Test Questions

PREHISTORIC CULTURES: ANTH 1602
MULTIPLE-CHOICE SAMPLE QUESTIONS
J. Belote

These are questions from tests given in Anth 1602 between the Fall semester, 1999 and the Spring semester, 2005. They should give you a good idea of the nature of questions to be asked on tests throughout this semester. Some of these questions may appear on your tests exactly as presented here or in modified form. Questions come from materials presented in the text and from class materials presented in lectures, discussions and videos.

Note that these questions come from the entire course, not just from one test or another. They are in no particular order. And note also that the lectures given and text being used for the course you are now using may be different in some ways from the text and lectures used to make up these questions--thus not all the questions would be answerable from the materials you are responsible for (although all but a handful are).

There is no available key to the answers to these questions, and I don't generally give the answers to them, either, unless you have made a good effort to figure them out, using ALL the material for which you are responsible.

Note that there may be more than one correct answer for any one question.

Instructions on how to answer multiple-choice questions and information on how they are scored should be viewed at INSTRUCTIONS AND GRADING SCALE

Classification in a cladistic taxonomy is based primarily on *evolutionary ancestry *similarities and differences between organisms *ranking according to a "great chain of being" *relative intelligence of organisms

Among humans, biological evolutionary adaptation to environmental change has been generally replaced by
*increased reproduction *cultural adaptation *complex instincts *migration to another environment *endoplasty

About how much of their DNA or genetic blueprint do chimpanzees and human beings have in common?
*98-99% *75% *50% *24% *7.87683% *none

According to the text * there are several pure human races * there is little objective scientific basis for the existence of modern human races * there are greater physical/genetic differences human groups called "races" than between them * NONE

The domestication of plants and animals in the Old World quickly led to *better dental health * more free time * people growing taller * NONE

The Neanderthals were probably the earliest humans known to *speak Hebrew *use fire *plant and harvest grain foods *create elaborate forms of representational art *have careful burials of the dead *NONE

Which of the following were associated with the Clovis people? *planting crops *fluted points *specialized small game hunting *31,500 YA *the New World *11,200 YA *western Siberia *North America *NONE

Although it's probable people were in the New World south of North American glaciers earlier, which date for earliest human presence is accepted by nearly all "experts" today as certain? *6500YA *13,500YA *18,500YA *28,000YA

The remains of the earliest known anatomically modern humans are found *in Africa *in Europe *in Asia *about 130,000 BP *about 32,000 BP

According to the video ...Human Origins (III) a major advantage of anatomically modern humans over Neandertals in Europe was that modern humans *had larger brains *were more likely to live on hilltops with good views *were much larger and stronger *had fewer children to have to feed *NONE

The idea that natural forces have always operated on earth in the same way at about the same rate is called
*historical regularity *uniformitarianism *the law of regularity *similism *circular entropism *elementalism

The difference in average size between males and females of a species is called *androgynism *bimorphicity *sexual dimorphism *disexuality

The area between Alaska and Siberia that was "dry" land during glacial periods is *Silaska *Berengia *Alaberia *Dyukhtai Flats *Old Crow Basin

A key element in the multiregional model of human evolution is that *gene flow was sufficient to maintain humanity as a single species *Neandertals were a side branch in human evolution *the New World was first settled by Homo erectus which then evolved separately into modern humans *NONE

The Levallois Technique *is a method of dating fossil bones *was used to make a sharp edged flake from a prepared core *was the first-known stone tool technology *was invented about 200,000 YA *existed only in Asia

Compared to modern humans, Classical Neanderthals generally *had thicker bones *were physically stronger *walked more upright *had smaller brains *had a more well defined chin *had bigger brow ridges *NONE

Chasing prey until it is exhausted and can be easily killed is called * persistence hunting * marathon hunting * paleolithic persistent * NONE

The area between Alaska and Siberia that was "dry" land during glacial periodsis *Silaska *Berengia *Alaberia *Dyukhtai Flats *Old Crow Basin

The presence of eyed needles in Upper Paleolithic contexts implies * the adornment of bodies with tattoos * the weaving of rugs *the manufacture of metal objects * the manufacture of tailored clothing * spinning and weaving

In the wild, some non-human primates use communication to specifically indicate *the presence of several kinds of predators *plans for later in the day *a variety of feelings *the presence of lots of different kinds of food

Neanderthals *probably practiced cannibalism *hunted large animals *became extinct about 32,000 YA *were the first hominids in Asia *NONE

Which of the following were domesticated first in the New World? * tomatoes * tobacco * rice * chickens * potatoes * horses * chile peppers * corn (maize) * bananas

"Pristine civilizations" emerged in * southern Africa * Mesopotamia* China * India * Meso-America (Mexico/Guatemala) * central Europe

The magnificent cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic * were probably made by Cro-Magnon people * were usually deep inside caves * were always within 100 feet of the entrances * may have been used for hunting magic * often depicted animals hunted at the time

The classification of species by the Swedish biologist Linnaeus was based on *evolutionary relationships *morphological similarities and differences *blood types *the classifications of edible plants and animals in the bible

Which of these are "absolute" dating methods? *examination of stratigraphicsequences *potassium argon (K/Ar) *radiocarbon (C14) *tree ring dating

Which of the following are primates? *lemurs *gorillas *toothed whales *Old World monkeys *chimps *modern humans *wolves *New World monkeys

The fossil record shows that under the workings of evolution, the majority ofspecies that have ever existed *are extinct *are still around and are exactly as they were when they first appeared *have evolved only recently *are still around, but are drastically different from when they first appeared

Charles Darwin was the first scientist to believe that *organisms changed fromone form into another through time *the earth was much older than a few thousand years *there were similarities between humans and other apes *NONE

On the basis of the careful study of biblical genealogies and other available records, Archbishop James Ussher calculated that the earth had been created in *4,000,000,000 BC *2,000,200 BC *10,000 BC *in 4004 BC *2002 BC

Scientists *always agree about the interpretation of data *know exactly how human evolution proceeded *have sometimes let their beliefs influence their views of reality *never agree about anything *NONE

Chimpanzees *sometimes hunt in organized groups *only eat meat from animals killed by other species *never eat meat *sometimes share meat *NONE

Mutations of genetic material *are usually harmful *occur randomly *are usually beneficial *usually occur because an organism needs to adapt more effectively to its environment *are a source of change in evolution * NONE

Mountain gorillas *are knuckle walkers *live mainly in Asia *mainly live in groups with a dominant "silverback" male *are exceptionally violent *eat a lot of leaves *are habitual brachiators *live in groups of about 90

Through his study of peas, Gregor Mendel discovered *that mutation is a major source of variation *some of the basic mathematics of inheritance *that heredity is transmitted by a large number of independent, heritable units *NONE

Unlike other primates, gibbons and orangutans are highly specialized for *brachiation *knuckle walking *grasping with a long tail *whistling

In the evolution of organisms through time *species always become bigger, stronger or faster *intelligence continually increases in animal species * there is no particular direction to change *entropy causes degeneration

The core feature of evolutionary "success" is oriented around *intelligence *reproduction *struggles for dominance *achievement of long life

Which of the following are associated with "Lucy?" *15 MYA *3.5 MYA*bipedalism *Australopithecus afarensis *Aegyptopithecus africanus

Which are associated with Ardipithecus (Australopithecus) ramidus? *4.4 MYA *7.8 MYA *MtDNA research *probable forest rather than open habitat *NONE

Virtually all scientists agree that _______ was(were) not on the direct ancestral line of modern humans? *H. erectus *A. afarensis *H. habilis *P. (A.) boisei *A. ramidus *modern chimpanzees

Gigantopithecus *was a very large ape-like creature known mainly by its teeth *was a huge hominid vegetarian from south Africa *overlapped in time with Homo erectus *is known from Asia *was found living last year in Tibet *NONE

Homo habilis *probably made Olduwan stone tools *existed at the same time as some of the robust Australopithecines *was first found in Africa *existed about 3.1 MYA *existed about 1.8 MYA *was not bipedal *buried its dead

Robust Paranthropus sp. had bigger teeth and stronger jaws than gracile Australopithecus sp. probably because they needed them to *kill each other *kill other animals for meat *chew through bone *eat tough vegetable foods *NONE

In Human Origins, Don Johanson claimed that "Lucy" *was a fraud *was found by a fundamentalist missionary *was named by John Lennon *was probably not an ancestor of modern humans *turned out to be a male *NONE

Which of the following is associated with Homo erectus? *900cc brain size *440cc brain size *Asia *Africa *North America *Eugene Dubois *1 MYA *5 MYA *Java man *Olduwan industry *Peking man

Implements made from the chips knocked off of a stone are all called *core tools *flake tools *Acheulian hand axes *bifaces *implementations

A problem for evolutionary theory when based on the idea that the individual was the unit of selection was how to explain the genetic basis for *the evolution of the eye *selfish behavior, since it might lead to retaliation altruistic behavior, because it would reduce the fitness of the individual

Which of the following have an average brain size of under 600 cc? *Homo habilis *A. afarensis *Paranthropus boisei *chimps *gorillas *NONE

Material that leant support Darwin as he thought about evolutionary ideas included *a close reading of the Bible *geological evidence supporting a great age for the earth *Mendel's discoveries in the late 1800s relating to the genetic components of inheritance *Adam Smith's "invisible hand" ideas about economic growth *Malthus's ideas on population growth and Resources

Humans and apes are *hominids *hominoids *pongids *primates *anthropoids

Which group includes humans and apes, but not any monkeys? *primates *Hominoidea *Hominidae *Pongidae *mammals *vertebrates

Isaac La Peyrere's interpretation of the two creation accounts in Genesis was that the first creation *took millions of years, but the the second one took only a few days *was a mythical tale that was falsely inserted into the Bible *was really the same as the second *was a pre-Adamite creation of non-Jewish people who became responsible for some puzzling evidence of ancient people

Primates are a group of animals usually having *grasping hands and feet *a tendency toward single births rather than "litters" *claws instead of nails *stereoscopic vision *large brains in proportion to their body size *NONE

Lamarck's early 1800s theory of evolution is characterized primarily by the idea that *characteristics acquired during life are passed on to offspring *genes (as they came to be known) control evolution *evolution is a completely random process *most organisms don't produce enough offspring

Dart found what he thought were tools used by Australopithecines. These were made of *animal bone *human bone *pebbles *wood *sharpened sea shells *NONE

For the Catholic church, natural law refers to *the laws of physics, given by God, to run the universe *the normal behavior of wild animals controlled by genetically driven instincts *the moral standards that a free, objective human could figure out rationally, without direct revelation from God *the laws that have been revealed by God to humans through direct revelation *NONE

Ramapithecus, Proconsul and Dryopithecus are all *fossil apes *the generic names of modern apes *the earliest forms of primates *New World monkeys

Which one of the following behaviors seems to be most rarely found among non-human animals? *mutualistic *selfish *spiteful *altruistic

Which one feature is most important in the view of modern scientists to distinguish hominids from other primates?
*reduced canines *habitual bipedalism *fully opposable thumbs *lack of a tail * brain over 600cc

The video ... Human Origins indicated that australopithecines (early hominids) were probably *very successful hunters *more likely to have been scavengers rather than hunters *probably ate only fruits, nuts and tubers *NONE

In most female primates sexual receptivity is limited to a cyclic period of fertility called *menstruation *estrus *surtse *gynectus *NONE

Orangutans *live in the tropical forests of Asia *have never been studied in the field *live in large social groups *travel mainly on the ground

Which stands bipedally most often, shows the greatest variety of sexual activity with the greatest variety of partners, and has the strongest patterns bonding among non-related adult females? *bonobos *gorillas *gibbons

Harmful (usually) unexpressed recessive genes carried by a population are called the *recessive generation *genetic load *founder effect

Among hominoids, only humans ever *walk bipedally *hunt & eat meat *kill others of their own kind *use tools *use medicinal plants when sick *NONE

In his book On the Origin of Species, Darwin *tried to prove that God could not exist *barely mentioned the application of his theory to human evolution *showed that evolution was actually based on biblical principals *promoted the idea that evolution occurred through a process known as "natural selection" * NONE

The example of one species of butterfly mimicking another's wing form and color provided evidence that *evolution is not an entirely random process but is "guided" by natural selection *evolution is a completely random process

The idea that the fitness of an individual not only includes its own reproductive success but that of its relatives (who share some of its genes) is called *the founder effect *inclusive fitness *the Hardy-Weinberg Law

The video ... Human Origins showed that relative to human adults, human newborns *are born much less developed than newborns of other primates *are born more fully developed than newborns of other primates *have about the same level of development of apes and gorillas * neither

Which of the following are associated with the Acheulian (stone axe) industry? *H. erectus *A. africanus *3.1 MYA *1.4 MYA *0.1 MYA E. Africa

Homo erectus was the first hominid to *use fire *live in the New World *live in Africa *walk upright *have a brain as large as 1500cc *NONE

Which of the following are associated with "Lucy?" *Ethiopia *South Africa *5 MYA *3.5 MYA *1.5 MYA *bipedalism *Richard Leakey *Don Johanson *Australopithecus afarensis *Aegyptopithecus africanus *Ardipithecus ramidus

Which are associated with Australopithecus africanus? *pongid *Asia *bipedalism *Indonesia *1200 cc brain *3.5 MYA *12 MYA *Darwin

Many scientists were reluctant to accept Raymond Dart's discovery of Australopithecines in South Africa at first because *it showed development of bipedalism before a large brain *the theory of evolution had not yet been developed *it was not found in Europe *of Dart's participation in hoaxes

The earliest known hominid fossils appeared about *5.5 MYA *4.4 MYA *3.3 MYA

The "Clovis Barrier" refers to * glaciers which blocked entry of humans into North America * a genetic bottleneck which led to most American Indians having type O blood * restrictions on human hunting ability before the invention of the bow and arrow * A time period before which the well proven presence of humans in the Americas was difficult to establish to the satisfaction of conservative scientists

According to Richard Leakey in Settling Down * Jericho is one of the world's oldest cities * the Natufians of the Middle East completely quit hunting once they started planting grain crops * modern domesticated grains such as wheat and barley are identical in every way to the wild grains from which they were derived

The first humans to expand their range well outside Africa were *Homo habilis *Homo erectus *Australopithecus afarensis *Neanderthals *Cro-Magnons

Australopithecus garhi is the only Australopithecine thought to have *an age of greater than 4.5MY *a brain size exceeding 700cc *used stone tools they made to butcher carcasses and prepare meat *not been bipedal *NONE

Which of the following are associated with Olduvai Gorge? *Raymond Dart *Paranthropus boisei *Homo habilis *Mary Leakey *stone tools *none

Which are associated with Australopithecus anamensis? *most recently discovered hominid fossil *older than A. afarensis *Meave Leakey *Don Johanson *Rene Dubois *younger than A. ramidus *6 MYA *4 MYA *2 MYA

According Johanson in In Search of Human Origins, the main innovation which directly led early humans to leave Africa and spread to other parts of the world was *stone tools *sharp spears *fire management *dugout canoes

Which of these was found by a scientist before any of the others on this question? *Australopithecus afarensis *Australopithecus garhi *Homo habilis *Homo erectus *Australopithecus africanus

Cactus Hill, the Topper site, Meadowcroft and Monte Verde all seem to provide good evidence of * the beginnings of agriculture in the Americas * the presence of pre-Clovis populations in the Americas * the widespread manufacture of hoaxes in archaeology America * people killing off much of the mega-fauna in the Americas

Sinodonty (shovel shaped incisors) is most common in which TWO of the following populations? * American Indians *Indians from India * Northeast Asians * Black Africans * White Europeans * Australian Aborigines * Polynesians

Which are associated with the Miocene Epoch? *abundant forest cover *more grassland than forest cover *dry, cold weather over most of the earth *more living ape species than now *30MYA-250MYA *5MYA-25MYA *1MYA-10MYA

The class examples of the bonobo, Kanzi with stone tools, and a raven with food on a string were cited to show there is evidence that at least some non-human animals can (pick only one) *make tools *figure out solutions to some problems *add and subtract *use tools *learn only through trial and error

Which of the following are associated with the Olduwan industry? *the making of fire *Northern Asia *simple flake and core tools *4.5 MYA *1.8 MYA *0.2 MYA *Swanscombe skull *H. habilis *H. erectus *NONE

Which are associated with the "Mitochondrial Eve" or "Garden of Eden" hypothesis? *the supposition that MtDNA mutates at a relatively constant rate *The idea that there is more MtDNA variation in Africa than in other parts of the world *the idea that anatomically modern humans originated only in Africa

During most of the time Neanderthals existed, the climate of Europe was *warmer than now *about the same as now *colder than now

All well-respected paleoanthropologists agree that *Neanderthals were a dead-end species that left no descendants *Modern humans evolved first (and only) from Homo erectus in Africa *the first spoken language began 6000 ya with Proto-Nostratic *Australia was not settled until 10,000 YA *NONE

Australia was first inhabited by humans *before 30,000YA *no earlier than 5500 YA *about 140,000 YA *from Southeast Asia *from Europe *NONE

Swanscombe and Steinheim are *researchers who discovered that women gathered more food than men hunted in the Upper Paleolithic *two archaic Homo sapiens from 200,000 to 300,000YA *sites in South Africa where several early hominids were found *authors of our text *important cave sites in Germany *NONE

Involuntary signals that express inner emotional and physiological states are generated by the *cerebral cortex *limbic system *higher brain centers

Among nomadic foragers *rule is usually by the strongest male *decisions are usually made on the basis of consensus *band membership is usually quite flexible *survival depends on continuous hard labor nearly every day *NONE

Which can sweat the most for its size? *modern humans *gorillas *chimps

The Middle Paleolithic is characterized by *Neanderthals in Western Europe *the invention of Acheulian tools *the emergence of Homo sapiens *NONE

Which are associated with Dyukhtai? *Mesopotamia *Siberia *may be related to the earliest settlement of the Americas *38,000 YA *18,000 YA *NONE

A problem for many years in interpreting the nature of Neanderthals was that a skilled paleontologist, Marcellin Boule *believed that Neanderthals were more advanced than modern humans *presented reconstructions of Neanderthals which showed them tohave a brutish appearance and clumsy body *presented evidence that Neanderthals interbred extensively with Cro-magnons

Cro-Magnons are *Sapiens homo homo *Homo sapiens homo *Homo sapiens neanderthalensis *Homo cro-magnon *Homo sapiens sapiens *NONE

The view that Homo sapiens sapiens, evolved separetely in several places, a few hundred thousand YA is called the
*replacement model *diffusion model *multiregional model *singularity model *Euroafroasiatic model

Some apes taught to communicate by humans appear to be able to *use more than 300 symbolic elements ("words") *tell lies *make requests *use insult terms *NONE

In the Upper Paleolithic there is a dramatic increase in the use of which raw materials? *bone *iron *antler *plastics *ivory *bronze *NONE

During severe glacial periods in the last million years sea levels were lower than now by as much as about ___ feet, maximum. *3 *33 *330 *3,300 *NONE--sea levels were always higher during severe glacial periods

According to Mendel's experiment, if a homozygous round pea (the dominant form) is bred with a homozygous wrinkled pea what percentage of the offspring will be round?/ what approximate percentage of the offspring's offspring will be round?Note: the following answers contain responses to both questions (1st/2nd) *0/25 *0/75 *50/50 *100/100 *100/75 *3.3/66.6

Which of the following are associated with the Mousterian? *Acheulian tools *H. erectus*Levallois technique *60,000 YA *Neanderthal *NONE

The Upper Paleolithic is characterized by *the presence of Cro Magnon in Europe *effective hunting techniques *cave paintings in Europe *the spread of Homo erectus to the New World *the first human burials *NONE

In the video In Search of Human Origins (III) we see that Alan Thorne, the Australian paleoanthropologist believes that *humans first arrived in Australia at least 200,000YA *modern humans evolved from Homo erectus not only in Africa, but also in Asia and Europe *the first modern humans evolved in Australia and spread from there to the rest of the world *NONE

Discoveries from caves in Israel seem to indicate that *Neanderthal-like hominids lived in that area 40 to 50 thousand years after more modern-like hominids *Neanderthal-like hominids are all earlier than more modern types *Neanderthals are ancestral to all later Homo sapiens *Adam was a woman

Which of the following are associated with Jericho? * India * the Middle East * 10,000 YA * one of the world's oldest walled towns * NONE

 
  
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