ANT 210
Physical Anthropology

Test 3 Review Guidelines

Test 3 is worth a total of 100 points (20% of your course grade) and comprises three sections and a bonus (extra credit) opportunity to earn four additional points. 

Below, each section is described.  Following a description of each section of the test, a list of terms and concepts is provided, chapter by chapter, along with some guidelines about what to focus on. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The Sections:

• Part I:  Multiple choice.  There are 26 multiple choice questions worth 2 points each (52 points total).  Please refer back to the test 1 review guidelines for tips on multiple choice questions in general.
   

  • Questions in this section cover each topic:  paleoanthropology (notes and chapter 8), probable primate ancestors and early primates (anthropoids and apes)  (notes and chapter 9), and early hominins (notes and chapter 10). 
     

  • Some of the multiple choice questions give a term or name of a concept and ask you to understand the correct definition; other questions provide the definition and ask you for the term or the name of the concept.
     

  • Some questions ask you to recognize the name of a fossil primate being described in terms of its skeletal features, location and or time of discovery, or nickname.  More questions like this appear in the Matching section.
     

  • Other questions ask about general features of a particular fossil group and or to understand trends over time in primate evolution.
     

• Part II:  Matching.  There are 12 matching questions worth 2 points each (24 points total). 
   

  • Primate fossil names (e.g., families, genera, species) associated with the time they lived, location of discovery, nicknames, or other key features are emphasized in the matching section.  A description is given, and you find the "match" in terms of the fossil name.
     

• Part III:  Short Answer and Fill In.  There is one two-part question (4 points each, 8 points total) asking you to compare and contrast skeletal features of hominins and apes.  Other questions ask about fossil dating methods and to define a skeletal term (4 points each, 8 points total).  There are two four-part fill in the blank questions, one involves providing the term when a definition is given, and the other relates to the epochs (both of these have 4 questions, 1 point each, 4 points total for each of the two sets of questions, 8 points total for the fill in the blank).  This section is worth a total of 24 points.
      

Items to Know:

Note:  Much of what to know is listed below; yet it may not be everything.  Use this review as a guideline.  Look up anything you don't have in your notes (especially if you missed a class and didn't get notes from someone) in your text and on the Internet because information from lecture is not always in the text.  Again, be sure to read your text even if you have all the class notes because not all information from the text is discussed in class.

• Paleoanthropology (Lecture notes and Chapter 8):  define paleoanthropology, explain the difference between relative and chronometric dating, know what stratigraphy is, be familiar with the following methods if you see them described--in other words, recognize what these are (you do NOT have to explain each one in detail):  carbon-14, potassium-argon, argon-argon, dendochronology, fission-track, thermoluminescence, electron spin resonance, paleomagnetic reversals,define paleospecies, understand what variation within a species means, definitions of taphonomy, paleoecology, palynology, stable isotope analysis (recognize the definitions when you see them), experimental archaeology, geologic time (you do NOT have to know the eons and there will NOT be any questions on vertebrate evolution, but DO KNOW what era we live in and the epochs given in class and their rough dates).
   

• Primate Origins and Evolution (Lecture notes and Chapter 9):  Probable primate ancestors, euprimates:  Adapidae, Omomyidae, online lectures--the first anthropoids and NW and OW anthropoid origins (Apidium, Aegyptopithecus), "rafting", the first ape ancestors, "true" apes, primitive versus later apes from Africa, Europe, and Asia--names and locations of finds (Proconsul, Afropithecus, Pliopithecus, Kenyapithecus, Dryopithecus, Ouranopithecus, Sivapithecus, Gigantopithecus; terms:  diastema, postcranial, molecular dating.
   

• Early hominins (Class information and Chapter 10):  From lecture:  skeletal features of bipedalism (see also Chapter 7, pp. 180-185), hypotheses about how bipedalism arose, hominin and other ape characterisitics--how they differ cranially, dentally (i.e., canines, see your notes and Chapter 7, p. 185), orthognathism, prognathism, definition of cranial capacity (you do NOT have to know the actual sizes for the differing fossils), first hominins:  Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, Ardipithecus ramidus and kadabba, Australopiths:  anamensis, afarensis, africanus, gahri, robustus, aethiopicus, boisei (Paranthropus), famous finds:  Lucy, Taung Child, Black Skull, Mrs. Ples, Kenyanthropus platyops, terms:  zygomatic arch, sagittal crest.  Know the sequence of who lived when (you do NOT have to memorize the years they lived--know in general when (e.g., 6 mya or 3 mya, etc.).  it is good to recognize some key features about each of the above, but you will not have to know every skeletal feature such as thick or thin molar enamel; however, you should know who had a sagittal crest, who was robust versus gracile, and what sort of diet coincides with robusticity. 
   

• Tips:  While there are a lot of names to learn, please know that questions will provide enough background such that you can recognize which fossil is being asked about--focus on understanding concepts and trends in biology over time rather than too many detailed "facts" to "memorize", which is NOT the idea.  Please try to re-read or at least re-view sections of chapters a few times along with your lecture notes.  Study in short segments, often, and try to avoid cramming the night before.  If you've kept up with the readings and class notes, you will find reviewing gives good results in terms of what sounds familiar.  And, on the test, always go with the answers that feel familiar rather than what "sounds good". 
   

Back to top