Q&A Hero

Q: What types of features and artifacts that characterize the Oldowan tradition?

Q: The scientific dating technique that involves measuring the number of electrons of certain elements trapped in dental enamel of teeth that have been buried in the ground is called a) Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Dating b) Thermoluminescence Dating c) Radiocarbon Dating d) Potassium Argon Dating e) Uranium Series Dating

Q: The Homo floresiensis skeleton found on the island of Flores in Indonesia is of particular interest to scholars because: a) it has been shown to be the first human species that used fire b) there is evidence of early surgery having been performed on this individual c) cave paintings associated with the skeleton point to early symbolic behavior d) it proves conclusively that within the past 1,000 years species of Homo other than Homo sapiens still existed e) it may represent the dwarfing of a Homo species in response to the pressures of an island environment

Q: The oldest firmly documented Acheulean site outside Africa is located in: a) Java b) China c) Spain d) India e) Israel

Q: Why is ethnoarchaeology important to the study of past human behavior? Provide an example.

Q: The line on the map drawn by Movius in the 1940s separates a) the producers of Acheulean hand axes from groups that did not produce hand axes b) East and South Asia from Africa, west Asia, and western Europe c) early modern humans from Neanderthals d) all of the above e) a and b only

Q: What is the importance of experimental archaeology? Provide an example.

Q: Where was the first Homo erectus skeleton discovered? a) Java, Indonesia b) Hadar, Ethiopia c) Blombos Cave, South Africa d) Olduvai Gorge e) Laetoli, Tanzania

Q: What are chronometric dating techniques? Provide an example.

Q: What are three relative dating techniques? Provide an example.

Q: The deliberate preparation of a stone tool core so that it produces flakes of a predetermined size and shape when struck is called: a) the Cire Perdue technique b) the Levallois technique c) the Lascaux technique d) the Repouss technique e) experimental archaeology

Q: List and define the goals of archaeology.

Q: Which of the following uses has been proposed as a possible function of the Acheulean hand axe? a) The attraction of females by males with well-made hand axes. b) A weapon to throw at animals during hunting. c) For chopping wood. d) a, b, and c e) None of the above

Q: The oldest known Acheulean tools date to 1.76 million years ago and are found in: a) East Asia b) Northern Europe c) East Africa d) the southern tip of South America e) the south Asian islands.

Q: What is archaeology?

Q: In current knowledge, the Acheulean technological tradition is was first used by: a) Homo sapiens b) Homo neanderthalensis c) Australopithecus afarensis d) Homo ergaster e) Homo erectus

Q: Why is paleoanthropology considered to be a multi-disciplinary field of study?

Q: What is paleoanthropology?

Q: What are the characteristics of human culture?

Q: The Acheulean technological tradition is characterized by which tool form? a) the hand axe b) the scraper c) the blade d) the borer or awl e) the projectile point

Q: What can be said about the sexual dimorphism of Homo ergaster? a) Homo ergaster was less sexually dimorphic than the australopithecines b) Homo ergaster was more sexually dimorphic than the australopithecines c) The sexual dimorphism ofHomo ergaster was very similar to that of the australopithecines regards d) Very little: no female Homo ergaster skeletons have ever been found. e) Very little: no male Homo ergaster skeletons have ever been found.

Q: When compared with modern humans, the Turkana boy a) had a much smaller brain b) had a similar arm length in relation to his legs c) had significantly larger chewing teeth d) all of the above e) a and c only

Q: What is a hominin?

Q: Although there are important behavioral features of humans the most distinctive is not our extraordinary elaboration of and dependence on culture.

Q: One interpretation of Oldowan sites is that they served as stockpiles, or caches, for raw materials such as manuports in anticipation of future use.

Q: The Turkana Boy skeleton belongs to which species? a) Homo sapiens b) Homo neanderthalensis c) Homo ergaster d) Australopithecus boisei e) Australopithecus afarensis

Q: Only one hominin species appears to have lived at any given time. This allows us to accurately determine which species made the Oldowan tools.

Q: Humans, apes, and monkeys are all considered anthropoids.

Q: To achieve any meaningful understanding of human origins we necessarily examine only the cultural information about the past.

Q: Many unmodified rocks of types that are not present in the geology of the immediate vicinity are just rocks and have nothing to do with behavior of early hominins.

Q: The process of evolution almost never results in many closely related branches of species.

Q: Hominin occupations at Olduvai Gorge, without doubt, represent a home-base foraging pattern.

Q: Isotopic studies can be used to answer questions about what early hominins ate.

Q: The Lower Paleolithic is a term used to describe the culture of the earliest hominins.

Q: Plant foods formed the bulk of the early hominin diet, with meat and animal products an important but much smaller portion of their total food intake.

Q: Some modern apes are able to make stone tools, but studies have shown that these tools are not as sophisticated as those of the Oldowan industry.

Q: Potassium argon dating is typically used on hominin sites.

Q: Oldowan tools were very sophisticated: their manufacture required a significant amount of pre-planning and design work and thus required a lot of effort to produce.

Q: Absolute or chronometric dating always relies on the principle of radioactive decay.

Q: "Lucy," the name given to a hominin skeleton found in Ethiopia in the 1970s, would have walked upright.

Q: Seriation dates objects using the principle of superposition.

Q: The living primate that is most closely related to humans is the gorilla.

Q: Experimental archaeology involves replicating past technology as a means of producing testable inferences about the past.

Q: Adaptive radiation is a model for evolutionary change that describes a situation where species that have adapted to fit unique niches coalesce to form one evolutionary branch and to occupy just one ecological niche.

Q: All aspects of the past cultures, even the most distant, can be easily reconstructed through archaeological research.

Q: Paleoanthropology involves input from geology, ecology, and ethology.

Q: During the course of hominin evolution, which of the following traits came first: a) the controlled use of fire b) the development of stone tools c) the intentional burial of the dead d) bipedal walking e) symbolic behavior

Q: Significant information about bipedalism among early hominins has come from _____________ found in volcanic ash in the Laetoli area of Tanzania. a) figural carvings b) shoes c) a preserved village d) cave paintings e) footprints

Q: The various components of hominin biocultural evolution development simultaneously.

Q: Humans differ from other animals in the extent to which they employ symbolic communication.

Q: Australopithecus aethiopicus, A. robustus, and A. boisei are all classified as ________________ australopithecines. a) tree-dwelling b) robust c) gracile d) boiseian e) aggressive

Q: The best-preserved evidence for hominin behavior takes the form of: a) stone tools b) wooden digging sticks c) graves and intentional burials of the dead d) decorated ceramic vessels e) built stone structures

Q: Tool use is not a characteristic unique to hominins.

Q: The home-based forager model of hominin behavior proposed that Olduvai Gorge reflected what behavior? a. use as a central hunting location b. use as a prominent location for the manufacture of Oldowan tools c. the natural accumulation of animal bones d. use as a multi-purpose campsite e. use of weapons

Q: The Oldowan industry was first defined by ________________ working at _______________. a) Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens; Hadar b) Louis and Mary Leaky; Olduvai Gorge c) Berhane Asfaw and Tim White; the Middle Awash d) Donald Johanson and Mary Leaky; Aramis e) Tim White and Donald Johanson; Laetoli

Q: It is possible that Oldowan tools were made by: a) early Homo species b) australopithecines c) both early Homo species and australopithecines d) a, b and c e) early modern humans

Q: What is greatest contribution of Olduvai research? a. establishment of a well documented sequence of hominin occupation b. identification of the earliest stone tools c. contributed to understanding of the origins of bipedalism d. identification of the earliest hominins e. discovery of the first anatomically modern human

Q: 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

Q: The key artifacts in the Oldowan tool tradition are: a. chopper tools b. manuports c. flake tools d. handaxes e. hammerstones

Q: ___________ are striations found on animal bones that indicate early hominins were processing meat and marrow with tools. a) Debitage b) Cut marks c) Bifaces d) Isotopes e) Carving glances

Q: Which of the following tool forms are found in the Oldowan toolkit: a) simple cores b) sharp flakes c) bifacial hand axes d) all of the above e) a and b only

Q: Isotopic studies of the archaeological record of early hominins are primarily performed on preserved: a) seeds and wood b) stone tools c) textiles and ceramics d) bone and teeth e) all of the above

Q: The Oldowan is defined as part of what tradition: a. Lower Paleolithic b. Protohominin c. Late Stone Age d. Middle Paleolithic e. Late Paleolithic

Q: Which of the following statements correctly sums up current understanding of whether the hominins that made the Oldowan tools constructed structures? a) Yes: there are several Oldowan sites that display clusters of circular living huts b) No: because no Oldowan structures have been found we know that they did not make them c) Perhaps: temporary structures made out of perishable material such as tree nests are not preserved in the archaeological record d) Yes: a "Pompeii-like" burial of an Oldowan site under volcanic ash has produced a whole preserved "village" e) No: scientific analyses on preserved hominin skulls have shown that they did not have the mental capacity to construct structures

Q: 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

Q: Which of the following dating techniques relies on the regular growth of tree rings? a. Radiocarbon b. K-Ar c. Dendrochronology d. Paleomagnetism e. Seriation

Q: Before the appearance of Homo ergaster, male hominins were significantly larger than females of the same species. This difference in size is known as: a) polymorphic featurism b) sexual selection c) the expensive tissue hypothesis d) sexual dimorphism e) dimorphic inheritance

Q: The term "encephalization" means: a) upright walking b) scavenging meat from predator kills c) an increase in brain size d) the process of experimentally producing a stone tool e) an increase in body mass

Q: Which absolute dating technique is most commonly used on archaeological sites younger than 50,000 years? a. radiocarbon b. thermoluminescence c. argon-argon d. calendars e. fission track

Q: One of the primary methods employed by researchers investigating the question of what Oldowan tools were actually used for is: a) radiocarbon dating of animal bones found with the tools b) potassium argon dating of the tools themselves c) experimental studies in replicating the toolkit d) excavation of long-term settlement sites e) all of the above

Q: If you were digging a hominin site that contains geological layers that resulted from volcanic activity, what dating technique would you most likely use? a. radiocarbon b. thermoluminescence c. potassium-argon d. biostratigraphy e. uranium series

Q: Which absolute dating technique is most often used on hominin sites? a. radiocarbon b. thermoluminescence c. fluorine analysis d. potassium argon e. dendrochronology

Q: Based on evidence including the presence of large numbers of animal limb and marrowbones at Oldowan sites, some researchers have postulated that the makers of the Oldowan toolkit were: a) top-tier predators b) scavengers c) vegetarians d) agriculturalists e) pastoralists

Q: Which of the following is NOT an example of a radiometric dating technique? a. radiocarbon b. paleomagnetism c. potassium argon d. thermoluminescence e. argon-argon

Q: Most major Oldowan sites are quite small and consist mainly of stone artifacts and fossil remains. Researchers have suggested that these sites were: a) "home bases," similar to those used by modern hunter/gatherers b) "stone caches," where hominins stored raw material c) "favored places," which offered some form of protection or resource d) "scavenging sites," where hominins brought animal body parts from carnivore kills e) all of the above

Q: 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

Q: The earliest stone tools are from the ___________ industry. a) Acheulean b) Australopithecine c) Oldowan d) Turkana e) Clovis

Q: The first stone tools are seen in the archaeological record around a) 100 million years ago b) 250,000 years ago c) 12 million years ago d) 50,000 years ago e) 2.5 million years ago

Q: The principle of superposition is a key component of what relative dating technique? a. biostratigraphy b. cross-dating c. seriation d. paleomagnetism e. stratigraphy

Q: Most early Homo species, when compared to australopithecines, are characterized by: a) larger brains and smaller jaws and teeth b) smaller brains and larger jaws and teeth c) knuckle-walking and increased olfactory abilities d) dwelling in trees and having limited daytime vision e) a lack of tool-use and reduced bipedalism