Lectures 9-12

Question 1

What Traits Define Hominins?

Answer 1

Walk on two legs
Larger brain size than a chimpanzee
Anteriorly placed foramen magnum
Reduced sexual dimorphism, or differences in size between males and females

Question 2

What Morphological Traits
Define Homo sapiens?

Answer 2

Presence of chin on mandible
Gracile skeletal features (compared to Neanderthal)
Large globular brain
Smaller face & teeth than Neanderthals
Lack of prognathism (flat face)

Question 3

In homo sapiens Evidence for art, ____years ago in____
– After ___ years ago, explosion of art across world!
– Clear evidence of representational art

Answer 3

Evidence for art, 75,000 years ago in South Africa
– After 75,000 years ago, explosion of art across world!
– Clear evidence of representational art

Question 4

Homo sapiens Stone technologies more varied and sophisticated
– Long ___ blades, required____
– Blades used as spears for ____

Answer 4

Stone technologies more varied and sophisticated
– Long bi-facial blades, required fine coordination
– Blades used as spears for long-distance huntin

Question 5

The Oldest homo sapien fossils found in ____
____years old
–arly Homo sapiens slightly more
____ cranium than today

Answer 5

– Oldest fossils found in Ethiopia
(OMO 1), 195,000 years old
– Early Homo sapiens slightly more
robust cranium than today

Question 6

Explain the out of africa theory for origins of homo sapiens

Answer 6

Out-Of-Africa Theory: H.sapiens emerged
in Africa prior to 50,000 years ago and then
that population spread to the rest of the
world.

Question 7

Explain multiregional theory for origins of homo sapiens

Answer 7

The hominin
population that already lived outside of Africa
after 1.8 mya (like H.erectus and H.
neanderthalensis) independently evolved into
the H. sapiens populations around the world
today.

Question 8

How could genetic data
clarify which model (out of Africa or multiregional)
represents actual events?

Answer 8

Human migration tracked by mtDNA from placenta showed low genetic diversity, meaning multiregional was not correct

Question 9

What is human mtDNA?

Answer 9

Useful region of DNA for population studies
Higher mutation rate than nuclear DNA
Many copies within a cell
Does not recombine (no crossing over)

Question 10

Define haplotype

Answer 10

a physical grouping of
genomic variants (or polymorphisms) that
tend to be inherited together

Question 11

Haplotypes are used in

Answer 11

population
genetics and tracking disease variants
in populations.

Question 12

All living humans today can trace their
ancestry to populations in Africa ___
years ago using ____.

Answer 12

All living humans today can trace their
ancestry to populations in Africa 200,000
years ago using DNA.

Question 13

Carolus Linneaus was

Answer 13

Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778), Swedish
botanist founder of the system of
taxonomy for plants and animals that
we still use today.

Question 14

Blumenbach was known for

Answer 14

dividing humans into five races

Question 15

What is eugenics

Answer 15

The study of hereditary improvement of
the human race by controlled selective
breeding

Question 16

Define biological determinism

Answer 16

if undesirable traits
had biological basis, just mandate no
procreation

Question 17

TorF: Eugenics was popular among US scientists in the 20th century

Answer 17

true

Question 18

Who is Galton?

Answer 18

considered the father of eugenics
wrote hereditary genius, 1869
believed intelligence was inherited
wanted to end marriages between people of different quality

Question 19

Who was Davenport

Answer 19

established the station for experimental evolution
attempted to trace heredity of emotional, behavioral, physical traits
felt family bloodlines/races were predestined for certain behavioral qualities

Question 20

What is the kallikak family case

Answer 20

members of family were mentally disabled. davenport tried to prevent them from having offspring

Question 21

On a mass scale, eugenics can lead to

Answer 21

genocide

Question 22

Who was RA fisher

Answer 22

founder of population genetics
proponent of races

Question 23

When does the fact that genetic data does not support the race hypothesis become widespread?

Answer 23

1960s

Question 24

Richard Lewontin’s book “the apportionment of human diversity” is significant because

Answer 24

it attempted to examine biochemical markers within previously defined racial groups
used blood groups
found there is more differences within races than between groups

Question 25

Noah Rosenberg’s work was important because

Answer 25

he examined 377 microsatellite loci in 1056 individuals from 52 populations
found that within population differences account for 93/95% of variation

Question 26

How does cluster analysis work?

Answer 26

using statistical techniques, one can use these types of genetic data to identify clusters of shared genetic ancestry
however, the researcher has to choose the number of clusters to mathematically identify

Question 27

When is cluster analysis useful? What are its limitations?

Answer 27

if you’re aware of its assumptions and limitations.
most significant limitation is that it forces what we know to be clinally distributed variation into a discrete number of groups.