Anthropology Test 2

Recent finds in Africa date Homo sapiens to about __________ years ago.

160,000

__________ involves physiological adjustments in individuals to environmental conditions.

Acclimatization

Studies have shown that many foraging and small-scale horticultural societies work just a few hours a day on subsistence and have much more leisure time than workers in complex societies. Which of the following statements explains this model?

Any surplus food these societies collect or produce cannot be stored for long and will rot.

Why does the study of ape language capabilities advance the understanding of human language?

Apes have at least some of the capabilities of language, which helps us better understand the evolution of human language.

In addition to genetics, what may explain a population's susceptibility to disease?

cultural practices to deal with illness

The first form of writing found in Sumer and dating to around 3000 B.C. is known as __________.

cuneiform

Which of the following types of nonverbal communication appears to be culturally universal?

facial expressions

In all societies, generalized reciprocity exists among __________.

families

What subsistence strategy characterized most of human history?

food collection

Gloger's rule for skin color holds true __________.

for people, as well as for other mammals and birds

Which type of subsistence strategy has been practiced at one time in almost all areas of the earth?

foraging

Taxation is an indirect form of __________.

forced labor

How many mutually unintelligible languages have been identified?

more than 6,000

The term "transnationals" refers to migrants who __________.

move back and forth between their homelands and their adopted countries

What are the key characteristics required to classify a society as a state?

hierarchical and centralized decision making affecting a substantial population

In Ali Kosh in southwestern Iran after about 5500 B.C., __________ were two important innovations.

irrigation and the use of domesticated cattle

Although gorillas and chimpanzees appear to have the capacity for symbolic communication, human language is a unique communication system because __________.

its spoken and symbolic nature permits an infinite number of combinations of meaning

Which of the following is an important social consequence of commercial agriculture?

laborers migrate to urban centers in search of employment

Studies of two aboriginal Australian groups and one African foraging group suggest that foraging societies spend __________ time getting food than most agricultural societies.

less

Upper Paleolithic toolmaking appears to have had its roots in the Mousterian and __________ traditions.

post-Acheulian

Only __________ fossils have been found in North and South America.

Homo sapiens

Why do many argue that "race" is not a scientifically useful category?

Humans have exhibited so much inbreeding that we cannot divide humans into discreet groups

What is the difference between market exchange (when money is not involved) and balanced reciprocity?

In market exchange, supply and demand determine the price.

What is the danger in genetic uniformity?

In the event of dramatic environmental changes, genetic variation would be needed to allow for adaptation to the new environment.

If a language has a basic color term for "yellow" it is most likely also to have a color term for __________.

red

When the federal government collects a portion of our wages as taxes and then returns that money in the form of national security, roads, education, and other goods and services to its citizens, it is demonstrating which type of economic exchange?

redistribution

Which site pushes the arrival of humans in South America to at least 15,000 years ago?

Monte Verde

What tool style would you expect to find at a European Neandertal site?

Mousterian

__________ results in more favorable genes becoming more frequent in a population over time.

Natural selection

What non-genetic evidence supports the idea that Neandertals and humans may have interbred?

Neandertals adopted human toolmaking techniques.

What environmental change was associated with the disappearance of the glaciers?

sea levels rose

In what has been called "one of the first examples of biological warfare," Europeans may have deliberately spread __________ to Native American populations.

smallpox

Redistribution is found in all societies but only becomes an important mechanism in __________.

societies with a political hierarchy

What factor, in addition to nutrition and disease, may be related to adult height?

stress in infancy

How does a population develop inherited resistances to diseases?

Past exposure to a disease favors genetic traits that provide protection.

What is the difference between animal husbandry and pastoralism?

Pastoralists feed their herds on natural pasture, while people engaged in animal husbandry provide special food to their herds.

Why does health often suffer in cities?

The high population allows infectious diseases to flourish.

What was the selective pressure driving the color change in moths during the industrial revolution?

The predators could not see the darker colored moths on the sooty trees.

From where do most traditional pastoralists get their animal protein?

the milk and blood of the animals they raise

Which horticulturalists are likely to be the most sedentary?

those who rely on food from trees that produce for a long time

How could archaeologists estimate the amount of food Epipaleothic people could gather from harvesting wild grains?

through experimentation by replicating Paleolithic tools and conditions

How did a shift to a more sedentary lifestyle and reliance on grains affect the Natufians' health?

They suffered nutritional deficiency, as shown by their teeth.

Catal Hüyük was set in a remote area with few natural resources. How did the people cope with this challenge?

They traded resources with other communities.

What kind of exchange takes place at a potlatch ceremony?

A chief gives away food and gifts to guests in order to enhance his social status.

Which civilization is possibly the first officially Christian state in the world?

Axum

An advantage of light skin is greater absorption of vitamin __________.

D

What is the difference between foraging and food production?

Foraging uses only wild plants and animals, while food production cultivates and domesticates them.

Why are many anthropologists interested in the reasons ancient civilizations collapsed?

Knowing about the decline of states in the past may help us preserve our own.

How might we best describe the subsistence strategies of contemporary cultures?

Most people today are food producers.

__________ are changes in the structure of genes.

Mutations

What led to the misrepresentation of the Neandertals as bent over, brutish ape-men?

One of the earliest Neandertal skeletons examined was from a diseased individual.

Why are mtDNA and Y chromosome DNA so important for evolutionary genetics?

They are the only types of DNA that do not undergo recombination.

How long did Neandertals and humans coexist in Europe and the Near East?

at least 100,000 years

Most of the remains that have been excavated from Upper Paleolithic sites have been found in __________.

caves and rock shelters

What are stem cells?

cells that can be induced to grow into any tissue type

What did Gordon Childe suggest as the driving force for the development of agriculture in the Near East?

climate change

Researchers have found that cooperation is __________.

common across cultures and seems to evoke pleasure for people

Historical linguists are interested in __________.

comparing certain languages to determine if they were derived from a common ancestral language

In Mesoamerica, what animals do you expect would be the preferred hunting prey at the end of the Paleo-Indian period?

deer

One characteristic of pastoral societies is

dependence on trade with agriculturalists

A major reason for the decline of states appears to be __________.

environmental degradation

In the state, many people are relieved of the need for __________.

food production

On what factors is the division of labor based in most foraging societies?

gender and age

The controversial Sapir-Whorf hypothesis proposes that __________.

language affects how individuals in a society perceive and conceive reality

In North America, a settlement with over 100 earthen mounds developed near present-day St. Louis. This settlement represented a __________.

large and powerful chiefdom

Which of the following strongly predicts an immigrant group's likelihood of retaining their native language into the third generation?

living in tightly knit communities

The wild grass teosinte led to today's domesticated __________.

maize

Y chromosome evidence traces descent from __________.

males only

Which civilization is believed to have collapsed due to environmental degradation?

the Mayans

Where would you be most likely to find Clovis points?

the Midwest

In what region do we see the very first evidence of a changeover to food production, dating to around 8000 B.C.?

the Near East

Archaeologists can determine if an ancient society had different socioeconomic classes of people by looking at __________.

the differences in house size and furnishing

The glaciers began to disappear about __________ years ago.

10,000

How do anthropologists know that Native Americans originally came from Asia?

The two groups share biological features, such as tooth forms and blood type.

What innovation from Upper Paleolithic culture had the most lasting importance for humans, both in the Old and New Worlds?

domestication of plants and animals

How does genetic analysis compare with linguistic analysis of New World migration patterns?

Genetic analysis favors a seafaring migration pattern, whereas linguistic analysis favors the land bridge model.

A 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man was the subject of a long legal battle involving the ownership of Native American remains. With which group of people would Kennewick Man most likely be associated?

Paleo-Indians

If you were to trade a pair of shoes you no longer want for a friend's discarded jacket, you would be participating in __________.

balanced reciprocity

Although food production is not necessarily __________ than food collection, it is generally __________ per unit of land.

easier; more productive

In what activity do Yanomamö participate as part of their subsistence strategy?

hunting monkeys with bow and arrow

Any system of communication consists of publicly accepted __________ by which individuals try to share private experiences.

symbols

Cro-Magnon first appeared in Europe about __________ years ago.

35,000

By about __________ B.C., archaeologists had found most of the major characteristics of civilizations.

3500

It is estimated that __________ percent of the world's languages are endangered.

50 to 90

The earliest writing systems are about __________ years old.

6,000

Researchers from the United States and Germany have argued that the common ancestor of the Neandertal and modern humans existed about __________ years ago.

600,000

Most archaeologists believe that the __________ was one of the earliest centers of plant and animal domestication.

Fertile Crescent

The Harappan civilization was located in the __________ Valley.

Indus

What is the key feature that distinguishes intensive agriculture from horticulture?

Intensive agriculture uses techniques that allow people to cultivate fields permanently.

What evidence do many scientists use to support the idea that Neandertals had language?

The Neandertals shared a gene associated with language in modern humans.

Which of these innovations appeared during the Upper Paleolithic?

art

Societies that engage in pastoralism are characterized by __________.

a dependence on small animals like chickens or pigs

What is an adaptation?

a genetic change that gives the carrier a better chance of survival and reproduction

Which of the following findings would best support the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

a language that lacks gendered pronouns is associated with an acceptance of fluid gender roles

Which modern type of home best approximates the homes in the city of Teotihuacán?

an apartment block

The subjects of European cave paintings are mostly __________.

animals

What proportion of the Teotihuacán valley population lived in the metropolis of Teotihuacán by a.d. 500?

approximately 90 percent

In the Near East, dogs seem to have been domesticated __________.

before the rise of agriculture

We know that domestication was present in Africa after 6000 B.C. What is still unknown about African domestication?

whether the first crops were indigenous or borrowed

By "food collection," anthropologists mean the obtaining of food from __________.

wild plants and animals