Deck 13: Homo sapiens and the Evolution of Modern Human Behavior

Question 1

Imagine you are a paleoanthropologist. You have found a fossil that dates to 190 kya in Africa, and it has a high, rounded skull, a cranial capacity of 1,400 cc, and long, thin femora (thigh bones). How would you classify this specimen?

A) Homo ergaster
B) Homo heidelbergensis
C) Homo sapiens
D) Homo neanderthalensis

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Modern human skulls are characterized by

A) an angled occipital.
B) a low, retreating forehead.
C) a small nasal aperture (nose).
D) robust postcranial bones.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The most likely explanation for the evolution of modern human behavior is that

A) the components of modern human behavior and technology gradually evolved in Africa along with modern human morphology over a period of about 200,000 years.
B) there was a human revolution in Asia 45,000 years ago.
C) what seems like a revolutionary change in Europe simply reflects the migration of modern people from Asia to Europe.
D) modern human behavior arose 12,000 years ago with the advent of Mode 4 tool industries.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

During the human Cultural Revolution, innovations included

A) the exclusive use of stones for tools.
B) the exclusive use of animal material for tools.
C) local use of raw materials.
D) long-distance transportation of raw materials.

Question 5

The postcranial skeleton of modern humans

A) is more robust than Neanderthal skeletons.
B) includes heavily built hands.
C) is characterized by long limbs with thin-walled bones.
D) has a larger crural index.

Question 6

Upper Paleolithic tools

A) are like Middle Paleolithic tools but date to a later time period.
B) were almost indistinguishable across broad geographic areas.
C) took more time to make and are more standardized compared with earlier technologies.
D) are also known as Acheulean.

Question 7

The so-called human revolution in culture is said to have occurred about

A) 200,000 years ago.
B) 60,000 years ago.
C) 4,000 years ago.
D) 1,000 years ago.

Question 8

During the human Cultural Revolution, innovations included

A) the beginnings of agriculture.
B) decoration and art.
C) democracy.
D) the first use of fire to cook food.

Question 9

Derived features of anatomically modern humans included

A) a more procumbent face than that of Neanderthals.
B) a wide nasal aperture.
C) a larger brain.
D) a protruding chin.

Question 10

Anatomically modern humans appeared between

A) 2,000 and 1,000 years ago.
B) 20,000 and 10,000 years ago.
C) 200,000 and 90,000 years ago.
D) 2 million and 1 million years ago.

Question 11

The earliest Australians are associated with

A) Acheulean tools.
B) sites dated to 75,000 years ago.
C) ceremonial burials and cremations.
D) Homo floresiensis.

Question 12

In the Middle East, anatomically modern humans

A) experienced the human revolution earlier than other anatomically modern humans.
B) killed off the Neanderthals.
C) existed for 50,000 years without using tools typical of the human revolution.
D) migrated back to Africa.

Question 13

Imagine you are a paleoanthropologist. You have found a fossil that dates to 150 kya in Africa and it has a chin. How would you classify this specimen?

A) Homo ergaster
B) Homo heidelbergensis
C) Homo neanderthalensis
D) Homo sapiens

Question 14

Modern human cranial capacity is usually at least

A) 900 cc.
B) 1,000 cc.
C) 1,350 cc.
D) 750 cc.

Question 15

During the human Cultural Revolution, innovations included

A) construction of elaborate shelters.
B) living in caves.
C) Mode 3 technology.
D) independent problem solving.

Question 16

Modern humans are thought to have migrated beyond Africa and spread throughout the world about

A) 100 kya.
B) 75 kya.
C) 60 kya.
D) 25 kya.

Question 17

Upper Paleolithic technology included

A) the introduction of hand axes and chopper tools.
B) the introduction of Levallois flake technology.
C) the introduction of blade technology and new raw materials such as bone.
D) the first use of fire to cook food.

Question 18

Modern people probably first entered Australia

A) more than 100,000 years ago.
B) 40,000 years ago or a bit earlier.
C) a bit less than 5,000 years ago.
D) 500 years ago.

Question 19

Imagine you are a paleoanthropologist. You have found a fossil that dates to 45 kya in Europe, and it has a cranial capacity of 1,400 cc and a chin and is associated with Aurignacian tools. How would you classify this specimen?

A) Homo ergaster
B) Homo heidelbergensis
C) Homo sapiens
D) Homo neanderthalensis

Question 20

Derived features of anatomically modern humans included

A) thicker bones.
B) a rounded skull.
C) lack of a mental eminence (no chin).
D) shorter stature across the entire species.

Question 21

The viewpoint that modern humans evolved in Africa proposes that

A) all modern humans evolved in Africa.
B) Asian Homo erectus mated with H. sapiens.
C) some modern humans evolved in Europe.
D) modern humans arose in Africa at least twice.

Question 22

The oldest anatomically modern human fossils are found in

A) caves in the Middle East.
B) Omo Kibish, in southern Ethiopia, Africa.
C) Southeast Asia.
D) Southern Australia.

Question 23

Among the differences between Upper Paleolithic peoples and Neanderthals are that Upper Paleolithic peoples

A) had shorter life spans than Neanderthals.
B) lived at higher densities than Neanderthals.
C) were more likely to suffer injuries than Neanderthals.
D) lived over a much smaller geographical region than Neanderthals.

Question 24

Bone, antler, and teeth are known to have been used to construct which types of tools?

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

Question 25

Differences between Upper Paleolithic peoples and Neanderthals include the fact that Upper Paleolithic peoples

A) lived shorter life spans than Neanderthals.
B) lived at lower densities than Neanderthals.
C) were less likely to suffer injuries than Neanderthals.
D) were more dependent upon hunting for sustenance.

Question 26

When sites and remains of Upper Paleolithic populations and Neanderthal populations are compared, a greater percentage of the Upper Paleolithic people's remains are from older individuals. This implies that

A) Neanderthals lived longer lives.
B) modern humans lived longer lives.
C) Neanderthals buried fewer of their dead than modern did humans.
D) modern humans buried fewer of their dead than did Neanderthals.

Question 27

Upper Paleolithic peoples

A) constructed shelters of mammoth bone and hide.
B) did not have fire.
C) did not have clothing.
D) built the first permanent dwellings.

Question 28

The fact that Upper Paleolithic people lived at higher population densities than Neanderthals is evidence of which of the following statements?

A) Upper Paleolithic people were able to obtain more food from their environment than Neanderthals.
B) Upper Paleolithic people lived in larger social groups than Neanderthals.
C) Upper Paleolithic people lived longer than Neanderthals.
D) Upper Paleolithic people ate better food than Neanderthals.

Question 29

The viewpoint that modern humans evolved in Africa proposes that

A) all modern humans evolved in Europe or the Near East.
B) Neanderthals became extinct.
C) Asian Homo erectus evolved into anatomically modern Asians.
D) Neanderthals evolved into modern humans.

Question 30

Imagine you are an archaeologist working in the Czech Republic. You have found remains of a hearth within a large structure that appears to have been constructed with the bones of a woolly mammoth. Which hominin species is responsible for this site?

A) Homo erectus.
B) Neanderthals.
C) Denisovans.
D) Homo sapiens.

Question 31

Blades are classified in what kind of tool kits?

A) Mode 2
B) Mode 3
C) Mode 4
D) Mode 5

Question 32

The hallmarks of modern human behavior are partly due to cognitive ability and partly due to what other characteristic?

A) Our large ability to transmit information and learn
B) Our large brain
C) Our large geographic range
D) Our large body size

Question 33

Upper Paleolithic people were the first to

A) make tools from stone and bamboo.
B) regularly create art and ornamentation, perform ritual burials, and practice other forms of symbolic expression.
C) live in caves.
D) migrate out of Africa.

Question 34

The fact that humans lived in Australia by 40 kya suggests that

A) they were capable of walking very long distances.
B) they migrated there from Europe.
C) glaciers extended into the Southern Hemisphere.
D) they were capable of building boats.

Question 35

What was the main difference between modern human and Neanderthal subsistence strategies?

A) Neanderthals hunted more dangerous game.
B) Humans hunted a greater variety of prey species.
C) Neanderthals obtained more of their diet from plants.
D) Humans lived in colder climates and therefore ate more cold-adapted species.

Question 36

Upper Paleolithic people

A) had a subsistence economy similar to that of the Neanderthals but hunted a wider range of animals.
B) had a subsistence economy totally different and more advanced than that of the Neanderthals.
C) hunted a much narrower range of animals than Neanderthals.
D) had a subsistence economy similar to that of Neanderthals but without the use of animal resources.

Question 37

The viewpoint that modern humans evolved in Africa proposes that

A) all modern humans evolved in Europe.
B) Asian Homo erectus became extinct.
C) African anatomically modern humans became extinct.
D) Asian Homo erectus gave rise to Asian modern humans.

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of behavior almost totally unique to modern humans?

A) Tool use
B) Art
C) Living in Europe
D) Living in a social group

Question 39

The tools found in Australia are classified as which type of tools?

A) Mousterian
B) Oldowan
C) Upper Paleolithic
D) Middle Stone Age

Question 40

Upper Paleolithic peoples were the first to manufacture

A) blade tools.
B) hand axes.
C) choppers.
D) flakes.

Question 41

Genetic evidence indicates that humans underwent a ________ between 90,000 and 200,000 years ago, which is why the human species is less genetically variable than are other species.

A) geographic expansion
B) bottleneck
C) geologic catastrophe
D) cultural revolution

Question 42

The Herto skulls

A) are intermediate between those of modern humans and African Homo heidelbergensis.
B) are indistinguishable from skulls of modern Africans.
C) are Neanderthal-like in their characteristics.
D) are so variable that they cannot be compared with other fossils.

Question 43

Variation in mtDNA among modern humans suggests that

A) all of our DNA (nuclear and mtDNA) comes from a woman who lived about 100,000 to 400,000 years ago.
B) we are not as genetically variable as other species, such as chimpanzees.
C) modern humans evolved in Asia.
D) we are descended from Neanderthals in Africa.

Question 44

Which tool industry indicates that Neanderthals may have tried to copy modern human tools?

A) Aurignacian
B) Mousterian
C) Solutrean
D) Châtelperronian

Question 45

The low levels of genetic variation in contemporary human populations are likely due to the fact that contemporary humans

A) all come from a single female ancestor, the mitochondrial Eve.
B) all come from a single male ancestor, Adam.
C) arose from a very small population.
D) arose from a very large population.

Question 46

mtDNA is inherited

A) from the father.
B) from the mother.
C) from both the father and the mother.
D) mostly from the father, but some from the mother.

Question 47

The mtDNA and Y chromosome evidence favors

A) the viewpoint that modern humans evolved in areas of the Old World.
B) the viewpoint that modern humans evolved in Africa.
C) the viewpoint that African populations of modern humans interbred with archaic populations in Europe and Asia.
D) the viewpoint that modern humans are descended from a single pair of individuals like Adam and Eve.

Question 48

mtDNA evidence supports the idea that modern humans arose in

A) Africa.
B) Asia.
C) Europe.
D) India.

Question 49

Modern ________ populations are genetically more variable than other populations.

A) American
B) Asian
C) African
D) European

Question 50

The fossil evidence suggests that modern humans evolved in

A) Africa.
B) Northern Asia.
C) Southern Asia.
D) Europe.

Question 51

Artifacts and fossils from the site of Arcy-sur-Cure indicate that

A) Neanderthals and modern humans fought each other.
B) only modern humans lived there.
C) Neanderthals borrowed technology from modern humans.
D) Neanderthals killed off that population of modern humans.

Question 52

Data from Y chromosome studies

A) do not agree with the results of mtDNA studies.
B) support an Asian origin for modern humans.
C) indicate that African populations are older than populations in other parts of the world.
D) indicate that African populations are younger than populations in other parts of the world.

Question 53

mtDNA extracted from several Neanderthals indicates that the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans lived about

A) 400-800 kya.
B) 1.2 mya.
C) 90-200 kya.
D) 20 kya.

Question 54

Evidence in favor of the viewpoint that modern humans evolved in Africa includes the fact that ________ lived side-by-side.

A) in Asia Homo erectus and modern humans
B) in the Middle East Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans
C) in Africa Homo ergaster and modern humans
D) in Australia Homo erectus and modern humans

Question 55

Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in the Middle East

A) have an ancestor-descendant relationship.
B) lived side-by-side for thousands of years.
C) did not overlap in time.
D) are almost indistinguishable in their anatomy.

Question 56

What was the most likely result of any interaction between Neanderthals and modern humans?

A) Neanderthals waged war on modern humans.
B) Neanderthals succumbed to modern humans' superior weapons.
C) Neanderthals were outcompeted and replaced by modern humans.
D) Neanderthals and humans did not have any opportunity to interact.

Question 57

The genetic data indicate that modern humans and Neanderthals

A) are more closely related to each other than either is to the Denisovan hominins.
B) must have never interbred.
C) may have interbred to a limited degree.
D) are represented by contemporary Papua New Guineans.

Question 58

Genetic data from fossils and living groups of people tell us that

A) modern humans evolved in Africa between 200 and 400 kya and all modern humans outside of Africa are descended from an African population.
B) one small population of modern people left East Africa about 60 kya and first traveled along the southern coast of Asia and then into Eurasia.
C) there was extensive interbreeding between modern human populations and other hominins that lived in Eurasia, such as the Neanderthals.
D) modern humans migrated out of Africa to Europe first and then traveled east to Asia.

Question 59

Variation in mtDNA among modern humans suggests that

A) we are all descended from a single man, or "Adam."
B) we are more genetically variable compared with other species, such as chimpanzees.
C) humans underwent a recent population collapse.
D) all of our mtDNA comes from a woman who lived long ago.

Question 60

According to the genetic data, after modern humans left Africa they migrated first to which geographic area?

A) Europe
B) The Pacific
C) Northern Asia
D) Southern Asia

Question 61

How does the fossil evidence support the hypothesis that modern humans arose in Africa?

Question 62

What are the two main theories about the origin of modern humans?

Question 63

Middle Stone Age (MSA) behavior may not have been as primitive as some anthropologists posit. Which of the following evidence supports this statement?

A) Anthropologists have found shell beads colored with ocher.
B) Anthropologists have found that MSA people did not transport materials over long distances.
C) Anthropologists have found that the only tools MSA people used were microliths.
D) Anthropologists have found that MSA people did not process tools before they manufactured them.

Question 64

Why do geneticists think that there was some, albeit limited, interbreeding between Neanderthals and early modern humans?

Question 65

Who is mitochondrial Eve? Did all humans evolve from mitochondrial Eve? Why or why not?

Question 66

How are modern humans different morphologically from earlier species of hominins?

Question 67

Why do some researchers feel that there was not a human revolution at all?

Question 68

Can tools be used to track the evolution of cultural and/or behavioral complexity in the Upper Paleolithic? If so, how?

Question 69

If there was a human revolution, it may have been caused by a

A) cognitive adaptation such as a mutation that allowed fully modern speech.
B) population of modern humans from Africa replacing Eurasian ones.
C) hybridization of modern humans with Eurasian humans.
D) period of climate stability.

Question 70

In what ways was the transition to Upper Paleolithic technology and lifeways a result of biological change? In what ways was it a matter of cultural change?

Question 71

How does the archaeological evidence support the hypothesis that modern humans arose in Africa?