ANTH 1003 MIDTERM

Natural selection

- selective breeding/artificial selection -reproduction is goal - fittest/best adapted

An ethical approach to anthropological research would emphasize

1. a commitment to doing no harm 2. the rejection of clandestine research 3. responsibilities toward the host country and the people you are studying

research strategies for uncovering and analyzing fossils

1. review landscape/geology 2. test pits 3. lab work

When cultural anthropologists go into the field

1. they go with a set of questions they want to ask and have answered 2. they often change the focus of their question to first what they are seeing 3. they often go with the flow of everyday life, even if it seems off-topic at the time

The ability to document changes in pottery styles in non-living societies happens through

?

genes

A discrete unit of hereditary information that determines specific physical characteristics of an organisms - the portions of DNA molecule that code for the production of specific proteins

Who are the Narcerima?

Americans

The famous group of hominins known as the Neanderthals is included in which of the following groups?

Archaic Homo sapiens

According to "Our Babies Ourselves", which of the following is NOT typical of child-rearing practices in the United States.

Bed-sharing with child

Which of the following traits is unique to hominins and NOT found in other primates?

Bipedalism

The Origin of the Species was written by

Charles Darwin

Studying another culture from its own point of view without imposing our own cultural values is known as:

Cultural Relativism

Which of the following is NOT a concept key to the human culture as discussed in the lecture?

Culture is isolated (culture is shared and transformative)

According to the "Survival of the Fittest" video , what trait of the Rock Pocket Mouse was best adapted to survival on the lava flow?

Dark fur

The process of learning culture from a very young age is called

Enculturation

T or F: Anthropologists have always approached a problem by focusing on only one subfield of anthropology and not considering any of the others, at all.

False

T or F: Historical archaeologists only excavate sites where written historical documentation exists that provide an accurate description of the way the people actually lived.

False

T or F: In order to truly practice cultural relativism, one could never make a judgement on what is right and wrong.

False

T or F: People rarely hold conflicting values.

False

The name most closely associated with the system traditionally used to classify living things is:

Linnaeus

What is the tool tradition associated with Homo habilis?

Oldowan

The rough edge stone chopping tools made by Homo habilis are called

Olduwan tools

Law of Superposition

Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top.

How, in general, does Marvin Harris (a materialist) explain the biblical dietary laws?

They resulted from some practical, usually economic considerations

T or F: According to "Our Babies Ourselves", in the United States, individualism is valued highly, so generally parents do not hold their babies as much as other cultures.

True

T or F: Archaeologists are making a mistake when they clean samples of potsherds for analysis.

True

T or F: Behavioral ecology uses a comparative approach to evaluate differences among primates.

True

T or F: Gene flow is the movement of genetic material across different populations.

True

Cultural anthropologists do research by

building trusting relationships with people over a long period of time

Uniformitarianism (Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon)

change occurs gradually and through the result of processes that are still observable today

A form of non-portable material culture that a human has made and modified is called a/an____________.

feature

Norms are stable because

people learn them when they are young

radiometric

refers to the decay rate of a radioactive substance

speciation

the evolution of a new species

T or F: Old World monkeys are exclusively terrestrial dwellers.

False

T or F: The found on the walls at Lascaux has been thoroughly deciphered as to its function and meaning.

False

T or F: The taxonomic ordering of Homo erectus has been completely resolved through careful fossil analysis.

False

Shaking hands when you meet someone is an example of a

Folkway

Archbishop James Ussher

Formalized idea of young earth in 1650 Calculated that the biblical creation began on Sunday, Oct 23 in 4004BC Earth was less than 6000 years old

The theory of culture that proposes that cultural practices, beliefs, and institutions fulfill the psychological and physical needs of society is called

Functionalism

Becoming Human: The _______________ is a deep furrow in a primate's brain. It divides parts of the brain related to vision from the rest of the neocortex, which is where more complex thought happens.

Lunate Sulcas

Who, along with Niles Eldredge, developed the theory of punctuated equilibrium?

Stephen Jay Gould

T or F: Neanderthals and modern humans share the same genus and species classification (Homo sapien).

True

T or F: Primates often live in groups in order to avoid predators.

True

Homozygous

When an organisms has two of the same alleles (YY or yy)

The Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that all life was arranged in

a great chain of being

Chronometric dating techniques used by archaeologists help establish

a more specific age for a fossil or something organic

plasticity

a particular form of developmental bias in which an organism responds to its environment by changing during its lifetime

One important adaptation found in New World monkeys is the presence of

a prehensile tail

carbon dating

a radiometric dating technique using the decay rate of a radioactive form of carbon found in organic remains

potassium/argon dating

a radiometric dating technique using the rate at which radioactive potassium decay into state organ gas

ecosystem

a specific set of environmental relationships - a unit of study within ecology

Research committed to making social change and improving the lives of marginalized people is called

action research

gene pool

all the allele in a population

recessive

an allele that is only expressed if present in a like gene pair (both y's are recessive in the gene yy)

test pit

an exploratory, usually small excavation made to establish the presence or absence of an archaeological site. In Phase II, often done in meter units

archaeological site

any place where material evidence exists about the human past

mutation

any spontaneous change in the genetic code (can occur spontaneously or be introduced through the environment) * only source of NEW genetic material

Catastrophism (George Cuvier)

change occurs suddenly and through catastrophes such as floods, earthquakes, etc

A primary characteristic that allows paleoanthropologists to place a particular finding into the genus Homo is

cranial capacity

absolute dating

dating that gives a specific age, year, or range of years for an object or a site

relative dating

dating that indicates the age of one item in comparison to another dendrochranonlogy: dating by the use of tree rings at archeological sites

fieldwork

defining methodology of cultural anthropology allows insights that would not be possible with short visits, surveys, or brief interviews can yield an understanding of culture and behaviors that people themselves might not even be aware of

developmental bias

developmental processes organisms undergo during their lives tend to generate certain forms more readily than others

Which of the following is not studies by anthropologists?

dinosaur bones (primates, human culture, and forensics are all studied by anthropologists)

evidence for biological evolution

each species is dependent on a variety of others suggesting adaptation fossils and geological evidence strata/stratiography suggest relative dates of fossils transitional fossils genetics/DNA

excavation (phase II)

evaluating sites once they are found in order to decide if the site is significant and delineate its boundaries (often involves background research through historical documents)

The refinement of Darwin's theory has shown that

evolution can only be measured or seen across generations within a population

Descent with Modification via Natural Selection (Charles Darwin)

evolutionary change based on the differential reproductive success of individuals within a species

genetic drift

genetic change based on random changes within a species gene pool (includes fission)

founder effect: g

genetic differences between populations produced by the fact that genetically different individuals founded the populations. occurs when a small portion of the population passes on their genes to the following generation

final phase (full mitigation)

how much can we save? - the 100% excavation of an archaeological sites analysis - of artifacts, maps, graphs, etc create a report

evolution

in biology, the idea the species change over time and have a common ancestry

Charles Darwin

introduces natural selection and applies ideas specifically to humans

extinction is not

is not the end of a species; new forms are constantly appearing through speciation

According Becoming Human (and Daniel Lieberman), the most compelling hypothesis for why bipedalism developed in early hominins is

it conserved energy

The subfield of anthropology that studies language use is called

linguistic anthropology

In some species of primates, females and their relatives and young are socially organized around

matrifocal units

If you observed gradual changes in environmental temperature and, at the same time, observed that there were changes in the phenotype of a butterfly species over fifteen generations, which theory might best help explain what is going on?

natural selection

feature

non-portable evidence of human activity

The ability to touch the thumb with the tips of the other fingers on the same hand is called:

opposability

Thomas Malthus

opposed to the popular idea that society was constantly perfecting itself - an essay on the principles of population - organisms must compete for the finite resources available, limiting the tendency for populations to increase

niche construction

organisms directly modify their environments

extra-genetic inheritance

organisms transmit more than genes across generations

If you wanted to understand very early, non-living human beings, you would likely engage in

paleoanthropology

time dimensions in Archaeology

period: a division of prehistory. divisions are based on gross changes in subsistence patters, climatic changes, housing and burial styles, etc phase: a unit of time and space characterized by one or more distinctive artifact styles (pottery, lithic, etc).

meiosis

process of sexual reproduction

A dominance hierarchy exists when members of the same group have

ranking relative to others that establishes access to resources

Among the Bonobo chimpanzees, social conflict is often resolved through sexual activity. This is a form of

reconciliation

survey

reconnaissance work. to survey for a site, an area is sampled by digging test holes or pits to determine if an archaeological site exists

dating methods

relative dating and absolute dating

asexually

reproducing without sex, by fissioning or budding, also called mitosis

ecology

science that studies the network of relationships within environmental systems

The Law of Superposition says that:

sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top

Which of the following is NOT evidence of early hominin bipedalism in the fossil record (as discussed in the presentation)?

strong clavicle

research phases

survey, excavation, final phase

According to the lecture, in order for an explanation to be defined as scientific, it must be:

testable

Evolution as Fact and Theory: The article states scientific creationism is not scientific because it is not ___________.

testable

Gregor Mendel's findings about inheritance among pea plants stemmed from what key ability that he possessed?

the ability to observe closely

dominant

the allele that is expressed in a gene pair of unlike alleles (Y is dominant in the gene Yy)

genotype

the alleles possessed by an organism (Yy in a yellow pea plant)

gametes

the cells of reproduction, which contain only half the chromosomes of a normal cell (sperm and ovum)

phenotype

the chemical or physical results of a genetic code (the color yellow in a Yy gene)

gene flow

the exchange of genes among population through interbreeding

gamete sampling

the genetic change caused when genes are passed to new generations in frequencies unlike those of the parental generation

inheritance of acquired characteristics (Jean Baptiste Lamarck)

the incorrect idea that adaptive traits acquired during an organism's lifetime can be passed on to its offspring problem: organisms cannot spontaneously generate new characteristics as needed and pass these on to their offspring

artifacts

the material products of past societies - anything made by humans

The primary ethical responsibility of anthropologists is to

the people or species they study

habitat

the place occupied by a species

fission

the splitting up of a population to form new populations

half-life

the time needed for half of a given amount of radioactive substance to decay

the modern synthesis

the view of evolution that accepts the existence of four genetically - based processes of evolution: mutation, natural selection, gene flow, and genetic drift

the (more recent) Extended evolutionary synthesis

the view of evolution that accepts the existence of not just genetically based, but also non-genetically based processes of evolution

The primary result of natural selection is:

to maintain a species adaption to its niche

The most enduring and ritualized aspects of culture are referred to as

traditions

A word that best describes participant observation is

unstructured

alleles

variants of a gene that code fo different expressions of a trait

Heterozygous

when an organism has two different alleles (Yy)

Adapted adaptation

when an organisms has physical traits and behaviors that allow it to survive in a particular environment

Codominant

when both alleles of a gene pair are expressed in the phenotype