ANTH 1210 Questions

various multiple choice questions

C) emphasize, among other topics, religion, ritual, myth, diet, and gender roles

Ethnographies

A) are studies of only Western European societies

B) are studies of nonhuman primates

C) emphasize, among other topics, religion, ritual, myth, diet, and gender roles

D) are studies done by archaeologists

E) are the practical application of anthropological theories

D) is the strategy by which humans adapt to the natural environment

Culture, as defined in Chapter 1

A) is important only as it pertains to modern humans

B) is genetically determined

C) includes only those aspects of human lifestyle that relate to the arts

D) is the strategy by which humans adapt to the natural environment

E) was not an important factor in human evolution

B) sociology

Which of the following is not a subdiscipline of anthropology?

A) archaeology

B) sociology

C) linguistics

D) applied anthropology

E) physical anthropology

B) 

Cultural behaviour can be understood as a biological conditioned response to environmental stimuli.

The four major principles of cultural relativisim, laid out by Franz Boas in the 1920’s, include all of the following except

A) 

Cultural aspects of human behaviour are not biologically based or conditioned but are acquired solely through learning.

B) 

Cultural behaviour can be understood as a biological conditioned response to environmental stimuli.

C) 

Cultural conditioning of behaviour is ultimately accomplished through habituation rather than rational deliberation.

D) 

All cultures are equally developed according to their own priorities and values; none is better, more advanced, or less primitive than any other.

E) 

Cultural traits cannot be classified or interpreted according to universal categories appropriate to "human nature”.  They assume meaning only within the context a particular culture.

A) True

The anthropological perspective proposes to broaden our viewpoint though time and space.

A) True

B) False

A) True

Molecular anthropologists have used genetic technologies to investigate the relationships between human populations as well as nonhuman primates.

A) True

B) False

E) Paleopathology

________ is the subdiscipline of osteology that is concerned with disease and trauma in earlier populations.

A) Forensic anthropology

B) Primatology

C) Anthropometry

D) Paleoanthropology

E) Paleopathology

E) cultural relativism

The practice of understanding and evaluating a custom in the context of the meaning system and morality of the culture in which it is present is called:

A) ethnography

B) cultural ecology

C) the etic approach

D) ethnocentrism

E) cultural relativism

B) False

Anthropology began as a specialized discipline in the 19th century within a theoretical school called evolutionism.

A) True

B) False

B) shape of head and face

Which of the following was one of the most observable physical differences in physical anthropologists' early studies of human variation?

A) eye color

B) shape of head and face

C) height

D) weight

E) hair color

E) type A children all the time

If the allele for Blood Type A is dominant and for Type O recessive, a mating between a homozygous A father and homozygous O mother will produce:

A) type A 25% of the time, Type O 75% of the time

B) type A 50% of the time, Type O 50% of the time

C) type A 75% of the time, Type O 25% of the time

D) type O offspring all of the time

E) type A children all the time

E) Georges Cuvier

_________ was the opponent of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and the proposer of the view that the earth's geological landscape is the result of violent cataclysmic events.

A) Charles Lyell

B) Alfred Russel Wallace

C) Thomas Malthus

D) Erasmus Darwin

E) Georges Cuvier

B) 1/2

Meiosis produces a cell with what proportion of chromosomes of standard body cells?

A) 1/4

B) 1/2

C) the same

D) twice

E) four times

A) True

Recessive conditions are usually associated with the lack of production of an enzyme.

A) True

B) False

B) Alfred Russel Wallace

Which of the following men developed a theory of evolution by means of natural selection at the same time as Darwin?

A) Charles Lyell

B) Alfred Russel Wallace

C) Thomas Malthus

D) Erasmus Darwin

E) Georges Cuvier

B) catastrophism

What is the view that the extinction of older forms and the subsequent appearance of more modern forms could be explained by a series of disasters and creations?

A) natural selection

B) catastrophism

C) use-disuse theory

D) uniformitarianism

E) descent with modification

D) advances in scientific thinking that date back to the 16th century.

The discovery of evolutionary principles first took place in western Europe, made possible by

A) advances in scientific thinking that began in the 18th century

B) understanding by Christians that there was a recent origin of life on earth

C) the cohesive theory formulated by Arabs, Indians, and Chinese that species were continuously changing

D) advances in scientific thinking that date back to the 16th century.

E) the central importance placed on evolution by physical anthropologists.

B) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Who was the first to actually attempt to explain the mechanism by which species change?

A) Carolus Linnaeus

B) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

C) Charles Lyell

D) Charles Darwin

E) Erasmus Darwin

A) True

The genotype sets limits and potentials for development and interacts with the environment to produce the phenotype.

A) True

B) False

B) Codominance

What is it called when a person possesses two different alleles at the same locus, and both alleles are expressed in the phenotype?

A) Recessiveness

B) Codominance

C) Dominance

D) Homozygosity

E) X-linkage

D) It protects from the damaging effects of UV radiation on folate

Dark skin is found in populations near the equator. Why?

A) It protects from frostbite

B) It has a greater number of melanocytes, as a result of exposure to intense heat, than light skin

C) It helps prevent rickets

D) It protects from the damaging effects of UV radiation on folate

E) It increases the skin's exposure to ultraviolet radiation

E) states that bodies with increased mass or volume to surface area are optimal for cold climates

Bergmann's rule

A) states that a linear body with long arms and legs is optimal for cold climates

B) concerns the relationship between climate and shape and size of appendages

C) is based upon the principle that as arms increase in length, there is a corresponding increase in surface area

D) is based on the principle that heat is retained at the body surface

E) states that bodies with increased mass or volume to surface area are optimal for cold climates

B) an individual's short-term physiological responses to the environment

Acclimatization refers to which of the following?

A) long-term adaptations of species to certain environmental conditions

B) an individual's short-term physiological responses to the environment

C) the appearance of a new species

D) slow genetic changes in populations

E) changes in climate

B) homeostasis

Biological systems are balanced systems maintained by the interaction of physiological mechanisms that compensate for both external and internal changes. This kind of balanced system is in a state of:

A) hypoxia

B) homeostasis

C) heterostasis

D) acclimatization

E) polystasis

A) environment

In addition to genetics, physical variations in human populations may be due to the __________.

A) environment

B) weather

C) season

D) time of day

E) pathogen load

B) They are the basis for DNA fingerprinting

What is significant about areas in the DNA that contain repeated segments?

A) They are termed SNPs

B) They are the basis for DNA fingerprinting

C) They are the same from person to person

D) They cannot be mapped

E) They disprove the belief that there are variations of the human genome

B) False

Anders Retzius was the first scientist to classify humans into races.

A) True

B) False

A) people in warm climates tend to have longer arms and legs

Allen's rule states that:

A) people in warm climates tend to have longer arms and legs

B) people in warm climates tend to have larger bodies

C) people in tropical regions tend to have darker skin

D) people in cold climates tend to have larger bodies

E) people in cold climates tend to have longer arms and legs

E) South Americans

The frequency of the allele for O-type blood is almost 100 percent in indigenous

A) Northern Europeans

B) Chinese

C) Eurasians

D) Africans

E) South Americans

B) there is more genetic diversity within populations than between them

What do molecular studies indicate with regards to human population genetics?

A) there is more genetic diversity between populations than within them

B) there is more genetic diversity within populations than between them

C) there is no genetic diversity between populations

D) there is no genetic diversity within a population

E) geographical boundaries and genetic population compatibility usually coincide

B) False

The variation that exists among individuals within a species is termed interspecific variation.

A) True

B) False

C) using metabolic activity to maintain a constant body temperature

To what does the term endothermic refer?

A) mammalian tooth shapes

B) the loss of heat in animals without fur

C) using metabolic activity to maintain a constant body temperature

D) using sunlight as a means of maintaining a constant body temperature

E) energy is generated externally

B) False

Evolutionary Systematics is an approach to classification that makes evolutionary interpretations based solely on shared ancestral characters.

A) True

B) False

A) True

Vertebrate fossils are found as far back as the Paleozoic.

A) True

B) False

C) It refers to physical differences between males and females of the same species

Which of the following is most accurate to say about sexual dimorphism?

A) It refers to behavioural differences between adults and adolescents of the same species

B) It is seen in all primate species

C) It refers to physical differences between males and females of the same species

D) It is more common among arboreal species

E) It is least pronounced in gorillas

B) Taxonomy

The field that specializes in establishing the rules of classification is called _______

A) Phylogeny

B) Taxonomy

C) Taphonomy

D) Systematics

E) Homology

A) reflects evolutionary relationships

Ideally, taxonomic classification

A) reflects evolutionary relationships

B) is based on the presence of acquired characteristics

C) is always based solely on between-species behavioral similarities

D) reflects the current geographic distribution of species

E) is only applicable to nonhuman species

E) natural selection acts on existing variation within a species to produce more efficient environmental adaptations

The Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection maintains that:

A) the form of a biological trait is determined by its function

B) the evolutionary process has stopped because the optimal adaptations of existing species has occurred

C) characteristics that enhance the survival of a species will necessarily occur during periods of environmental change

D) evolution is reversible

E) natural selection acts on existing variation within a species to produce more efficient environmental adaptations

C) insects

Vertebrates include all of the following except

A) birds

B) amphibians

C) insects

D) mammals

E) fishes

D) cladistics

When assessing evolutionary relationships, one approach is to focus on derived (modified) characteristics. What is this approach called?

A) taxonomy

B) phylogeny

C) classification

D) cladistics

E) homoplasy

C) Polygynous

The term for a mating system in which males, and some cases females, have several mating partners is

A) Estrus

B) Sexual selection

C) Polygynous

D) Monogamous

E) R-selected

C) arbitrary

Linguistic symbols are said to be ________ because they do not resemble the object or concept they represent.

A) autonomic

B) deliberate

C) arbitrary

D) closed

E) innate

C) superfamily

Traditionally, Old World monkeys are separated from apes and humans at the level of the

A) infraorder

B) genus

C) superfamily

D) family

E) suborder

B) r-selected

Species producing relatively large numbers of offspring and invest little parental care are:

A) K-selected

B) r-selected

C) p-selected

D) alloparental

E) sympatric

A) True

Scientists who use the behavioral ecology approach believe that primate behaviors have evolved through the operation of natural selection.

A) True

B) False

B) large communities of bonded males and females, and their young

Chimpanzees live in groups composed of

A) one adult male, several females, and their young

B) large communities of bonded males and females, and their young

C) one adult male plus one adult female and their young

D) several adult females, one adult male, and any dependent young

E) other primate species

B) lemurs and tarsiers

Vertical clinging and leaping is a locomotor pattern frequently practiced by which of the following?

A) apes

B) lemurs and tarsiers

C) terrestrial monkeys

D) Old World monkeys

E) gibbons

A) brachiation

Arms that are longer than the legs, and a short stable lumbar spine are traits associated with

A) brachiation

B) vertical clinging and leaping

C) arboreal quadrupedalism

D) terrestrial quadrupedalism

E) full-time bipedalism

D) did not know how to care for infants

Monkeys raised without mothers in captivity

A) were able to form lasting affectional ties

B) displayed completely normal parenting behaviors as adults

C) displayed normal sexual behavior

D) did not know how to care for infants

E) were socially normal as adults, provided they received adequate nourishment

B) False

In the classification of the primates, the lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers would be placed in the suborder Strepsirhini.

A) True

B) False

E) data is needed about specific important questions or sites are threatened with destruction

Which of the following is a justification for conducting archaeological excavation?

A) to determine that all the 2,000 year old sites that exist were laid down 2,000 years ago.

B) most professional attitudes toward excavations have remained the same for over two centuries.

C) most information cannot be provided through site survey

D) excavation is not destructive

E) data is needed about specific important questions or sites are threatened with destruction

A) biocultural evolution

The interaction of both physical and cultural aspects of hominin behavior is known as

A) biocultural evolution

B) mosaic evolution

C) bio-cognition

D) taphonomy

E) paleoecology

C) the study of how material are buried and preserved

Taphonomy is defined as:

A) the precise temporal and spatial relationship between artifacts and features

B) the study of hominin locomotion

C) the study of how material are buried and preserved

D) the study of past environment

E) establishing chronological relationships within a site

A) context

The spatial and temporal relationships between artifacts and features is known as:

A) context

B) taphonomy

C) palynology

D) absolute dating

E) site survey

B) They are the aspect of culture most often preserved

Why are stone tools important for reconstructing the human past?

A) They represent the most important part of culture

B) They are the aspect of culture most often preserved

C) They define the home range

D) Tool use is a unique to hominins

E) They are always manufactured

A) decays to the gas, argon-40 (40Ar)

Potassium-40 (40K)

A) decays to the gas, argon-40 (40Ar)

B) decays to carbon-14

C) has a full-life of 1.25 billion years

D) is the same as carbon-14

E) is destructive and therefore not used by paleoanthropologists

B) False

Carbon-14 dating is a relative dating method used to date rocks and minerals.

A) True

B) False

C) 2.6 mya

The earliest artifact sites are from the Gona and Bouri areas, dating to

A) 500,000 years ago

B) 1.6 mya

C) 2.6 mya

D) 5 mya

E) 7 mya

C) half of the original amount will still be present

If an isotope has a half-life of 4 billion years, then in 4 billion years what will happen?

A) all of the original amount will have decayed

B) a quarter of the original amount will still remain

C) half of the original amount will still be present

D) all of the original amount will still be present

E) the original amount will have doubled

E) Paleomagnetism

_______ relies on identifying changes in the orientation of the earth's geomagnetic poles.

A) Stratigraphy

B) Potassium argon dating

C) Fluorine analysis

D) Biostratigraphy

E) Paleomagnetism

B) 631 cm3

The estimated average cranial capacity for Homo habilis is

A) 442 cm3

B) 631 cm3

C) 520 cm3

D) 350 cm3

E) 775 cm3

B) modern humans and now extinct bipedal relatives

The term 'hominin' refers to

A) all great apes

B) modern humans and now extinct bipedal relatives

C) all bipedal apes

D) only modern humans

E) only extinct bipedal relatives

A) has come from South and East African sites

Fossil evidence for early hominin foot structure

A) has come from South and East African sites

B) has come from North African sites

C) is totally lacking

D) indicates they were quadrupedal

E) is highly disputed and therefore insignificant in discussions of human evolution

D) use as a multi-purpose campsite

The home-based forager model of hominin behavior proposed that Olduvai Gorge reflected what behavior?

A) use as a central hunting location

B) use as a prominent location for the manufacture of Oldowan tools

C) the natural accumulation of animal bones

D) use as a multi-purpose campsite

E) use of weapons

B) shortening and broadening of the pelvis

Anatomical changes in hominins indicative of habitual bipedal locomotion include

A) feet with opposable big toes for grasping

B) shortening and broadening of the pelvis

C) increased length of arms relative to legs

D) increased length of the spine

E) increased length of pelvis

A) True

One interpretation of Oldowan sites is that they served as stockpiles, or caches, for raw materials such as manuports in anticipation of future use.

A) True

B) False

C) Homo habilis

________ may have been contemporaneous with australopiths but had a significantly larger brain.

A) afarensis

B) Aegyptopithecus

C) Homo habilis

D) africanus

E) Ardipithecus

B) There were one or more species of the genus Homo present in East Africa

By about 2 mya, which of the following was true?

A) All hominins were members of the same genus

B) There were one or more species of the genus Homo present in East Africa

C) Modern humans were living alongside australopiths

D) All hominins still lived only in East Africa

E) There was only one hominid species present in Asia

A) Tribe

The term hominin refers to a distinction made at what taxonomic level?

A) Tribe

B) Genus

C) Species

D) Subfamily

E) Genera

A) the largest well-studied collection of early hominins

Australopithecus afarensis specimens from Laetoli and Hadar are

A) the largest well-studied collection of early hominins

B) the oldest hominins discovered to date

C) the smallest least-studied collection of early hominins

D) only found in South Africa

E) forms of Homo habilis

B) 2.0 and 1.8

Homo erectus appeared in East Africa between ___ million years ago.

A) 1.7 and 1.5

B) 2.0 and 1.8

C) 2.5 and 2.3

D) 3 and 1.0

E) 6.0 and 4.0

D) The first hominins to leave Africa were possibly a very early form of Homo erectus

Thus far, what do the postcranial remains of the Dmanisi hominins indicate?

A) They are indistinguishable from Homo sapiens

B) They are significantly more robust than other Homo erectus

C) They are much more similar to modern humans than to Homo erectus

D) The first hominins to leave Africa were possibly a very early form of Homo erectus

E) They are not bipeds

A) Several definite Homo erectus fossils have been discovered in France

Which of the following statements is false?

A) Several definite Homo erectus fossils have been discovered in France

B) Earlier Homo erectus populations had a smaller cranial capacity than later populations

C) Thick cranial and postcranial bones characterize most Homo erectus specimens

D) Homo erectus appears to have been less encephalized than Homo sapiens

E) Homo erectus was most likely the first hominid to live outside of Africa

A) True

Analyses have shown that Homo erectus hominins represent a different hominin than their more ancient African predecessors.

A) True

B) False

B) Acheulian

Bifacially flaked tools characterize the _______ stone tool industry

A) Oldowan

B) Acheulian

C) Shewlian

D) Osteodontokeratic

E) Northern Asian

A) True

Homo erectus was the first species with a cranial capacity approaching Homo sapiens.

A) True

B) False

C) "Dragon bones" used as medicine and aphrodisiacs

The first Chinese Homo erectus discoveries were the result of the focus on locating

A) skullcaps and femurs the same size as remains from Trinil

B) individuals contemporaneous with Homo sapiens

C) "Dragon bones" used as medicine and aphrodisiacs

D) fossils unhampered by the complex nature of Javanese geology

E) fossils belonging to the late Pleistocene

B) approximately 900 cubic centimeters

What is the average cranial capacity of Homo erectus?

A) the same as for early Homo

B) approximately 900 cubic centimeters

C) the same as that for modern humans

D) the same as for Australopithecus

E) approximately 700 cubic centimeters

D) humans moved into Europe and Asia from Africa

The geographical distribution of Homo erectus fossils indicates that

A) the earliest humans originally evolved in Europe

B) the earliest humans originally evolved in Asia

C) humans moved from a forest to a savanna habitat at this time

D) humans moved into Europe and Asia from Africa

E) the New World was first settled at this time

D) 1.15 million

The Homo erectus fossils from the Lantian sites in China are dated to______ years old

A) 300,000

B) 450,000

C) 500,000

D) 1.15 million

E) 1.55 million

B) would have been disabled by traumatic injuries sustained during life

Shanidar cave is extraordinary in that an individual in the burial

A) is the only Neandertal remains found Israel

B) would have been disabled by traumatic injuries sustained during life

C) is without the right lower arm and hand, demonstrating the results of poor preservation

D) is an ancient member of an extinct social group in Iraq

E) lived to approximately 80 years of age

E) China

Neandertal skeletal remains indicate that they extended their range to the east, far into Central Asia, but as yet no remains have been found in

A) Israel

B) Southern Siberia

C) Iraq

D) Uzbekistan

E) China

A) 35,000

Upper Paleolithic stone tools were found at the French Neandertal site of St. Césaire, dated to _______ years ago.

A) 35,000

B) 50,000

C) 65,000

D) 75,000

E) 100,000

A) diverse and broadly dispersed throughout time and space

The Middle Pleistocene humans are morphologically

A) diverse and broadly dispersed throughout time and space

B) diverse but not broadly dispersed throughout time and space

C) similar and broadly dispersed throughout time and space

D) similar and not broadly dispersed throughout time and space

E) similar and broadly dispersed through time, but not space

A) True

The main effect of fluctuating climates in Africa during the Pleistocene was to change rainfall patterns.

A) True

B) False

B) include bone and stone tools, along with animal bones

Supposed grave goods found in Neandertal burials

A) have been cited as evidence for Neandertal symbolic behavior

B) include bone and stone tools, along with animal bones

C) are found less consistently and in less concentrations than earlier hominin sites

D) suggest the presence of language

E) are not significant as evidence of intentional behavior

A) True

The premodern human fossils from Africa and Europe are more similar to each other than they are to the hominids from Asia.

A) True

B) False

B) wood spears

Some assumptions about the hunting capabilities of premodern humans have been challenged by an interesting archaeological find at Schöningen. What did they find?

A) a bow and arrow

B) wood spears

C) 4000 nodules from which spear points were struck

D) Use of fire

E) large flakes struck using the Levallois technique

C) For the first time Europe was permanently and densely occupied

What can be said about the dispersal of Middle Pleistocene hominins?

A) Discoveries of their presence come from North America

B) Presence in Asia is noticeably lacking

C) For the first time Europe was permanently and densely occupied

D) Unlike their Homo erectus predecessors they were widely distributed in the Old World

E) Africa was no longer a central area of hominin occupation

A) carried over from the Acheulian tools of Homo erectus

The tool technology of premodern Homo sapiens in the Middle Pleistocene

A) carried over from the Acheulian tools of Homo erectus

B) continued to be mainly the Oldowan tradition

C) incorporated the sophisticated use of bone

D) discontinued the use of stone flakes

E) was the Levallois technique in Southwest Asia

E) date to 35,000 ya

The cave paintings in the Grotte Chauvet

A) are relatively crude and primitive

B) mostly depict landscapes

C) mostly depict female humans

D) date to about 10,000 ya

E) date to 35,000 ya

A) and interbred with premodern populations of Eurasia, thus partially displacing them

According to Partial Replacement Models, modern humans first appeared in Africa

A) and interbred with premodern populations of Eurasia, thus partially displacing them

B) and remained there until modern humans from Asia displaced them

C) about 500,000 years ago

D) but were later displaced by European Neandertals

E) and India, simultaneously

C) only occurred once, in Africa

According to the compete replacement model, the transition from premodern to modern Homo sapiens

A) occurred in several regions of the Old World simultaneously

B) occurred first in Europe

C) only occurred once, in Africa

D) began about 10,000 years ago in Indonesia

E) began about 100,000 years ago in Asia

E) 200,000-80,000

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens fossils from Africa have been dated to about _____ years ago.

A) 65,000-35,000

B) 35,000-10,000

C) 350,000-200,000

D) 80,000-65,000

E) 200,000-80,000

A) True

It is hypothesized that some population of inhabitants from Indonesia was the first group to colonize Australia.

A) True

B) False

A) True

The Upper Paleolithic was a period during which there were rapid shifts in climatic conditions.

A) True

B) False

C) 130,000-100,000

The Skhūl site is dated to approximately ________ years ago.

A) 40,000

B) 75,000-43,000

C) 130,000-100,000

D) 200,000-100,000

E) 250,000-200,000

B) False

The transition between premodern and anatomically modern forms of humans may have occurred as early as 500,000 years ago in Africa

A) True

B) False

B) 28,000

Early rock art from Africa may be as old as ________ years.

A) 10,000

B) 28,000

C) 40,000

D) 68,000

E) 100,000

C) exhibit a highly mixed set of anatomical features

The Abrigo do Lagar Velho specimen is an important discovery that aids in the understanding of possible interbreeding between Neandertals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens because the remains

A) are from Portugal

B) date to about 50,500 years ago

C) exhibit a highly mixed set of anatomical features

D) were studied by Erik Trinkaus

E) consist of the incomplete skeleton of an adult female