**Optional (FL only).** Trends in human evolution
Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Fossil card for a knee bone
field entry species Au. anamensis age about 4.1 million years ago bone knee joint, wide below the joint shows it carried the body on a single leg during each step card says the owner was bipedal Ari reads a fossil card. What does bipedal mean on this card?
- Walking on four limbs with the knuckles down
- Walking on two legs
- Swinging through trees by the arms
- Walking on two legs while carrying stone tools
Fact card on humans and chimpanzees
field entry pair humans and chimpanzees when the two lines separated about 6 million years ago card term common ancestor Bo reads a fact card. What does the term common ancestor mean here?
- A relative of humans that lived after the two lines separated
- A living chimpanzee species that modern humans descend from
- An earlier species that both humans and chimpanzees come from
- The oldest human fossil that scientists have found
Lab card on endocasts
field entry problem brains do not fossilize and leave a cavity in the braincase natural endocast sediment fills the cavity and hardens artificial endocast scientists make a copy of the inside of the braincase measure the volume of the endocast Jun reads a lab card. What does an endocast show scientists?
- How the owner moved on two legs
- How many years before today the skull's owner was living
- How tall the owner stood when walking upright
- The size and shape of the brain in the braincase
Esme reads the timeline. Which species lived from 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago?
- H. habilis
- Au. afarensis
- H. erectus
- H. sapiens
Luz picks the date 0.2 million years ago. Which two species were both living then?
Use the picture in question 4.
- H. habilis and H. erectus
- H. sapiens and no other species on the timeline
- H. erectus and H. sapiens
- Au. afarensis and H. habilis
Fossil evidence for walking upright
fossil age (million years ago) bone Orrorin tugenensis 6 thigh bone Australopithecus anamensis 4.1 knee Australopithecus africanus 2.5 spine Homo erectus 1.95 hip bones Milo reads a table of fossils that show walking upright. Which fossil is the oldest?
- Australopithecus anamensis
- Homo erectus
- Orrorin tugenensis
- Australopithecus africanus
Teeth and jaws of two species
species teeth jaw Au. afarensis larger long and projecting H. sapiens smaller shorter and less heavily developed Noah reads a card on teeth and jaws. Compared with Au. afarensis, what do H. sapiens jaws and teeth show?
- Larger teeth and a shorter jaw
- Smaller teeth and a shorter jaw
- Larger teeth and a longer jaw
- Smaller teeth but a longer, projecting jaw
Card on spoken language
field entry question when did spoken language begin scientists say they are not sure clue objects made 350,000 years ago took complex behaviors that probably needed language problem spoken language does not fossilize Pia reads a card about spoken language. Why is it hard to say when spoken language began?
- Writing was invented long before speech, so speech has no early dates
- No early human objects show planning or symbols
- Skulls cannot be given dates by scientists
- Spoken language does not fossilize, so scientists rely on clues
Tala looks at the model tree. What is the chimpanzee tip?
- The earlier species that the human line came from
- The first group to make stone tools
- A living group that shares an ancestor with humans
- An extinct group drawn below node W
Model tree (simplified, not to scale). Zee reads the dates on the model tree. Which statement fits it?
- Both splits happened about 6 million years ago
- Humans split from bonobos but not from chimpanzees
- The human split is more recent than the chimpanzee-bonobo split
- The chimpanzee-bonobo split is more recent than the human split