By the end of the Ice Age, there may have been___________ humans, or
_________________.
a. 10 million, one person for every 5 square miles of land surface.
b. 100 million, one person for every 100 square miles of land surface.
c. 5 million, one person for every 10 square miles of land surface.
d. 1 million, five persons for every 1 square mile of land surface.
e. 1000 people, one person for every 10 square miles of land surface.
Which of the following presents the primary challenge that the Bering Land Bridge
represented the first route for the first humans in the New World?
a. the earliest occupations pre-date the presence of Beringia
b. many early occupations pre-date the presence of the Ice Free Corridor
c. there are no Upper Paleolithic sites in northern Asia at the time of first settlement
d. modern Native Americans are genetically unrelated to northern Asian populations
e. the technologically simplest way to enter is not on foot
The Nariokotome Homo erectus specimen
a. was discovered at Olduvai Gorge
b. is estimated to have been about 65 years old at death
c. is a young female
d. would have reached an adult height of around 6 feet
e. was destroyed in dating analysis
Which of the following terms best defines an ecofact?
a. any non-portable evidence of human behavior
b. any portable evidence of human behavior
c. any location with evidence of human occupation
d. any evidence of past environments
e. the ecological niche of a hominin species
The hieroglyphic writing system is
a. a complex system of impressions in wedge-shaped clay graphs
b. Egyptian in form but possibly Mesopotamian in inspiration
c. an epic account featuring the adventures of Gilgamesh
d. a pictographic from of Sumarian writing, but using hundreds of standardized signs
e. associated with lower status individuals
The change in relationship between humans, animals, and plants whereby they share a
mutually beneficial association is known as:
a. agriculture
b. transhumance
c. domestication
d. propagation
e. symbiosis
Before hominins made stone tools, they probably
a. used sticks or other perishable materials
b. had weapons made of metal
c. made tools from ivory
d. used pottery
e. took tools from other nonhuman primates
Seriation uses what principle to determine the ages of materials?
a. patterned changes in material culture
b. material similarity
c. faunal correlation
d. the principle of superposition
e. radiocarbon decay
The Dmanisi site is notable for which of the following
a. Being in North Africa
b. Producing crania remains that are uncharacteristic of H. erectus
c. The crania have relatively large cranial capacities
d. One complete cranium is of an older adult with jawbones that show advance bone
loss
e. Crania are not associated with stone tools
Two people (both heterozygotes) are able to taste a chemical substance called PTC. The
ability to taste PTC is caused by a dominant allele (T). The inability to taste PTC is
caused by a recessive allele (t). What proportion of their offspring would be expected to
be heterozygous?
a. 3/4
b. 1/2
c. All
d. 1/4
e. 2/3
Deterministic (or racist) views concerning human variation were once or presently held
by all of the following except
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. Oliver Wendell Holmes
d. Abraham Lincoln
e. biologists
Genetic drift is
a. the change in allele frequencies produced by random factors
b. the result of large populations
c. the opposite of founder effect
d. not evolutionary change
e. the change in allele frequencies produced by nonrandom factors
When Mendel crossed true breeding tall and short parental plants, what was produced?
a. All the offspring were tall.
b. Half the offspring were tall, the other half were short.
c. All the offspring were short.
d. The offspring were intermediate in height relative to the two parent plants.
e. About 90 percent were tall, but the rest were short.
Which of the following is NOT a reason why Olduvai Gorge is an important source of
information on hominin evolution?
a. exposures of deep geologic strata
b. ability to use radiometric dating techniques on volcanic sediments
c. rapid sedimentation
d. presence of complex stratigraphy
e. extensive settlement of agriculturalists
Modern human occupation dates to 50,000 in
a. Australia
b. South America
c. North America
d. Africa
e. Europe
The large temple complexes found at Sechin Alto and other related sites in Peru likely
served as:
a. local “corporate” centers
b. local market centers
c. regional ceremonial and market centers
d. shrines for large numbers of local populations
e. education centers
Radiometric dating techniques are based on what principle?
a. sunspot activity
b. regular, known rate of isotopic decay
c. regular changes in earth’s magnetic field
d. superposition
e. competitive exclusion
What strategy is unique to humans develop that allows them to adapt to the natural
environment?
a. evolution
b. culture
c. biological adaptation
d. walking on two legs
e. genetic change
According to the Regional Continuity Model, ________ prevented local populations of
premodern Homo sapiens from becoming separate species.
a. founder’s effect
b. gene flow
c. displacement by African Homo sapiens
d. mitochondrial DNA
e. genetic drift
A hypothesis regarding ancestor-descendant relationships that includes a time scale is
called a
a. cladogram
b. phylogenetic tree
c. phylogram tree
d. hypogram tree
e. hypoplastic tree
The Middle Pleistocene began about _____ years ago and ended______years ago.
a. 125,000, 780,000
b. 500,000, 125,000
c. 10,000, 7,000
d. 780,000, 125,000
e. 180,000, 100,000
The Abrigo do Lagar Velho specimen is an important discovery that aids in the
understanding of possible interbreeding between Neandertals and anatomically modern
H. sapiens because the remains
a. are from Portugal
b. are dated to about 50,500 years ago
c. the remains are a highly mixed set of anatomical features
d. were studied by Erik Trinkaus
e. are an incomplete skeleton of an adult female
The Upper Paleolithic
a. began at the onset of the Pleistocene
b. is a cultural period attributed primarily to Neandertals
c. is characterized by the invention of iron tools
d. began about 150,000 years ago
e. is divided into five different industries, based on stone tool technologies
Examples of relative dating includes:
a. assigning a specific calendar date
b. telling the rough age in years
c. determining whether an object is older, younger, or the same age as another
d. a seldom-used means of determining the age of an archaeological material
e. determining the radioactive decay rates of a burned object
Science is an approach based on
a. uninformed, ideology-driven claims
b. data collection, testing, and verification
c. limited debates that do not consider alternative approaches and conclusions
d. television commentators and politicians
e. partisan disputes
In general, the cranium of Homo erectus
a. has a high vertical forehead
b. is composed of delicate, thin bone
c. has no brow ridges
d. is virtually identical to that of modern humans
e. has a pentagonal shape when viewed from behind
Our digestive systems are well adapted to processed food and sedentary behavior.
a. True
b. False
Which one of the traits listed below is not used to define the order Primates?
a. a tendency towards erect posture
b. an inflexible, specialized limb structure
c. hands and feet with a high degree of prehensility
d. retention of five digits on the hands and feet
e. generalized dentition
What species likely represents the first domesticated animal?
a. cat
b. dog
c. horse
d. cattle
e. sheep
The highly organized communities of the Pacific Northwest prospered by relying on
ritualized redistribution that ensured a wider availability of regionals resources. The
communities were also practicing a way of living known as:
a. sedentism
b. domestication
c. foraging
d. transhumance
e. gathering
Today, cultural anthropologists are involved in numerous avenues of research including
all of the following except
a. the study of subcultures
b. the resettlement of refugees
c. the relationship between cultural attributes and health and disease
d. the study of their own cultures
e. the study of city or urban areas that are no longer remote
Given the data collected by a recent Australian government study on the Great Barrier
reef we recognize
a. humans have protected the reef and it is now a model for restoration projects,
worldwide.
b. humans are killing the reef through acts of violence so discrete they are unable to be
quelled by even military forces.
c. humans are indifferent to the status of the reef.
d. humans are destroying the reef through their own generated pollution.
e. it is a relatively easy task to restore the world landmark.
Remains of early genus Homo have been found in both East and South Africa.