ANTH midterm 2

Question 1

What has DNA analysis revealed about the relationship between modern humans and the Neandertals?

Answer 1

Neandertals and anatomically modern humans interbred. Present day genomes of populations outside of Africa contain small amounts of Neandertal DNA (between 1-4%).

Question 2

What is the significance of Sima de los Huseos? What has it revealed about the evolution of Neandertals?

Answer 2

Sima de los Huesos is a 430,000 year old site in Atapuerca ,Spain which has yielded the remains of 28 archaic humans (fossils identified as Homo Heidlbergensis). The traits closely resemble those of a Neanderthal, showing the evolution of H. Hieidlbergensis to Neandertals.

Question 3

What method do the archaic humans like the Neandertals use to manufacture stone tools? How does it differ from earlier tool traditions?

Answer 3

Archaic humans began to use the Levallois method for manufacturing stone tools. careful preparation of a core to remove flakes of a predetermined shape. This differs from earlier tool traditions because there is a reliance on smaller flake tools rather than large core tools. It is a more efficient use of stone.

Question 4

Who were the Denisovans, and what has DNA analysis revealed about their relationship with modern humans and Neandertals?

Answer 4

The Denisovans are a group of archaic humans discovered at Denisova Cave, Siberia. They lived between 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. Ancient fossils contain evidence of interbreeding between Denisovans, Neanderthals and Modern Humans. present-day human populations contains up to 5% Denisovan DNA

Question 5

What type of stone technology did neandertal’s use. Describe it.

Answer 5

Mousterian tool tradition. Used the Levallois method.

Question 6

List characteristics of neandertal

Answer 6

-Neandertals have large brains that are about the same size as modern human brains
-Average cranial capacity 1480cc
-Long and low skulls with large occipital torus
-Large, arched brow ridge (supraorbital torus)
-No chin (mental eminence)
-Large noses and large midface
-Neandertals are short and stocky
-Neandertals exhibit musculoskeletal hypertrophy

Question 7

List some characteristics of anatomically modern humans

Answer 7

-large brain - average cranial capacity 1450 cc
-high rounded skull
-globular skull with curved occipital region
-no distinct occipital bun
-vertical forehead without large brow ridges
-small midface
-smaller teeth and jaws than archaic humans
-prominent chin (mental eminence)
tall and slender compared to Neandertals

Question 8

2 sites associated with the earliest purposeful burial of Neandertals. Describe date and abt it.

Answer 8

Shanidar cave, Iraq- 50 000 ya. A severely injured individual may indicate that the Neandertals had compassion and cared for their companions.
Kebara Cave, Israel- 60 000 ya.

Question 9

Earliest cave painting site

Answer 9

La Pasiega Cave, Spain- These paintings seem to provide evidence of the Neandertal creation of cave paintings. This cave painting may have been created over 64,000 years ago

Question 10

Which group occupied Denisova cave, Siberia. Whats the date of this site?

Answer 10

The denisovans. This site dates between 300 000- 50 000 years ago.

Question 11

What is the multi regional model

Answer 11

suggests that modern humans evolved in various parts of the Old World after Homo erectus spread out from Africa.

Question 12

The earliest modern homo sapien site in Africa

Answer 12

Omo- Ethiopia. Dates to 233 000 years ago.

Question 13

The earliest modern homo sapien site in the middle east

Answer 13

Misliya Cave, Israel - 177,000 to 194,000 years ago

Question 14

The earliest modern homo sapien in Europe at what site?

Answer 14

Mandrin, France -54,000 years ago

Question 15

The Upper Paleolithic is divided into phases based on characteristic tool technologies. Name all 4.

Answer 15

Aurignacian - 34,000 to 27,000 B.P.(earliest)
Gravettian - 27,000 to 21,000 B.P.
Solutrean - 21,000 to 16,000 B.P.
Magdalenian - 16,000 to 11,000 B.P.(Latest)

Question 16

What are the 2 categories involving art amongst anatomically modern humans? Describe them

Answer 16

Parietal art: Art on the walls of the cave
Mobiliary art: Art that is portable (venus figurines)

Question 17

What is the earliest example of mobiliary art

Answer 17

The venus of Hohle Fels - Dates to about 35 000 years ago. Made of mammoth ivory.

Question 18

What is the meaning of the venus figurines?

Answer 18

Represented a pregnant female and symbolized a praying to fertility.

Question 19

Where did bone and ivory flutes come from and whats the dating

Answer 19

The earliest flutes come from southwest Germany and date over 35 000 years ago.

Question 20

What anatomically modern purposeful human burial site dates to about 34 000 years ago?

Answer 20

Sungir, Russia. An older adult male was buried containing 3,000 ivory beads. Another burial was with 2 children placed head to head and contained 10 000 ivory beads and red ochre which symbolizes that these children were of high status in their community.

Question 21

What anatomically modern human burial site dates to 31 000 years ago?

Answer 21

Dolni, Czech republic

Question 22

During the initial occupation of Australia, ______ was the land mass of Australia Proper, New guinea and Tasmania

Answer 22

Sahul

Question 23

_________ was the combined land mass of modern islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo

Answer 23

Sunda

Question 24

describe the Wallace trench (Australia)

Answer 24

an undersea chasm located between New Guinea/Australia and Java/Borneo

During times of lower sea levels, Sunda and Sahul were separated by the deep water in Wallacea.

Question 25

What site is the earliest Australian occupation site.

Answer 25

Madjedbebe Rockshelter, 65 000 years ago

Question 26

What is a Pleistocene Megafauna?

Answer 26

The now extinct very large animals of the Pleistocene epoch.

Question 27

Pleistocene lasted from _____ mya - ________ years ago

Answer 27

2.8mya-11 700 years ago.

Question 28

when did anatomically modern human beings occupy the Americas?

Answer 28

In recent decades, evidence suggests that people arrived in the Americas at least 24,000 years ago.

Question 29

what is clovis??? and where is it found and what is it date.

Answer 29

Clovis is a tool, specifically a fluted projectile point that dates to 13 200 - 11 900 years ago.

Question 30

clovis first hypothesis

Answer 30

suggested that the Clovis culture represents the initial human occupation of the Americas.

Question 31

The 2 widely accepted pre-clovis sites

Answer 31

Monte Verde, Chile- Very south America, identified as a community of 20-30 people, 15 000 years ago Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania- Site occupied 15 000 years ago

Question 32

The peopling of Americas - What is the Bering land bridge hypothesis, and what was the time period the bridge was open?

Answer 32

People migrated to the Americas by travelling across Beringia. The floor of the Bering Strait was exposed 35,000 and 11,000 years ago, creating a land bridge called Beringia. At that time, people could have walked from Siberia to the Americas.

Question 33

Pacific coastal route hypothesis

Answer 33

suggests that people used watercraft to migrate along the coast of northeast Asia and northwest North America.

Question 34

Important Clovis site burial that dates to 13 000 years ago

Answer 34

The Anzick Site, Montana - Clovis burial that dates almost 13,000 years ago. DNA recovered from the skeletal remains confirms shared genetic ancestry between Clovis and Northeast Asian populations.

Question 35

* When was Beringia exposed and open for travel?

Answer 35

35 000 to 11 000 years ago

Question 36

* When was Siberia first inhabited?

Answer 36

SK Mammoth Site, Russia - 45,000 years ago Mamontovaya Kurya, Russia - 40,000 years ago Yana RHS, Eastern Siberia - 32,000 years ago (45 000 years ago)

Question 36

* What is the age of the earliest sites in Americas?

Answer 36

Bluefish Caves, Yukon: cultural materials at the site date to 24,000 years ago

Question 37

define neolithic revolution

Answer 37

term to describe the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

Question 38

Archeobotany

Answer 38

The analysis and interpretation of the remains of ancient plants recovered from the archaeological record

Question 39

Mean seed size (domestication)

Answer 39

A change in the seed size may also be an indicator of domestication as people select for plants that produce larger seeds

Question 40

What was the first domesticated animal and where was it

Answer 40

Dogs were the first domesticated animal. They were domesticated before the transition to agriculture. Clear evidence of domesticated dogs in Europe by 18,000 years ago. DNA analysis places the date of dog domestication between 20,000 to 40,000 years ago

Question 41

Where was the start of the change in a agricultural way of life?

Answer 41

The fertile crescent (Mesopotamia near Africa)

Question 42

Who were the Natufians and where did they live + date

Answer 42

The Natufians were pre-agriculturalists and utilized wild cereals before the beginnings of an agricultural way of life 15 000-12 000 years ago. They lived near the fertile crescent.

Question 43

What tools did the Natufians use?

Answer 43

Lunates: Tiny crescent shaped stone tools characteristic of the Natufian Sickle: tool used to harvest cereals

Question 44

What was one of the oldest and largest complex settlements in the Neolithic

Answer 44

Çatalhöyük. A new degree of social and political complexity is evident at Çatalhöyük. 9000 years ago or 7100BC

Question 45

Describe the first stage of the Stonehenge (3000BC)

Answer 45

Stonehenge was an earthen bank and ditch structure measuring 110 m across.

Question 46

Describe the second stage of the Stonehenge (about 2500BC)

Answer 46

The centre of Stonehenge includes a horseshoe shaped arrangement of 5 sets of stones called trilithons. Each trilithon consists of two standing stones capped with a lintel. Weighing up to 45,000 kg.

Question 47

Describe Durrington walls

Answer 47

-Durrington Walls is a late Neolithic site 3 km away from Stonehenge -It is the site where the builders of Stonehenge lived.

Question 48

the 2 types of stone used in Stonehenge

Answer 48

Bluestones and Saren stones.

Question 49

based on oxygen isotope analysis where did Amesbury Archer come from

Answer 49

continental Europe

Question 50

What does DNA analysis reveal about the geographic origin of the first people to migrate to the Americas?

Answer 50

Americas diverged from Siberian populations about 23,000 years ago. DNA analysis confirms that there was a migration from northeast Asia.

Question 51

Aurignacian (34 000 years ago) and magdelenian (11 000) are two types of new tool technology to anatomically modern humans, what kind of tools are these?

Answer 51

magdelenian (11 000) - bladelet, borer, harpooons Aurignacian (34 000 years ago) - blades, scrapers

Question 52

What are some new tool technology made by modern humans (3)

Answer 52

-indirect percussion -pressure flaking -Atlatl

Question 53

There were several independent centres of domestication in the Americas including:

Answer 53

-Mesoamerica -South America -Eastern North America

Question 54

What has DNA analysis revealed about the migration of human populations to Australia?

Answer 54

Genetic analysis suggests that this population diverged from Eurasian populations between 51,000 and 72,000 years ago. Today’s Indigenous Australians are the descendants of the first people to migrate to Sahul.

Question 55

Identify the three independent centres of domestication in the Americas and the significant domesticates in each of these regions?

Answer 55

Mesoamerica-marshelder, chenopod, squash, and sunflower. South America- corn, beans and squash and turky Eastern North America- potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beans, peanuts, quinoa, and cotton