Fossil and living apes exhibit a distinctive cusp pattern on the chewing surfaces of their
molar teeth known as
a. Y-5
b. Y-6
c. silodont
d. Carabelli’s cusp
The earliest australopithecines probably lived in which kind of environment?
a. dense tropical forest
b. complex hybrid habitats
c. open savanna grassland
d. arid, high-altitude uplands
Darwin observed that bipedalism frees the hand to hold objects. This led him to
hypothesize that ________ was an important selective pressure on bipedalism.
a. dental development
b. skeletal structure of the hand
c. tool use
d. human vision
Unlike Darwin, Ernst Haeckel believed that humans first evolved in
a. Africa.
b. South America.
c. Asia.
d. Haeckel did not believe in evolution.
________ is the force of evolution that is most powerful when acting on very small
populations.
a. Gene flow
b. Mutation
c. Genetic drift
d. Founder effect
Osteoarthritis is defined as
a. building up of bone tissue due to sports.
b. degenerative changes in bone tissue due to physical activity or mechanical stress.
c. loss of bone mass due to genetic factors.
d. none of the above.
Just before the arrival of the Spanish on St. Catherines Island, people there
a. were primarily fishermen.
b. were hunter-gatherers.
c. became the first farmers of the region.
d. none of the above.
Anthropology includes the study of
a. the use and social context of language.
b. fossil humans and their closest relatives.
c. prehistoric societies and artifacts.
d. all of the above.
Stress markers in the teeth that reflect growth disruption due to poor diets or to poor
health are called ________ .
a. Harris lines
b. porotic hyperostosis
c. hypoplasia
d. cribraorbitalia
What characterizes all the early hominids from Africa older than 2 million years?
a. They all possessed large brains.
b. They all possessed small brains, the size of apes’.
c. They all possessed large canines.
d. None were bipedal.
Sweating evolved in humans as a response to what?
a. humans learning how to use fire
b. humans migrating to warmer climates
c. changes in human cultural behavior to include wearing clothing
d. thermoregulatory adaptation to hair loss in humans
According to the text, the first hominid to migrate out of Africa was
a. Australopithecus.
b. Homo habilis.
c. Homo erectus.
d. Neandertals.
You are on a paleoanthropological dig in Ethiopia. You and your team uncover
fossilized finger and toe bones. You notice that while these bones are not as curved as
modern-day ape bones, they are not as straight as modern-day human bones. These
bones are slightly curved. What kind of environment did this individual live in?
a. grassland
b. desert
c. forested areas
d. tundra
Owen Lovejoy’s model for the origin of bipedalism focuses on
a. dispersing heat away from the body.
b. males provisioning females and young.
c. reaching for food in high places.
d. making and using stone tools.
You and a friend are discussing declaring a major. While you have made your decision,
your friend is still unable to decide. When you ask him what his interests are, he says
that he does not really have any but is considering being an anthropologist because he
heard they get to travel to exciting places. You agree but tell him that anthropology also
includes studying which of the following?
a. the use and social context of language
b. the study of prehistoric reptiles
c. the impacts of climate change on water availability
d. all of the above
What makes up a human karyotype?
a. 23 autosomal chromosome pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes
b. 24 autosomal chromosome pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes
c. 22 autosomal chromosome pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes
d. 21 autosomal chromosome pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes
Which of the following is not considered a robust australopithecine?
a. Australopithecus boisei
b. Australopithecus anamensis
c. Australopithecus aethiopicus
d. Australopithecus robustus
How was Darwin influenced by Thomas Malthus’s work on population growth?
a. Darwin was interested in Malthus’s examinations of population changes in pea plants.
b. Darwin was influenced by Malthus’s work on demography and population responses
to food availability.
c. Darwin liked the concept of Latin taxonomic classification as it pertained to human
groups.
d. Darwin was greatly influenced by research on acquired characteristics.
Which of the following species is a good candidate for being directly ancestral to
Australopithecus afarensis?
a. Australopithecus africanus
b. Kenyanthropus platyops
c. Sahelanthropus tchadensis
d. Australopithecus anamensis
In comparison to Prosimians, anthropoids
a. have a reduced sense of smell.
b. have an enhanced sense of smell.
c. have a reduced reliance on vision.
d. b and c only.
Swollen and bowed shin bones (tibiae) and cranial cavitations are often caused by
diseases called
a. treponematoses.
b. smallpox.
c. bubonic plague.
d. malaria.
Homo erectus was first discovered by
a. Louis Leakey.
b. Richard Leakey.
c. Eugne Dubois.
d. Ernst Haeckel.
The dating technique in which proteins are examined under high magnification using
polarized light is
a. luminescence dating.
b. electron spin resonance dating.
c. fission track dating.
d. amino acid dating.
Evolution is caused by which of the following?
a. mutation
b. gene flow
c. genetic drift
d. all of the above
While on a paleontological dig in the United Kingdom, you come across a completely
preserved (including skin) extinct species of mammal within a bog. You note that for a
mammal it is relatively hairless. In order to determine the adaptive significance of
hairlessness, you must
a. find an expert on mammals of this region and turn the find over to that person.
b. collect data that will help you to reconstruct the environment of that time.
c. determine the closest extant relative of this species and study it for better
understanding of the extinct species.
d. none of the above.
Rice was first domesticated in ________ , about 8,000 yBP.
a. Africa
b. New Guinea
c. China
d. Japan
A trait’s heritability
a. is the proportion of its variation that is genetic.
b. is the proportion of its variation that cannot be explained.
c. is the proportion of its variation that is the product of genes and environment.
d. is the proportion of its variation that results from the environment alone.
Which of the following is key to maintaining internal homeostasis?
a. Bergmann’s rule
b. Allen’s rule
c. mutations
d. adaptations
The genetic classification for apes and humans
a. includes three subfamilies within hominids: pongines, gorillines, and hominines.
b. uses the term “hominid” to describe only humans and their ancestors.
c. divides hominoids into hylobatids, pongids, and hominids.
d. none of the above.
Examples of culture include all of the following except
a. group-specific vocalization patterns.
b. handclasp grooming in chimpanzees.
c. Koko the gorilla recognizing herself in the mirror.
d. chimpanzees using spears to skewer prosimians.