Introduction to Human Evolution Exam
Questions
Course Introduction
Introduction to Human Evolution explores the biological and cultural development of humans from our earliest ancestors to the present day. This course examines fossil and genetic evidence for human evolution, introduces key concepts in evolutionary theory, and surveys the milestones in hominin development, including tool use, language, and social behaviors. Students will analyze fossil discoveries, learn about anthropological methods, and consider debates about human origins, diversity, and adaptation. The course aims to provide a foundational understanding of how scientific data informs our knowledge of what it means to be human.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Physical Anthropology 3rd Edition by Clark Spencer Larsen
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Physical Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Bipedalism is considered one of the hallmarks of hominid evolution because it:
A)was the first evolutionary development that distinguished humans from other animals.
B)was possible only after the advent of simple material culture.
C)followed brain expansion in human evolution.
D)allowed hominids to come out of the trees and make tools 10 mya.
Answer: A
Q2) Physical anthropologists seek to study:
A)humans from a cultural perspective.
B)humans from a biological perspective only.
C)humans from a biological and cultural perspective.
D)human behavior only.
Answer: C
Q3) What makes us human?
A)physiology, culture, and planning
B)biology, culture, and religion
C)physiology, behavior, and religion
D)biology, culture, and behavior
Answer: D
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3
Chapter 2: Evolution: Constructing a Fundamental Scientific Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) James Hutton:
A)extensively studied fossils.
B)revealed that fossils would provide the history of past life.
C)created the first scientific classification of plants and animals.
D)provided geologic evidence necessary for calculating the time span of evolution.
Answer: D
Q2) The scientist who coined the name Homo sapiens for human beings and placed them in a higher taxonomic group (primates) was:
A)Charles Darwin.
B)Georges Cuvier.
C)Carolus Linnaeus.
D)Robert Hooke.
Answer: C
Q3) Gene flow differs from genetic drift because it is the:
A)random change in the frequency of alleles.
B)random change in a gene or chromosome.
C)guiding force of evolution.
D)spread of new genetic material from one gene pool to another.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Genetics: Reproducing Life and Producing
Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Genetic analysis of haplotypes and variants among living and precontact Native Americans indicates that Native Americans:
A)underwent a huge decline in genetic diversity after Columbus's arrival in the New World.
B)living today appear to be as diverse genetically as their ancient ancestors thousands of years ago.
C)have a genetic structure and haplogroups that are quite recent.
D)living today appear to be more diverse genetically than their ancient ancestors.
Answer: B
Q2) Human ABO blood types are determined by:
A)regulatory genes.
B)multiple alleles.
C)multiple genes.
D)homeotic genes.
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Genes and Their Evolution: Population Genetics
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Sample Questions
Q1) What effect does natural selection have on population variation?
A)It increases variation.
B)It decreases variation.
C)It both increases and decreases variation.
D)It does not affect variation.
Q2) When individuals of the same species are reproductively isolated, genetic differences may accumulate in sufficient number so that new species could emerge.Such an event would be an example of:
A)microevolution.
B)the founder effect.
C)equilibrium.
D)macroevolution.
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a genetic disorder that decreases susceptibility to malaria?
A)G6PD deficiency (favism)
B)sickle-cell anemia
C)Huntington's chorea
D)thalassemia
Q4) Why is the peppered moth an excellent example of directional selection?
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Chapter 5: Biology in the Present: Living People
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Q1) Which of the following biological processes involves a reduction in homeostasis?
A)senescence
B)Wolff's law
C)prenatal development
D)adult stage of development
Q2) Genetic adaptation:
A)occurs at the population level via natural selection.
B)occurs at the individual level during childhood.
C)occurs at the individual level throughout an individual's lifetime.
D)involves using material culture to make living possible in certain settings.
Q3) Functional adaptations:
A)are important population-level genetic changes.
B)occur at the individual level only during childhood.
C)involve using material culture to make living possible in certain settings.
D)are biological adjustments within an individual's lifetime, including developmental adaptations and acclimatization.
Q4) Discuss how natural selection has likely influenced the evolution of skin color in humans.
Q5) Discuss the origins of racism.Include early scientists and their views on human variation.
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Chapter 6: Biology in the Present: the Other Living Primates
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Q1) Low, rounded cusps indicate a diet of:
A)fruit.
B)meat.
C)insects.
D)leaves.
Q2) Relative to body size, primate brain size is:
A)proportional to human brain size.
B)more or less the same in large and small primates.
C)smaller than in other large mammals.
D)larger among great apes than among other primates.
Q3) Anthropoids differ from prosimians in that they:
A)have more teeth.
B)have better color vision.
C)are less dimorphic sexually.
D)have a smaller brain relative to body size.
Q4) Relative to other primates, prosimian adaptations include:
A)an enlarged olfactory bulb and enlarged scent glands.
B)a larger brain.
C)a reduced number of teeth.
D)smaller eye orbits.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Primate Sociality, Social Behavior, and Culture
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Q1) Monogamous refers to:
A)a social group that is dominated by a single sex.
B)a social group that includes an adult male, an adult female, and their offspring.
C)primates that live exclusively as a nuclear family.
D)a primate social group that includes an adult male and several adult females with their offspring.
Q2) A male and female gibbon that are similar in size likely demonstrate the lack of sexual dimorphism:
A)due to the polygamous social structure in gibbons.
B)as the result of unequal access to resources within their environment.
C)due to decreased competition for mates in a monogamous social structure.
D)which is not related to social structure in gibbons.
Q3) Sexual dimorphism:
A)relates to sexual courtship rituals in primates.
B)is the study of sexual intercourse between primates.
C)tends to be lower than in groups where males disperse and compete with unrelated males.
D)determines male and female social hierarchy.
Q4) Why are primates social?
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Chapter 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature
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Q1) Igneous rock can be dated with which of the following methods?
A)radiopotassium dating
B)dendrochronology
C)radiocarbon dating
D)fluorine dating
Q2) In the 1600s Nicolaus Steno proposed:
A)the principle of uniformitarianism.
B)taphonomy.
C)the law of stratigraphy.
D)the law of superposition.
Q3) Eras are:
A)divisions in geologic time divided into periods and epochs.
B)any time periods in the past.
C)divisions of time based on cultural standards, as in "Stone Age."
D)the time frames during which a certain fossil species existed.
Q4) Crucial to creating a fossil record of a species is:
A)a living form of the fossil species.
B)a good representation in the fossil record.
C)the preservation of soft tissue such as muscle.
D)the lack of dating; knowing the age of the fossil introduces biases.
Page 10
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Chapter
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Q1) The similarity of the foot bones between _______ and the living anthropoids makes it the likely first true primate.
A)Proconsul
B)Micropithecus
C)Dryopithecus
D)Eosimias
Q2) The Fayum desert has yielded fossils of the following three primates:
A)Oligopithecus, Apidium, and Aegyptopithecus.
B)Proconsul, Notharctus, and Adapis.
C)Eosimias, Biretia, and Micropithecus.
D)Proconsul, Eosimias, and Adapis.
Q3) The visual predation hypothesis proposes that:
A)better vision allowed for better access to fruits and small insects.
B)primate traits arose as adaptations to preying on insects and small animals.
C)species could see predators from further away, thereby securing time to flee.
D)predators had the ability to see primates better.
Q4) Discuss the selective pressures operating in the late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene that favored an adaptive radiation of monkeys and contributed to decreased diversity among apes.
Q5) Name and briefly describe the three hypotheses of primate origins.
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Chapter 10: Early Hominin Origins and Evolution: the Roots of Humanity
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Q1) Discuss the two obligate traits, including specific anatomical features, that first emerge in the preaustralopithecines to eventually become firmly established in australopithecines.
Q2) Using tools and toolmaking is an adaptation by hominins linked to:
A)improved diet.
B)bipedalism.
C)sleeping.
D)becoming larger.
Q3) Evidence indicating that Orrorin tugenensis was bipedal comes mainly from which part of the skeleton?
A)femur (thighbone)
B)skull
C)foot
D)pelvis
Q4) Australopithecus garhi may be the ancestor of:
A)Homo habilis.
B)Australopithecus afarensis.
C)Orrorin tugenensis.
D)Homo sapiens.
12
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Chapter 11: The Origins and Evolution of Early Homo
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Q1) Homo erectus walked just like a modern human, with traits like:
A)long legs and opposable toes.
B)double arches and an adducted big toe.
C)long arms.
D)a foramen magnum at the back of the skull.
Q2) Homo erectus was likely the first hominid to successfully migrate to regions beyond Africa.Discuss how the biology and culture of Homo erectus led to its success on three major continents with varying environments.
Q3) Anatomical evidence from fossilized hand bones suggests that the precision grip needed to make and use stone tools was present:
A)only in Homo erectus.
B)only in Homo habilis.
C)in Homo habilis and some australopithecines.
D)in all australopithecine and Homo species.
Q4) Homo erectus's high degree of adaptive success is evidenced by its:
A)increased reliance on material culture.
B)apparent increased intelligence.
C)reliance on unchanging environments.
D)both a.and b.
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Chapter 12: The Origins, Evolution, and Dispersal of Modern People
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Q1) Human beings first arrived in the Americas approximately:
A)50,000 yBP.
B)25,000 yBP.
C)15,000 yBP.
D)5,000 yBP.
Q2) Compared to modern Homo sapiens, archaic Homo sapiens has:
A)a long and low skull, a smaller brain size, and a large masticatory complex.
B)a taller and wider nasal aperture, a more projecting occipital bone, larger teeth, and no chin.
C)a longer and lower skull, a larger browridge, and a bigger and more projecting face.
D)both b.and c.
Q3) The earliest archaeological evidence of humans in Australia is from _______, dating to _______.
A)Kow Swamp; 13,000 yBP
B)Lake Mungo; 40,000 yBP
C)Melbourne; 25,000 yBP
D)Tasmania; 35,000 yBP
Q4) Discuss the origin of the Neandertals in terms of biological adaptation and other forces of evolution.
Page 14
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Biology
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Q1) Hunter-gatherers' skeletons tend to show:
A)less osteoarthritis.
B)higher levels of activity.
C)lower workload/activity.
D)bones with lower density.
Q2) Modern diseases made possible by overcrowding include, but are not limited to: A)measles, mumps, and cholera.
B)smallpox and influenza.
C)chicken pox.
D)both a.and b.
Q3) Discuss how the process of globalization affects human biocultural variation today.
Q4) What form of subsistence pattern is found in the Neolithic period? Name three geographic regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.
Q5) Tooth size and jaw size have reduced in the last:
A)17,000 yBP.
B)10,000 yBP.
C)6,000 yBP.
D)3,000 yBP.
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