Becoming Human: Unearthing our Earliest Ancestors Part 1: First Steps 1.

What are some of the theories as to why bipedalism developed?

2. How does bipedalism save energy?

3. How long ago did humans split from the ape lineage?

4. What is the significance of Tumai?

5. What is meaningful about Selams skull size? What does it tell us about her development and relation to modern humans?

6. What can we tell about the lunate sulcus from Selams skull? Why is this important?

7. How can paleoneurologists draw conclusions about brain structures if the brain is not preserved in the fossil record?

8. What were the first stone tools? How can paleoparchaeologists tell that they arent just stones?

9. What appeared in the fossil record about 2 million years ago that marked the dawn of a new era, a significant step in human evolutionary history?

10.How large was the brain of Homo habilis? Why after millions of years of stasis, did brain capacity suddenly increase with Homo habilis?

11.What is the Great Rift Valley and why is it important?

12.What does the movie argue that the driving force of human evolution was?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 2: Birth of Humanity 1. What is the Brocas area in the brain?

2. Why were stone tools important?

3. What are some of the costs of a larger brain?

4. What is persistence hunting? What did it allow humans to do?

5. What is one theory why Homo erectus has smaller teeth, a much smaller gut, and became more social?

6. What was a key factor in causing humans to leave Africa?

7. What is the molecular clock and why is it important?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 3: Last Human Standing

1. What does Turkana boy represent in terms of human evolutionary history?

2. What was the first hominin species to migrate to Europe?

3. Why do archaeologists think that the pit of bones was an example of one of the earliest burial sites?

4. What does the hand axe made of pink quartz found in the pit of bones suggest about human thought complexity? What do archaeologists think that their mental processes were capable of?

5. Of all ancient humans, which hominin most closely resembles us?

6. What do scientists research at Max Planck institute?

7. Which two parts of the Neanderthal brain are reduced in size? What does this signify?

8. How can paleoarchaeologists tell what the diet of ancient hominins was?

9. What two major climatic changes affected the evolutionary course of Homo sapiens in Africa?

10.Why do we have so little diversity at the genetic diversity? What is this phenomenon called?

11.What examples of early art were found at Blombos Cave?

12.Why is it so hard to obtain samples of ancient DNA?

13.What is the significance of the FOXP2 gene? Do Neanderthals possess this gene?

14.What are the effects of Homo sapiens on large animal communities?

15.What makes us special?

16.Has evolution stopped?