Human Origins Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the biological and cultural evolution of the human species from its earliest origins to the development of complex societies. Students will examine fossil and archaeological evidence to trace the lineage of hominins, understand evolutionary processes such as natural selection, and investigate the emergence of key behaviors including tool use, language, and social organization. Through interdisciplinary perspectives from anthropology, genetics, and paleontology, the course provides an in-depth understanding of how our species has adapted and transformed over millions of years.
Recommended Textbook
Physical Anthropology and Archaeology 4th Canadian Edition by Carol R. Ember
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology?
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ethnologists study ________ but not ________.
A) material culture, culture change
B) political system, economic systems
C) primates, human evolution
D) culture change, hominins
E) hominins, culture change
Answer: D
Q2) All living peoples belong to one species, Homo sapiens.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The field of bioarchaeology draws on both sociocultural anthropology and archaeology.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) The statement that water freezes at 0°C is a law.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Uncovering the Past: Tools and Techniques
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Sample Questions
Q1) The spatial distribution that archaeological remains have in relation to each other at a site is known as
A) stratigraphy.
B) relative dating.
C) site formation processes.
D) provenience.
E) absolute dating.
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following is an example of a subsurface technique?
A) Field walking.
B) Field Surveying
C) Test pitting.
D) Aerial photography.
E) Satellite Imagery.
Answer: C
Q3) The term "taphonomy" literally means the study of fossilized hominid remains.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Reconstructing the Past: Analysis and Interpretation
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Q1) The study of faunal (animal) skeletal remains from an archaeological site would be the work of a
A) paleoanthropologist.
B) bioarchaeologist.
C) zoologist.
D) paleontologist.
E) zooarchaeologist.
Answer: E
Q2) Increasingly, palaeopathologists have become aware that A) human behaviour and culture play a significant role in the distribution of infectious diseases.
B) they should employ only microscopic examination techniques in their research.
C) they are primarily interested in genetically-caused diseases.
D) they should focus mainly on diseases that killed infants and children.
E) they must make conclusions about the general health of a population for their work to be credible.
Answer: A
Q3) Why might infant skeletons have high ¹ N levels compared to the skeletons of older children?
Page 5
Answer: breast feeding enriches babies' tissues with ¹ N.
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Chapter 4: Historical Development of Evolutionary Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) The increased prevalence of drug resistant forms of diseases is a result of
A) natural selection.
B) acquired inheritance.
C) poor medical condition.
D) migration.
E) increased medical costs.
Q2) According to Darwin's theory of evolution, humans descended from monkeys. A)True
B)False
Q3) Once speciation has occurred
A) evolution can still be reversed.
B) the new species can no longer mate with other species related to the parent population.
C) offspring of the new species are not viable.
D) mutations are limited.
E) offspring are sterile.
Q4) French naturalist Georges Cuvier was both a founder of the science of paleontology and a leading critic of the theory of evolution. A)True
B)False
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Modern Evolutionary Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) In order to initiate the production of proteins, mRNA must destroy the DNA double helix.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Genetic drift is a result of population fission.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How does the founder effect lead to genetic drift?
Q4) Growth, development and maintenance of body tissues would be impossible without
A) meiosis.
B) mitosis.
C) dominant genes.
D) recessive genes.
E) cell nuclei.
Q5) Chromosomes are built of DNA.
A)True
B)False
Q6) How does the idea of punctuated equilibrium contrast with the traditional view on the pace of speciation?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Human Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Differences in most disease patterns in humans is the result of
A) modern technology.
B) the size of the population.
C) the type of organism.
D) biological differences.
E) differences in behaviour.
Q2) Increasing rates of obesity and diabetes in the twentieth century, particularly among aboriginal populations, may be linked to possession of a "thrifty gene" that was an adaptation to food supply uncertainty and food shortages in our evolutionary past.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Current research on humans living in high-altitude environments indicates these people possess biological adaptations that are purely genetic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Culture can influence the direction of natural selection.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Provide an argument against applying racial classifications to humans.
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Chapter 7: The Living Primates
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Sample Questions
Q1) In humans the larynx is high which allows for speech.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In large groups of rhesus monkeys, behaviour seems to be determined by a degree of biological relatedness.
A)True
B)False
Q3) According to the IUCN's recent list of the world's most endangered primates, which country is home to the greatest number of endangered primate species?
A) China.
B) Madagascar.
C) Tanzania.
D) Peru.
E) Ghana.
Q4) Primates are characterized by stereoscopic vision.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why has evolution made humans so smart? Compare some of the theories that have been put forth.
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Chapter 8: Primate Evolution: From Early Primates to Hominoids
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Q1) It is suggested that the proliferation of large trees with fruit and seeds occurred during the late Paleocene and early Eocene.
A)True
B)False
Q2) No primate, living or extinct, has more than ________ in each quarter of the jaw.
A) 2 molars
B) 1 molar
C) 2 incisors
D) 1 premolar
E) 1 insicor
Q3) Omomyids are considered ________-like because of their large eyes, long tarsal bones and very small size.
A) tarsier
B) lemur
C) prosimian
D) adapid
E) loris
Q4) List the geological epochs, from the Cretaceous to the present, in consecutive order.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Early Hominins
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hominids with a brain larger than australopithecines appearing about 2.5 million years ago are generally divided into two species called
A) Australopithecus boisei and A. robustus.
B) Homo sapiens and Homo neandertalensis.
C) Homo habilis and Homo erectus.
D) Homo erectus and Paranthropus.
E) Homo habilis and H. rudolfensis.
Q2) Paleoanthropologists are quite sure that bipedalism developed quickly during the evolution of the early hominids.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The hominin pelvis shifts the orientation of the femur from the front of the pelvis to the side.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In both ancient and modern apes, the spinal column enters the skill toward the back.
A)True
B)False
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11
Chapter 10: Homo Erectus and Archaic Homo Sapiens
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Q1) For Africa, the term Middle Stone Age is used instead of Middle Palaeolithic.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Compared to Homo habilis, Homo erectus had
A) relatively big teeth, a larger brain and a small stature.
B) relatively small teeth, a similar-sized brain and a similar stature.
C) relatively small teeth, a larger brain and a taller stature.
D) relatively big teeth, a similar-sized brain and a similar stature.
E) relatively big teeth, a larger brain and a taller stature.
Q3) The Moro reflex is
A) a gag reflex exhibited by hominins.
B) a residual form of the innate ability to cling during a human infant's first few weeks of life.
C) the tendency for primate infants to keep their heads above water.
D) a tendency to flee when a predator is spotted.
E) an automatic attentiveness that anthropoid infants exhibit toward the sound of their mother's voice.
Q4) The Terra Amata site on the French Riviera is the oldest known village.
A)True
B)False
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Modern Homo Sapiens
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Multiregional Hypothesis of modern human origins, modern humans evolved in various parts of ________ after Homo erectus spread out of ________.
A) Asia; Africa
B) Europe; Africa
C) the New World; Asia
D) the Old World; Africa
E) Europe; Asia
Q2) Based on molecular evidence from mtDNA, the timing of divergence for modern humans from their archaic ancestors is about
A) 50,000 years ago.
B) 200,000 years ago.
C) 20,000 years ago.
D) 500,000 years ago.
E) 80,000 years ago.
Q3) The site of Dolni Vestnice dates to about 40,000 years ago.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Where did modern humans emerge? Summarize and compare the current theories.
Q5) What specialized structural anatomical features enabled the emergence of speech?
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Chapter 12: Origins of Food Production and Settled Life
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Q1) Tools recovered in the archaeological record suggest that Natufians harvested wild grain intensively.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The ancient town of Catal Huyuk thrived because it was located in a region that was rich with natural resources.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Natufians of the Near East are the earliest Mesolithic people known to have
A) combined the gathering of wild grains with the hunting of wild game.
B) relied entirely on wild grains for their food.
C) constructed storage pits for the wild grain they harvested.
D) organized their harvesting activities into work parties directed by managers.
E) practiced the planting of some of the grain they harvested.
Q4) Too many people raising too many animals can have a serious effect on the environment.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are some possible reasons why broad-spectrum collecting developed?
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Chapter 13: Origins of Cities and States
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Sample Questions
Q1) It has been suggested that labour and management necessary for the upkeep of ________ led to the formation of a political elite.
A) an army
B) extensive trade networks
C) herds
D) temples
E) an irrigation system
Q2) Egyptian hieroglyphics provided the inspiration for the ancient Maya to develop their own hieroglyphic system.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The ________ in ________ has been long cited as the earliest state society in East Asia.
A) Shang Dynasty, Mongolia
B) Shang Dynasty, northern China
C) Jomon, Japan
D) Sumer, China
E) Indus Valley, India
Q4) What are some of the negative consequences of the development of states?
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Chapter 14: Applied Anthropology: Physical Anthropology and Archaeology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is considered a culture-bound syndrome?
A) AIDS.
B) Malnutrition.
C) Morning sickness.
D) Anorexia.
E) Influenza.
Q2) Louis Pasteur provided evidence in support of
A) the differences between "Eastern" and "Western" diseases.
B) the importance of ethnomedicine.
C) nutrition-related growth retardation.
D) the transfer of antibodies from a mother's milk to her baby.
E) the germ theory of disease.
Q3) The acceptance of planned change rarely depends on social factors.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Many diseases, including infectious diseases like AIDS or chronic diseases like diabetes, are often viewed as "Western" diseases.
A)True
B)False
Page 16
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