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