Human Evolution Key Words

Question 1

The name for the hole in the base of the skull, through which the spinal cord passes

Answer 1

Foramen magnum

Question 2

The gap in the between the upper canine and premolar found in great apes

Answer 2

Diastema

Question 3

The first human to use fire and spread out from Africa

Answer 3

Home erectus

Question 4

The earliest known stone tools

Answer 4

Oldwan

Question 5

The angle between the shaft of femur and the vertical when femur is in normal standing orientation

Answer 5

Valgus angle

Question 6

The bipedal apes and their ancestors

Answer 6

Hominin

Question 7

The tool consisting of a core with a flattened stone with two faces made by Homo erectus

Answer 7

Acheulian

Question 8

The first Hominin to use tools, also known as Handyman

Answer 8

Homo habilis

Question 9

The word to describe the great apes, humans and their ancestors

Answer 9

Hominoidea

Question 10

The brain centre responsible for interpreting speech

Answer 10

Wernicke’s area

Question 11

The type of evolution where things are taught/learned and not passed on in the DNA

Answer 11

Cultural evolution

Question 12

The group of Hominin that were initially called archaic Homo sapiens and was the first with firm evidence for systematic hunting

Answer 12

Homo heidelbergensis

Question 13

The part of the brain that articulates with the first vertebra

Answer 13

Occipital condyle

Question 14

The type of evolution that is passed on through our DNA

Answer 14

Biological evolution

Question 15

The name for the fine stone tools which include flakes, scrapers and spears with attached handles

Answer 15

Mousterian

Question 16

The group of Hominin that first buried the dead and cared for the old

Answer 16

Homo neanderthalensis

Question 17

The area of the brain that is most enlarged in apes, most of all in humans

Answer 17

Cerebrum

Question 18

The first animal to be domesticated

Answer 18

Dog

Question 19

The shape of the pelvis in bipedal organisms

Answer 19

Bowl shaped

Question 20

The crest along the top of the skull

Answer 20

Sagittal

Question 21

The scientific name for “Lucy” the first to probable walk upright

Answer 21

Australopithecus afarensis

Question 22

The name for the culture that included the Oldowan and Acheulian together. Also called ‘Old Stone Age’

Answer 22

Lower Palaeolithic

Question 23

The name for the Neanderthal tool culture

Answer 23

Mousterian

Question 24

The later phase of the Old Stone Age

Answer 24

Upper Palaeolithic

Question 25

A tool made of more than one kind of material

Answer 25

Composite

Question 26

The view that modern humans evolved independently in Africa, Europe and Asia

Answer 26

Multiregional

Question 27

The first species to make and use needles

Answer 27

Homo sapiens

Question 28

The theory that modern humans evovled in Africa and then migrated to Europe and Asia, displacing other earlier species

Answer 28

'Out of Africa'

Question 29

Heavy bone over the eye which reduces the stresses in the skull and lower jaw involved with chewing

Answer 29

Brow Ridge

Question 30

This means 'having a snout/muzzle'

Answer 30

Prognathism

Question 31

Gap through which large jaw muscles pass

Answer 31

Zygomatic arch

Question 32

Another name for Out of Africa hypothesis

Answer 32

Replacement hypothesis or Eve hypothesis

Question 33

What do ice ages do to the seas water levels?

Answer 33

Lower water levels creating land bridges between islands

Question 34

What is mtDN?

Answer 34

Mitochondrial DNA, which is only passed on to daughters

Question 35

Why can Y chromosomes be used to show patterns of evolution?

Answer 35

Because it is passed on only to sons and isn't affected by recombination

Question 36

How can mtDNA and Y chromosome DNA be altered?

Answer 36

Through mutations

Question 37

How did Australopithecus obtain food?

Answer 37

Scavenging what they found

Question 38

What does cooking food do to it ?

Answer 38

Softens it, kill microbes

Question 39

What were the advantages of fire?

Answer 39

Cooks food, hardens tools, lengthens day, kept warm, keeps predators away

Question 40

How did tools help Hominin survive?

Answer 40

Allowed more diverse animals to be killed and processed

Question 41

How did the position of the foreman magnum change when the Hominin becam bipedal?

Answer 41

Moved from the lower back of skull towards the centre

Question 42

What is the name for the differences observed between male and female skeletons?

Answer 42

Brain size increased

Question 43

Over time how did the prognathic muzzle change?

Answer 43

It reduced

Question 44

Over time how did the brow ridge change?

Answer 44

It became reduced

Question 45

How did the feet change when we became bipedal?

Answer 45

Forward facing big toe, arched, big toe attached

Question 46

Why is the Out of Africa hypothesis also called replacement hypothesis?

Answer 46

When they moved out of Africa, they out competed any Hominin they came into contact with, making them extinct

Question 47

What is the difference in the shape of the spine in modern apes and human?

Answer 47

c-shaped apes s-shaped humans

Question 48

What are the advantages of being bipedal?

Answer 48

Taller so can see predators/ food, hands free to carry food/ young/ tools, more efficient cooling

Question 49

How has cultural evolution changed over time?

Answer 49

Tools better, use of shelter, abstract thought, imagination, domestication of animals/ plants

Question 50

What do Lower Palaeolithic-Oldowan tools look like?

Answer 50

Pebbles with flakes knocked off one edge

Question 51

What do Lower Palaeolithic- Acheulian tools look like?

Answer 51

Tear drop shaped pebbles

Question 52

What are the middle palaeolithic tools?

Answer 52

Mousterian and scrapers axe heads

Question 53

What are the Upper Palaeolithic tools?

Answer 53

Needles, fish hocks made from bone and wood

Question 54

How did the tools change over time?

Answer 54

They became more refined and more worked

Question 55

What does the evidence of Cave drawings, burial of dead, planned hunting groups indicate?

Answer 55

The ability for abstract thought

Question 56

Living in trees is called....

Answer 56

Arboreal

Question 57

What shape/ dental arcade is the jaw in apes?

Answer 57

"U" or rectangle

Question 58

What shape/ dental arcade is the jaw in humans?

Answer 58

Parabola

Question 59

All primates can grip objects with ___ grip. Only humans also have a ___ grip.

Answer 59

Power grip, Precision grip

Question 60

What are the advantages of a shorter pelvis?

Answer 60

It is stronger & able to tilt and rotate during walking

Question 61

What is the name of the process where one change reinforces another?

Answer 61

Positive feedback

Question 62

Using the Replacement Hypothesis when do they think our ancestors left Africa?

Answer 62

About 200,000 years ago

Question 63

Using the Multiregional Hypothesis when did our ancestors leave Africa?

Answer 63

About 1 million years ago