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Anthropology A103
Human Origins and Prehistory
Spring 2010, Dr. Mullins
The exam will be in class WEDNESDAY APRIL 14. As always, remember that test material can include anything from the Powerpoints or in the assigned readings but will focus on the material included here. Please be on time for the exam period, and turn off all cell phones and beepers during the exam. We will have a study session in class the preceding class on Monday April 12th, so bring your study guide and answers to class with you that day.
Exam material begins with Homo erectus migration into Europe in Powerpoint 4 and ends at the end of Powerpoint 8 (Standard of Ur).
1. What are mitochondrial DNA? What is the archaeological thesis "mitochondrial Eve"? Which of the erectus-to-sapiens theories seems best supported by the Mt DNA evidence?
2. What are the two contending theories on the relationship between Homo erectus and subsequent Homo sapiens sapiens?
3. How early did Homo erectus reach Java? How did they reach this island?
4. What sites contain evidence for cannibalism among neandertals? How widespread does cannibalism seem to have been?
5. Some archaeologists believe that clothing did not appear until quite recently. What evidence suggests this relatively late appearance of clothing, and about when does this evidence suggest clothing appeared?
6. Who is Homo sapiens neandertalensis? Is neandertal a different species than Homo sapiens sapiens? When and where did they live? What was the environment like in this region? What is their stone tool technology called? Describe these tools. What does archaeological evidence suggest about the extent of neandertal hunting? How about campsites? What evidence for such practices has been identified for subsequent Homo sapiens (e.g., the European variant of Homo sapiens sapiens often called "Cro-Magnon")? What is the evolutionary relationship between neandertalensis and modern Homo sapiens sapiens?
7. Shanidar includes a series of neandertal burials, one of which has significant physical injuries. What might this suggest about social relations among neandertals?
8. What are the main distinctions of neandertal skeletal anatomy? What does the skeletal evidence of neandertals of La Chapelle-aux-Saints indicate about the difficulty of neandertal lives? How old do most neandertals appear to be when they die?
9. What is the date for the earliest archaic Homo sapiens sapiens? What site contains this evidence? About when do these people arrive in southeast Asia? When do they first arrive in Europe? Did these animals kill all the neandertals? Why might they have prospered while neandertals died out? What is the Aurignancian lithic technology?
10. When was the Upper Paleolithic? Was it before or after the Neolithic? What sorts of transformations occurred during the Upper Paleolithic that help explain the emergence and popularity of mural and portable art? How did ritual such as burial change during the Upper Paleolithic? What changes occurred in tool technology and decoration, foodways, and population during the Upper Paleolithic?
11. What are the two basic types of Upper Paleolithic art? What is the date for the earliest cave painting? What is the name of the site with these paintings? What is the most common motif among the paintings on this earliest cave art site?
12. Lascaux is the most famous Paleolithic cave art site. Where is Lascaux? When was most of the painting done at Lascaux? What are the most common motifs? Do the images at Lascaux appear to be a close approximation of the area's animal life during that period? Did people permanently live in caves that include cave art? Were there only specific groups that could gain access to such sites?
13. What are Venus figurines? Does the archaeological evidence indicate that Venus figurines were used as fertility objects? How else might they reflect the construction of gender roles during this period?
14. How do archaeologists believe hominids reached the New World (i.e., via what route)? What is the most common theory for when this happened? Is there any evidence for an alternative migration route? Exactly who came?: neandertals?; Cro-Magnon?; homo Erectus; fully modern homo Sapiens Sapiens? When people reached the New World, how did they migrate south? About how quickly could a group of people move south from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America?
15. What are the four basic scales of social organization? Which of the four has been the most common for 99% of human existence? Under what scale of social organization do you live?
16. What is the name for the earliest lithic technology found in the New World? When was it produced? What sorts of functions did it fulfill?
17. Where is the site Monte Verde? How has Monte Verde shifted the way archaeologists view migration the the New World? For instance, what foods did they eat? What sort of tools did they use? What sort of seasonal migration did they practice? How does the material culture at Monte Verde differ significantly from that at prototypical Clovis sites? Why is Monte Verde so well preserved?
18. What three regions comprise the Near East?
19. What members of the group living at the site Abu Hureyra had extensive stress injuries? Why did they have these injuries?
20. What is the Neolithic Revolution? When did it occur? Who coined that term?
21. What are the characteristics of agricultural societies? What are some of the consequences of agriculture?
22. What is domestication? What are the characteristics of societies based on plant and animal domestication?
23. What are some of the theories about why there was a Neolithic Revolution?
24. Who was the first hominid to leave Africa? When did this occur? When did hominids migrate into Europe?
25. "Turkana Boy" is a Homo ergaster: to when does this individual skeleton date? How does he compare to homo sapiens sapiens? About when did Homo ergaster emerge? How do they differ from Homo erectus? What do some researchers see as the difference between Homo erectus and Homo ergaster?
26. Homo erectus finds at Ngandong suggest quite different chronologies for the extinction of Homo erectus. About when do Homo erectus disappear from Ngandong?
27. Archaeologists at Sima de los Huesos have identified a species they call Homo heidelbergensis: What is the relationship between this animal, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens neandertalensis?
28. What distinguishes Achuelian tools? When are they first produced?
29. The hominid known as Homo floresiensis was recently found in Indonesia. What distinguishes this hominid? What is the date for these hominids, and what do these finds suggest about the Homo genus' variability?
30. What is Homo antecessor?
31. What is the date on the hominid known as Homo georgicus? What is potentially most important about this specimen?
32. What is the earliest known lithic tool technology called? How old is it?
33. What are the key similarities between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens sapiens?
34. What is the Natufian period? In what region is this term used?
35. What is the most likely reason skulls were being detached and decorated or displayed at sites such as Ain Ghazal? Is there any indication of status differences and inequality at Ain Ghazal? Are there any structures at Ain Ghazal that might have been dedicated to ritual use?
36. What material culture at the city Catal Huyuk distinguishes it from other early Neolithic Near Eastern sites? Why might the community have been unusually prosperous?
37. What is the "Mother Goddess" motif identified at Catal Huyuk?
38. Where were people commonly buried at Catal Huyuk? How many grave goods were buried with bodies at Catal Huyuk? Why did people abandon Catal Huyuk?
39. Where is Mesopotamia? Did any group ever politically unify Mesopotamia?
40. What is the name for southern Mesopotamia and the state society that emerged there?
41. What is a tell?
42. What is a ziggurat? What sort of activities took place in a ziggurat?
43. Sumerians settled in a basic core/periphery settlement pattern. What does this mean?
44. What is the Sumerian writing system called? When did it emerge? Did it change over time? How? Exactly how did Sumerians write cuneiform? Did all Sumerians write using cuneiform? What sorts of things did Sumerians record using this system?
45. Did the Sumerians conduct much trade? For what sort of goods did they trade? Why did Sumerians develop extensive trade networks from the very outset?
46. What archaeologist excavated the Royal Cemetery at Ur? Do the roughly 1,850 burials at Ur suggest any distinctions in status in Ur?
47. One of the burials in the Royal Cemetery is of a woman believed to have been named Puabi (a.k.a. Pu-Abi). What did her tomb contain, and what among these grave offerings was particularly unusual?
48. What is the object known as the Standard of Ur?
Sites
FLK North
Koobi Fora
Jericho
Abu Hureyra
Ushki
Olduvai Gorge
Chauvet
Terra Amata
Torralba and Ambona
Mount Circeo
Moula Geurcy
Krapina
Cactus Hill
Gran Dolina
Moldova
Laussel
Kebara
Teshik Tash
Dolni Vestonici
Clovis
Meadowcroft
Topper
L'Anse Amour
Lindenmeier
Catal Huyuk
Jericho
Ain Mallaha
Ain Ghazal
Jarmo
Eridu
Uruk
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Last updated March 26, 2010