Chapter 5

Question 1

**bipedalism

Answer 1

Walking on two feet rather than four.

Question 2

mosaic evolution

Answer 2

A phenotypic pattern that shows how different traits of an organism, responding to different selection pressures, may evolve at different rates.

Question 3

omnivorous

Answer 3

Eating a wide range of plant and animal foods.

Question 4

cranial capacity

Answer 4

The size of the braincase.

Question 5

Homo habilis

Answer 5

The species of large-brained, gracile hominids 2 million years old and younger.

Question 6

Oldowan tradition

Answer 6

A stone-tool tradition named after the Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), where the first specimens of the oldest human tools (2–2.5 mya) were found.

Question 7

taphonomy

Answer 7

The study of the various processes that objects undergo in the course of becoming part of the fossil and archaeological records.

Question 8

Homo erectus

Answer 8

The species of large-brained, robust hominids that lived between 1.8 and 0.4 mya.

Question 9

Acheulean tradition

Answer 9

A Lower Paleolithic stone-tool tradition associated with Homo erectus and characterized by stone bifaces, or “hand axes.”

Question 10

Early Stone Age (ESA)

Answer 10

The name given to the period of Oldowan and Acheulean stone-tool traditions in Africa.

Question 11

archaic Homo sapiens

Answer 11

Hominids dating from 500,000 to 200,000 years ago that possessed morphological features found in both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.

Question 12

**replacement model

Answer 12

The hypothesis that only one subpopulation of Homo erectus, probably located in Africa, underwent a rapid spurt of evolution to produce Homo sapiens 200,000–100,000 years ago. After that time, H. sapiens would itself have multiplied and moved out of Africa, gradually populating the globe and eventually replacing any remaining populations of H. erectus or their descendants.

Question 13

**regional continuity model

Answer 13

The hypothesis that evolution from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens occurred gradually throughout the traditional range of H. erectus.

Question 14

Neandertals

Answer 14

An archaic species of Homo that lived in Europe and western Asia 130,000–35,000 years ago.

Question 15

Mousterian tradition

Answer 15

A Middle Paleolithic stone-tool tradition associated with Neanderthals in Europe and southwestern Asia and with anatomically modern human beings in Africa.

Question 16

Middle Stone Age (MSA)

Answer 16

The name given to the period of Mousterian stone-tool tradition in Africa, 200,000–40,000 years ago.

Question 17

intrusions

Answer 17

Artifacts made by more recent populations that find their way into more ancient strata as the result of natural forces.

Question 18

anatomically modern human beings

Answer 18

Hominid fossils assigned to the species H. sapiens with anatomical features similar to those of living human populations: short and round skulls, small brow ridges and faces, prominent chins, and light skeletal build.

Question 19

Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age (LSA)

Answer 19

The name given to the period of highly elaborate stone-tool traditions in Europe in which blades were important, 40,000–10,300 years ago.

Question 20

blades

Answer 20

Stone tools that are at least twice as long as they are wide.

Question 21

composite tools

Answer 21

Tools such as bows and arrows in which several different materials are combined (e.g., stone, wood, bone, ivory, antler) to produce the final working implement.