Human Evolution Exam Practice Tests
Course Introduction
Human Evolution explores the biological and cultural development of Homo sapiens from our earliest primate ancestors to the present day. The course examines the fossil record, genetic evidence, and archaeological findings to trace the major milestones in human evolution, such as bipedalism, increased brain size, tool use, and the emergence of language and culture. Students will analyze the interplay between environmental changes and evolutionary adaptations, investigate the relationships among various hominin species, and consider contemporary human diversity in an evolutionary context. Through this multifaceted approach, the course provides a comprehensive understanding of what it means to be human from an evolutionary perspective.
Recommended Textbook
Physical Anthropology and Archaeology 4th Canadian Edition by Carol R. Ember
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14 Chapters
447 Verified Questions
447 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology?
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The statement that water freezes at 0°C is a law.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The term "anthropology" literally means
A) the study of ancient Greeks.
B) the study of primates.
C) the study of ancient humans.
D) the study of humans.
E) the study of societies.
Answer: D
Q3) The field of bioarchaeology draws on both sociocultural anthropology and archaeology.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) All living peoples belong to one species, Homo sapiens.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Uncovering the Past: Tools and Techniques
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The spatial distribution that archaeological remains have in relation to each other at a site is known as
A) stratigraphy.
B) relative dating.
C) site formation processes.
D) provenience.
E) absolute dating.
Answer: D
Q2) The main difference between archaeological sites and fossil locales is
A) features are found only at fossil locales.
B) fossil locales only yield animal remains.
C) archaeological sites are younger than fossil sites.
D) human remains are always associated with archaeological sites.
E) artifacts are only found at archaeological sites.
Answer: C
Q3) The term "taphonomy" literally means the study of fossilized hominid remains. A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Reconstructing the Past: Analysis and Interpretation
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32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Animals associated with human populations may reflect the kinds of foods consumed.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Which of the following human skeletal traits is not commonly used to assess sex of adults?
A) Greater sciatic notch width.
B) Jaw angle.
C) Presence of an occipital protuberance.
D) Post-orbital depth.
E) Chin shape.
Answer: D
Q3) Biochemical analyses of carbon isotope ratios can tell researchers what types of plants people consumed.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Historical Development of Evolutionary Theory
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32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago apparently contributed to
A) the near extinction of all reptiles.
B) the diversification of mammals into a variety of new evolutionary niches.
C) many evolutionary niches remaining permanently unoccupied.
D) the evolution of mammal-like reptiles.
E) the evolution of the amniotic egg.
Q2) What is one adaptations to terrestrial life exhibited by reptiles?
Q3) In the mid-seventeenth century, Irish cleric Archbishop James Ussher calculated the age of the earth to be 4 million years.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Lewis Henry Morgan argued that "primitive societies" represented degeneration. A)True
B)False
Q5) Sociocultural anthropologist Marshall D. Sahlins has suggested that both biological and cultural evolution move in two directions at the same time, producing diversity and progress.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Modern Evolutionary Theory
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37 Verified Questions
37 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Growth, development and maintenance of body tissues would be impossible without A) meiosis.
B) mitosis.
C) dominant genes.
D) recessive genes.
E) cell nuclei.
Q2) If one of Mendel's pea plants produced yellow peas (i.e., was phenotypically a yellow pea plant), but could also pass on the gene for green peas, that plant would be described as
A) homozygous yellow.
B) homozygous green.
C) heterozygous.
D) recessive.
E) mutants.
Q3) In biological evolution, variability comes from
A) differential reproductive success and total fecundity.
B) genetic recombination and mutation.
C) gene flow and genetic drift.
D) mitosis and meiosis.
E) chromosomes and alleles.
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Chapter 6: Human Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the Himalayas,
A) low altitude dwellers have smaller lung size than high-altitude dwellers.
B) low altitude dwellers have larger lung size than high-altitude dwellers.
C) low altitude dwellers have the same lung size than high-altitude dwellers.
D) low altitude dwellers have reduced lung capacity than high-altitude dwellers.
E) low altitude dwellers have adapted better for surviving than high-altitude dwellers.
Q2) When first introduced into populations, Measles may will likely only kill a few individuals.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Compared with non-Aboriginal rates in Canada, diabetes in between two and five times more prevalent among Aboriginal people.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Humans require vitamin D to incorporate calcium and ensure the proper growth and development of bones and teeth -- the more vitamin D, the better.
A)True
B)False
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Page 8
Chapter 7: The Living Primates
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not a reason why play is important in the development of young primates?
A) Play is important for learning.
B) Play is a way to learn social skills.
C) Play can help to establish social dominance relationships.
D) Play allows youngsters to practice physical skills useful to avoiding predators.
E) Play activity helps to stimulate their appetites.
Q2) Skeletal evidence for language includes reduced flexion of the basicranium.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The primate tendency toward omnivory is reflected in their teeth. Which of the following does not apply to omnivorous primate species?
A) The premolars are unspecialized chewing teeth.
B) The canines have been lost in the course of primate evolution.
C) The incisors are specialized.
D) The canines are very specialized, especially in prosimian primates.
E) The molars are very unspecialized, especially when compared to other mammal groups.
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Chapter 8: Primate Evolution: From Early Primates to Hominoids
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Sample Questions
Q1) Paleoprimatologists are in agreement that the plesiadapiforms should be classified in the order primates.
A)True
B)False
Q2) It is suggested that the proliferation of large trees with fruit and seeds occurred during the late Paleocene and early Eocene.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The first New World monkeys (platyrrhines) appear in South America approximately
A) 25 million years ago.
B) 30 million years ago.
C) 35 million years ago.
D) 40 million years ago.
E) 45 million years ago.
Q4) Having three premolars in each quarter of the upper and lower jaws is a trait shared by the Oligocene propliopithecids and living New World monkeys.
A)True
B)False
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Early Hominins
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Sample Questions
Q1) The group of fossil hominids discovered in Afar region of Ethiopia in 1999 and dated to about 2.5 million years ago are called
A) Australopithecus anamensis.
B) Australopithecus garhi.
C) Australopithecus afarensis.
D) Ardipithecus ramidus.
E) Australopithecus africanus.
Q2) The hominin pelvis shifts the orientation of the femur from the front of the pelvis to the side.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The earliest australopithecines, Australopithecus anamensis and A. afarensis, are sometimes classified in the genus Paranthropus.
A)True
B)False
Q4) One advantage of bipedalism is the ability to cover large areas, very quickly.
A)True
B)False
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11
Chapter 10: Homo Erectus and Archaic Homo Sapiens
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32 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) von Koenigswald's discovery in Java in the 1930s confirmed Eugene Dubois's speculations about the characteristics of H. erectus.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Taurodontism refers to a reduced pulp cavity seen in H. erectus.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is not true of the Terra Amata site near Nice, France?
A) The site was occupied in the late fall, judging by the remains of acorns found in fossilized human feces.
B) The site shows evidence of small huts, about 4.5 m by 9 m, having been constructed.
C) A basic feature of each hut was a hearth.
D) The occupants gathered shellfish, did some fishing, and hunted both small and large game.
E) Debris in some of the huts is evidence of stone tool manufacturing.
Q4) The structure of the brain of H. floresiensis is similar to that of H. erectus.
A)True
B)False
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Modern Homo Sapiens
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32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Dorset culture engaged in caribou hunting by A) individual hunters stalking individual animals.
B) chasing animals on to thin ice.
C) working together and driving animals into rock-walled enclosures they had built.
D) using their sled dogs to track and pursue the caribou.
E) using harpoons rather than spears.
Q2) The Arctic Small Tool Tradition is associated with the first human migrations into
A) the eastern Canadian Arctic and Greenland.
B) Alaska and the Yukon.
C) British Columbia.
D) the northern prairies.
E) the American northwest.
Q3) Where did modern humans emerge? Summarize and compare the current theories.
Q4) In addition to the use of stone tools, the Upper paleolithic also saw large numbers of tools made from bone, antler and ivory.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What specialized structural anatomical features enabled the emergence of speech?
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Origins of Food Production and Settled Life
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32 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mark Cohen has argued that by about 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers had essentially "filled up" the world, which may have set the stage for the transition to agriculture.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Tools recovered in the archaeological record suggest that Natufians harvested wild grain intensively.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In addition to intensively gathering wild grains, the Natufians also intensively herded gazelles.
A)True
B)False
Q4) ________ were the first animals domesticated in the Near East around ________ years ago.
A) Goats; 10,000
B) Dogs; 12,000
C) Cattle; 6000
D) Goats; 12,000
E) Sheep; 8000
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Origins of Cities and States
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32 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Teotihuacan controlled major deposits of obsidian, a much sought after resource in Mesoamerica; obsidian products from Teotihuacan were distributed
A) only within the region immediately near Teotihuacan.
B) as far as the Inca empire in Peru.
C) over distances of more than 1,000 kilometres.
D) over a radius of 100 kilometres.
E) to the Spanish in exchange for guns and horses.
Q2) Three pyramids dominated the metropolis of Teotihuacan: the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, and the Pyramid of the Stars.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Archaeologists are still not clear as to the specific conditions that led to either the rise or collapse of each of the earliest civilizations.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Why do scholars disagree over whether or not Cahokia was a state?
Q5) What are some of the negative consequences of the development of states?
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Applied Anthropology: Physical Anthropology and Archaeology
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many amino acids cannot be synthesized by the human body?
A) 0.
B) 6.
C) 8.
D) 10.
E) 20.
Q2) Why did only 20 percent of members of a Guatemalan village with malaria symptoms take advantage of free treatment while most of those with symptoms bought an injection that was not strong enough to be effective?
Q3) ________ is a newly emerged disease caused by a coronavrius that spread globally through 30 countries in 2003.
A) AIDS
B) West Nile virus
C) Diabetes
D) Malaria
E) SARS
Q4) The acceptance of planned change rarely depends on social factors.
A)True
B)False
Page 16
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