Chapter 3

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

change over time and space

Question 2

Two major aspects of evolution

Answer 2

• descent with modification

- natural selection

Question 3

Decent with modification and natural selection

Answer 3

over very long periods explaining the vast variety of life on earth

Question 4

Species

Answer 4

a group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring

Question 5

Genus

Answer 5

a grouping of similar species

Question 6

Hominoids

Answer 6

humans, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and gibbons

Question 7

Primates

Answer 7

hominoids, monkeys, and prosimians

Question 8

Primary Characteristics of primates

Answer 8

mostly tree-dwelling, rely heavily on sight, highly social, and live in groups

Question 9

Phylogeny

Answer 9

the evolutionary history of a species based on fossils and genetics

Question 10

Ontogeny

Answer 10

the growth and development of an individual organism (a single human)

Question 11

Genetics

Answer 11

our growth and development results from the interaction of our genetics and the environment

Question 12

Nuclear DNA

Answer 12

located in the cell nucleus that is a combination of genes inherited from our parents

Question 13

Mitochondrial DNA

Answer 13

located outside of the cell nucleus and inherited only from the maternal lineage

Question 14

Fossil Record

Answer 14

provide direct evidence of evolutionary change, but there are significant gaps in the fossil record (we still are missing many fossils)

Question 15

Paleoanthropologists

Answer 15

specifically, study hominoid lineage

Question 16

Hominins

Answer 16

all members of the human lineage after the split with the chimpanzee lineage (7 million years ago from today)

Question 17

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Answer 17

the oldest fossils of the hominin lineage (found in levels dating to 7 mya) but only found a complete skull that was badly deformed (could be an ape ancestor and not hominin)

Question 18

Ardipithecus ramidus

Answer 18

early hominin (lived 4.5 mya in an area of Ethiopia) with a nearly complete female skeleton found who is nicknamed “Arid”

• had a large opposable toe (ideal for tree-climbing)
• clearly bipedal (walked upright)
• lacked pronounced canines found in great apes

Question 19

Radiation of hominin species

Answer 19

4 million to 2 million years ago

Question 20

Radiation

Answer 20

a period in which there is a rapid increase in the diversity of a single species lineage

Question 21

Lineage split into 3 groups

Answer 21

Kenyanthropus, Australopithecus, and Paranthropus (all walked upright, lacked large canines, had slightly larger brains, and had larger molars)

Question 22

Australopithecines

Answer 22

lived 4 mya to 1.8 mya and Laetoli footprints further prove bipedal

Question 23

Homo Habilis

Answer 23

lived 2.5-1.6 mya in East Africa, had bulky chewing muscles, had large teeth, and had a massive brain

Question 24

Homo Erectus

Answer 24

lived 1.9-1.5 mya in East and South Africa, as well as Europe and Asia, had an even larger brain and lived inside and outside Africa

Question 25

East African Rift Valley

Answer 25

from Malawi in Southern Africa to Turkey and Syria in the Middle East

Question 26

3 Important Characteristics of Rift Valley

Answer 26

• it’s a trough that has filled up with sediments (preserved sites
• it’s tectonically active (leading to erosion that exposes long-buried sites)
• it’s volcanically active (levels of volcanic ash can be dated using the argon method

Question 27

Lower Paleolithic

Answer 27

stone tools found on the early hominin sites in the East African Rift Valley

Question 28

2 major stones Tool Industries (types of toolmaking)

Answer 28

• oldowan (1.9-1.7 mya) located in the Olduvai Gorge, could be old as 3.3 mya, consists of flaskes (silvers of rock struck off stone may be used to butcher) or cores (the pieces off of which flakes were struck), known mostly for the chopper (tools used to smash bone or was wasted)
• Acheulian (1.7 mya-200,000 years) associated with Homo Erectus, known for bifaces (hand ax or cleaver), much more sophisticated tools, also could have been used of woodworking

Question 29

Stone tool technology

Answer 29

marks an important points inhuman evolution and offers some of the earliest known archaeological artifacts

Question 30

Examination of the surface of animal bones may reveal

Answer 30

• gnawing by carnivores (pit marks and striations)
• butchery with stone tools (identifiable cut marks)
• smashing bones to get marrow (fracture patterns

Question 31

Base Camps

Answer 31

evidence of a circle of lava blocks and high concentration of animal bones and stone tools suggests and shared food continuously at the site

Question 32

Palimpsest

Answer 32

a site that was revisited on several occasions possibly by the same group of different groups

Question 33

Evidence of fire

Answer 33

a concentration of traces of wood ash burnt artifacts and burnt bones reveal possible hearths

Question 34

Homo Erectus

Answer 34

• 1.4 mya only the genus Homo survived and there was just one single species with the genus
• began to expand its geographical range and the range of ecological niches it inhabited in what is called a dispersal event that occured 1.8 mya
• found in Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) dates between 1.85-1.77 mya, making it the earliest evidence of human occupation outside of Africa

Question 35

Hominin activity at Dmanisi is unclear

Answer 35

• none of the animal bones have signs of cut marks (so likely no interaction with hominins)
• stone tools found widely dispersed on the site and not associated with hominid and animal fossils
• fossils and stone tools come from irregularly shaped pits in the stone (water may have created pits bones tumbled into or could have been dens of carnivores)
• Tools found are mostly simple flakes (no Acheulian style tools found)