Answer Questions on Anthropology

1. Gibbons 2011 presents three competing models for the origin and dispersal of anatomically modern humans. Describe each of the models she presents. (9 points)
   1. Multiregional Continuity

1. 2. Out of Africa

1. 3. Leakey Replacement (or Mostly Out of Africa)

2. Which of these models is best supported by the most current fossil and DNA evidence? (1 point)

3. What are the earliest fossils of Homo sapiens from Africa and Western Asia (the Near East)? Be specific, referring to locations and dates. Most of the relevant fossil evidence will come from Zihlman 5.27-29. (10 points)

Africa

Western Asia (the Near East)

4. You have now established when modern humans occupied Africa and the Near East. When did modern humans come to occupy the rest of the globe? Again, be specific, identifying probable routes, any specific sites mentioned, and the earliest dates of occupation. You will need to look at the map in Zihlman, not just the text. (5.29) (10 points)

5. Both Zihlman and Gibbons discuss genetic evidence, although Zihlman’s book does not include the most recent genetic studies that Gibbons covers. What does the genetic evidence tell us about the origins of modern humans? Be specific, clearly stating the dating of the most recent common ancestor for each type of DNA and the geographical orgins. (9 points)

1. 1. mtDNA (Z 5.28 and Gibbons)

1. 2. Y-chromosome DNA (Z 5.28)

1. 3. Nuclear DNA (Z 5.28)

6. Since the publication of Zihlman’s text, Svante Pääbo and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany have sequenced the Neanderthal genome and the genome of a newly discovered human population, the Denisovans, and compared them to the modern human genome reconstructed from some very early European Homo sapiens fossils. What did Pääbo and his colleagues find? You will want to address what these data tell us about the relationship between modern humans and Neanderthals (and the Denisovans) and how these data support the Leakey Replacement Model. (Gibbons) (10 points)

7. Fill in each blank with the name of a hominin species. Only one species is possible for each location at the time give but a species may fit more than one blank. Use the full scientific name. (7 points)