human evolution key words

Question 1

What does biological evolution mean?

Answer 1

The inheritance of change of structural features of the skull and postcranial skeleton and physiological changes

Question 2

What does cultural evolution mean?

Answer 2

The inheritance of change in the learned information like skills and customs stored in a population

Question 3

What are hominins?

Answer 3

Hominins are the living and fossil species belonging to the human lineage - Australopithecus and homo genera

Question 4

What are hominids?

Answer 4

Hominids are all extinct and living great apes, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and their ancestral species.

Question 5

What does post cranial refer to?

Answer 5

Skeletal features below the skull

Question 6

What does arboreal mean?

Answer 6

The phrase arboreal is used to describe hominids which spend a large proportion of their time in trees

Question 7

What is the valgus angle?

Answer 7

The angle the femur makes relative to the knee. This is close to 90 degrees in non-human apes, less so in bipedal humans

Question 8

What is the foramen magnum?

Answer 8

The large opening at the base of the skull through which the spinal cord enters the cranial cavity

Question 9

What does brachiation mean?

Answer 9

Arboreal locomotion, accomplished by swinging the arms from one hold to another

Question 10

What does prognathous mean?

Answer 10

The jaws protrude in front of the cranium

Question 11

What are the great apes?

Answer 11

Chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas

Question 12

What is the sagittal crest?

Answer 12

A bony crest running lengthwise down mid-line of the skull

Question 13

What is acheulean tool culture?

Answer 13

Tools made and used by H. erectus - typically teardrop-shaped “hand axes” that were worked on all surfaces

Question 14

What is mousterian tool culture?

Answer 14

Tools made and used by H. neanderthalensis. Typically hand axes but including scrapers and fine points.

Question 15

What is upper paleolithic tool culture?

Answer 15

Stone age culture of H. sapiens. Still in use by some groups of humans. Used stone, bone, wood, antlers, hides and rope etc to produce a range of useful objects.

Question 16

What is oldowan tool culture?

Answer 16

First tools made by H. habilis - typically a chopper for striking bones to extract the marrow

Question 17

What is the stone tool culture associated with H. erectus?

Answer 17

Archeulean tool culture

Question 18

What is the stone tool culture associated with H. neanderthalensis?

Answer 18

Mouseterian tool culture

Question 19

What is the tool culture associated with H. sapiens?

Answer 19

Upper paleolithic tool culture

Question 20

What is the zygomatic arch?

Answer 20

The bony arch at the outer border of the eye socket, formed by the joining of the cheekbone and the zygomatic process of the temporal bone

Question 21

What is a quern?

Answer 21

Neolithic stone tool for grinding grain

Question 22

What is a scapula?

Answer 22

The shoulder blade

Question 23

What is an endocast?

Answer 23

A cast of the brain case

Question 24

What is a dental arcade?

Answer 24

The shape formed by the tooth sockets in the upper and lower jaws

Question 25

What does pentadactyl mean?

Answer 25

Having five digits on the hand or foot

Question 26

What is Broca’s region?

Answer 26

A region of the brain concerned with the production of speech, located in the cortex of the dominant frontal lobe

Question 27

What is Wernicke’s area?

Answer 27

A region of the brain concerned with the comprehension of language, located in the cortex of the dominant temporal lobe

Question 28

What is the cranium?

Answer 28

The part of the skull that encloses the brain

Question 29

What is the brow ridge?

Answer 29

A bony ridge located above the eye socket of all primates

Question 30

What is the mandible?

Answer 30

The lower jaw or jawbone

Question 31

What is the nuchal crest?

Answer 31

A bony ridge at the back of the skull where the muscles and ligaments are attached in order to support the head

Question 32

What is a habitual biped?

Answer 32

Something that usually walks upright on two legs

Question 33

What is knuckle walking?

Answer 33

A form of quadrupedal walking in which the body weight presses down on the ground through the knuckles

Question 34

What is an obligate biped?

Answer 34

Adapted to walking on only two legs, with no ability to walk on four

Question 35

What does the term prehensile describe?

Answer 35

An animal’s limb or tail that is capable of grasping

Question 36

What does endocranial mean?

Answer 36

Refers to features of the brain, inferred by endocast impressions and volume.

Question 37

What is domestication?

Answer 37

Deliberately managing the reproduction of a species to use it for human benefit. Typically involves a wild species becoming tamed and physically/phenotypically altered in some way to provide a benefit to humans.

Question 38

What is forethought and why is it important?

Answer 38

The ability to imaging an outcome or product before it happens. Vital for planning ahead, particularly in tool making, hunting, and migrating.

Question 39

What is the Levallois technique?

Answer 39

Multistage process involving preparing a core-stone then using a hammer and chisel to strike off a flake with very sharp edges. Required forethought and skill, and some amount of technical learning.

Question 40

What is mitochondrial DNA and why is it important?

Answer 40

The DNA present within every mitochondrion. Mitochondria were originally prokaryotic endosymbionts. mtDNA can be used to trace maternal inheritance patterns as mtDNA only passes from mothers to their offspring.

Question 41

What is the multiregional dispersal model?

Answer 41

Modern humans evolved separately in Europe, Asia, and Africa, following the dispersal of early Homo around 1 mya. Continual gene flow kept them from speciating.

Question 42

What does nomadic mean?

Answer 42

A population with no fixed home. Typically they wander from place to place, and it may involve following herds or movements from one food source to another seasonally.

Question 43

What is the out of Africa dispersal model?

Answer 43

Modern humans evolved from a homo group that left Africa around 120 kya, spreading throughout Europe and Asia and beyond, replacing all the previous hominins.

Question 44

Who were the denisovans?

Answer 44

A group of hominins identified from finger bones and teeth. Found in central Asia, with genetic links to people of East Asian and Melanesian ancestry.