Biological Anthropology
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Biological Anthropology explores the evolutionary and biological foundations of the human species, examining our origins, diversity, and adaptation over time. The course covers topics such as genetics, primatology, human evolution, and the fossil record, as well as the ways in which humans have biologically adapted to varying environments throughout history. Students will gain an understanding of the methods used to study human remains and living populations, and the broader implications of biological research for understanding modern human variation and health.
Recommended Textbook
Physical Anthropology and Archaeology 4th Canadian Edition by Carol R. Ember
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
14 Chapters
447 Verified Questions
447 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/1358 Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology?
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27117
Sample Questions
Q1) Ethnologists study ________ but not ________.
A) material culture, culture change
B) political system, economic systems
C) primates, human evolution
D) culture change, hominins
E) hominins, culture change
Answer: D
Q2) The biocultural model recognizes that human biological diversity is linked to environmental adaptation, and that one of humankind's greatest adaptive strategies is
A) language.
B) technology.
C) culture.
D) religion.
E) hunting.
Answer: C
Q3) Ethnologists are interested in how cultures change.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 3
Chapter 2: Uncovering the Past: Tools and Techniques
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27118
Sample Questions
Q1) Potassium-Argon dating can be used to date volcanic rock.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Sediment removed from an archaeological excavation unit may be
A) sifted to find any minute objects missed during excavation.
B) sifted to ensure it is clean and free of debris.
C) left near the unit to ensure provenience.
D) washed and dried.
Answer: A
Q3) AMS dating provides a number of advantages over tradition radiocarbon dating except
A) it can not be used on organic material.
B) it can not date objects more than 80,000 years old.
C) it needs a small sample of material.
D) it is very expensive.
E) all of the above
Answer: D
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
4
Chapter 3: Reconstructing the Past: Analysis and Interpretation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27119
Sample Questions
Q1) Because of ________, archaeologists now know that butchering an animal leads to different microscopic wear patterns or polishes on the edge of tools
A) experimental archaeology
B) ethnology
C) ethnoarchaeology
D) molecular archaeology
E) paleoethnobotany
Answer: A
Q2) Why might infant skeletons have high ¹ N levels compared to the skeletons of older children?
Answer: breast feeding enriches babies' tissues with ¹ N.
Q3) Reconstructing aspects of social systems from the archaeological record is possible by understanding the social context in which material culture accumulates.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 5
Chapter 4: Historical Development of Evolutionary Theory
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27120
Sample Questions
Q1) The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago apparently contributed to A) the near extinction of all reptiles.
B) the diversification of mammals into a variety of new evolutionary niches.
C) many evolutionary niches remaining permanently unoccupied.
D) the evolution of mammal-like reptiles.
E) the evolution of the amniotic egg.
Q2) In evolutionary terms, adaptations represent
A) traits that enable an organism to enjoy the taste of food items.
B) traits that ensure an organism will live an average life.
C) traits that individual organisms learn in their lifetimes.
D) traits that improve the probability of surviving and leaving offspring that, themselves, survive and reproduce.
E) traits that give all individuals in a breeding population an equal likelihood of survival.
Q3) How has the field of epigenetics resurrected Lamarck's theory of acquired inheritance?
Q4) Once speciation occurs, the evolutionary process cannot be reversed.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is one adaptations to terrestrial life exhibited by reptiles?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 6
Chapter 5: Modern Evolutionary Theory
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
37 Verified Questions
37 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27121
Sample Questions
Q1) Gene flow between populations tends to decrease genetic variation between populations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Mutations that are invisible to selection are
A) homozygous.
B) beneficial.
C) polymorphic.
D) neutral.
E) directional.
Q3) When Mendel first transferred pollen from a yellow pea plant to a green pea plant he observed that all of the first generation of plants bore yellow peas.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How does the founder effect lead to genetic drift?
Q5) Just as biologic species are reproductively isolated, human cultures represent closed systems.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 7
Chapter 6: Human Variation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27122
Sample Questions
Q1) Culture can influence the direction of natural selection.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If a given trait is adaptive in one environment, it stands to reason that the trait will be adaptive in all environments.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Recent diseases like SARS and the West Nile virus had impacts not unlike a virgin soil epidemic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) It has been suggested that Type II diabetes may be the result of fetal malnutrition. A)True
B)False
Q5) Cultural adaptations exhibited by humans include the alteration of our "microenvironments."
A)True B)False
Q6) Provide an argument against applying racial classifications to humans.
Page 8
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 7: The Living Primates
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
34 Verified Questions
34 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27123
Sample Questions
Q1) In humans the larynx is high which allows for speech.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In primates, maternal care and play are relatively minor components of normal development.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Skeletal evidence for language includes reduced flexion of the basicranium.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Why has evolution made humans so smart? Compare some of the theories that have been put forth.
Q5) The primate reproductive system sets this order of animals apart from other mammals.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Field studies of primate behaviour indicate that males usually attempt to mate with any females ready to mate.
A)True
B)False
Page 9
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 8: Primate Evolution: From Early Primates to Hominoids
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27124
Sample Questions
Q1) A criticism of Matt Cartmill's visual predation theory of primate origins is that not all visual predators have forward-facing eyes.
A)True
B)False
Q2) List the geological epochs, from the Cretaceous to the present, in consecutive order.
Q3) Arboreal quadrupeds tend to have
A) prehensile tails.
B) no tails.
C) opposable thumbs.
D) long grasping fingers and toes.
E) short arms and long legs.
Q4) Having three premolars in each quarter of the upper and lower jaws is a trait shared by the Oligocene propliopithecids and living New World monkeys.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are molecular clocks and how can they be used to deduce the time since two organisms shared a common ancestor?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 10
Chapter 9: Early Hominins
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
31 Verified Questions
31 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27125
Sample Questions
Q1) Homo rudolfensis is roughly contemporary with A) Neandertals.
B) Homo habilis.
C) Homo erectus.
D) A. africanus.
E) Zinjanthropus.
Q2) The Taung Child, described by Raymond Dart, was one of the most important fossil finds of the 20th century; it was the first australopithecine to be discovered and the first specimen of ________ to be described.
A) Australopithecus afarensis
B) Australopithecus robustus
C) Australopithecus africanus
D) Australopithecus boisei
E) Australopithecus anamensis
Q3) The lumbar curve is a trait found in all primates.
A)True
B)False
Q4) One advantage of bipedalism is the ability to cover large areas, very quickly.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 10: Homo Erectus and Archaic Homo Sapiens
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27126
Sample Questions
Q1) One apparent change in Homo erectus is a reduction in sexual dimorphism to almost modern human levels.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Taurodontism refers to a reduced pulp cavity seen in H. erectus.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Stone tools and other cultural artifacts dating from 1.8 million years ago to about 200,000 years ago are assumed to have been produced by
A) Homo habilis.
B) Homo erectus.
C) Neanderthals.
D) Homo heidelbergensis.
E) Archaic Homo sapiens.
Q4) The structure of the brain of H. floresiensis is similar to that of H. erectus. A)True
B)False
Q5) Outline the evidence suggesting that H. erectus took part in rituals.
Q6) Who were the Denisovans?
12
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 11: Modern Homo Sapiens
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27127
Sample Questions
Q1) Anthropologists agree that North American Indigenous people originally came from Asia.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In southwest Asia, anatomically modern remains have been excavated from regions where Neandertals have also be discovered.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Cro-Magnon fossils remain the oldest evidence of anatomically modern populations in Western Europe.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What specialized structural anatomical features enabled the emergence of speech?
Q5) In addition to the use of stone tools, the Upper paleolithic also saw large numbers of tools made from bone, antler and ivory.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Where did modern humans emerge? Summarize and compare the current theories.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 12: Origins of Food Production and Settled Life
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27128
Sample Questions
Q1) Foragers are considered __________ whereas pastoralists are known as
A) intensive agriculturalists; horticulturalists.
B) food producers; food collectors.
C) horticulturalists; intensive agriculturalists.
D) food collectors; food producers.
E) active; sedentary.
Q2) Natufian food collection differed from earlier food collectors in the area by
A) being more intensive.
B) being less intensive.
C) tending to be smaller in scale.
D) being only seasonally occupied.
E) all of the above
Q3) Shifting cultivation as practiced using the slash-and-burn technique, does not involve
A) the use of hand tools, such as digging sticks.
B) the use of fire to clear land.
C) a reliance on natural rainfall rather than irrigation.
D) a reliance on the natural fertility of the soil rather than using manure or other fertilizers.
E) the permanent, intensive cultivation of field crops.
Page 14
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 13: Origins of Cities and States
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27129
Sample Questions
Q1) Sites like La Venta, Mexico show evidence of elite status among children's burials.
A)True
B)False
Q2) During the early Uruk period (approximately 3,500 B.C.), in what is today southwestern Iran, ________ appears to have been the administrative centre of the region and the "capital" of the state.
A) Uruk
B) Ur
C) Babylon
D) Sumer
E) Susa
Q3) After the Inca conquest, women seem to have worked harder and had poorer health than men.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Why do scholars disagree over whether or not Cahokia was a state?
Q5) What are some of the negative consequences of the development of states?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 15
Chapter 14: Applied Anthropology: Physical Anthropology and Archaeology
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/27130
Sample Questions
Q1) Growth retardation is widely regarded as response to lack of A) adequate diet.
B) disease.
C) infanticide.
D) genetics.
E) fast food.
Q2) The stigma associated with AIDS also hinders efforts to reduce its spread in many regions.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Anthropologists often advocate integrating indigenous healers into medical change programs.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Indigenous cultural concepts can sometimes be used effectively to enhance educational programs.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 16
Q5) What is raised field agriculture and how has helped modern communities increase their agricultural productivity?