1
Q
Out of Ardipithecus ramidus, Orrorin tugenensis, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Ardipithecus kadabba, create the chronological order (oldest to youngest)
A
Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, Ardipithecus kadabba, Ardipithecus ramidus
2
Q
What makes the Sahelanthropus tchadensis skull unique?
A
Sahelanthropus has a foramen magnum more similar to bipeds compared to quadrupeds with a short face indicating transition to bipedalism
3
Q
Describe differences in the pelvic girdle anatomy of chimpanzees, ardipithecus, australopithecus afarensis, and humans.
A
Chimpanzees like other quadrupeds have long, narrow pelvises designed for climbing and quadrupedal walking. Ardipithecus has a transitional form with shorter pelvis but with some features still optimized for climbing. Afarensis and humans have short, broad, rotated pelvises designed to support bipedalism.
4
Q
What was the fake species called that was considered first evidence for an early British ancestor?
A
Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni)
5
Q
Who was the first scientist to name the first human ancestor from Africa - Australopithecus africanus?
A
Raymond Dart
6
Q
How was Australopithecus dental structure different from both chimps and humans?
A
Apes have U-shaped palates while humans have parabola shaped palates. Australopithecus is kind of in the middle but more U-shaped still.
7
Q
Describe the Australopithecus lineage.
A
Australopithecus anamensis ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis ancestor of Homo, Australopithecus garhi, East Africa robust lineage (aethiopicus, boisei), South Africa robust lineage (africanus, sebiba, robustus)
8
Q
From the transition from apes to ardipithecus to australopithecus to homo, how does premolar, molar, and incisor size change? How does enamel thickness change?
A
Premolars increase in size, molars increase in size, and incisors decrease in size. Enamel becomes thicker.
9
Q
How did the climate change with the rise of Miocene?
A
More dry and seasonally variable temperatures became the norm
10
Q
How many major cooling events and warm periods between 3.2 and 0.7 my?
A
17 glacials and some interglacials
11
Q
Earliest accepted evidence for Homo comes from the site of ____ and is dated at ____
A
Hadar, Ethiopia; 2.3 my
12
Q
How did homo differ based on the evidence?
A
Palate (upper jaw) differed by being shorter, lacking facial pillars, and have teeth that are all reduced in size
13
Q
Who initially described Homo habilis?
A
Louis Leakey
14
Q
The two homo habilis skulls found in Koobi Fora, Kenya possessed what characteristics? (KNM-ER 1470 and KNM-ER 1813)
A
1470: large brain, teeth the size of australopithecines
1813: small brain, teeth in the Homo erectus size range and a more advanced face
15
Q
Who were the first stone tools associated with?
A
A cranium of homo habilis and a cranium of Australopithecus boisei; Leakey assigned the tools to Homo believing that australopithecines never made or used tools
16
Q
First published evidence for early stone tools come from
A
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
17
Q
What complex were the earliest stone tools a part of?
A
Oldowan Industrial Complex
18
Q
What do Oldowan tools date to?
A
Between 2.0-1.6 my
19
Q
What are the types of tools?
A
- Manuports - objects that are transported by hominins to a different location but not modified
- Hammer stones - stones used as percussive tools (smashing, striking, cracking open bones, or detaching flakes from a core); not shaped
- Core forms - stones intentionally shaped to remove flakes or provide a working edge
- Flakes - sharp piece detached from a core; used for cutting
20
Q
When did bifacially worked tools begin to be found?
A
Developed Oldowan/Early Acheulean at 1.5-1.4 my
21
Q
Spheroid vs End Chopper vs Flake (what it is)
A
Spheroids were stones intentionally shaped into a rounded, ball-like form
End Choppers had a single worked edge created by removing flakes from one end of a cobble
Flakes are the sharp fragments struck off a core during knapping
22
Q
Spheroid vs End Chopper vs Flake (functional differences)
A
Spheroids used for hammering, crushing, and pounding
End choppers used for chopping, heavy-duty cutting
Flakes used for fine cutting, slicing
23
Q
Today, how is it possible to get direct knowledge of what a stone tool was used for?
A
By doing wear studies
24
Q
Nick Toth and Kathy Schick noted that almost all Oldowan tools were made by …
A
right handed people
25
True or False: Humans exhibit handedness while apes and monkeys use both hands equally
True
26
True or False: Handedness is associated with a feature of the brain not found in apes in which tasks are lateralized (different sides of the brain perform different functions)
True
27
True or False: Evidence of early cut-smashed bone comes from Kada Gona and the Middle Awash river region of Ethiopia where hominins have not been found but australopithecines have been found, implying australopithecines likely used tools
True
28
True or False: Wood decays faster than bone
True
29
Earliest evidence of fire use comes from ...
Israel
30
Why are bone and stone tools near humans not evidence of hunting always?
Most australopithecine and early Homo sites are near lakes or streams. For this reason, bones and stone tools can be associated for a variety of reasons.
1. Natural deaths (carnivore predation, accidents, disease, etc.) that are scavenged by hominins. Hominins stealing animals killed by other animals.
2. Animal accumulation of bone at a central place, maybe then followed by hominin use of the site.
3. Stream flow concentrations causing coincidental association of artifacts and bones at watering points.
31
Who discovered Homo erectus?
Eugene Dubois
32
Where was Homo Erectus found?
Java and China
33
Original name for homo erectus?
Pithecanthropus erectus
34
What are some problems associated with homo erectus materal?
Lack of complete individuals/skeletons, long-time range over which species existed, wide geographic distribution
35
Characteristic tool types of Acheuleans?
Handaxe and Cleaver
36
What continent did the Acheulean not spread to?
Asia as in Asia they continued to use Oldowan-like tool types
37
What is the boundary between the Acheulean and Oldowans called ...
The Movius line
38
Towards the end of the Acheulean Cultural Tradition, a new techinque for flaking stone appears called ...
The Levallois technique which relies not on huge flakes that can be trimmed down but on small specially trimmed cores
39
What is special about the Levallois technique?
Requires one know in advance what the product will be, which is the first evidence of a mental template (mental picture of what you want to produce as opposed to just chipping a stone into a shape)
40
When did chins develop?
Homo sapiens
41
Who wrote about the first fossil human discoveries?
Charles Lyell in "The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man" as did prehistorian Lord Avebury in "Prehistoric Times"
42
Who claimed that these findings of early fossil humans represented a new species, Homo neanderthalensis
William King
43
What did Rudolf Virchow claim about Neanderthals?
That they were pathological humans, not ancient ancestors
44
What did Marcellin Boule believe about Neanderthals after remains from La Chapelle-aux-Saints were discovered?
Neandarthals were brutish, bent-kneed, not fully erect bipeds
45
What are the differences in Neanderthals from humans in the following areas: skull, nasal cavity, clavicles, long bones, chest, ilium, hands, lower legs?
1. Platycephalic vs high, rounded
2. Large vs small
3. Long vs short
4. Thick walled vs thin walled
5. Barrel chested vs narrow chested
6. Flaring vs narrow
7. Robust vs slender
8. Lower leg short vs long lower
46
Oldest Pleistocene remains of homo found in ...
A cave complex called the Gran Dolina
47
Remains dated at 650000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene have been assigned to which new species?
Homo antecessor
48
Most recent find from Gran Dolina Cave complex finds what in the skull that is of interest?
Anterior portion of mandible, clearly showing evidence of a chin and the corresponding lack of a simian shelf
49
How do preneanderthal skulls (homo heidelbergensis) differ from Classic Neanderthals?
Canine fossa is not as inflated, presenting more of an angular appearance
50
When did Neanderthals go extinct?
40-30000 years ago around the time modern humans appear in Europe
51
The culture of preneanderthals is of the ... cultural tradition while the Neanderthals is ...
Acheulean, Mousterian
52
The last of the Mousterian subdivision is ...
Chatelperronian
53
Chatelperronian subculture shows similarities with the ... cultural tradition associated with modern humans
Upper Paleolithic Cultural Tradition
54
The first subdivision of the Upper Paleolithic Cultural Tradition is the ...
Aurignacian
55
What's unique about the Mousterian culture as far as tools go?
Levallois technique still practiced but now the flakes are retouched (secondary flaking of the edge to reshape the flake): Mousterian point
56
When does bone begin to be more widespreadly used?
Chaterlperronian
57
Estimated timing for the loss of body hair dates to ...
1.2 my
58
Divergence of head and body lice dates to ...
170 kya
59
First evidence of tailored clothing dates to ...
40 kya
60
First reported evidence of compassion in the archaeological record?
Neanderthal individual from Shanidar Cave, Iraq who had lost a portion of his arm during life and was suggested he could not live without the assistance of others
61
First reported evidence of intragroup, interpersonal evidence?
St. Cesaire Neanderthal had a healed cranial injury suggested to have been made by a stone tool
62
How did Neanderthals practice burial?
A pit was dug and that objects (grave goods) were placed with the dead; some suggest flowers also put there (e.g. Shanidar Cave, Iraq)
63
What bone was initially suggested to be involved in the development of language? What other body part as well?
Hyoid bone; hypoglossal canal
64
What gene is actually involved in speech?
FOXP2
65
In 75 million years since divergence of mouse and chimpanzee lineages, how many amino acid changes in FOXP2? How about in the six million years since chimpanzees and humans split? What is the nature of the genetic split?
1, 2; difference is where the SNP occurs; in the family, it stops the protein from binding so it does not function at all while in the chimp/human it only alters the nature of protein
66
What is the difference in human and chimp skulls which allows for air to pass in such a way that facilitates language?
Flexed/angled cranial base as opposed to their flat cranial base angle
67
What was the other homo sapiens subspecies called found in Herto, Ethiopia?
Homo sapiens idaltu
68
What anatomical change is seen from advanced homo erectus to anatomically modern homo sapiens?
The shortening of the neurocranium as well as a continual increase in brain skill resulting in a skull that is shorter and tall and therefore no longer platycephalic. This is the first major change in skull anatomy except for a reduction in the face in over 1.3 my.
69
When did anatomically modern humans arise?
400-300k years ago in Africa
70
First migration or dispersal event of homo sapiens?
From East Africa dispersed throughout Africa; remains found in North, East and South Africa between 200k and 60k years ago
71
Prior to 60k years ago what happened to homo sapiens sapiens that left Africa?
Died in a Mega Drought documented in Africa
72
Where did the 2nd wave of Homo sapiens migration go?
Areas north of the Sahara desert where they did not interbreed with any remnants of the 1st migration, southern coast, eastward through Indo-Pakistan and into Southeast Asia and China
73
Where were Denisovans found?
Altai Mountains in Siberia 41,000 years ago
74
Apidima hominins were initially presumed to be earliest representative of Homo sapiens but based on morphology are now clearly ...
Early Neanderthals or Preneanderthals
75
All variation in modern populations outside of Africa arose when (based on genetic evidence)?
>40000 years ago
76
Who suggested Neanderthals were a separate species (which is controversial)?
William King
77
What era did major cultural changes occur in humans?
Upper Paleolithic Cultural Tradition
78
As far as tool use goes, what is the Upper Paleolithic mainly defined by?
A new way to flake stone that is known as blade technology
79
Painted caves are only associated with Homo sapiens and date to the ...
Aurignacian <32k years ago
80
The degree of skin darkness is determined by ...
the amount of melanin secreted by melanocytes
81
True or False: Humans have different amounts of melanocytes per unit area of skin, which explains skin color variation.
False
82
Human variations distributed geographically are called ...
clinal variations
83
An ... occurs in species that exhibit gradual phenotypic and/or genetic variation as a result of environmental heterogeneity.
Ecocline
84
Frontal bone (forehead) for homo habilis, erectus, and neanderthalensis versus sapiens
For the three, it slopes backwards (a little more vertical for Neanderthals), but for humans it's more vertical
85
Assign cultural traditions of Oldowan, Acheulean, Mousterian, Late Middle Stone Age, and Upper Paleolithic to species
Oldowan - Homo habilis
Acheulean - Homo erectus
Mousterian - Archaic homo sapiens + homo sapiens neanderthalensis
Late Middle Stone Age - Homo sapiens sapiens
Upper Paleolithic - Homo sapiens sapiens
86
Discuss the concept of race and subspecies. What is clinal variation (ecoclines) and what does it have to do with variation in skin color and brain size. What is the adaptive significance of the extreme range of variation in human skin color?
Race and subspecies refer to divisions within a species based on the frequency of inhabited traits. The problem with applying these concepts to humans is that there is no clear threshold for how different populations will qualify under these categories. Most human biological variation is clinal, meaning it changes gradually across geographic space.
Clinal variation (ecoclines) results from environmental pressures acting across landscapes with gene flow between populations. Human skin color is the best example: pigmentation varies gradually with latitude and UV radiation rather than forming discrete racial categories. The adaptive significance of skin color lies in balancing vitamin D production and folate protection. Dark skin protects against folate degradation and UV damage in high-UV environments, while light skin allows sufficient vitamin D synthesis in low-UV environments. This explains the extreme but continuous range of human skin color.
Brain size also changed through evolutionary time in the genus Homo with a general long-term increase from australopithecines to early Homo to later Homo. However, it's not a good race/subspecies marker because variation overlaps too heavily between populations.
87
Discuss the history of the species Homo erectus. Include in your answer the people involved in discovering these fossils, the names given to the various fossil finds over time, the major fossil sites, and cultural evidence.
Homo erectus was the first hominin to achieve a global distribution. The species was first discovered by Eugène Dubois in Java in the 1890s, where he named it Pithecanthropus erectus. In China, Davidson Black identified fossil teeth from a drug store naming them Sinanthropus pekinensis. Fossils were further found at Zhoukoudian Cave. Later work showed the Javan and Chinese fossils belonged to the same species, now called Homo erectus, which is why Ernst Mayr collapsed them under the same category
Major fossil sites include Trinil and Sangiran (Java), Zhoukoudian (China), Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge (Africa), Nariokotome (Kenya), and Dmanisi (Georgia). Morphologically, H. erectus shows a long, low cranium, thick cranial bones, large brow ridges, and increased body size.
Culturally, Homo erectus is associated with the Acheulean tool tradition, especially handaxes and cleavers, and later evidence suggests the controlled use of fire. The species shows very strong anatomical and cultural stability for over one million years.
88
The elaboration of culture is the adaptation which allowed hominins to survive and prosper. Discuss the evidence for increasing cultural elaboration in the genus Homo. Be sure to include evidence from tools made in stone, bone, and wood. Also discuss the origins of the: use of fire, cannibalism/ritual behaviors, burials, clothing, shelters, speech etc.
Cultural elaboration was the key adaptation that allowed hominins to survive and expand into diverse environments. The earliest stone tools appear by 2.6–2.4 mya (Oldowan), involving simple flakes and cores. Later, the Acheulean tradition introduced bifacial tools requiring advanced planning.
Evidence for fire use appears sporadically before 1 mya, with strong evidence after this period. Bone and wooden tools appear later, becoming widespread only in the Late Stone Age and Upper Paleolithic. Structures, clothing, and shelters have been inferred from archaeological sites and genetic evidence (such as clothing lice divergence).
Neanderthals and later humans show evidence of burials, ritual behavior, cannibalism, and care for injured individuals, suggesting complex social behavior. Speech is suggested by anatomical evidence (hyoid bone) and genetic data (FOXP2), with evidence generally indicating that mutations in FOXP2 are the biggest cause.
89
Discuss the fossil record for human evolution in Europe, the Middle East, and Western Asia from 1.8 mya to ~27,000 years ago. Include in your answer any change in the cultural traditions that occurred in this region during this time span.
Between 1.8 mya and ~27 kya, Europe and Western Asia were occupied successively by Homo erectus, Preneanderthals, and Neanderthals. Early sites include Dmanisi and Ceprano, followed by Middle Pleistocene fossils such as those from Atapuerca, Steinheim, and Petralona, often grouped as Homo heidelbergensis or Preneanderthals.
Neanderthals dominated Europe and parts of the Middle East from about 105–27 kya, showing distinctive skeletal adaptations to cold climates. Culturally, the region shifted from Acheulean tools to the Mousterian tradition, characterized by Levallois flake technology.
Near the end of Neanderthal history, transitional industries such as the Chatelperronian appear. Modern humans entered Europe around 40 kya, bringing the Upper Paleolithic, marked by blade technology, art, ornaments, and rapid cultural innovation.
90
The time between 3.0-2.0 my is significant in the evolution of hominins. Discuss the climatic, cultural, and fossil evidence known for this time range. Be sure to include discussion of any hominin lineages that appear or disappear at this time.
The period between 3.0 and 2.0 mya was marked by major climatic instability, including increased cooling, drying, and repeated glacial cycles. These environmental changes led to rapid mammalian turnover and created selective pressures favoring flexibility in diet and behavior.
During this time, several hominin lineages coexisted. There was adaptive radiation for the australopithecines. Australopithecus afarensis disappeared, while robust australopithecines (A. boisei, A. robustus) emerged alongside early members of the genus Homo. The earliest Homo fossils appear shortly after major cooling events, suggesting a link between climate change and the origin of our genus.
This period also saw the earliest stone tools and evidence for meat consumption through, for example, smashed bone.
XANTHRO1
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