Anthropology Short Answer Questions
What are the two primary determinants that best explain the Neolithic changes leading to domestication and sedentism as a global phenomenon and how did they shape the direction of these cultural changes?
1) Environmental determines: receding ice age and warming climate 2) Social determinants: population size and social network opportunities
Describe each of the three Out-of-Africa Models discussed in class and tell me which one is the most widely accepted model in anthropology today.
1) Multiregion model: all hominion species connected through gene flow. Spread of genes led to new species everywhere 2) Recent single origin model: each hominin species evolved in Africa, left, and replaced earlier hominin species 3) Assimilation model (How we think about it today): Most hominins evolved in Africa, left, and partially interbreed with earlier hominins
Given the significance of bipedalism in terms of hominin evolution and human attributes, think about what you learned in class as well as the textbook. Give and explain 3 biological/skeletal changes and/or markers of bipedalism and 2 possible behavioral/environmental explanations for the evolutionary advantage of bipedalism.
3 Biological/ skeletal changed if bipedalism Longer leg bones Straighter and shorter pelvis forman magdum rotated from the back of the skull to the bottom of the skull 2 possible behavioral/ environmental explanations for evolutionary advantage of bipedalism Walking long distances Allows hunters to see over grass
Why do biological anthropologists study non-human primates from the past? Who are the living primates who are most closely related to us and how do they inform us about human evolution?
Anthropologists study non-human primates because it informs them more about our own species, humans. Through the study of primates anthropologists can determine key differences and similarities between other primates and humans. It also shows anthropologists how hominids adapted. The most closely related to us are terrestrial monkeys which include chimpanzees, apes, and gorillas. They give us more information about how we evolved and allow us to compare our DNA and behaviors.
What are the four trends of hominin evolution? Discuss which trends happen and when (not necessarily specific dates, but relative to each other in chronological order). Use species names as examples.
Bipedalism: Walking upright on 2 feet (Ardipithecus was the first widely accepted hominin genus that indicated upright bipedal locomotion 5.8-4.4 mya) Dental Changes: Jaw reduced size, rounded in the front and canines shrunk, and teeth altered due to changing diets (Australopithecines ) Cranial capacity: The hominin cranium expanded. Brain and body ratio increased over time, Cranium size increased through time, and pelvis softened for childbirth. (ex Homo Genus) more than 3 million ya Material culture: complexity of human made objects increasing over time (first evidence for hominin stone tool manufacture is dated to 3.3 mya) (Archaic homo sapiens)
Discuss two BIOLOGICAL traits that are shared by humans and other apes and that are distinct from monkeys and other primates (do NOT discuss behaviorial traits).
Bipedalism: walking upright on 2 feet Cranial Capacity: Expanding area in hominin cranium. The brain body ratio increased over time as well as the cranium size.
What are some of the factors (consequences and the benefits) that various people around 10-12,000 years ago throughout the world could have reacted to when deciding to both create and adopt new adaptive strategies of domestication and sedentism?
Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism -Population change: large population increase -Environmental degradation: agriculture changes the environment -Insecure food supply: greater susceptibility to disasters -Shift in Diet: Farmer rely on small number of food types -Increase in Disease: Greater concentration of people -Increase in labor: longer work days for farmers Benefits of Domestication and Sedentism 1) Farmers needed less land than a hunter gatherer 2) Farmers had a more predictable food source 3) Farming was less damaging to the body (less violent deaths, longer life span) 4) Senditism meant new opportunities for social complexity (more chanced to socialize)
Briefly discuss the three different paths of hominin evolution. Describe each path separately by discussing where it was happening, how the evolving species are marked by the four hominin evolutionary trends, as well as naming as many species as you can.
FIRST PATH: East Africa and the three evolving species are anamensis, afarensis, and boisei. The species were marked by the evolutionary trends in that all showed increasing cranial capacity and increasing bipedalism. Differences and changes in facial structure could be observed based on a changing diet. SECOND PATH: Southern Africa. The species that evolved include afarensis, africanus, and robustus. The gracile body types and larger skeletal builds continued to be selected, showing evidence of the evolutionary trends. THIRD PATH: Eastern Africa. The species that evolved include afarensis, homo habilis, and homo erectus. Both species showed an increase in cranial capacity and material culture like tool making. They had smaller teeth and increased bipedalism.
Archaeologists have given at least four different explanations about why and how complex societies arose. Please briefly describe and name one of those explanations and provide a name of a Primary State culture or region from the lectures or your readings that fits the theory.
Four different explanations Hydraulic Systems Long Distance trade Population, war, circumscription Religion and charismatic leaders The Harrapan States (Indus Valley) used a hydraulic system to supply their large public bathing facility with water for the civilians to clean/wash themselves in a centralized and public location.
Discuss and describe two of the six primate biological tendencies/traits that were considered in the lecture and your textbook. For each, be sure to detail the evolutionary advantages of each of the tendencies.
Grasping: could encircle branches and made it easier for primates to climb trees and hold items. Brain/ body size: Allows them to store an array of images in their minds which help them learn.
What is the eco-niche that Homo erectus first adapted to? Discuss at least 4 environmental, adaptive traits it had for that econiche. The traits can be anatomical or behavioral factors that are relevant to explain why H. erectus was successful in this eco-niche.
Hunter Gatherer econiche 4 Environmental, adaptive traits 1) H. erectus had rugged but essentially modern skeleton that permitted long distance stalking and endurance during the hunt (increased hunting efficiency) 2) H. erectus body was longer-legged which permitted long distance hunting of large pray 3) H erectus used fire which provided protection against predators and allowed them to occupy cave sites and widened the range of climates open to human colonization 4) H erectus had rudimentary speech which allowed the to hunt cooperatively and manufacture complicated tools.
You learned about early state formation in several areas of the world from lecture and the textbook that includes the Middle East, Indus River Valley, African States, and Mesoamerica. Describe briefly one of these region's state formation, where you talk about population growth, expanding socio-political systems, and reasons for that growth.
Indus River Valley State is located it what today is northwester India adjacent to pakistan. Trade and the spread of writing from the Mesopotamia may have played a role in the rise of the Indus River Valley State aroun 4600 bp. At its peak the IRVS had 1,000 cities, towns, and villages, over 280,000 square miles. It flourished between 4600 and 3900 and had urban planning, social straification, an early writing system, and a waste water system. Apparently it collapsed because of warfare around 3900.
Given the first discussion we had in class for this unit, how does thinking about species hybridization help us better understand hominin evolution and human variation?
It allows us to understand how different species can mate that are not the same species and create new variation in genes. These variations can be better equip for the changing environment
How did domestication of plants OR animals occur? What physical/morphological changes happened and how were people thinking about it?
Plant domestication happened because humans are opportunists which allowed them to select the most productive plant. They were also intentional so they purposefully planted and selected traits. AFTER DOMESTICATION : larger, grains stay on, outside normal environment, changes in pollen
In terms of the second discussion about Pseudo-archaeological ideas, are these 'fantastic' claims equally valid understandings to the more scientific archaeological explanations? Using what you learned in class and from the textbook, what is one of the cultural, social, or economic problems or issues associated with pseudo-archaeology? Explain it.
Pseudo- archaeological ideas are not valid understandings as they have no scientific evidence. This is a cultural problem because it discredits anthropologists as well as successful ancient civilizations.
Using your knowledge from the textbook and lecture, discuss why race is a discredited idea in biology. Use examples to make your points.
Race is a discredited idea in biology because it is based primarily on skin color. Skin color has no clinical distribution and populations vary with no breaks and gradually shift in color. Race also has no reproductive barrier and there is constant interbreeding and interaction among different races. It does not explain human biological differences because clinical differences overlap between groups.
Discuss one of the key attributes of the Primary State that were discussed in your textbook and class. Briefly describe why you think that the attribute is unique to states and NOT in egalitarian and ranked societies.
Stratified: there are different levels of societies that exist and they have different amounts of power and prestige (bottom: food producers). They are inherited and divide sharply between classes. Egalitarian and ranked societies have relatively equal access to income and wealth.
Discuss the importance of the two methods of dating used by archaeologists to understand the past. Provide an example for each of the methods.
The two methods of dating used by archaeologists are relative dating and absolute dating. Relative dating is important because it estimate whether an object is younger or older than other things found at the site. An example of relative dating is stratigraphy. Absolute dating is important because it gives the absolute age of an item in millions of years before present. An example of absolute dating is Molecular mtDNA dating.
Think about how we put fossil primates and hominins into evolutionary order. What is the difference between homologies and analogies and what are the dating methods used?
We assign fossils to a taxon by homologies and analogies. Homologies are similar features in 2 or more organisms with the same ancestry. Analogies is a similar function among organisms that have different origins. The dating methods used include absolute dating, or dating fossils in numbers or ranges of numbers, and relative dating, or establishing a time frame for a fossil in relation to other strata or materials.
What do we use to explain the biological variation between modern human populations today? In other words, what is the explanation for why different groups of people have certain physical traits that makes these populations biologically different from others. In addition, provide an example of one of these specific population traits with the environmental explanation for it.
We can explain human variation in phenotype through evolutionary adaptation. Humans biologically change to adapt to their environment. For example in cold/ dry weather humans tend to have a large long nose whereas in warm/wet climates humans tend to have a short flat nose.
