Anthropology 201 Texas A&M University Exam 2

Biological evidence commonly used to account change in human species

Size and shape of skull

When did the first mammals appear?

Over 200 million years ago

Continental drift

Movement of the earth's surface over time due to plate tectonics

When was the appearance of diurnal anthropoids?

About 40 million years ago

What continents joined to form Laurasia?

North America, Europe, and Asia

Geological period 23 million years ago

Miocene

Significant event during Miocene

Hominoids appeared in Eurasia and Africa

Split between human ancestors and ancestors of African apes

Between 8 and 5 million years ago

What evidence is used to definitively classify as part of the human evolutionary line?

Bipedalism

Bipedalism

A special form of locomotion on two feet

How is the foramen magnum positioned on a human skull

Lower and positioned more forward than that of a ape

Australopithecines description

Brain size comparable to modern day apes, males significantly larger than females, quite muscular, teeth and jaw comparable more to humans than apes

Significance of Lateoli site in Tanzania

Site where foot impressions of biped were preserved from 3.6 million years ago

Spinal column difference of humans

Human spine has series of convex and concave curves

Believed to be the first hominoid tool maker

Homo habilis

Characteristics found in bipeds

Balanced skull, curved spine, and arched feet

Earliest definite australopithecine fossils date back to

4.3 million years ago

Advantages of bipedalism

Ability to have free hands for carrying objects and making tools, ability to walk efficiently and for longer distances, more visually acuity over distances, and decreased exposure to ultraviolet sun raditiation

Countries in Africa that have yielded australopithecine

Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa

Bipedalism does not have the advantage of ______ over quadrapeds

The ability to run faster

Which Australopithecines yielded more meat than any other?

gracile australopithecine

What did early ancestors use to consume meat?

Flaked stone tools

Earliest discovered human tools date back

2.6 million years

Oldowan tool tradition associated with which group of early ancestors?

Homo habilis

In which geological epoch did Homo sapiens first emerge

Pleistocene

Homo erectus first appeared in

Africa, about 2 million years ago

What contributed most directly to the brain growth of early humans

A genetic mutation resulting in a smaller jaw bone and smaller facial muscles

Illustrate human childbirth of today compared to our early ancestors

Human infants are much more susceptible to death during childbirth now that humans heads are comparatively larger

Homo erectus placed a new emphasis on

Multi-purpose tools

Remains in South Africa suggest Homo erectus learned to use fire when

1 million years ago

Cooking food does what

Kills parasites and makes food healthier, detoxifies the food, and softens the food to make it easier to chew

The development of handedness is associated most directly with what

Language abilities

Neanderthals first disappeared

Around 30,000 to 40,000 years ago

Mousterian tools

Smaller flake tools in a variety of forms

Mousterian tools are associated with

The development of the burin, pressure-flaking, and the development of the earliest hand axe

Around 30,000 years ago in Europe, who disappeared from the fossil record

Neanderthals

Mousterian tool industry of Europe and Southwestern Asia date to

40,000-125,000 years ago

Multiregional hypothesis

Homo sapiens originated through simultaneous transition throughout the inhabited world

When did the Neolithic transition begin

Around 10,000 years ago

Cultural adaptions presented biological consequences since Neolithic era

Injury due to increased big game hunting, the spread of infectious diseases due to crowded living conditions, and the intensification of competition for critical resoources

One of the way people managed food scarcity during Paleolithic was

incorporating less favored food into their diet

Changes that occurred during Mesolithic

Shift from hunting small game to big game, gathering of a broad spectrum of plants, gathering of a broad spectrum of animals

Mesolithic known in Americas as

The Middle Stone Age

Neolithic climate included

Increased flooding, sea levels increasing, warming climate, and replacement of tundra with hardwood forests

What died out during Neolithic transition

Mammoths

The microlith became known throughout the Old World during the

Mesolithic

In what area of the world was the Neolithic less dramatic of a change

Southwestern Asia

Increased reliance on seafood and plants allowed people to become more

Sedentary

Who were the Naufians

A Mesolithic transition culture in Southwest Asia

The microlith was a

Blade

When did the Naufian culture flourish

Between 12,500- 10,200 years ago

Tool used by Naufians prior to domestication

Sickle

What was associated with the Neolithic Revolution

Domestication of animals, domestication of plans, and formation of fixed settlements

Invention of food production occurred in both Mesoamerica and Southwest Asia through

Independent invention

Communities of gardeners working with simple hand tools and using either irrigation nor plow

Horticultural societies

Innovation

The ultimate source of all culture change

Primary innovation

Accidental discovery of an innovative process

Plant domestication includes

Loss of delayed seed germination, reduction in distasteful chemical compounds, and reduction and loss of protective husks

Clearest indicator of difference between a wild and domesticated plant

Size of edible parts

When did bones first become distinguishable between wild and domesticated sheep

Around 9,000 years ago

Earliest known plant domesticate

Rye

Oasis Theory

Drought created a need for people living in Fertile Crescent to congregate in limited areas and collecting grass seed

Significance of Oasis Theory

Scientifically testable explanation for the origins of food production

Fertile Crescent

Southwest Asia

With the end of the last glaciation came

Significantly warmer and more markedly seasonal

What did the Naufians do to adapt their subsistence to changing climatic conditions

They burned areas to attract wild animals and stored seeds of perennials

What was the effective mutagenic agents that affected the course toward plant domestication among the Naufians

Fire

Ideal type of plant for domestication

Colonizer plants that grew well in disturbed areas

Around 11,000 years ago the percentage of immature sheep eaten increased to

50%

Average birth spacing interval for hunter gatherers

4-5 years

Earliest plant domesticate in Southeast Asia

Yams

In heyday of potato cultivation in Peru, how many varieties were grown?

3,000

America's indigenous people were first to cultivate ____ of the crops grown in the world today

60%

Animals first domesticated in modern day Mexico

Turkey, bees, and dog

Two most significant crops first domesticated by American Indians

Potatoes and maize

Terra preta

Prized rich black soil found in Mesoamerica. It is found extensively where soils are not generally rich and fertile

Terra preta occurs because of

Human intervention

Wild plant domestication took place

Across the globe

Food production is

Not necessarily a more secure means of subsistence than food foraging, the switch allowed people to work less in subsistence pursuits

Hunter-gatherer birth spacing is due to

Breastfeeding and child rearing

Domestication

Increased productivity and increased instability

Language group first originated in sub-Saharan Africa which spread outward

Bantu

80% of worlds annual tonnage of all crops is made up of how many varieties of plant species?

12

Diffusion

Spread of ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another

Potato famine of 1845-1850 occurred in what country

Ireland

In Jericho crops could be grown almost continuously because

There was a large spring and fertile soils from a dried up Ice Age lake

Jericho was surrounded by

Massive Walls

Advent of pottery due to

Improved storage techniques, development of craftmenship, and innovation in tool design

Neolithic social structure

Relatively egalitarian society, minimal division of labor, limited specialized roles

When did Neolithic agricultural villages become common in the Americas

4,500 years ago

Common skeletal evidence from Neolithic remains

Less robust bones, less marked stress on human bodies, and increased nutritional stress

Why is intensive agriculture considered to be less stable means of subsistence than foraging?

There is less species diversity in crops

Neolithic crops were selected for

High productivity and storability rather than nutritional value

Enamel hypoplasia indicates

Arrested growth caused by famine

Portrayal of agricultural societies

Involved higher work levels and increase of disease, diets of less variety than foragers, and population rate rose

In environments that were adverse to development of cultivation societies tended to be

Pastoralist

Which form of subsistence involves intensive crops, irrigation, and the use of plows and fertilizers

Agriculture

With the emergence of cities came

Organized central governments, monumental structures, and warfare

Most important aspect of modern cities is

Interdependence

In modern cities every institution depends on

Public utilities