Ch.3 What Can The Study Of Primates Tell Us + Full Test Bank

Chapter 3: What Can the Study of Primates Tell Us about Human Beings?

Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 01]

1) Some observers attribute human-like feelings and attitudes to nonhuman primates because these primates closely resemble human beings in outward physical appearance. This practice is called

Feedback: Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman animals.
Page reference: What Are Primates?

a. anthropocentrism.

b. anthropomorphism.

c. egocentrism.

d. ethnocentrism.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 02]

2) A biological classification of various kinds of organisms is a(n)

Feedback: Taxonomy is a biological classification of various kinds of organisms.
Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. taxonomy.

b. grouping.

c. genera.

d. anthropomorphism.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 03]

3) The term used in textbook for physical shape and size of an organism or its body parts is its

Feedback: Traditional evolutionary taxonomies focused on the morphology of organisms—the shapes and sizes of their anatomical features—and related these to the adaptations the organisms had developed.

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. size.

b. morphology.

c. shape.

d. taxonomy.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 04]

4) Organisms that seem to have developed similar adaptations at a similar level of complexity in similar environments are classified by as being in the same evolutionary

Feedback: Organisms that seemed to have developed similar adaptations at a similar level of complexity in similar environments were classified together in the same evolutionary grade. Primates are classified into four evolutionary grades: the least complex grade is represented by prosimians (“premonkeys”) and includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers; anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and humans) represent a more advanced grade; followed by the hominoids (apes and humans); the most advanced grade is the hominins (humans).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. clade.

b. grade.

c. taxon.

d. species.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 05]

5) Genetic inheritance due to common ancestry is called

Feedback: Homology is genetic inheritance resulting from common ancestry.
Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. homology.

b. analogy.

c. natural selection.

d. descent with modification.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 06]

6) The circumstances in which two species with very different evolutionary histories develop similar physical features as a result of adapting to a similar environment is known as a(n)

Feedback: Homoplasy is convergent, or parallel, evolution, as when two species with very different evolutionary histories develop similar physical features as a result of adapting to a similar environment.
Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. homology.

b. homoplasy.

c. natural selection.

d. descent with modification.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 07]

7) What a species eats, how it finds mates, raises its young, relates to companions, and protects itself from predators is known the species’

Feedback: Ecological niche is any species’ way of life: what it eats and how it finds mates, raises its young, relates to companions, and protects itself from predators.

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. home base.

b. lifeway.

c. ecological niche.

d. constructed niche.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 08]

8) The sizes, shapes, and number of an animal’s teeth are referred to as the animal’s

Feedback: Dentition refers to the sizes, shapes, and numbers of their teeth.

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. buccal capacity.

b. dentition.

c. dental arcade.

d. tooth rows.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 09]

9) A tail which is able to grasp an object is considered

Feedback: Prehensile is the ability to grasp, with fingers, toes, or tail.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. prehensile.

b. curly.

c. an exaptation.

d. an example of phenotypic plasticity.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 10]

10) Primates that are active at night are called

Feedback: Nocturnal describes animals that are active during the night.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. diurnal.

b. nocturnal.

c. undergraduates.

d. old-world monkeys.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 11]

11) Which of the following terms refers to humans and their immediate ancestors?

Feedback: Hominins are humans and their immediate ancestors.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. Hominoid

b. Humanoid

c. Hominin

d. Anthropoid

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 12]

12) When males and females of the same species show observable phenotypic differences in, for example, size, the species is said to show

Feedback: Sexual dimorphism refers to the observable phenotypic differences between males and females of the same species.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. gender distinctiveness.

b. phenotypic magnitude.

c. sexual differentiation.

d. sexual dimorphism

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 13]

13) The bones of the head, excluding the jaw, are referred to as the

Feedback: Cranium refers to the bones of the head, excluding the jaw.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. noguineus.

b. mandible.

c. cranium.

d. calvarium.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 14]

14) The mandible is the

Feedback: Mandible refers to the lower jaw.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. lower jaw.

b. upper jaw.

c. cheekbone.

d. hole at the bottom of the skull.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 15]

15) The form of vision in binocular animals which produces depth perception is known as:

Feedback: Stereoscopic vision is a form of vision in which the visual field of each eye of a two-eyed (binocular) animal overlaps with the other, producing depth perception.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. dual.

b. retrovision.

c. three-dimensional.

d. stereoscopic vision.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 16]

16) The specialty in primatology that takes into consideration the welfare not just of primates but also of the ecosystems and human communities with which they are inextricably connected is called

Feedback: Ethnoprimatology has been defined as the “theoretically and methodologically interdisciplinary study of the multifarious interactions and interfaces between humans and other primates” (Fuentes 2012, 102).

Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. paleoprimatology.

b. ecoprimatology.

c. ethnoprimatology.

d. cultural primatology.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 17]

17) The bones of an animal’s body, not including its head, are called its

Feedback: Postcranial skeleton refers to the bones of the body, excluding those of the head.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. cranium.

b. postcranial skeleton.

c. holotype.

d. taxon.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?: Chapter 03 Question 18]

18) The first hominoids appeared in

Feedback: The first hominoids that evolved in Africa during the early Miocene are very diverse. One of the best-known examples is Proconsul, which is generalized enough to have been ancestral to later apes and human beings. During the middle Miocene, hominoids rapidly spread and diversified, and their fossils are found from Europe to eastern Asia. In the late Miocene, many hominoid species became extinct. Paleoanthropologists agree that chimpanzees, gorillas, and human beings shared a common ancestor in the late Miocene.

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. Africa.

b. Asia.

c. South America.

d. Europe.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 19]

19) Western Europeans first learned about African apes in the

Feedback: Western Europeans first learned about African apes in the seventeenth century. Ever since, these animals have been used as a mirror to reflect on and speculate about human nature. But the results of this exercise have been contradictory. The physical characteristics that humans share with other primates have led many observers to assume that these primates also share our feelings and attitudes.
Page reference: What Are Primates?

a. seventeenth century.

b. eighteenth century.

c. nineteenth century.

d. twentieth century.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 20]

20) Haplorhini include

Feedback: Haplorhini includes tarsiers and anthropoids, primates whose upper lips are not attached to their gums. Some taxonomies emphasize the features all Haplorhini share, and recognize three Haplorhini infraorders: Tarsiiformes (tarsiers), Platyrrhini (New World anthropoids), and Catarrhini (Old World anthropoids).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. tarsiers and anthropoids.

b. primates whose upper lips are not attached to their gums.

c. lorises and anthropoids.

d. reptiles and salamanders.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 21]

21) Strepsirrhini include

Feedback: Strepsirrhini include lemurs and lorises (see Figures 3.3 and 3.4), the prosimians that have a rhinarium, or upper lip, attached to the gums by a web of skin. Other shared, derived features that unite Strepsirrhines include the tooth comb (forward-tilting lower incisors and canine teeth used for grooming), a grooming claw on the second digit of their feet, and an ankle bone (or talus) that flares to the side (Fleagle 2013, 57).

Page reference: How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?

a. lemurs and lorises.

b. lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers.

c. lorises and tarsiers.

d. tarsiers and New World monkeys.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 22]

22) Tarsiers are included with anthropoids in the primate suborder Haplorhini because

Feedback: Tarsiers are small nocturnal primates (Figure 3.5) that eat only animal food, such as insects, birds, bats, and snakes. Tarsiers used to be grouped with lemurs and lorises, but cladists have argued persuasively that they belong in the same clade as anthropoids. This is because they share a number of derived traits with the anthropoids, including dry noses, detached upper lips, a similarly structured placenta (and heavier infants), and a structure in their skulls called the “postorbital partition” (Bearder 1987; Aiello 1986).

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. their upper lips are all attached to their gums by a web of skin.

b. all of them have moist noses.

c. the placenta of tarsiers is similar to the placenta of anthropoids.

d. they are cuter than other species.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 23]

23) Among gorillas,

Feedback: There are five living subspecies of gorillas, all of which are found in Africa: the western lowland gorilla, the Cross River gorilla, Grauer’s gorilla, the Bwindi gorilla, and the mountain gorilla. The rarest subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is probably the best known, thanks to the work of Dian Fossey, whose experiences have been popularized in books and film. Mountain gorillas eat mostly leaves. Like the New World howler monkeys, both male and female gorillas transfer out of the group in which they were born before they start breeding. The transfer, which does not appear forced, may occur more than once in a female’s life. An adult female gorilla may produce three surviving offspring in her lifetime. Gorillas are highly sexually dimorphic, and the dominant male often determines group activity and the direction of travel. Immature gorillas are attracted to dominant males, who ordinarily treat them with tolerance and protect them in dangerous situations.
Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. only males transfer out of the group in which they were born.

b. only females transfer out of the group in which they were born.

c. both females and males transfer out of the group in which they were born.

d. transfer out of the group in which they were born is random for both sexes.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 24]

24) Which of the following primate groups uses sexual behavior to manipulate relationships rather than to increase reproductive rates?

Feedback: Bonobo females are able and willing to mate during much of their monthly cycle, but researchers have also observed a high degree of mounting behavior and sexual play between all members of bonobo groups, young and old, involving individuals of the same sex and of the opposite sex. Studying a captive colony of bonobos in the San Diego Zoo, Frans de Waal and his assistants observed 600 mounts, fewer than 200 of which involved sexually mature individuals. Although this might be a function of life in captivity, it does not appear to be contradicted by data gathered in the wild. Nishida and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa (1987), who refer to material gathered under both conditions, conclude that elaborate bonobo sexual behavior is “apparently used to manipulate relationships rather than to increase reproductive rates” (173).

Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. Gibbons

b. Gorillas

c. Bonobos

d. Chimpanzees

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 25]

25) Which of the following features is found in modern lemurs, but NOT in their fossil ancestors?

Feedback: Eocene adapids had four premolars, whereas modern lemurs have only three, and their lower incisors and canines were generalized, whereas modern lemurs possess a specialized tooth comb.

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. Four premolars

b. A tooth comb

c. Generalized incisors and canines

d. Forward-facing eyes

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 26]

26) The Fayum Depression in Egypt is a

Feedback: Oligocene layers at the Fayum, in Egypt, dating from between 35 and 31 mya have long been our richest source of information about anthropoid evolution. The best represented group of early anthropoids is the propliopithecids, which were larger than the parapithecids and had the 2.1.2.3 dental formula characteristic of all later catarrhines. However, many features of their anatomy are more primitive than those found in Old World monkeys and apes (Fleagle 2013, 273).

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. key site for the most complete fossils of plesiadapiforms dating from the Paleocene.

b. key site for fossils showing the appearance of the first anthropoids during the Miocene.

c. rich source of prosimian fossils dating from the Oligocene.

d. rich source of fossil evidence of anthropoidean evolution in the Oligocene.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 27]

27) The largest of the Oligocene fossil anthropoids is called

Feedback: Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, the largest of the Oligocene anthropoideans, is well known from numerous fossilized teeth, skulls, and limb bones and appears ancestral to later Old World anthropoids, or catarrhines (Figure 3.18). A. zeuxis lived 35 mya and looked very much like a primitive monkey (Simons 1985, 40). The bones of its lower jaw and upper cranium are fused along the midlines, and the eye orbits are closed off from the brain by a bony plate.

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. Plesiadapis

b. Prosimius

c. Aegyptopithecus zeuxis

d. Proconsul

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 28]

28) Bilophodont molars are now believed to be

Feedback: A. zeuxis had two premolars (a diagnostic catarrhine [Old World anthropoid] feature), and it also had Y-5 molars. A Y-5 molar is a tooth with five cusps that are separated by a “Y”-shaped furrow (Figure 3.19). Later Old World monkeys (cercopithecoids) have bilophodont molars with four cusps arranged in pairs, each of which is joined by a ridge of enamel called a “loph.”

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. found among all apes and human beings.

b. primitive for all Old World anthropoids.

c. later developments among Old World monkeys.

d. uniquely derived traits of New World monkeys.

Type: true-false

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 29]

29) Macaques have the smallest number of species in general of all New World monkeys and have the smallest range of all New World monkeys.

Feedback: The most widely distributed primate genus in the world is Macaca—or the macaques—of which there are 20 species, ranging from Gibraltar and North Africa to Southeast Asia. All macaque species live in large multimale groups with complex internal social structures. They do well in a wide variety of habitats and have been especially successful living in habitats disturbed by human populations, with whom they have a long history of interaction in many parts of the world (Fleagle 2013, 123).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 30]

30) Many leading taxonomists have grouped chimpanzees and humans into the same family, Hominidae, because fossil evidence shows that chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor 2 million years ago.

Feedback: Because chimpanzees and humans share more than 98% of their DNA, more and more taxonomists have concluded that these genetic similarities require placing chimpanzees and humans together in the same family, Hominidae; humans and their immediate ancestors are then grouped into a subfamily called Homininae and are called hominins (Goodman et al. 1990).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 31]

31) Adult male gorillas are much larger than females and treat immature gorillas with tolerance.

Feedback: There are five living subspecies of gorillas, all of which are found in Africa: the western lowland gorilla, the Cross River gorilla, Grauer’s gorilla, the Bwindi gorilla, and the mountain gorilla. The rarest subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is probably the best known, thanks to the work of Dian Fossey, whose experiences have been popularized in books and film. Mountain gorillas eat mostly leaves. Like the New World howler monkeys, both male and female gorillas transfer out of the group in which they were born before they start breeding. The transfer, which does not appear forced, may occur more than once in a female’s life. An adult female gorilla may produce three surviving offspring in her lifetime. Gorillas are highly sexually dimorphic, and the dominant male often determines group activity and the direction of travel. Immature gorillas are attracted to dominant males, who ordinarily treat them with tolerance and protect them in dangerous situations.
Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 32]

32) Based on current ethnoprimatological research, humans and other primates have long coexisted successfully in many global settings.

Feedback: As Agustín Fuentes explains, humans and other primates have long coexisted successfully in many global settings, but human activities now threaten the survival of many primate species in the wild. Indeed, ethnoprimatologists call into question the very notion of “the wild,” given mounting knowledge that human niche construction is responsible for vast modifications of the living and nonliving world.

Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. True

b. False

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 33]

33) Cladists define a species as a group of organisms sharing a set of unique, derived features that sets them apart form all other such groups. This way of defining species exemplifies

Feedback: Cladogenesis is the birth of a variety of descendant species from a single ancestral species.
Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. the biological species concept.

b. the phylogenetic species concept.

c. the phenetic fossil species concept.

d. the Aristotelian species concept.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 34]

34) Wings on birds and bats are an example of

Feedback: Homoplasy is convergent, or parallel, evolution, as when two species with very different evolutionary histories develop similar physical features as a result of adapting to a similar environment.
Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. homoplasy.

b. homology.

c. anagenesis.

d. cladogenesis.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 35]

35) Which of the following statements about New World monkeys is correct?

Feedback: New World monkeys are the only clade of anthropoids in Central and South America; neither apes nor strepsirrhines are found there. It happens that some New World monkeys have evolved lemur-like adaptations and some have evolved ape-like adaptations, but other adaptations are unique (Fleagle 2013, 92).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. New World monkeys are the only clade of anthropoids found on the island of Madagascar.

b. New World monkeys and New World Apes are the only primate clades found in South America.

c. New World monkeys do not have prehensile tails.

d. New World monkeys are the only clade of anthropoids found in Central and South America.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 36]

36) Taxonomists have a hard time sorting out the phylogenetic connections among colobines in Africa and Asia because

Feedback: Old World monkeys include two major groups: the colobines and the cercopithecines. Colobines, including the langurs of Asia (Figure 3.8) and the red colobus monkeys of Africa, are all diurnal (active during the day) and primarily adapted to arboreal life, although they have been observed to travel on the ground between tracts of forest. Colobines have four-chambered stomachs, presumably an adaptation to a heavy diet of leaves (Struhsaker and Leland 1987). Sorting out the phylogenetic connections among colobines in Africa and Asia has been difficult; it appears that much hybridization has occurred among them in the past (Fleagle 2013, 135).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. there are very few species to compare.

b. they have a very incomplete fossil record.

c. their genetic data has been very hard to collect.

d. it appears that much hybridization has occurred among them in the past.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 37]

37) According to the textbook, which of the following attributes is the hallmark of primate adaptations?

Feedback: When we try to summarize what makes primate life unique, we are struck by its flexibility, resilience, and creativity. Primates can get by under difficult circumstances, survive injuries, try out new foods or new social arrangements, and take advantage of the random processes of history and demography to do what none has done before (Jolly 1985, 80–81, 242, 319). Simplistic models of primate behavior assuming that all primates are fundamentally alike, with few behavioral options, are no longer plausible. Mary Ellen Morbeck (1997) observes that “Most current models are inadequate when applied to the complex lives of large-bodied, long-lived, group-living mammals, primates, and humans with big brains and good memories” (14). Overall, it seems quite clear that flexibility is the hallmark of primate adaptations.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. Possession of a tail

b. Possession of grasping hands

c. Stereoscopic vision

d. Flexibility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 38]

38) Based on current ethnoprimatological research, which primate groups are least threatened by human activities?

Feedback: How have different primate populations fared in their encounters with humans? The great apes seem to face the greatest threats: gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans all require large areas of forest to meet their dietary needs and reproduce at slow rates. They are threatened by forest destruction by human settlement and logging, as well as by hunters who capture infants for the exotic pet trade or prize the flesh of these animals as “bushmeat.” By comparison, macaques and baboons seem able to coexist with humans on much better terms. These monkeys are generalist foragers who seem to thrive in areas disturbed by human settlement and are becoming important draws for tourists in Southeast Asia and South Africa (Fuentes 2012, 111).

Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

a. Chimpanzees and gorillas

b. Macaques and baboons

c. Chimpanzees and baboons

d. All primate groups are equally threatened by human activities; none seem able to coexist with humans or survive in areas disturbed by human settlement.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 39]

39) Which of the following is NOT an ancestral characteristic of primates?

Feedback: Ancestral characteristics that primates inherited from earlier, nonprimate, mammalian ancestors appear in their generalized postcranial skeletons. These characteristics include the following: The presence of five digits on the hands and feet; The presence of the clavicle, or collar bone, allowing for flexibility in the shoulder joint; and The use of the palms of the hand and foot (rather than the toes) for walking, called plantigrade locomotion.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. A collar bone

b. Five digits on hands and feet

c. Plantigrade locomotion

d. Stereoscopic vision

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 40]

40) Which of the following is NOT an evolutionary trend in the primate order?

Feedback: W. E. LeGros Clark (1963) identified four evolutionary trends that can be traced across the primate order since the first primates evolved away from their primitive mammalian ancestors: 1. An increase in brain size, relative to body size, and an increase in the complexity of the neocortex (or new brain); 2. A reduction of both the projection of the face and the reliance on the sense of smell; 3. An increasing dependence on the sense of sight, resulting in the relocation of the eyes onto the same plane on the front of the face so that the visual field of each eye overlaps, producing depth perception (or stereoscopic vision); A reduction in the number of teeth.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. Reduction in the number of digits on hands and feet

b. Reduction of the projection of the face

c. Reduction in the number of teeth

d. Increase in brain size, relative to body size

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 41]

41) Which of the following has NOT been offered as an explanation for the anatomical attributes of the earliest primates?

Feedback: LeGros Clark (1963) argued that primate evolutionary trends and unique features were the outcome of an arboreal adaptation—that is, adaptation to life in the trees. Matt Cartmill suggested that many of these traits derive from an ancestral adaptation to feeding on insects at the ends of tree branches in the lower levels of tropical forests. Selective pressure for improved vision resulted from the fact that these ancestral primates fed at night and relied on sight to locate their prey. More recently, Robert Sussman (1991) and Katherine Milton (1993) have argued that switching from insect predation to consumption of edible plant parts set the stage for future primate evolution leading to grasping hands, visual acuity (including color vision), larger brains, and increased behavioral flexibility.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

a. Life in the trees

b. Feeding at night on insects at the ends of branches in the lower levels of the tropical forest

c. Switching from insect predation to consumption of edible plant parts

d. Life on the ground

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 42]

42) Which of the following statements about the fossil record related to the last common ancestor of the African apes and human beings is correct?

Feedback: The land bridge connecting Africa to Eurasia was formed during the middle Miocene (16–10 mya). The earliest fossils assigned to the modern hominoid clade first date to the middle and late Miocene (10–5 mya) and come mostly from Africa, although one genus, Kenyapithecus, is also represented by a second species from Turkey (Fleagle 2013, 320). Once hominoids made it out of Africa, they experienced a rapid radiation throughout many parts of the Old World, and their fossils remain difficult to classify (Fleagle 2013, 326). Unfortunately, very few African hominoid fossils of any kind date from the late Miocene (10–5 mya) or early Pliocene (5–2.5 mya) (Benefit and McCrossin 1995, 251).

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

a. The fossil record for the period when this split occurred is unusually rich and detailed.

b. Very few African hominoid fossils of any kind from the late Miocene (10–5 mya) or early Pliocene (5–2.5 mya) have been found.

c. More fossils of the ancestors of African apes have been found in the late Miocene (10-5 mya) than from the early Pliocene (5–2.5 mya).

d. The fossil record for the period when this split occurred is recorded in oral histories.

Type: true-false

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 43]

43) Primatologists have an obligation to romanticize primates if they are to understand these animals in their own right.

Feedback: When studying nonhuman primates, we must remain aware of how our own human interests can distort what we see (Haraway 1989). If you think humans are basically kind and generous, nonhuman primates will look kind and generous; if you think humans are basically nasty and selfish, nonhuman primates will look nasty and selfish. Primatologists have an obligation to avoid either romanticizing or demonizing primates if they are to understand these animals in their own right.
Page reference: What Are Primates?

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 44]

44) Some biological anthropologists object to classifying chimpanzees and humans into the same family, Hominidae, because they believe that using genetics alone to determine taxonomy ignores important evolutionary information.

Feedback: Because chimpanzees and humans share more than 98% of their DNA, more and more taxonomists have concluded that these genetic similarities require placing chimpanzees and humans together in the same family, Hominidae; humans and their immediate ancestors are then grouped into a subfamily called Homininae and are called hominins (Goodman et al. 1990).

Page reference: How Do Biologists Classify Primates?

a. True

b. False

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 45]

45) What are the drawbacks of anthropomorphizing nonhuman primates?

Feedback: Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman animals. In the twentieth century alone, Westerners vacillated between viewing primates as innocent and comical versions of themselves (Curious George) and as brutish and degraded versions of themselves (King Kong, Figure 3.1). When studying nonhuman primates, we must remain aware of how our own human interests can distort what we see (Haraway 1989). If you think humans are basically kind and generous, nonhuman primates will look kind and generous; if you think humans are basically nasty and selfish, nonhuman primates will look nasty and selfish. Primatologists have an obligation to avoid either romanticizing or demonizing primates if they are to understand these animals in their own right.

Page reference: What Are Primates?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 46]

46) Identify three of the evolutionary trends that have appeared in primates, define them, and describe them. Why are they important?

Feedback: W. E. LeGros Clark (1963) identified four evolutionary trends that can be traced across the primate order since the first primates evolved away from their primitive mammalian ancestors: 1. An increase in brain size, relative to body size, and an increase in the complexity of the neocortex (or new brain); 2. A reduction of both the projection of the face and the reliance on the sense of smell; 3. An increasing dependence on the sense of sight, resulting in the relocation of the eyes onto the same plane on the front of the face so that the visual field of each eye overlaps, producing depth perception (or stereoscopic vision); A reduction in the number of teeth.

Page reference: Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 47]

47) What is ethnoprimatology and why is it important?

Feedback: Ethnoprimatology has been defined as the “theoretically and methodologically interdisciplinary study of the multifarious interactions and interfaces between humans and other primates” (Fuentes 2012, 102).

Page reference: What is Ethnoprimatology?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Analysis and Synthesis: Chapter 03 Question 48]

48) Describe three reasons for the significance of Propliopithecus in the evolutionary history of the primates? Provide examples.

Feedback: Oligocene layers at the Fayum, in Egypt, dating from between 35 and 31 mya have long been our richest source of information about anthropoid evolution. The best represented group of early anthropoids is the propliopithecids, which were larger than the parapithecids and had the 2.1.2.3 dental formula characteristic of all later catarrhines. However, many features of their anatomy are more primitive than those found in Old World monkeys and apes (Fleagle 2013, 273).

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Analysis and Synthesis: Chapter 03 Question 49]

49) Why have paleontologists rejected the parallel evolution interpretation for the relationship between Old World and New World monkeys?

Feedback: However, some biological anthropologists object that using genetics alone to determine taxonomy ignores important evolutionary information. For instance, emphasizing the genetic similarities between chimps and humans ignores wide adaptive differences between these taxa that illustrate Darwinian “descent with modification.” These differences help explain why chimps and other apes are on the verge of extinction, largely as a consequence of human adaptive success.

Page reference: How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There?

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Analysis and Synthesis: Chapter 03 Question 50]

50) Discuss the importance of the Miocene period in the evolution of primates. Pay particular attention to the relevant fossils as well as natural selection pressures during the period.

Feedback: The Miocene lasted from about 23 to about 5 mya. Between 18 and 17 mya, the continents finally arrived at their present positions, when the African plate (which includes the Arabian Peninsula) contacted the Eurasian plate. This helps explain why fossil hominoids from the early Miocene (about 23–16 mya) have been found only in Africa. More recent fossil hominoids have been found from western Europe to China, presumably because their ancestors used the new land bridge to cross from Africa into Eurasia. During the middle Miocene (about 16–10 mya), hominoid diversity declined. During the late Miocene (about 9–5 mya), cercopithecoid monkeys became very successful, many hominoid species became extinct, and the first members of a new lineage, the hominins, appeared.

Page reference: How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History?

Module 2 Test Bank

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 01]

1) The geological term for a layer of rock and soil is

Feedback: Stratum layer; in geological terms, a layer of rock and soil.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. stratum

b. superposition

c. biostratigraphy

d. taxon

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 02]

2) Relative dating that relies on patterns of fossil distribution in different rock layers is called

Feedback: Biostratigraphic dating is a relative dating method that relies on patterns of fossil distribution in different rock layers.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. serial dating

b. blind dating

c. biostratigraphic dating

d. typological dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 03]

3) The dating method based on the assumption that artifacts that look alike must have been made at the same time is called

Feedback: Seriation is a relative dating method based on the assumption that artifacts that look alike must have been made at the same time.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. sequencing

b. seriation

c. isotopic dating

d. relative dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 04]

4) Artifacts and structures from a particular time and place in an archaeological site are referred to as

Feedback: Assemblage are artifacts and structures from a particular time and place in an archaeological site.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. assemblages

b. collections

c. seriation

d. sets

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 05]

5) Some numerical dating methods are based on scientific knowledge about the rate of nuclear decay that transforms one naturally occurring element into another element. These are known as

Feedback: Isotopic dating methods, which are based on knowledge about the rate at which various radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring elements transform themselves into other elements by losing subatomic particles.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. relative dating methods

b. cladistic dating methods

c. isotopic dating methods

d. serial dating methods

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Knowledge of Key Terms and Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 06]

6) The dating method that uses tree ring patterns to construct a master sequence that can be used to date wood recovered from archaeological sites is called

Feedback: Dendrochronology yields numerical dates for trees and objects made of wood. A crosscut section of a mature tree exposes a series of concentric rings, which normally accumulate one per year over the tree’s life. (Old trees do not need to be cut down to recover the tree-ring chronology they contain; instead, scientists bore long, thin holes into their trunks and remove samples that preserve the sequence.) Tree rings are thicker in wet years and thinner in dry years. The pattern of thick and thin rings is similar for all trees growing in the same habitat over many years. The older the tree, the more growth rings it has and the more complete is its record of the growth pattern for the locality. Clearly, only trees with seasonal growth patterns can be used successfully in dendrochronology—those that grow all year round, such as those in tropical rain forests, do not produce variable ring patterns.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. thermoluminescence

b. electron-spin resonance

c. dendrochronology

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 07]

7) Dating methods that identify a particular object as being older or younger in relation to some other object, and that arrange material evidence in a linear sequence, so that we know what came before what, are called

Feedback: Relative dating methods refer to dating methods that arrange material evidence in a linear sequence, each object in the sequence being identified as older or younger than another object.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. numerical dating methods

b. “layer cake” dating methods

c. relative dating methods

d. allometric dating methods

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 08]

8) A layer-cake profile of different soil types is exposed when we dig into the earth. Geologists reason that these layers were laid down sequentially, and that layers lower down have to be older than the layers above them. This is called the law of

Feedback: The law of superposition is a principle of geological interpretation stating that layers lower down in a sequence of strata must be older than the layers above them and, therefore, that objects embedded in lower layers must be older than objects embedded in upper layers.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. superposition

b. cross-cutting relationships

c. the jungle

d. unconformities

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 09]

9) Which dating method is accurate for dates from the origin of the earth up to about 100,000 years ago, and is used to date layers of volcanic rock?

Feedback: Potassium is one of the most commonly occurring elements in the earth’s crust. One isotope of potassium that occurs in relatively small quantities is radioactive potassium 40, which decays at a known rate into argon 40. During volcanic activity, very nearly all of the argon 40 in molten lava escapes, resetting the atomic clock to zero. Potassium, however, does not escape. As lava cools and crystallizes, any argon 40 that collects in the rock can only have been produced by the decay of potassium 40. The date of the formation of the volcanic rock can then be calculated, based on the half-life of potassium 40, which is 1.3 billion years.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. potassium-argon dating

b. fission-track dating

c. uranium-series dating

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 10]

10) Which dating method is useful for dating the remains of organisms that died as long ago as 30,000 to 40,000 years ago? (A refined version of this method can date organic materials that are up to 55,000 years old.)

Feedback: Radiocarbon dating may be the method of absolute dating best known to nonanthropologists. The method is based on four assumptions: (1) that the amount of radioactive carbon 14 in the atmosphere has remained constant over time, (2) that radioactive and nonradioactive carbon mix rapidly so that the ratio of one to the other in the atmosphere is likely to be the same everywhere, (3) that radioactive carbon is just as likely as nonradioactive carbon to enter into chemical compounds, and (4) that living organisms are equally likely to take radioactive carbon and nonradioactive carbon into their bodies.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. potassium-argon dating

b. fission-track dating

c. uranium-series dating

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 11]

11) Which dating method can provide dates ranging from a few thousand to a million years ago, measures the number of electrons trapped within a sample, and may prove most helpful in dating specimens of bone and teeth?

Feedback: Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) is based on the fact that tooth enamel in a living organism is free of uranium but begins to absorb uranium after burial. Dates are determined by estimating background radioactivity, measuring the amount of uranium in the enamel of a fossilized tooth, and then determining the rate at which the uranium accumulated in the tooth after burial. ESR dates are often used to cross-check dates provided by thermoluminescence, but sometimes ESR dates do not match up very well. It may be that the process of uranium uptake is more complicated than previously understood and that a variety of factors can affect the level of uranium that actually accumulates in tooth enamel at a particular site. According to Klein, both luminescence dates and ESR dates are affected by site-specific factors that may interfere with their degree of accuracy. ESR dates, in particular, must be evaluated with great care (Klein 2009, 47–48).

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. thermoluminescence

b. electron-spin resonance

c. dendrochronology

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 12]

12) Chris Stringer states that, thanks to the development of a microscopic technique called “laser ablation,” it is now possible to use which of the following dating techniques to directly date a tiny area of fossil tooth enamel?

Feedback: Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) is based on the fact that tooth enamel in a living organism is free of uranium but begins to absorb uranium after burial. Dates are determined by estimating background radioactivity, measuring the amount of uranium in the enamel of a fossilized tooth, and then determining the rate at which the uranium accumulated in the tooth after burial. ESR dates are often used to cross-check dates provided by thermoluminescence, but sometimes ESR dates do not match up very well. It may be that the process of uranium uptake is more complicated than previously understood and that a variety of factors can affect the level of uranium that actually accumulates in tooth enamel at a particular site. According to Klein, both luminescence dates and ESR dates are affected by site-specific factors that may interfere with their degree of accuracy. ESR dates, in particular, must be evaluated with great care (Klein 2009, 47–48).

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. thermoluminescence

b. electron-spin resonance

c. dendrochronology

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 13]

13) Paleomagnetism is valuable because it is the only dating method that

Feedback: Paleomagnetism is based on the discovery that the earth’s magnetic poles have not always been where they are today, perhaps because of shifting currents within the earth’s molten core. A magnet points north during some periods of earth history, south during others. Sometimes a past polarity shift lasted for a long period, called a chron; at other times, shifts alternated repeatedly for short intervals, called subchrons. Changes in polarity are preserved in volcanic rocks or rocks composed of fine-grained sediments that settled slowly. When volcanic rocks cool or sediments settle, their particles align themselves toward the current magnetic pole and retain this pattern. By examining geologic cores to map the positions and deduce the time of particular changes in polarity, geologists have been able to create a master chronology of paleomagnetic shifts that covers the past 5 million years.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. provides absolute dates for fossil deposits laid down during the crucial period between 500,000 and 50,000 years ago.

b. can provide a time framework that can allow geological, climatological, and evolutionary events to be related on a worldwide scale.

c. provides absolute dates for clay artifacts and objects made from volcanic ash.

d. can date organic remains that fossilized more than 100,000 years ago.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Comprehension of Fundamental Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 14]

14) The molecular clock is based on the assumption that

Feedback: The concept of a molecular clock is based on the assumption that genetic mutations accumulate in DNA at a constant rate. This is most accurately measured in DNA that is unlikely to experience natural selection, such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Geneticists compare the genes of different living species (or the proteins produced by those genes), measure the degree of genetic (or protein) differences among them, and deduce the length of time since they all shared a common ancestor.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. living organisms have equal amounts of carbon and carbon-14 in their tissues.

b. genetic mutations accumulate at a constant rate.

c. the products of uranium decay tend to solidify, separate out of water, and mix with salts that collect on the bottom of a lake or sea.

d. heating an irradiated substance releases trapped electrons together with a quantity of light directly in proportion to their number.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 15]

15) Sometimes old rocks are affected by other geological features, as when molten lava forces its way through fractures in several layers on its way to the surface. The assumption that the intruding features must be younger than the layers of rock on which they intrude is called the law of

Feedback: The law of crosscutting relationships is a principle of geological interpretation stating that where old rocks are crosscut by other geological features, the intruding features must be younger than the layers of rock they cut across.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. superposition

b. cross-cutting relationships

c. the land

d. unconformities

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 16]

16) What role was played by fossils of the one-toed horse when paleoanthropologists tried to assign firm dates to hominid-fossil-bearing layers at the eastern African site of Koobi Fora?

Feedback: For example, fossils of the one-toed horse played an important role in the 1970s when paleoanthropologists were attempting to assign firm dates to important hominin fossil–bearing layers at the eastern African site of Koobi Fora. The potassium-argon dating method yielded a date for the Koobi Fora site that would have made it over half a million years older than a site only 100 kilometers north, in the lower Omo River valley, yet the biostratigraphy of these two sites was identical. The paleoanthropologists reasoned that either the one-toed horse had appeared at Koobi Fora over half a million years earlier than it had in the Lower Omo or something was wrong with the potassium-argon dates. Eventually, they determined that the potassium-argon date for Koobi Fora was 700,000–600,000 years too early (Klein 2009, 38). This is exactly what can happen if paleoanthropologists give too much importance to a single, “absolute” date.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. The presence the fossils of one-toed horses confirmed that the horses appeared at Koobi Fora over half a million years earlier than they appeared in the Lower Omo Valley, a nearby site.

b. The presence of the fossils at Koobi Fora, but not at Omo, convinced paleoanthropologists that previous biostratigraphy at the two sites was mistaken.

c. The discrepancy between the one-toed horse fossil dates and the potassium-argon date caused paleoanthropologists to reexamine the potassium-argon date for Koobi Fora.

d. The discrepancy between the one-toed horse fossil dates and the potassium-argon date caused paleaoanthropologists to realize that the hominid fossils at Koobi Fora were older than the Omo fossils.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 17]

17) Cleaning routines such as ultrafiltration and acid-base-wet oxidation (ABOX) can effectively remove contamination that could yield inaccurate dates produced by which of the following methods?

Feedback: Ancient charcoal samples submitted for radiocarbon dating also are pretreated before undergoing the procedure, but acid–base wet oxidation (ABOX) removes more contaminants than previous pretreatments, especially when performed under conditions that isolate the process from the atmosphere (Bird et al. 1999).

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. potassium-argon dating

b. fission-track dating

c. uranium-series dating

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 18]

18) Which dating method provides dates between 40,000 and 100,000-300,000 years ago, and enables us to determine the date when ancient pottery fragments were last fired, or when burnt-flint artifacts last were heated?

Feedback: If a natural substance is exposed to radiation emitted by naturally occurring radioactive isotopes of uranium, thorium, and potassium, the electrons released become trapped in the crystal structure of the irradiated substance. If the irradiated substance is subsequently heated, however, the trapped electrons will be released together with a quantity of light directly in proportion to their number. The light released in this process is called thermoluminescence. If we know the amount of radiation our sample receives per year, heat it up, and measure the amount of thermoluminescence released, then we can calculate the number of years since the sample was last heated.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. thermoluminescence

b. electron-spin resonance

c. dendrochronology

d. radiocarbon dating

Type: multiple choice question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 19]

19) Which of the following is a criticism of the molecular clock as a dating technique?

Feedback: Not all paleoanthropologists accept the validity of this technique. Some question the key assumption that genetic mutations accumulate at a constant rate; others point out that the accuracy of the molecular clock depends on the accuracy of some other numerical method used to date the presumed fossil ancestors of one of the species being compared. If the original numerical date is wrong or if variation in a population’s DNA has been affected by evolutionary forces other than mutation (genetic drift, e.g.), the molecular clock will provide a series of erroneous dates for later species’ divergences (see, e.g., Thorne and Wolpoff 1992; Templeton 1993).

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

a. The proportion of carbon¹⁴ in the atmosphere may change from one period of prehistory to another.

b. Contamination by sources of uranium other than water may affect the accuracy of the dating method.

c. Its accuracy depends on the accuracy of other chronometric methods used to date the fossil ancestors of one of the species being compared.

d. The molecular clock is unreliable because it dates rocks, NOT organic remains.

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 20]

20) Describe the difference between relative dating methods and numerical dating methods. What are examples of each? How do paleoanthropologists and archaeologists use these different approaches?

Feedback: Relative dating methods refer to dating methods that arrange material evidence in a linear sequence, each object in the sequence being identified as older or younger than another object. Numerical (or “absolute”) dating include dating methods based on laboratory techniques that assign age in years to material evidence.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Application of Concepts: Chapter 03 Question 21]

21) Explain the concepts of stratigraphic superposition and the law of crosscutting relationships. When would you use each of these approaches? What would you learn from each of these methods?

Feedback: The law of superposition is a principle of geological interpretation stating that layers lower down in a sequence of strata must be older than the layers above them and, therefore, that objects embedded in lower layers must be older than objects embedded in upper layers. The law of crosscutting relationships is a principle of geological interpretation stating that where old rocks are crosscut by other geological features, the intruding features must be younger than the layers of rock they cut across.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Analysis and Synthesis: Chapter 03 Question 22]

22) Compare and contrast the isotopic methods of dating and nonisotopic methods of dating discussed in the text. Using an example of each from text, describe how you would use each method to understand an aspect of human history.

Feedback: Numerical (or “absolute”) dating methods can anchor a series of fossils dated by relative methods to a fixed point in time. Isotopic dating methods are based on scientific knowledge about the rate at which various radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring elements transform themselves into other elements by losing subatomic particles. Nonisotopic dating methods that do not involve radioactive decay include paleomagnetism and the molecular clock.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology

Type: essay/short answer question

Title: [Analysis and Synthesis: Chapter 03 Question 23]

23) Analyze the usefulness of climatic data to paleontologists. Describe examples of how climatic data provide data for answering questions about human history.

Feedback: Paleontologists have drawn upon climatic data to better reconstruct the various selective pressures under which prehistoric nonhuman primate and human populations would have lived. Between 1.6 mya and 12,000 years ago, temperatures plunged and ice sheets expanded and contracted during the Pleistocene. Some of these climatic fluctuations appear to correlate to evolutionary events and changes in human cultural adaptation.

Page reference: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology