Chapter 5 Human Origins Flashcards
What is the term for the natural history of earth and the universe, including the span of human existence?
Deep time
What do we call the chemical process that preserves an organism by turning it partially or wholly into a rock?
Fossilization
In order for an organism to become a fossil, it:
Has to be buried in oxygen-free sediment.
While a great many of the fossils of our earliest human ancestors have been found in Africa, why is it problematic to use these fossils to make concrete conclusions about our earliest origins?
There is unequal representation of time periods and species in the fossil record
What is the term used to describe scientists who study fossil remains of our early human ancestors?
Paleoanthropologist
Stratigraphy is a technique of relative dating, and it depends on _____.
Assumptions that what is deeper is older
The chance discovery of the Kennewick man in 1996 opened a window to early human life in North America. This success might not have been possible, however, without researchers making comparisons of the remains to nearby plants, animals, and other parts of the remains to understand the context. This approach to dating is called _____.
Relative
What kind of dating techniques gives a specific date for a fossil?
Absolute
Which of the following can be dated using radiocarbon dating methods?
hair preserved in peat bogs
What can the radiopotassium dating technique be applied to?
Stone of volcanic origin
Where in the body do we carry our genetic code?
DNA
Genetic studies of mtDNA indicates that:
All living humans have a common matrilineal ancestor.
At about what date do DNA studies place the migration of humans out of Africa?
100,000 yBP
Calculations of DNA mutation rates indicate that Native Americans migrated about _____ yBP.
15,000
What is evolution?
Evolution describes how biological adaptation in organism occur as a response to environmental changes, developing over generations
What do we called the Protestant Christian belief that God created the earth between 6,000 and 10,000 yBP?
Creationism
A recent attempt to undermine evolution tries to avoid religions and instead claims that hard evidence shows life is too complex to be random. What is this theory called?
Intelligent design
Scientists believe that genetic mutations are:
The only source of new genetic material in a population
What environmental agents increase the frequency of mutations?
Mutagens
Until the mid-1800s, most peppered moths in Great Britain were white, while a few were dark. Why did these groups switch during the Industrial Revolution, when most of the peppered moth population evolved to have the darker coloration?
Dark moths were selected because their color was an advantage in the new environment
The sickle cell gene is found in high frequency in certain African countries along the equator because:
The gene provides certain advantages in that environment