final chap 11

Question 1

Middle Pleistocene was marked by periods of fluctuation, not just cold periods.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Middle Pleistocene animal species that were overly specialized to one particular type of environment were less likely to survive when compared to their more generalized counterparts.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Archaic Homo sapiens share our species name but are distinguished by the term “archaic”

Answer 3

as a way of recognizing both the long period of time between their appearance and ours, as well as the way in which human traits have continued to evolve over time—making archaic Homo sapiens look slightly different from us today, despite technically being considered the same species.

Question 4

All archaic Homo sapiens share the defining trait of an increased brain size—specifically a brain of at least 1,100 cc and averaging 1,200 cc—but are also characterized by significant regional and temporal (time) variations.

Answer 4

True

Question 5

Homo sapiens trended toward less angular and higher skulls than Homo erectus but had skulls notably not as short and globular in shape and with a less developed forehead than anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Answer 5

True

Question 6

archaic Homo sapiens had smaller brow ridges and a less-projecting face than Homo erectus and slightly smaller teeth, although incisors and canines were often about as large as that of Homo erectus.

Answer 6

True

Question 7

Archaic Homo sapiens also had a wider nasal aperture, or opening for the nose, as well as a forward-projecting midfacial region, known as midfacial prognathism

Answer 7

True

Question 8

One partial crania from Dali, China:

Answer 8

Is representative of archaic Homo sapiens in Asia, including large and robust features with heavy brow ridges, akin to what is seen in Homo erectus, and a large cranial capacity intermediate between Homo erectus and anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Question 9

Generally, it is agreed upon that archaic Homo sapiens lived between

Answer 9

600,000 and 200,000 years ago.

Question 10

The earliest-known archaic Homo sapiens fossils tentatively date to about 600,000 years ago in Africa, whereas archaic Homo sapiens fossils in Asia appear around 300,000 years ago and in Europe around 350,000 years ago (and potentially as early as 600,000 years ago).

Answer 10

True

Question 11

One particularly well-known population of archaic Homo sapiens are the Neanderthals:

Answer 11

• named after the site where they were first discovered in the Neander Valley, or “thal” in German, located near Dusseldorf, Germany
• scientists agree that Neanderthal behavior was increasingly complex and nuanced, far beyond what was exhibited by even other archaic Homo sapiens discussed throughout this chapter.

*clear geographic boundary of where Neanderthals lived: western Europe, the Middle East, and western Asia.

• No Neanderthal fossils have ever been discovered outside of this area, including Africa
• Time period for when Neanderthals lived is widely accepted as between 150,000 and 35,000 years ago.
• they were very well adapted to extreme cold weather and their geographic distribution includes what would have been some of the coldest habitable locations at the time of their existence.
• The average Neanderthal brain size is around 1,500 cc, and the range for Neanderthal brains can extend to upwards of 1,700 cc.
• majority of the increase in the brain occurs in the occipital region, or the back part of the brain, resulting in a skull that has a large cranial capacity with a distinctly long and low shape that is slightly wider than previous forms at far back of the skull
• back of the Neanderthal skull is less angular (as compared to Homo erectus) and is more rounded, a feature similar to that of modern Homo sapiens.
• Neanderthal noses are large and have a wide nasal aperture, which is the opening for the nose

Question 12

Neanderthal nose is often characterized by the term

Answer 12

midfacial prognathism—a jutting out of the middle portion of the face, or nose.

Question 13

prognathism

Answer 13

jutting out, of their jaws

Question 14

Neanderthals jaw is oversized for their teeth, leaving a gap between their final molar and the end of their jaw. This gap is called

Answer 14

Retromolar gap :A space behind the last molar and the end of the jaw. This is a feature present only on Neanderthals. It also occurs through cultural modification in modern humans who have had their third molars, or wisdom teeth, removed.

Question 15

Among Neanderthals, this projection of bone is easily identified by its bun shape on the back of the skull and is known as an

Answer 15

Occipital bun- A prominent bulge or projection on the back of the skull, specifically the occipital bone. This is a feature present only on Neanderthal skulls.

Question 16

Neanderthal infraorbital foramina

Answer 16

Small holes on the maxilla bone of the face that allows nerves and blood to reach the skin.

(the holes in the maxillae or cheek bones through which blood vessels pass, are notably enlarged compared to other hominins.)

Question 17

Neanderthal brow ridges are

Answer 17

prominent but somewhat smaller in size than those of Homo erectus and earlier archaic Homo sapiens. In Neanderthals, the brow ridges are also often slightly less arched than those of other archaic Homo sapiens.

Question 18

Neanderthals match the predictions of Bergmann’s and Allen’s Rules perfectly.

Answer 18

For example, Bergmann’s and Allen’s Rules dictate that an increased body mass and short, stocky limbs are common in animals that live in cold conditions.

Question 19

Mousterian tools

Answer 19

The stone tool industry of Neanderthals and their contemporaries in Africa and Western Asia. Mousterian tools are known for a diverse set of flake tools, which is different than the large bifacial tools of the Acheulean industry.

Question 20

Though red meat was a critical component of the Neanderthal diet, evidence shows that at times they also ate

Answer 20

impets, mussels, and pine nuts.

Question 21

Neanderthal burials are often in a flexed position:

Answer 21

Fetal position, in which the legs are drawn up to the middle of the body and the arms are drawn toward the body center. Intentional burials are often found in the flexed body position.

Question 22

The Neanderthals’ more complicated behavior likely stems, in part, from their larger brains. Evidence shows that raw materials used by Neanderthals came from distances as far away as 100 km. This could indicate a variety of things regarding Neanderthal behavior, including a limited trade network with other Neanderthal groups, or simply a large area scoured by Neanderthals when collecting raw materials. Additionally, we know that Neanderthals lived in groups and may have relied on their group members for survival.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

The shape of the Neanderthal hyoid is nearly identical to that of modern humans, pointing to the likelihood that they had the same vocal capabilities as modern humans.

Answer 23

True

Question 24

Neanderthals disappear from the fossil record by

Answer 24

around 35,000 years ago.

Question 25

Geneticists have found traces of Neanderthal

Answer 25

DNA (1% to 4%) in modern humans of European and Asian descent that is not present in modern humans from Africa.

Question 26

What is the cause for their extinction?

Answer 26

Possibly:
1. climate change
2. Eruption from Volcano
3. Possible differences is cognitive development.
4. Reproduction was difficult
5. It has been suggested that modern humans may not have warmly embraced their close but slightly odd-looking cousins when they first encountered them. Competition for resources may have been the cause of the Neanderthals’ decline.
6. Modern humans gave Neanderthals diseases to which they previously had little to no exposure, causing a mass population decline.
7. even a small but continuous decrease in fertility would have been enough to result in the extinction of Neanderthals

Question 27

Dubbed “Denisovans”:

Answer 27

after the cave in which the bones were found, this population is more closely related to Neanderthals than modern humans, suggesting the two groups shared an ancestor who split from modern humans first, then the Neanderthal-Denisovan line diverged more recently.

Question 28

Denisovans share up to

Answer 28

5% of their DNA with modern Melanesians, aboriginal Australians, and Polynesians, and 0.2% of their DNA with other modern Asian populations and Native Americans.

Question 29

Genetic analysis reveals that Denisovans potentially:

Answer 29

had at least three populations and had genetic adaptations for life at high altitudes, preventing them from developing altitude sickness and hypoxia.

Question 30

Out-of-Africa Hypothesis

Answer 30

States that modern humans originated in Africa, replacing archaic populations found elsewhere in the Old World.

(Christopher Stringer (1996) argue that each archaic population comprised a separate species, making interbreeding between populations impossible.)

Question 31

Multiregional Continuity Hypothesis

Answer 31

States that modern Homo sapiens are directly derived from Homo erectus and evolved in place after Homo erectus left Africa and populated areas in Asia and Europe

(Milford Wolpoff argues that interbreeding between regions and across regional boundaries contributed to gene flow that maintained Homo sapiens as a single species throughout the Old World, despite regional variation.)

Question 32

Assimilation Hypothesis

Answer 32

States that modern humans originated in Africa, spreading outward into Asia and Europe and interbreeding with more archaic forms they encountered along the way

(argued by Eric Trinkaus (2006, 2007) and others, represents an attempt to incorporate all lines of evidence, although new research will tell whether it can capture the full complexity revealed in the next generation of hominin studies, such as that revealed by ancient DNA.)