Forensic Anthropology
Exam Answer Key
Course Introduction
Forensic Anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains within a legal context, often aiding in the identification of deceased individuals and the determination of cause and manner of death. This course examines the fundamental principles and methods used to analyze bones, including age, sex, ancestry, stature estimation, trauma analysis, and pathology. Students will explore the processes of recovery, documentation, and interpretation of skeletal evidence from crime scenes and archaeological contexts. Emphasis is placed on both the biological aspects of the human skeleton and the practical applications of forensic techniques in criminal investigations.
Recommended Textbook
Our Origins Discovering Physical Anthropology 2nd Edition by Clark Spencer Larsen
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14 Chapters
763 Verified Questions
763 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Physical Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) How is biocultural anthropology different from cultural anthropology?
A)It combines cultural studies with archaeology.
B)It examines the interaction between genetics and culture in shaping human biology.
C)It is strictly a biological science.
D)It considers culture to be a byproduct of our biological histories.
Answer: B
Q2) Your friend Susan explains to you that she recently saw a televised debate regarding the presence of material culture in nonhuman animals.Susan agreed with the individual who claimed that objects used to manipulate environments were one of the defining characteristics of humans.When asked what your opinion is as an anthropologist,you say:
A)Material culture is an important characteristic of only human culture,as it allows us to live and survive in diverse environments.
B)While material culture is important for humans,it has recently been argued to be present in chimpanzee societies.
C)Material culture doesn't exist until the Dark Ages.
D)Material culture is an important characteristic for all mammals.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Evolution: Constructing a Fundamental Scientific Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) Among the first scientists to conceive of evolutionary change was:
A)Charles Darwin.
B)Georges Cuvier.
C)Erasmus Darwin.
D)Alfred Wallace.
Answer: C
Q2) You're watching a show on TV about the history of scientific thought in Europe prior to 1800.At that time:
A)all species were believed to have evolved from a common ancestor.
B)all forms were thought to have been created by God and to remain constant over time.
C)most species were thought to go extinct over time.
D)evolution was attributed to natural selection acting upon genetic variation.
Answer: B
Q3) The combined efforts of Rosalind Franklin,James Watson,and Francis Crick helped explain how chromosomes are replicated.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Genetics: Reproducing Life and Producing
Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) A trait's heritability:
A)is the proportion of its variation that is genetic.
B)is the proportion of its variation that cannot be explained.
C)is the proportion of its variation that is the product of genes and environment.
D)is the proportion of its variation that results from the environment alone.
Answer: A
Q2) Somatic cells include all of the following EXCEPT:
A)lung cells.
B)sex cells.
C)skin cells.
D)brain tissue
Answer: B
Q3) Transfer RNA:
A)seeks complementary triplet strands of mRNA codons.
B)contains codons that correspond to specific amino acids.
C)brings amino acids together to form polypeptide chains.
D)all of the above
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Genes and Their Evolution: Population Genetics
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Sample Questions
Q1) What effect does natural selection have on population variation?
A)increases variation
B)decreases variation
C)both increases and decreases variation
D)does not affect variation
Q2) The absence of the A and B alleles in Native American populations is a result of:
A)natural selection.
B)gene flow.
C)founder effect.
D)mutation.
Q3) A study of Darwin's finches after a long period of drought found that all species of finch on one of the islands have developed wide beaks in order to break open seeds.The type of evolution that leads to this phenotype distribution is:
A)directional selection.
B)natural selection.
C)disruptive selection.
D)stabilizing selection.
Q4) Why is the peppered moth an excellent example of directional selection?
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6
Chapter 5: Biology in the Present: Living People
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Sample Questions
Q1) Friedrich Blumenbach categorized humans into the following races:
A)Negroids,Caucasoids,Mongoloids.
B)Mongoloids,Negroids,Inuit,Caucasoids.
C)Mongoloids,Malays,Ethiopians,American Indians,and Caucasoids.
D)Mongoloids,Negroids,Malays,Europeans,and Caucasoids.
Q2) Infancy ends:
A)at 36 months.
B)before deciduous dentition has completely erupted.
C)with completion of brain growth.
D)with weaning,which occurs at the same time across cultures.
Q3) Vasodilation is the expansion of blood vessels near the body's surface in response to excessive cold.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)consists of basal metabolic requirements plus all other energy requirements.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss the significance of workload adaptation for skeletal function and maintenance of bone strength.
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Chapter 6: Biology in the Present: The Other Living Primates
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Sample Questions
Q1) Precision grip is a fist-like grip in which the fingers and thumbs wrap around an object in opposite directions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Sagittal crests are pronounced in some primates with highly developed masticatory muscles.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Preadaptation is:
A)the series of small adaptations that precedes the more observable adaptation.
B)the use of an anatomical feature in a way unrelated to the feature's original function.
C)the use of an anatomical feature in the way it was originally intended.
D)none of the above
Q4) Primate dietary adaptation is facilitated by:
A)highly specialized dentition.
B)expanded numbers of teeth.
C)secondary dental specializations.
D)none of the above
Q5) Discuss anatomical characteristics that relate to primates' arboreal adaptation.
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Chapter 7: Primate Sociality, social Behavior, and Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) All-male groups of nonhuman primates:
A)are often polyandrous,before females join other existing groups.
B)often exist together with multimale,multifemale groups.
C)are often temporary,before males form their own groups.
D)both B and C
Q2) Kin selection refers to:
A)avoidance of selecting kin (related individuals)as mates.
B)only food-sharing among related individuals.
C)behaviors that increase inclusive fitness of the donor.
D)the selection of non-related individuals as mates.
Q3) Grooming relationships reinforce social structures and cement social bonds.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Why are primates social?
Q5) Compare and contrast male and female primates in terms of reproductive strategies and competition.
Q6) Solitary primates and those in small groups suffer higher rates of eagle predation than those living in large groups.
A)True
B)False
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature
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Sample Questions
Q1) The significant drying up of the Mediterranean Basin at the end of the Oligocene epoch was probably due to:
A)an intense period of global warming.
B)the African Plate rotating away from the Eurasian Plate.
C)the appearance of huge ice sheets in Antarctica.
D)the formation of the Alps.
Q2) The Danish physician who developed the geologic principle of superposition,according to which rocks (and fossils)higher in a sequence are younger than those buried farther down,was:
A)Charles Lyell.
B)Niels Stensen (aka Nicolaus Steno).
C)William Smith.
D)James Hutton.
Q3) The chemical signature of volcanic ash layers can be used to correlate sites across vast regions.
A)True
B)False
Q4) C4 plants are associated with open grasslands typical of tropical savannahs.
A)True
B)False
10
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Chapter 9: Primate Origins and Evolution: The First 50
Million Years
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Sample Questions
Q1) If you traveled back in time to Africa about 27 mya and came across a group of the early ape Proconsul feeding in a tree,what would you NOT expect to see these animals doing?
A)hanging by their tails
B)grasping fruit in their hands
C)walking on all fours above branches
D)sitting upright
Q2) Sivapithecus is widely recognized as an ancestral member of which ape lineage?
A)gorilla
B)orangutan
C)chimpanzee
D)gibbon
Q3) The first primate fossil ever recorded was of Adapis parisiensis,described by Georges Cuvier in France in 1822.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Name and briefly describe the three main models,or hypotheses,of primate origins.
Q5) Discuss the reasons why Paleocene-aged plesiadapiforms should or should not be included in the order Primates.
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Chapter 10: Early Hominid Origins and Evolution: The Roots of Humanity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Evidence indicating that Orrorin tugenensis was bipedal comes mainly from which part of the skeleton?
A)femur (thighbone)
B)skull
C)foot
D)pelvis
Q2) The earliest australopithecines first show up in the fossil record more than:
A)1 mya.
B)2 mya.
C)500,000 years ago.
D)4 mya.
Q3) The discovery and scrutiny surrounding Eoanthropus dawsoni is an excellent example of the utility of:
A)flourine analysis to detect teeth that have been physically altered.
B)using preconceived ideas of human evolutionary patterns to identify potential hominid species.
C)the scientific method as a way of continually challenging existing data and theory.
D)only using fossils from African field sites to address human evolution.
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Chapter 11: The Origins and Evolution of Early Homo
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Sample Questions
Q1) Effective and regular access to high-quality protein likely required:
A)expanded brain size.
B)complex tool technologies.
C)social means of obtaining animals as food sources daily.
D)all of the above
Q2) The Daka Member,Ethiopia is a prime example of:
A)the utility of material culture to manipulate the environment.
B)the importance of environmental reconstruction for better understanding of hominid fossils.
C)how fire affected digestion in early hominids.
D)all of the above
Q3) Evidence of cannibalism among early hominids is found at:
A)Zhoukoudian,China.
B)Gran Dolina,Spain.
C)Olduvai Gorge,Kenya.
D)Sangiran,Java.
Q4) Evidence from the Nariokotome Boy suggests that modern human growth patterns were already present in Homo erectus.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Origins,evolution,and Dispersal of Modern People
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Sample Questions
Q1) Anatomically modern humans are characterized by all of the following EXCEPT:
A)a lightly built (gracile)postcranial skeleton.
B)tiny or nonexistent browridges.
C)average cranial capacity of 750 cc.
D)a "globular" brain case.
Q2) All of the following sites contain hominid fossils displaying stone tool cut marks EXCEPT:
A)Gran Dolina,Spain.
B)Krapina,Croatia.
C)Herto,Ethiopia.
D)Klasies River Mouth,South Africa.
Q3) Shovel-shaped incisors are one of the most distinctive features of people from:
A)East Asia and the Americas.
B)South Africa.
C)Australia.
D)India.
Q4) Using evidence from well-known sites such as Shanidar,Iraq,and Krapina,Croatia,describe the life of a Neandertal group living in Europe during the last "Ice Age."
Page 14
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Q1) Which of the following is a New World domesticate?
A)wheat
B)rice
C)cotton
D)pigs
Q2) Archaeological evidence showing a shift from long and narrow skulls to short and wide skulls,as a result of a change in diet linked to domestication,has been found in:
A)China.
B)Mexico.
C)France.
D)Nubia.
Q3) Based on the archaeological record from various areas,what was the initial effect of agriculture on height?
A)Height decreased.
B)Height increased.
C)Height became more variable within the population.
D)Height stayed the same.
Q4) Based on archaeological and genetic studies of modern people,by what mechanism did wheat spread from the Levant into Europe?
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Chapter 14: Evolution: Today and Tomorrow
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Sample Questions
Q1) The record of human evolution over the last 5 myBP suggests that humans will develop the means for dealing with temperature change and with environmental disruption.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Climate scientists predict a shifting pattern of precipitation with:
A)increasing dryness in the American Southwest and Midwest.
B)increasing wetness in the American Southwest and Midwest.
C)overall increased food supply.
D)reduced precipitation in the northern United States and in Europe.
Q3) The changes observed in the peppered moth as a result of the Industrial Revolution were an example of:
A)evolution in action.
B)natural selection.
C)evolution as the result of anthropogenic influences.
D)none of the above
Q4) Are we still evolving? What will human biology look like in the future?
Q5) Parents with asthma are more likely to have children with allergies.
A)True
B)False
16
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