Evolutionary Anthropology Test Questions
Course Introduction
Evolutionary Anthropology is the study of the biological and cultural evolution of humans and their closest relatives. This course explores the origins of human characteristics, behaviors, and societies, examining fossil and genetic evidence to trace the evolutionary process from early primates to modern Homo sapiens. Key topics include human adaptation, natural selection, the development of bipedalism, the emergence of language and tool use, and the comparison of human and non-human primate social systems. By integrating perspectives from biology, archaeology, and cultural studies, students gain a comprehensive understanding of how evolutionary forces have shaped humanity's past and continue to influence our present and future.
Recommended Textbook
How Humans Evolved 7th Edition by Robert Boyd
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Chapter 1: Adaptation by Natural Selection
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Q1) Natural selection usually acts upon and produces adaptations at the level of the A) gene.
B) individual.
C) group.
D) species.
Answer: B
Q2) One of the things that Darwin had difficulty explaining was how inheritance worked. Why was inheritance so difficult for Darwin?
A) The prevailing theory of inheritance was based on random mating.
B) The prevailing theory of inheritance was incompatible with the maintenance of variation.
C) The prevailing theory of inheritance implied that variation was not inherited from parents.
D) The prevailing theory of inheritance implied that too much variation exists for natural selection to operate.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Genetics
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Q1) Crossing over
A) can occur between loci on nonhomologous chromosomes.
B) can occur between alleles on the same chromosome.
C) increases genetic variation.
D) decreases genetic variation.
Answer: C
Q2) Chromosomes are contained in
A) the gametes of prokaryotes.
B) the nuclei of eukaryotes.
C) the ribosomes.
D) the mitochondria.
Answer: B
Q3) Consider a cross between tall and short plants in which all of the offspring are tall. This suggests that
A) the allele for tall is recessive.
B) the allele for tall is dominant.
C) the alleles for tall and short are codominant.
D) None of the above.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: The Modern Synthesis
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Q1) Which of the following statements is correct?
A) Hidden variation is not always present in continuously evolving traits.
B) Selection causes genotypic frequencies to reach equilibrium in one generation, and the distribution of phenotypes does not change.
C) Selection can lead to cumulative, long-term change.
D) Genetic variation is always expressed as phenotypic variation.
Answer: C
Q2) Consider a population of 20 AA, 40 Aa, and 40 aa individuals. A is a dominant allele causing death before reproductive age. What are the genotypic frequencies of the next generation after selection?
A) All AA individuals
B) All aa individuals
C) 50% AA and 50% aa individuals
D) 25% AA and 75% aa individuals
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Speciation and Phylogeny
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Q1) Adaptive radiation occurs when
A) a mutation caused by solar radiation produces adaptations.
B) a population expands across a uniform habitat.
C) multiple new species are produced because subpopulations adapt to new environments.
D) a species loses adaptations through mutation.
Q2) Scientists should only use derived traits to construct phylogenies because A) many fossil species retain only derived traits.
B) derived traits are under greater genetic control than are analogous and homologous traits.
C) all organisms have homologous traits.
D) analogous and homologous traits do not tell us anything about close phylogenetic relationships.
Q3) A hybrid zone
A) provides evidence for allopatric speciation.
B) sometimes contains individuals that are less fit than those outside of hybrid zones.
C) sometimes contains adaptive radiations.
D) provides evidence for the ecological species concept.
Q4) Give a hypothetical example of allopatric speciation.
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Chapter 5: Primate Diversity and Ecology
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Q1) Secondary compounds are
A) products of complex molecules with health benefits.
B) intermediate between primary and tertiary compounds.
C) protective or defensive toxins found in some plants.
D) chemicals in the digestive tract designed to reduce the effects of plant toxins.
Q2) Which of the following statements is true?
A) Diurnal primates are generally solitary.
B) Foraging and resting times are affected by ecological conditions.
C) Nocturnal primates are large in body size.
D) Foraging and resting times are dictated by diet.
Q3) A typical day in the life of a primate
A) changes significantly day to day.
B) is consumed by socializing with group members.
C) is unaffected by seasonal changes in environment.
D) includes two long feeding bouts, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon.
Q4) How is the comparative method used in the study of primate behavior and ecology? Explain how it might help researchers understand the evolution of behavior and morphology.
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Chapter 6: Primate Mating Systems
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Q1) Primate researchers have found a positive correlation between female dominance rank and
A) number of births per year.
B) length of interbirth interval.
C) infant mortality.
D) rank of associates.
Q2) Because primates are mammals, what can you predict about their reproductive strategy?
A) Resource competition forces pair-bonding.
B) Alpha males sire almost all of the offspring.
C) Males assist in rearing offspring in most cases.
D) Females are obligated to invest heavily in their offspring through pregnancy and lactation.
Q3) The reproductive success of primate females depends upon A) interbirth interval variation.
B) group composition and size.
C) predation pressure.
D) the number and quality of offspring.
Q4) What is the evidence demonstrating the importance of socializing for female primates?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Evolution of Cooperation
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Q1) Studies of kin recognition by female rhesus monkeys suggest that
A) females had weak affinities for their maternal half sisters.
B) facial resemblance could be a cue females use to distinguish paternal half sisters.
C) females preferred agemates to maternal and paternal half sisters.
D) females preferred maternal half sisters to unrelated agemates.
Q2) Imagine a caregiver who helps raise a conspecific's offspring. Such caregiving reduces her fitness by 50% and increases the fitness of the conspecific by 50%. According to Hamilton's rule, in which of the following scenarios could this behavior evolve?
A) Groups of full siblings
B) Groups of half siblings
C) Both types of groups
D) Neither type of group
Q3) When group selection and individual selection are opposed, A) group selection prevails if groups are large and there is little migration.
B) individual selection prevails.
C) group selection usually prevails because the conditions for individual selection are too stringent.
D) group selection never prevails.
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Chapter 8: Primate Life Histories and the Evolution of Intelligence
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Q1) Redirected aggression refers to
A) deception during aggressive episodes to deflect an aggressor toward another individual.
B) turning received aggression back onto an aggressor.
C) responding to a threat by attacking a lower-ranking individual who was not involved in the original incident.
D) an ability only humans have.
Q2) Which of the following hypotheses does not explain ape brain size well?
A) The arboreal hypothesis
B) The social intelligence hypothesis
C) The ecological hypothesis
D) The executive brain hypothesis
Q3) Chimpanzees and orangutans perform as well as 2-year-old humans in which domain?
A) Memory
B) Imprinting
C) Social cognition
D) Physical cognition
Q4) Explain why coalitional behavior may require sophisticated cognitive abilities.
Q5) What evidence is there that primates understand third-party relationships? How is this knowledge beneficial? Page 10
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Chapter 9: From Tree Shrew to Ape
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Q1) Carbon-14 dating can be used to date
A) old volcanic rocks.
B) old sedimentary rocks.
C) young organic material.
D) young apatite crystals.
Q2) The fossil haplorrhines and the propliopithecids
A) were nocturnal.
B) had claws.
C) had a 2.1.2.3 dental formula.
D) had a 2.2.4.4 dental formula.
Q3) ________ is a derived feature that Proconsul shares with living apes and humans.
A) The absence of a tail
B) The presence of short upper limbs
C) The presence of a narrow chest
D) Thin tooth enamel.
Q4) During the Permian and Triassic eras, much of the world's fauna was dominated by A) trilobites.
B) amphibians.
C) reptiles.
D) mammals.
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Chapter 10: From Hominoid to Hominin
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Q1) Primitive characteristics that distinguish Australopithecus anamensis from later australopithecines include
A) large canines.
B) a parabolic dental arcade.
C) the shape of the tibia.
D) a sagittal crest.
Q2) Genetic data indicate that the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees lived between
A) 2 and 1 mya.
B) 4 and 2 mya.
C) 5 and 3 mya.
D) 7 and 5 mya.
Q3) Between 4 and 2 mya we see some of the distinctive features that differentiate hominins from apes. These features include
A) evidence of bipedal locomotion.
B) small posterior teeth.
C) large canines.
D) the loss of a tail.
Q4) Discuss three hypotheses concerning the evolution of bipedalism.
Q5) What is the anatomical evidence that early australopithecines were bipedal?
Page 13
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Chapter 11: Oldowan Toolmakers and the Origin of Human
Life History
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Q1) Scientists have established that Oldowan flakes were A) useful for a wide range of functions, including butchering animals.
B) primarily a waste product of making Oldowan tools.
C) primarily used for hunting large game like elephants.
D) accidental byproducts of using round cobbles for various purposes.
Q2) Explain how food sharing reduces the risk associated with hunting in contemporary foragers.
Q3) Contemporary human foragers
A) take years to learn to forage and are usually adults before they are proficient hunters and food extractors.
B) collect the majority of their food as ripe fruit or otherwise easily accessed sources. C) rely more on domesticated foods from their gardens than on wild foods.
D) have almost identical diets as chimpanzees, plus meat.
Q4) The term used for the manufacture of chipped stone tools, such as most of the Mode 1 Oldowan tools, is A) coring.
B) flaking.
C) knapping.
D) cracking.
Page 14
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Chapter 12: From Hominin to Homo
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Q1) Homo ergaster shared important adaptive traits with modern humans, including A) complex foraging technology.
B) fast life histories.
C) a very large brain for their body size.
D) occipital torus.
Q2) Neanderthal remains date to about
A) 1 million to 10,000 years ago.
B) 500,000 to 100,000 years ago
C) 130,000 to 30,000 years ago.
D) 30,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Q3) Derived features of the Neanderthals include A) thin limbs.
B) low, flat crania.
C) gracile faces.
D) large brains.
Q4) Homo ergaster was the first hominin known to have A) evolved in Africa.
B) used Oldowan tools.
C) lived in Europe.
D) eaten meat.
Page 15
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Chapter 13: Homo sapiens and the Evolution of Modern
Human Behavior
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Q1) Derived features of anatomically modern humans included A) thicker bones.
B) a rounded skull.
C) lack of a mental eminence (no chin).
D) shorter stature across the entire species.
Q2) Among the differences between Upper Paleolithic peoples and Neanderthals are that Upper Paleolithic peoples
A) had shorter life spans than Neanderthals.
B) lived at higher densities than Neanderthals.
C) were more likely to suffer injuries than Neanderthals.
D) lived over a much smaller geographical region than Neanderthals.
Q3) What are the two main theories about the origin of modern humans?
Q4) Who is mitochondrial Eve? Did all humans evolve from mitochondrial Eve? Why or why not?
Q5) Modern human cranial capacity is usually at least
A) 900 cc.
B) 1,000 cc.
C) 1,350 cc.
D) 750 cc.
Page 16
Q6) Why do some researchers feel that there was not a human revolution at all?
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Chapter 14: Human Genetic Variation
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Q1) Choose a trait and describe how the three sources of variation can cause the trait to vary.
Q2) The hemoglobin S allele causes sickle-cell anemia. It occurs in high frequencies
A) where pastoralism is common.
B) where drift has been strong.
C) where malaria is common.
D) where hemoglobin is rare.
Q3) Physical traits such as weight are
A) more determined by genes than by the environment.
B) determined by an interaction between genes and environment.
C) determined more by the environment than by genes.
D) strictly genetic.
Q4) A selection-mutation balance occurs when
A) mutation introduces alleles that selection favors.
B) mutation introduces alleles that selection does not favor.
C) selection is neutral and mutation is not present.
D) both a and b
Q5) How are modern humans genetically different from the chimpanzee?
Q6) Why do scientists no longer believe that race is a meaningful biological concept?
Page 18
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Chapter 15: Evolution and Human Behavior
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Q1) Offspring of outbred matings have ________ offspring of inbred matings.
A) lower fitness than B) the same fitness as C) higher fitness than D) more variable fitness than
Q2) Which of the following statements is true?
A) There are no gender differences related to preferred age of mates and preferred number of partners.
B) Men tend to marry younger women, but this difference decreases as men age; in comparison, there is a greater age difference between women and their husbands.
C) In regard to new relationships, it seems that men tend to underestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to overestimate men's interest in commitment.
D) With regard to new relationships, it seems that men tend to overestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to underestimate men's interest in commitment.
Q3) Describe the differences between men and women with regard to the preferred ages of prospective partners.
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Chapter 16: Culture Cooperation and Human Uniqueness
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Q1) Compared with genetic evolution, cultural evolution
A) is slower.
B) is faster because it can occur in individuals and be passed on.
C) occurs at the same rate.
D) is faster because it alters the underlying genes, which then quickly spread through the population.
Q2) Are culturally transmitted behaviors always adaptive?
A) Yes, otherwise they would quickly disappear.
B) No, some such behaviors are adaptive, some are neutral, and some are maladaptive.
C) No, all such behaviors are neutral.
D) Anthropologists can't really address the question of adaptiveness of cultural behaviors
Q3) The Yurok
A) built pyramids.
B) built snow houses that kept them warm during frigid winters.
C) made a living by raising and herding cattle.
D) constructed weirs to harvest salmon requiring the labor of hundreds of men from different villages.
Q4) How does culture differ between human and nonhuman primates? How is it similar?
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