago
B) 1.25 million years ago
C) 1 million years ago
D) 800,000 years ago

Question 17

The hominin fossils found at the Dmanisi site are interpreted by some researchers as:

A) early examples of Homo habilis outside of Africa
B) the earliest evidence of Homo erectus outside of Africa
C) ancestral Neandertals
D) there are no hominin fossils at the site, only stone tools that may or may not have been made by Homo erectus

Question 18

Because of the geographic location of the Dmanisi site and the age of its fossils, the Dmanisi hominins are interpreted by most researchers as representing:

A) evidence of some of the earliest expansion of Homo erectus out of Africa
B) a late population of Homo erectus in east Asia
C) the first population of Homo erectus in Australia
D) a remnant population of Homo erectus in Africa that survived even after the evolution of premodern Homo sapiens

Question 19

Compared to the crania of Homo erectus specimens found in Africa, the Dmanisi crania are:

A) rounder
B) less robust
C) smaller
D) older

Question 20

The first Dmanisi mandible is:

A) far more ape-like than the mandible of the Nariokotome boy
B) far more modern than the mandible of the Nariokotome boy
C) almost identical to the mandible of the Nariokotome boy
D) most similar to the Piltdown mandible in England

Question 21

The Levantine Corridor is interpreted to have been:

A) the route taken by Homo erectus from continental Asia to the islands of the western Pacific
B) the anatomical location on the interior of the skulls of advanced hominins where the two hemispheres of the brain are connected by a bundle of nerves; the "corridor" is not seen in the crania of apes
C) a broad and deep valley whose existence in central India may explain why handaxe technology is not seen to the east in China
D) a natural passageway likely followed by Homo erectus as they expanded beyond Africa into west Asia.

Question 22

Some of the most extensive-and oldest-fossil evidence for Homo erectus has been found in:

A) Australia
B) New Guinea
C) Java
D) India

Question 23

The geological stratum in which the Sangiran Homo erectus remains have been found is called the:

A) Olduvai Formation
B) Trinil Formation
C) Dubois Formation
D) Bapang Formation

Question 24

The Bapang Formation in which the Sangiran Homo erectus finds have been made is about how old:

A) 700,000-800,000 years
B) more than 1 million years
C) fewer than 500,000 years
D) fewer than 250,000 years

Question 25

Recent discoveries of Homo erectus in Java suggest that the species may have arrived there as long ago as:

A) more than 5 million years
B) more than 2.5 million years
C) more than 1.7 million years
D) fewer than 500,000 years

Question 26

Technically, a skull is defined as:

A) all the bones of the head and face, including the mandible
B) all of the bones of the head and face, excluding the mandible
C) just the bones of the top of the head, excluding the bones of the face and the mandible
D) just the face and mandible

Question 27

A cranium is defined as:

A) all the bones of the head and face, including the mandible
B) all of the bones of the head and face, excluding the mandible
C) just the bones of the top of the head, excluding the bones of the face and the mandible
D) just the face and mandible

Question 28

A calvarium is defined as:

A) all the bones of the head and face, including the mandible
B) all of the bones of the head and face, excluding the mandible
C) just the bones of the top of the head, excluding the bones of the face and the mandible
D) just the face and mandible

Question 29

The significance of the cave at Zhoukoudian rests in its having produced:

A) the first evidence of tool use in Asia
B) the first evidence of hominins in East Asia
C) evidence of the contemporaneity of Homo habilis and Homo erectus
D) a large sample of more than forty Homo erectus individuals

Question 30

The location of the region in which Zhoukoudian is located shows that Homo erectus:

A) had boats
B) could survive in a tropical environment
C) could survive in a place with long, cold winters
D) could live in a desert

Question 31

Recent evidence gathered in Spain indicates that Homo erectus reached Europe:

A) by 1.2 million years ago
B) after 500,000 years ago
C) before 1.5 million years ago
D) after the appearance there of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

Question 32

The Pleistocene is best characterized as a period of:

A) unremitting cold
B) constant glacial ice expansion
C) fluctuating climate
D) increased precipitation

Question 33

The Pleistocene is marked by:

A) a single, long-term advance of glacial ice in the northern latitudes and higher elevations
B) four separate phases of advance of glacial ice in the northern latitudes and higher elevations, with warmer periods in between
C) worldwide cooling with even tropical areas experiencing significant snowfall
D) a complex series of glacial advances and retreats

Question 34

The oxygen isotope curve allows for the reconstruction of:

A) fluctuations in worldwide glacial coverage
B) ancient hominin diets
C) ancient plant communities
D) obsidian hydration rates

Question 35

In comparison to interglacials and interstadials, during glacials and stadials, the amount of ¹⁸O in the shells of foraminifera proportional to the amount of ¹⁶O:

A) is higher
B) is lower
C) remains the same
D) fluctuates

Question 36

The characteristic that enabled Homo erectus to survive during the Pleistocene almost certainly was its:

A) physical adaptation to cold
B) ability to migrate out of cold regions
C) subsistence emphasis on big game hunting
D) adaptive flexibility made possible by culture

Question 37

The stone tool industry of Homo erectus involving the production of symmetrical, sometimes artfully rendered handaxes is called:

A) Acheulean
B) Oldowan
C) Mousterian
D) Geometric Kebaran

Question 38

The oldest Homo erectus handaxes date back to:

A) 2.5 million years ago
B) 1.76 million years ago
C) 1.0 million years ago
D) 500,000 years ago

Question 39

The oldest handaxes have been found at:

A) Kokisekei 4 in Kenya
B) Trinil in Java
C) Attirampakkam in India
D) the Huon Peninsula in New Guinea

Question 40

The youngest sites of Homo erectus-or, at least, of a species that bears a striking resemblance to Homo erectus-date to:

A) 1,000,000 years ago
B) 500,000 years ago
C) 250,000 years ago
D) no later than about 50,000 years ago

Question 41

Where were the very recent specimens of Homo erectus dating to 50,000 years ago found?

A) the island of Java
B) the island of Flores
C) India
D) Australia

Question 42

The fossils labeled Homo naledi were discovered in:

A) Hadar
B) Laetoli
C) Pinnacle Cave
D) Rising Star Cave

Question 43

Based on its post-cranial anatomy, Homo naledi definitely:

A) was a male
B) had been cannibalized
C) was bipedal
D) all of the above

Question 44

The cranial capacity of Homo naledi has been calculated to have been about what fraction of the modern human size:

A) 1/10
B) 1/3
C) ½
D) ¾

Question 45

The Homo naledi specimens date to the period between:

A) 3 million and 2.5 million years ago
B) 1 million and .75 million years ago
C) 335,000 and 236,000 years ago
D) 40,000 and 30,000 years ago

Question 46

The site of Kokiselei 4 in Kenya has produced the oldest evidence for:

A) hominin hunting
B) bipedal locomotion
C) Oldowan choppers
D) handaxes

Question 47

In the production of an Acheulean handaxe, numerous stone flakes were produced. Wear pattern analysis has shown that these flakes:

A) are simply waste and served no further function
B) were buried with the dead, implying the use of symbols among these hominins
C) were used as cutting and scraping tools
D) were placed on arrow shafts and used in hunting

Question 48

In the production of an Acheulean handaxe, the maker needed to strike the object stone about how many times more than if producing an Oldowan tool:

A) 2 times more
B) 4 times more
C) 10 times more
D) 100 times more

Question 49

In the production of an Acheulean handaxe, the maker produced about how more edge than if making an Oldowan tool:

A) twice as much
B) 4 times as much
C) 10 as much
D) 100 as much

Question 50

The accumulated evidence suggests that Homo erectus subsistence was based on:

A) a mixture of scavenging, hunting, and gathering wild plants foods
B) fishing and shellfish collecting
C) herding
D) agriculture

Question 51

Archaeological evidence for hunting by Homo erectus includes:

A) animal bones with stone tool cutting marks
B) wooden hunting spears
C) stone cutting tools that would have been useful in butchering
D) all of the above

Question 52

At Kathu Pan in Africa, and dating to about 500,000 years ago, archaeologists have found artifacts they interpreted to be:

A) sharpened stone tips of hafted spears
B) flints for producing sparks in fire starting
C) paint pots
D) wooden spears

Question 53

Archaeologists have found evidence of what at the Schöningen site in Germany:

A) sharpened stone tips of hafted spears
B) flints for producing sparks in fire starting
C) paint pots
D) wooden spears

Question 54

The Schöningen site is about how old?

A) 1 million years
B) 600,000 years
C) 300,000 years
D) 100,000 years

Question 55

Homo erectus can best be characterized as a:

A) long-lived, stable species
B) short-lived, stable species
C) species that exhibits great change through time
D) species that shows a series of evolutionary jumps or "punctuations"

Question 56

The "Peking Man" fossils:

A) turned out to be fakes-the artificial combination of ape and human bones
B) have been locked up by the Chinese government since the 1940s, and scientists have not been allowed to examine them
C) are now thought the be examples of archaic Homo sapiens
D) were lost during World War II and have not been recovered

Question 57

What make the fossils called by their excavators Homo floresiensis so remarkable:

A) the small size of their brains
B) the sophistication of their stone tools
C) their very recent date
D) all of the above

Question 58

Homo florensiensis can be accurately described as a:

A) diminutive Homo erectus
B) diminutive Homo habilis
C) large-brained chimpanzee
D) small-brained Homo sapiens

Question 59

What is the significance of the Nariokotome skeleton (KNM-WT 15000)?

Question 60

Compare the cranial anatomy of Homo erectus to that of Homo habilis and Homo sapiens.

Question 61

Homo erectus is described as "conquering the world." What does that mean? Where have their remains been found?

Question 62

Trace the expansion of Homo erectus beyond Africa. When does Homo erectus show up in Europe, Eurasia, and East Asia?

Question 63

What is the significance of the Dmanisi fossils? Where is the site, how old is it, and what is the nature of the hominin fossils found there?

Question 64

Describe and discuss the Shackleton/Opdyke oxygen isotope curve. What is it based on? What does it signify about the climate of our plant over the last million years or so?

Question 65

Compare Acheulean technology to Oldowan.

Question 66

What do we know about Homo erectus subsistence? Were they great hunters or merely scavengers of the kills of true hunters? What do the artifacts tell us?

Question 67

What enabled the geographic expansion of Homo erectus?

Question 68

What might the significance be of the fact that Acheulean handaxes were "more artfully made than they had to be" to accomplish their specified tasks?

Question 69

What does the Nariokotome boy's skeleton tell us about the developmental rate of Homo erectus? What does this mean?

Question 70

What do findings in East Asia suggest about the time of the earliest Homo erectus and the timing of their spread from Africa?

Question 71

Discuss the significance of the fossil dubbed "the Hobbit." What does its location, size and timing imply about the evolution of the hominins?

Question 72

What's so important about Homo naledi? How did they walk? How large was their brain? How old are the fossils and how do they fit into human evolution?

Question 73

Discuss the suggestion that Homo erectus should be divided into a number of different species. How would these multiple species be related evolutionarily?

Question 74

What is so significant about the Zhoukoudian fossil locality? What is so tragic about it?

Question 75

How was an Acheulean handaxe made? Walk me through the steps.

Question 76

Homo erectus fossils and archaeological sites have been found in a broad diversity of habitats and environments. What does this suggest about Homo erectus intelligence and adaptability?

Question 77

What is the significance of the discovery of Homo erectus artifacts having been found at the Happisburgh site in Norfolk, U.K., dating to 780,000 years ago?

Question 78

Using the Messages from the Past section of this chapter as a jumping off point, how does the study of Homo erectus inform us on the topic of modern humanity?