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Chapter 8
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
MULTIPLE CHOICE
W 1. Skulls from Ndutu in Tanzania, Swanscombe (England), and Steinheim (Germany) have
been found. Dating from between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago, the remains are
considered to be _______________.
a. primitive A. africanus
b. transitional between H. habilis and H. erectus
c. transitional between H. erectus and H. sapiens
d. primitive H. erectus
e. modern H. habilis
2. Skulls found at Steinheim and Swanscombe have larger brains than H. erectus; the skull
at Sale is small but looks modern from the back. Jaws from Morocco and France combine
H. erectus and European Neandertal characteristics. The skulls are more robust than
modern H. sapiens, and their maximum breadth is lower on the skull. The dates for these
skulls are between _______________.
a. 200,000 and 400,000 years ago
b. 500,000 and 1 million years ago
c. 2.9 and 3.2 million years ago
d. 3.9 and 7 million years ago
e. 40 and 100,000 years ago
W 3. The _______________ technique of making tools involves the preparation of a striking
platform at one end of specially prepared core, after which three or four long, triangular
flakes are detached, leaving a nodule shaped like a tortoise shell.
a. Oldowan
b. Acheulean
c. Paleoindian
d. Levalloisian
e. microlith
4. The Levalloisian technique of making tools _______________.
a. was developed by Andre Levallois
b. is found only in Europe and the Middle East
c. is a more efficient way of making a core tool by pressure-flaking the edges
d. is associated with transitional forms between H. erectus and H. sapiens
e. none of the above
W 5. Which of the following provides a tangible record of our ancestors’ cultural abilities that
corresponds with the simultaneously biological expansion of the brain?
a. archaeological record
b. physicists’ estimates
c. paleoanthropologists’ measurements
d. geneticists
e. historians
6. The name given to archaic H. sapiens in Europe and western Asia about 100,000 years
ago is _______________.
a. Ramapithecus
b. Neandertal
c. Cro-Magnon
d. Sivapithecus
e. Aegyptopithecus
7. One of the first Neandertal was discovered _______________.
a. by Eugene Dubois in 1908
b. in the Neander Valley in 1856
c. in the cave of Zhoukoudian in 1936
d. in South Africa by Raymond Dart
e. in the Fayum Depression during the Oligocene
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8. You are a paleoanthropologist excavating a site in Southwestern Asia. You come across
several bodies buried in graves. Their brains are at least the size of modern humans. Their
front teeth are large and worn down from use, the facial projection of their noses and
teeth form a kind of prow, and both sexes are muscular and robust. At the back of the
skull is a bony mass for the attachment of powerful neck muscles. You decide that they
are _______________.
a. H. erectus
b. A. robustus
c. Neandertal
d. Cro-Magnon
e. modern H. sapiens
W 9. The massive, dense foot and leg bones of typical of Neandertals of Europe and
Southwestern Asia is suggestive of _______________.
a. adaptation to a cold arctic climate.
b. high levels of strength and endurance.
c. large levels of food consumption.
d. robust muscles in the shoulder and arm.
e. all of the above .
10. It is correct to say that the archaic H. sapiens that lived in Africa, China, and Java
evidenced a lack of the extreme midfacial projection and massive muscle attachments on
the back of the skull that characterize Neandertal. The archaic H. sapiens lived at the
same time as the Neandertal of Europe and the Middle East and
___________________________.
a. looked like the Neandertal
b. were more muscular and robust than the Neandertal
c. were a robust version of populations that developed later
d. had smaller brains than modern humans
e. were less robust than modern humans
W 11. The typical Neandertal tool-making industry is called _______________.
a. Oldowan
b. Acheulean
c. “Lower Paleolithic”
d. Mousterian
e. Aurignacian
12. The Mousterian tool tradition is found in Europe, Western Asia, and Africa between
_______________.
a. 200,000 and 300,000 years ago
b. 40 and 125,000 years ago
c. 40,000 and 10,000 years ago
d. 500,000 and 1 million years ago
e. 1.2 and 4 million years ago
13. Found between 40,000 and 166,000 years ago in Europe, Western Asia, and Africa, this
tool-making tradition included hand axes, flakes, scrapers, borers, gravers, notched
flakes, and points for spears. It is called the _______________ tradition and is associated
with the fossil remains of _______________.
a. Acheulean, H. erectus
b. Mousterian, H. erectus
c. Acheulean, Neandertal
d. Mousterian, Neandertal
e. Oldowan, H. habilis
14. The Mousterian tool tradition enabled Neandertal to gain control over the
_______________ environment that became prevalent in Europe about 70,000 years ago.
a. arctic
b. tropical
c. savanna
d. arboreal
e. desert
15. The greater depth of deposits at Mousterian sites implies that Mousterian peoples
_______________.
a. spent very little time at any one place.
b. were less mobile.
c. were collecting debris in middens.
d. had no middens.
e. were farmers.
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
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W 16. Evidence about the cultural and social life of Mousterian peoples suggests that
_______________.
a. cultural factors did not help to ensure survival.
b. when someone died, they left them where they lay and moved on to another site.
c. they wore no clothing and had no means of decoration.
d. they did not have the capacity for rich symbolic thought.
e. none of the above
17. The remains of a partially blind amputee discovered in Shanidar Cave in Iraq, and the
remains of a man crippled by arthritis at La Chapelle, suggest that Neandertal
_______________.
a. had more accidents than modern peoples
b. were genetically inferior
c. were the discarded wanderers of more developed peoples
d. were productive enough to support handicapped individuals
e. ate foods that were too rich for them
18. Cultural evidence for ________________shows that they buried their dead, placing
flowers and red pigment in the grave; that they had a complex tool kit and could live at a
single site for fairly long periods of time; and that they could support old and
handicapped individuals.
a. H. erectus
b. Cro-Magnon
c. Neandertal
d. Ramapithecus
e. H. habilis
W 19. The evidence from Africa, China, and Southeast Asia suggests that _______________.
a. local populations evolved from H. erectus to archaic H. sapiens to modern
populations.
b. modern H. sapiens evolved in Europe and wiped out other types of early humans.
c. the ancestry of modern humans is not known.
d. modern H. sapiens evolved in South Africa, went across waters to Southeast Asia and
eventually to China, and eventually replaced the archaic populations of Central Asia
and Europe.
e. H. erectus populations are still living there, whereas modern humans have evolved in
other parts of the world.
20. Because they were not near as brutish and apelike as originally portrayed, some scholars
see the Neandertals as the archaic H. sapiens of Europe and Southwest Asia, ancestral to
the more derived, anatomically modern populations of these regions of the last
_______________.
a. 1 million years
b. 500,000 years
c. 100,000 years
d. 30,000 years
e. 5,000 years
W 21. Until about 1.8 mya Africa was the only home of the bipedal primates. But by the time of
_______________, the genus Homo—whether hunter or scavenger—had begun to spread
far beyond their original homeland, into China, western Europe, Georgia, India, and Java.
a. Neandertal
b. H. erectus
c. modern humans
d. pithecanthropine
e. australopithecine
W 22. The Acheulean tool traditions marks the _______________ period.
a. Oldowan
b. Upper Paleolithic
c. Middle Paleolithic
d. Lower Paleolithic
e. Neolithic
23. That early members of the genus Homo were not hunters of large game is based upon
evidence from ________________.
a. genetic drift
b. gene flow
c. convergent selection
d. divergent selection
e. paleoanthropological interpretations
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
24. From its appearance 2.5 mya until about 200,000 years ago, the genus Homo began a
course of brain expansion through variational change that continued until about
_______________ years ago.
a. 1 million
b. 500,000
c. 200,000
d. 40,000
e. 10,000
W 25. Which of the following supports the understanding that the earliest members of the
genus Homo were tertiary scavengers?
a. Fossil evidence indicates that older populations in various parts of the world evolved
directly into modern populations.
b. microscopic analysis of cut marks on bones.
c. DNA may be transferred between populations through viral infections.
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
26. Sites in Europe and Africa that date roughly between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago
contain only parts of one or a very few individuals. The one exception is in northern
Spain where the remains of at least 32 individuals of both sexes—juveniles as well as
adults—were deliberately dumped by their contemporaries into a deep cave shaft know
today as _______________.
a. El Valle de las Lagrimas
b. Sima de los Huevos
c. Sima de los Esqueletos
d. Sima de los Huesos
e. Cueva de los Huesos
27. Taking place around 200,000 years ago in Africa, a technological breakthrough called
_______________ required the affixing of small stone bifaces and flakes in handles of
wood-to make improved spears and knives.
a. gluing
b. smelting
c. hafting
d. wrapping
e. grooving
28. _______________ observes that “classic” Neandertal features as sloping foreheads,
bunlike appearance of the back of the skull and distinctively small mastoid processes are
commonly present in medieval skulls from Denmark and Norway.
a. Jennifer Thompson of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
b. C. Loring Brace of the University of Michigan
c. Barry Hewlett of Washington State University
d. Jose Cuellar of San Francisco State University
e. Diego Vigil of University of California, Los Angeles
29. The Mousterian tool kits contained a much greater variety of tool types than the previous
traditions that users to carry out which of the following?
a. intensify their utilization of food resources
b. increase the quality of clothing
c. increase the availability of clothing
d. increase the quality of shelter
e. all of the above
30. Which of the following qualities describe Neandertal hunting practices?
a. opportunistic
b. deliberately planned
c. unstructured
d. logistically organized
e. b and d
31. That Neandertal society developed to the point of being able to care for handicapped
members of the group, as evidenced by which of the following?
a. “oldsters” are well represented in the fossil record
b. virtually every elderly Neandertal skeleton shows evidence of trauma, with extensive
healing of wounds
c. virtually every elderly Neandertal skeleton shows evidence of trauma, with
significant signs of infection
d. virtually every elderly Neandertal skeleton shows evidence of trauma, with little
evidence of infection
e. a, b, and d
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
32. The hypoglossal canal in Neandertals is like that of modern humans and unlike that of
apes. This feature indicates the ability to _______________.
a. chew food thoroughly
b. communicate through a series of grunts
c. make the tongue movements necessary for articulate speech
d. make music
e. digest food completely
33. _______________ is superior in almost every way to materials normally used to make
modern-day scalpels.
a. Obsidian
b. Slate
c. Quartz
d. Steel
e. Shale
34. Which of the following is a correct statement about speech and language capabilities of
Neanderthal?
a. Neandertals lacked physical features necessary for speech.
b. The vocal tract was adequate for speech.
c. Neanderthals had the neural development necessary for spoken language.
d. Features are evident that allow increased breath control required for speech.
e. All of the above statements are correct, except for a.
35. The hypoglossal canal important for spoken language has taken on the characteristic large
size seen in contemporary humans in fossil skulls dated to ____________________.
a. 200,000
b. 500,000
c. 1,000,000
d. 750,000
e. 10,000
36. The use of yellow and red pigments of iron oxide, called ochre, became especially
common by _____________ years ago.
a. 1,750,000
b. 130,000
c. 50,000
d. 25,000
e. 10,000
37. Some scholars like _______________ began to see Neandertal as no more than “less
finished” versions of the anatomically modern populations that held exclusive sway in
Europe and the Middle East after 30,000 years ago.
a. Mary Leakey
b. Charles Darwin
c. C. Loring Brace
d. Louis Leakey
e. Jennifer Thompson
38. Percussive method of tool manufacture is _______________.
a. a form of technology that applies principles of carving
b. a form of technology that utilizes fossils
c. a form of technology that is evidenced in Oldowan tool traditions
d. a form of technology that made possible the butchering of meat from scavenged
carcasses
e. c and d
39. Evidence of symbolic activity by Neandertals raises the possibility of the presence and
use of _______________.
a. digging sticks
b. the cross
c. musical instruments
d. priests
e. cults
40. Anthropologist _______________ states that “…a composite tool may be analogous to a
sentence, but explaining how to make one is the equivalent of a recipe or a short story.”
a. Alexander Marshack
b. Stanley Ambrose
c. Eugene Dubois
d. C. Loring Brace
e. Ashley Montegue
41. Evidence in support of Neanderthal use of language comes from _______________.
a. the historical record
b. radio-carbon dating
c. glottochronology
d. Potassium-argon analysis
e. expanded thoracic vertebral canal
42. A hollow bone object with perforations was discovered at a Mousterian site in Slovenia.
Its discoverer, French archaeologist _______________, thinks it is a flute.
a. Marcel Marceau
b. Pierre LeBlanc
c. Gerard Depardieu
d. Marcel Otte
e. Charles de Gaulle
43. Those supporting a theory of Neanderthal language and speech capabilities use primarily
a. Multiregional Hypothesis.
b. Genetic Structuralism.
c. Drifting Genetics.
d. Adam Hypothesis.
e. specific anatomical features.
Chapter 8
TRUE/FALSE
W 1. The question of whether H. erectus has language must take into consideration that the
vocal tract and brain of H. erectus are intermediate between those of H. sapiens and
earlier Australopithecus.
W 2. In the fossil record, Homo erectus appears suddenly, with no transitional forms.
W 3. Neandertals of Europe and the Middle East have midfacial projection and massive muscle
attachments.
W 4. The Oldowan tool tradition represents the oldest tools found.
W 5. The hand axe is the signature tool of the Acheulean tradition associated with remains of
H. erectus in Africa, Europe, and southwestern Asia and represents a significant step beyond
the generalized cutting, chopping, and scraping tools of the Oldowan.
6. Neandertal probably had the capacity for spoken language.
7. The Levalloisian tradition was developed by anatomically modern humans.
8. Although the Neandertal were highly developed in terms of social cooperation, there is
no evidence that they cared for the handicapped or dead.
9. The Neandertal of Europe and Western Asia support the idea that archaic populations all
over the world possessed modern capabilities of language.
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
10. A relatively flat base in Neanderthal skulls would have prevented speech.
11. Among modern humans, the sharing of thoughts and ideas, as well as the transmission of
culture from one generation to the next, is dependent upon language.
12. By 200,000 years ago people not only made a wide variety of tools for special purposes,
but they also made objects for purely symbolic purposes, engaged in ceremonial
activities, and cared for the old and disabled.
13. To many anthropologists, Neandertal has become the quintessential “caveman,”
portrayed by cartoonists as a slant-headed, stooped, dim-witted individual clad in animal
skins and carrying a big club.
14. Despite the popular stereotype, evidence was forthcoming that Neandertals were nowhere
near as brutish and apelike as originally portrayed.
15. Relative to body mass, Neandertals’ limbs were relatively long, as they are in modern
humans native to especially hot climates.
16. With respect to the brain, paleoneurologists, working from endocranial casts, are agreed
that Neandertals had the neural development necessary for spoken language.
17. Clearly, when evidence is considered in its totality, there are compelling reasons to deny
that Neandertal had the ability to speak.
18. The practice of hafting was not a major technological advance appearing in the
archaeological record.
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19. Not only did fire provide warmth, but it may have assisted in the quest for food.
20. From the fossil record it can be assumed that Neandertal used red ocher.
21. For Middle Paleolithic Homo, cultural adaptive abilities relate to the fact that brain size
was less than people living today.
22. The Neandertals were merely casual or opportunistic hunters.
23. The fossil and archaeological evidence from the Middle Paleolithic do not indicate a
simple one to one correspondence between cultural innovations and a biological change
preserved in the shape of the skull.
MATCHING
Match the site to its significance.
a. site of a Neandertal burial
b. early discovery of an arthritic old man
c. gave its name to Neandertal tool tradition
d. site in southwestern Germany where flute was discovered
1. ______ Le Moustier
2. ______ Shanidar Cave
3. ______ La Chapelle aux Saints
4. ______ Hohle Fels Cave
Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
SHORT ANSWER
1. What was the Levalloisian technique and what advantages did it offer toolmakers?
2. What does the hypoglossal canal refer to, and why is it important to the study of human
evolution?
3. What are some misconceptions people have about the appearance of the Neandertal?
4. Describe a typical Mousterian tool kit.
5. What evidence supports the idea that the Neandertal had spoken language?
6. What conclusions can be drawn from the evidence of the Middle Paleolithic and the
relationship between culture, skulls, and modern humans?
7. What evidence is there in the fossil record that would indicate Neandertal culture had
become more than barely adequate to ensure survival?
8. What supports the reason for the relative abundance of reasonably complete Neandertal
skeletons.
9. Why do some reject the hypothesis that Neandertal had and used musical instruments
such as flutes?
10. What does Neandertal’s expanded thoracic vertebral canal, a feature they share with
modern humans, but not the earlier H. erectus, suggest?
11. What is the difference between the power grip and the precision grip?
ESSAY
1. What is the “Neandertal problem”? What are some alternative theories concerning the
fate of the Neandertal?
2. How do factors related to biological and cultural capabilities determine the designation of
species in the fossil record?
3. Provide evidence to support Neandertal culture as more than just adequate to ensure
survival.
5.4. What is the evidence to support the theory that symbolic behavior marked Mousterian
culture?
6.5. Provide evidence for and against the supposition that Neandertal had spoken language.
7.6. Discuss the present day controversy surrounding the interpretation of Neandertal fossils.
Which interpretation do you support and why?
8.7. Discuss the arguments for and against the notion that Neandertal had musical
instruments.
9.8. What sort of language skills and linguistic abilities do you think early Homo possessed?
What evidence would be required to support your interpretation?