Forensic Anthropology Exam Review
Course Introduction
Forensic Anthropology is the study of human skeletal remains within legal and criminal contexts. This course introduces students to the principles and methods used by forensic anthropologists to recover, analyze, and identify skeletal remains. Topics covered include human osteology, biological profile estimation (age, sex, ancestry, stature), trauma analysis, taphonomy, and the role of forensic anthropology in investigations and courtroom proceedings. Emphasis is placed on both theoretical understanding and practical application through case studies, hands-on exercises, and ethical considerations in the field.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Physical Anthropology Discovering Our Origins 2nd Edition by Clark Spencer Larsen
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13 Chapters
678 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Physical Anthropology?
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Sample Questions
Q1) A family friend tells you that she just completed a summer internship where she helped law enforcement identify human remains using dental records, X-rays, and other indices of gender, height, and ethnicity.She is most likely studying A)biocultural anthropology.
B)primatology.
C)forensic anthropology.
D)paleontology.
Answer: C
Q2) Recent studies in human origins have
A)supported Darwin's hypothesis that the earliest hominids originated in the woodlands.
B)supported Darwin's hypothesis that the earliest hominids originated in the desert.
C)refuted Darwin's hypothesis that the earliest hominids originated in the grasslands.
D)refuted Darwin's hypothesis that the earliest hominids originated in the trees.
Answer: C
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3
Chapter 2: Evolution: Constructing a Fundamental Scientific Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mendel's discrete units responsible for the characteristics in his pea plants are now known as
A)chromosomes.
B)DNA.
C)genes.
D)RNA.
Answer: C
Q2) Why are Darwin's finches considered good examples of natural selection?
A)They are found on every continent.
B)There is fossil evidence that they originated in North America.
C)They embody the idea of descent with modification.
D)They did not differ between populations.
Answer: C
Q3) Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection was supported by which leading scientist of the time?
A)Gregor Mendel
B)Thomas Malthus
C)Thomas Henry Huxley
D)Charles Lyell
Answer: C
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Genetics: Reproducing Life and Producing
Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) The following are complementary bases in DNA
A)adenine and thymine.
B)adenine and cytosine.
C)guanine and thymine.
D)guanine and uracil.
Answer: A
Q2) The expression of polygenic traits
A)is never influenced by environmental factors.
B)is determined by genes at several loci in conjunction with environmental factors.
C)is determined solely by genes at two or more loci.
D)none of the above.
Answer: B
Q3) Nucleotide bases in nuclear DNA include all of the following except A)thymine.
B)adenine.
C)uracil.
D)cytosine.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Genes and Their Evolution: Population Genetics
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Sample Questions
Q1) The clinal decrease in type B blood from East Asia to Western Europe is probably the result of
A)founder effect.
B)stabilizing selection.
C)mutation.
D)gene flow.
Q2) The malarial parasite is transmitted to humans by A)dirty drinking water.
B)mosquitoes.
C)rats.
D)monkeys.
Q3) Malaria is caused by A)bites from infected mosquitoes.
B)a genetic mutation.
C)drinking bad water.
D)eating spoiled food.
Q4) Why is the peppered moth an excellent example of directional selection?
Q5) Why is a frameshift mutation far more likely to lead to a defective protein compared with a point mutation?
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Chapter 5: Biology in the Present: Living People
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following are related to the biological process of homeostasis?
A)senescence
B)Wolff's law
C)osteoporosis
D)both a and b
Q2) Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
A)discovered the existence of three races.
B)categorized skulls into five racial types.
C)used blood types and skin colors to create a racial taxonomy for humans.
D)showed that skull shape changed over time.
Q3) Children living at high altitudes develop a larger chest cavity by adulthood than children living at lower altitudes.This is an example of
A)developmental adaptations that occur at the population level.
B)acclimatization at the individual level.
C)developmental adaptations that occur at the level of the individual during critical life stages.
D)none of the above.
Q4) Is race a valid, biologically meaningful concept? Why or why not?
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Chapter
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe similarities and differences in diet and dentition among prosimians, Old World monkeys, and apes.
Q2) While observing primates at the zoo, you notice that the particular monkey you are watching uses its hands, feet, and tail to move throughout the trees in its enclosure.This is most likely
A)an Old World monkey, because many of these species have a tail with grasping abilities similar to those observed in nonhuman primate hands and feet.
B)a lesser ape, because many of these species have a tail with grasping abilities similar to those observed in nonhuman primate hands and feet.
C)a New World monkey, because these are the only monkeys that live in trees.
D)a New World monkey, because many of these species have a tail with grasping abilities similar to those observed in nonhuman primate hands and feet.
Q3) Unlike monkeys, apes
A)have no tails.
B)have long forelimbs, compared to their hind limbs.
C)have short lower backs.
D)are orthograde; that is, they walk upright.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Primate Sociality, Social Behavior, and Culture
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Q1) Jane Goodall was the first to document
A)the use of stick tools by chimpanzees.
B)predatory behavior of chimpanzees.
C)the enduring nature of the mother-offspring bond in chimpanzees.
D)all of the above.
Q2) Altruistic behaviors include all of the following except
A)antipredator warning calls.
B)grooming.
C)dominance behavior.
D)food sharing.
Q3) In response to changes in food supply, some primate groups
A)send the older males outside of the group.
B)adjust the size of the group.
C)change their migration patterns.
D)send the younger males outside of the group.
Q4) Research on primate vocalizations shows that
A)primates must learn to use and respond to vocalizations appropriately.
B)primate vocalizations are modified to reflect context.
C)primate vocalizations are fixed and innate.
D)a and b only.
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Chapter 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature
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Q1) Electron spin resonance dating would be most useful in attempting to date which object?
A)a fossilized tooth
B)an ancient stone artifact
C)an old lava flow
D)a limestone cave deposit
Q2) ________ is the process of matching strata from several sites using chemical, physical, and other properties.
A)Phyletic gradualism
B)Stratigraphic correlation
C)Steno's law of superimposition
D)Convergent evolution
Q3) Biostratigraphic dating relies on
A)the first and last appearances of species in the fossil record.
B)magnetic shifts in the earth's interior.
C)radioactive decay of carbon to nitrogen.
D)the concentration of fluorine in the soil and in groundwater.
Q4) Differentiate between absolute and relative dating techniques, giving one example of each.
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Chapter 9: Primate Origins and Evolution: the First 50 Million Years
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Q1) The group of archaic mammals that lived during the Paleocene epoch and are likely very closely related to the earliest primates are
A)plesiadapiforms.
B)omomyids.
C)adapids.
D)tarsiers.
Q2) Primitive Old World monkeys from the mid to late Miocene of Africa are members of which family?
A)Propliopithecidae
B)Proconsulidae
C)Victoriapithecidae
D)Dryopithecidae
Q3) Which anatomical feature would you expect to find in the fossil remains of a nocturnal species?
A)long legs
B)pointy teeth
C)large eye orbits
D)short fingers and toes
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Chapter 10: Early Hominid Origins and Evolution: the Roots of Humanity
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Q1) The ravine in East Africa's Great Rift Valley where many early hominid fossils have been recovered (often referred to as the "cradle of humankind") is
A)Lake Turkana.
B)Olduvai Gorge.
C)Swartkrans.
D)Hadar.
Q2) Rodman and McHenry's hypothesis to account for the success of the bipedal adaptation in early hominids involves mainly
A)keeping cool in the heat of the day out on the savanna.
B)males provisioning females and young.
C)energetic efficiency in moving between patches of forest.
D)freeing of the hands to make stone tools.
Q3) Australopithecus garhi has been proposed as an ancestor for Homo mainly because
A)it had a bigger brain than other australopithecines.
B)it had smaller molar teeth than other australopithecines.
C)it had longer legs relative to arm length than other australopithecines.
D)it was bipedal.
Q4) Compare and contrast Rodman and McHenry's Patchy Forest hypothesis with Lovejoy's Provisioning hypothesis.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: The Origins and Evolution of Early Homo
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Q1) Two contemporaneous species, such as Homo erectus and Australopithecus robustus, are likely to vary in dental, anatomical, and ecological characteristics because
A)two similar species cannot fill similar ecological roles (niches) at the same time.
B)different ecological or dietary adaptations result in the success of each species.
C)if they had all of the same characteristics, they would likely be classified as the same genus and species.
D)both a and b
Q2) What does the Nariokotome Boy skeleton suggest to scientists?
A)that Homo erectus had short arms and long legs
B)that Homo erectus lived in cold climates
C)that modern human growth patterns were already present in Homo erectus
D)that this species acted exactly like modern humans
Q3) According to the text, the first hominid to migrate out of Africa was
A)Australopithecus.
B)Homo habilis.
C)Homo erectus.
D)Neandertals.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The Origins, Evolution, and Dispersal of Modern People
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Q1) Burial of the dead with elaborate grave goods is attributed to A)Homo neanderthalensis.
B)Homo sapiens.
C)Homo erectus.
D)both a and b
Q2) Allen's and Bergmann's rules predict anatomical adaptations to environments in mammals.These results are evident in
A)the limb and trunk proportions of Neandertals.
B)the limb and trunk proportions of modern human populations.
C)the limb and trunk proportions of most mammals.
D)all of the above.
Q3) Heavy wear on Neandertals' incisor teeth has led some scientists to conclude that Neandertals used their front teeth
A)as a kind of third hand for gripping materials.
B)for hunting and killing small animals.
C)for shaping the cutting edges of stone blades.
D)for gouging trees to extract sap.
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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Chapter 13: Our Last 10,000 Years: Agriculture, Population, and
Biology
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Sample Questions
Q1) More than 20% of all calories consumed by people today come from A)millet.
B)rice.
C)sorghum.
D)corn.
Q2) Diseases such as yaws, syphilis, and bejel are known as A)periosteal reactions.
B)trepanematoses.
C)cribraorbitalia.
D)none of the above.
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) What evidence from the skeletons and teeth of early farmers do scientists use to document the negative consequences of a shift from food foraging to the domestication of food?
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