UCLA ANTHRO 1 FINAL UPDATED EXAM 2025

When was the major migration out of Africa? - Correct Answer--60ka -modern humans replaced the Neanderthals and robust hominids across the world When did modern humans evolve? - Correct Answer-200,000 years ago modern Homo sapien derived characteristics: - Correct Answer--small, flat face with portruding chin -rounded skull -cranial capacity of at least 1,350cc -less robust post-cranial skeleton -relatively long limbs and shorter trunks why was the modern human less robust? - Correct Answer--relied more on elaborate tools and technological advancements, less on body strength how does modern human behavior compare to that of early hominins? - Correct Answer--much more complex and variable -vast array of specialized tools and techniques to adapt to diverse environments -elaborate and varied symbolic, artistic, and religious behavior -due to large geographic range -ability to accumulate and transmit over successive generations Middle Stone Age (MSA) - Correct Answer--The stone tool industries of sub-Saharan Africa and southern and eastern Asia that existed 250 to 40 kya. -counterpart of the Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) in Europe -varied, but flake tools were manufactured in all of them -large social networks, Llong-distance exchange networks MSA tools - Correct Answer--blades: long, thin stone tools, Mode 4 -symmetrical, leaf-shaped points -microliths: small stone flake, sharp edge on one side and flat on the other, Mode 5 -atlatl: throws spears farther -bone tools -shelters and hearths When did the Middle Stone Age occur? - Correct Answer-Later Pleistocene What was change in human behavior caused by? - Correct Answer--increased cognitive ability -cultural innovations, not genetic -technological innovation MSA transition - Correct Answer-technological innovation -- more efficient food acquisition -- greater economic surplus -- more economic specialization -- greater symbolic and ritual activity Fossil Evidence for movement out of Africa - Correct Answer--earliest found in China, 120-80ka -no other anatomical modern fossil outside Africa that date to before 63ka - beginning 30ka, wealth of evidence for presence of modern humans across Europe Genetic Evidence for movement out of Africa - Correct Answer-1) modern humans evolved in Africa btw 200-90ka 2) modern humans outside Africa are descended from one or more populations that left Africa btw 120-40ka 3) a small amount of interbreeding occurred btw modern humans and hominins already living in Eurasia (Neanderthals and Denisovans) What kind of DNA does not undergo recombination, thus allowing you to trace it back to a single individual? - Correct Answer-1) DNA on Y chromosom 2) mitochondria DNA from mom 3) short segments of DNA on ordinary chromosomes What does the accumulation of mutations allow us to discover? - Correct Answer--estimate time passed since the MRCA -estimate past population size Relationship between distance from Africa and genetic variation - Correct Answer-increased distance from Africa = decreased genetic variation Why does the genetic variation decrease? - Correct Answer-- each time people leave a population, they carry with them only a subset of genes present within that population polygyny threshold model - Correct Answer-An explanation for polygyny based on the premise that females will gain fitness by mating with an already paired male if the resources controlled by that male greatly exceed those under the control of unmated males. When would a female choose polygyny over monogamy? - Correct Answer-resources from a polygynous mating group resources from a monogamous mating pair Kipsigis Case Study - Correct Answer--larger plot size for those with more wives -provides more breeding opportunity What is the human mating system? - Correct Answer--most societies are polygynous but most individuals are monogamous Why is polygyny more common than polyandry? - Correct Answer--men have more to gain from having multiple partners -males sharing a wife lease to reduced mating opportunities and obscured paternity The Human Anomaly - Correct Answer-Humans: -have colonized almost every terrestrial habitat on the planet -have more complex technology and have altered the planet in innumerable ways -are exceptionally specialized and diverse What makes us human? - Correct Answer--language -tools -cognitive complexity -cooperation and warfare Two fundamental traits that set humans apart: - Correct Answer-1) extensive reliance on social learning, resulting in CUMULATIVE CULTURAL EVOLUTION 2) extraordinary COOPERATION between nonkin, including specialization, trade, and complex alliance networks The Ratchet Effect - Correct Answer--The concept that humans continually improve on improvements, that they do not go backward or revert to a previous state. Progress occurs because improvements move themselves upward, much like a ratchet. -the ability to display increasingly complex behaviors built on prior socially transmitted information Principal factors in cultural evolution: - Correct Answer--effects of cultural info on individual fitness -effects of cultural info on group fitness (cultural group selection) -'fit' between cultural info and individual psychology ('attractor') Cultural group selection - Correct Answer--larger, healthier, and better organized groups will outcompete their rivals -how: displace or kill members of rival groups, conquer and assimilate members of rival groups, attract immigrants from rival groups Social Learning in Primates (in wild): - Correct Answer--stimulus enhancement (social facilitation): common -emulation: lots of trial and error learning in chimps with nut-cracking, termite fishing -imitation (observational learning): probably underlies some capuchin social traditions -teaching: ?? Social Learning in Primates (in the lab): - Correct Answer--Box experiment with chimps -opaque condition -- more imitation