Physical Anthropology Laboratory
Exam Review
Course Introduction
Physical Anthropology Laboratory provides hands-on experience with the methods and techniques used in the study of human biological variation and evolution. Students engage in laboratory activities that encompass skeletal analysis, human osteology, comparative primate anatomy, and the study of fossil hominins. The course emphasizes practical skills in identifying bones, understanding human adaptation and variation, and interpreting evidence from the fossil record to explore human evolutionary history. Through these interactive exercises, students gain a deeper understanding of the scientific principles and tools employed in physical anthropology.
Recommended Textbook
Our Origins Discovering Physical Anthropology 4th Edition by Clark Spencer Larsen
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14 Chapters
673 Verified Questions
673 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Physical Anthropology?
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which is the study of evolution and variation in humans?
A)physical anthropology
B)archaeology
C)linguistic anthropology
D)cultural anthropology
Answer: A
Q2) What makes it possible for humans to accumulate an amazing amount of information over long periods of time?
A)social learning
B)education
C)social media
D)mimicry
Answer: A
Q3) What about a disadvantaged social environment would physical anthropologists focus on in their research?
A)minimal access to communication technology
B)the lack of a sophisticated transportation system
C)poor-quality nutrition available to infants and children
D)poor literacy rates
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Evolution: Constructing a Fundamental Scientific Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the significance for evolutionary theory of Darwin's analysis of the Galápagos finches? Provide at least one example in your answer.
Answer: The diversity of the various birds,including finches,lent support to the idea that over time natural selection could transform a single common ancestral form into a variety of descendant species.This phenomenon is referred to as adaptive radiation.Each descendant species had adapted to its particular habitat;for example,the ground finch had evolved a more robust beak to accommodate a diet including hard objects such as seeds.
Q2) Why was Darwin's 1859 published theory of natural selection not widely accepted by his peers? What later scientific advance was critical to the subsequent broad acceptance of natural selection as a major force in evolutionary change? Answer: Darwin's theory lacked a mechanism for the inheritance of desirable characteristics.Gregor Mendel discovered the principles of inheritance-that is,the basis for understanding how traits are transmitted from parent to offspring.Mendel's discovery that traits are passed as discrete units (genes)laid the foundation for our understanding of chromosomes and of population genetics.
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Chapter 3: Genetics: Reproducing Life and Producing
Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define polygenic and pleiotropic traits and explain their significance for researchers' efforts to link human genotypes to phenotypes.
Answer: The relationship between most genes and their phenotypes is complex and does not follow simple patterns of Mendelian inheritance (one gene for one trait).Polygenic traits are determined by genes at two or more loci,but the genes cannot be identified individually and the phenotypes are also influenced by environmental factors.In humans,the many polygenic traits include height,skin color,and eye color.Children's skin color and eye color may be very different from their parents'.Pleiotropy refers to the fact that a single allele can have multiple effects and affect more than one trait.The PKU allele affects mental abilities and the coloration of hair and skin.A person who inherits this allele will have the disease phenylketonuria,characterized by a missing enzyme that leads to mental retardation as well as reduced hair and skin pigmentation.One trait can be affected by more than one gene,and each of those genes may also affect several other traits.Most complex traits in humans are polygenic and pleiotropic,complicating our efforts to link genes to phenotypes.
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Genes and Their Evolution: Population Genetics
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is a random change in allele frequencies over time known as?
A)genetic drift
B)gene flow
C)admixture
D)gene migration
Q2) What is the cause of spontaneous mutation?
A)unknown causes
B)X-rays
C)toxic chemicals
D)UV radiation
Q3) Familial hypercholesterolemia,an autosomal dominant disease,is five times more frequent in the Afrikaner population of South Africa than in the original population of Europe from which the ancestors to the Afrikaners immigrated.What does this demonstrate?
A)natural selection
B)bottleneck
C)the founder effect
D)kin selection
Q4) Why is a frameshift mutation far more likely to lead to a defective protein than a point mutation?
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Chapter 5: Biology in the Present: Living People
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Q1) At what level does developmental (or ontogenetic)adaptation occur?
A)at the individual level throughout an individual's lifetime
B)at the individual level during childhood
C)through the use of material culture to make living possible in certain settings
D)at the population level via natural selection
Q2) Wolff 's law is the principle that
A)states that the lengths of limb bones are related to environmental conditions.
B)applies to the maintenance of the entire endocrine system.
C)states that after puberty there will be almost no further remodeling of bones.
D)refers to the homeostatic balance leading to bone mass being produced where it is needed and removed where it is not needed.
Q3) What does Allen's rule indicate that humans will have?
A)larger lungs in hot environments and smaller lungs in cold environments
B)smaller bodies in cold environments and larger bodies in hot environments
C)longer limbs in hot environments and shorter limbs in cold environments
D)taller bodies in cold environments and shorter bodies in hot environments
Q4) How does human life history (prenatal stage,infancy,childhood,juvenile stage,adolescence,adulthood,old age)determine the interaction between genes and environment?
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Chapter 6: Biology in the Present: The Other Living Primates
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the dental pattern of Old World higher primates?
A)2/1/2/3
B)2/1/3/3
C)2/2/2/3
D)2/2/3/3
Q2) Discuss the primate parental investment in terms of natural selection.What are the most important aspects of primate parenting and what is their value to socialization?
Q3) Among all primates,what do humans have?
A)the largest olfactory bulb
B)the most acute sense of hearing
C)the most developed vision
D)the most elaborate connections between different regions of the brain
Q4) Among all primates,what do humans have?
A)the largest body relative to other animals
B)the greatest level of biological adaptability
C)the largest body size
D)the largest brain relative to body size
Q5) Discuss the diversity of the dentition among primates.Pay particular attention to how form follows function with regard to dental morphology and diet.
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Chapter 7: Primate Sociality, social Behavior, and Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) What have scientists learned about the function of primate vocalizations and how they relate to the evolution of human language?
Q2) Jane Goodall is one of the world's most famous scientists.Which of the following did she accomplish as a primatologist?
A)She established a long-term research project at Gombe,Tanzania,which focused on chimpanzees,and discovered that they use tools such as twigs.
B)She studied and translated the vocalizations of monkeys in Botswana,with her colleagues Cheney and Seyfarth.
C)She researched chimpanzee violence,hunting,and predation at a site in Uganda,comparing their patterns of aggression to those of humans.
D)She deciphered language-like abilities in the chimpanzee known as Nim Chimpsky,teaching him American Sign Language.
Q3) Why are primates social in the short term?
A)to increase female fecundity in dominant females only
B)to increase interaction between sexually mature males and females
C)to establish social relationships to prevent attacks from predators
D)to share food sources
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Chapter 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature
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Sample Questions
Q1) Analysis of stable carbon isotopes in ________ can provide information on ancient diet.
A)shellfish food remains
B)cloth from clothing
C)bones and teeth
D)wood
Q2) A mummy is discovered whose stone tomb includes cloth,food,and other organic remains.What dating method would most likely be used to date the tomb?
A)biostratigraphy
B)carbon 14
C)dendrochronology
D)electron spin resonance
Q3) What are eras?
A)divisions in geologic time divided into periods and epochs
B)any time period in the past
C)divisions of time based on cultural standards,as in "Stone Age"
D)the time frames during which a certain fossil species existed
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) Which of the following distinguishes Khorapithecus from Sivapithecus?
A)Khorapithecus's molars are more similar to those of living chimpanzees than Sivapithecus's molars are.
B)Whereas Khorapithecus lived in the area now known as France and Spain,Sivapithecus lived in Thailand.
C)Khoratpithecus's broad front teeth and a flat surface on the tongue side of the canines make it more similar than Sivapithecus to living orangutans.
D)Sivapithecus has dental features making it more similar to modern orangutans,while Khorapithecus has postcranial bones that most closely resemble modern chimpanzees.
Q2) The evolution of apes began in Africa.Where did it continue?
A)Europe and Asia
B)Asia and South America
C)Europe and South America
D)Greece and South America
Q3) Discuss the evolution of primates beginning with the Paleocene proprimates.In your answer,consider the effect of climate change on the environment and primates' environmental adaptations.
Q4) Name and briefly describe the three hypotheses of primate origins.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Early Hominin Origins and Evolution: The Roots of Humanity
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Sample Questions
Q1) What do distinctive traits of robust australopithecines include?
A)small front teeth,large back teeth,a big face,and a sagittal crest
B)a small brain and a large body
C)large front teeth,large back teeth,and no sagittal crest
D)a large diastema and no sagittal crest
Q2) An increased ability to see greater distances is one of the adaptations of:
A)bipedalism.
B)diurnal sleeping patterns.
C)improved diet.
D)becoming larger.
Q3) Ardi's intermediate form of bipedality included the use of:
A)longer hind limbs for clinging and leaping.
B)palms and feet to move along tree branches.
C)long phalanges to wrap around tree branches.
D)a tail to grip tree trunks.
Q4) Humans use their molars to ________ their food.
A)bite
B)crush
C)shear
D)slice
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Chapter 11: The Origins and Evolution of Early Homo
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Q1) What did Rosenberg and Trevathan discover in their study comparing human and nonhuman primate birth?
A)They are remarkably similar despite the large difference in brain size.
B)The infant nonhuman primate's head is oriented in the opposite direction of the human infant's head,the former facing backwards.
C)The infant nonhuman primate's head is oriented sideways in comparison to the human infant's head.
D)Primates have a much lower success rate than humans;nonhuman primate infants often do not survive the birth process.
Q2) What features show that Homo erectus walked just like a modern human?
A)long legs and opposable toes
B)double arches of the feet and an adducted big toe
C)long arms
D)a foramen magnum at the base of the skull
Q3) What do African Homo erectus cranial features include?
A)thick cranial bones
B)small browridges
C)a rounded skull
D)a sagittal crest
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The Origins,evolution,and Dispersal of Modern
People
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Q1) What "symbolic" behavior is evident in the archaeological record and associated with Neandertals and anatomically modern humans in Europe beginning around 35,000 yBP (during the Upper Paleolithic)?
Q2) According to John Relethford,what is the explanation for Africa's high genetic diversity compared to Europe and Asia?
A)These populations had different levels of adaptation to disease.
B)Africa had the smallest population;genetic diversity is inverse to population size.
C)At the origin of modern humans,more people migrated into Africa than out of Africa.
D)Genetic drift increases genetic diversity in larger populations over time.
Q3) Allen's and Bergmann's rules are perfect examples of natural selection's effects on anatomical adaptations to environments in mammals.These include:
A)the limb and trunk proportions of Neandertals.
B)the cranial capacity of modern human populations.
C)the quadrupedal nature of most mammals.
D)the larger nasal apertures of archaic humans.
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Page 14
Chapter
13: The Past 10, 000 Years: Agriculture, population, biology
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Sample Questions
Q1) What can anemia lead to?
A)cancer
B)porotic hyperostosis
C)heart disease
D)measles
Q2) What do bone comparisons between hunter-gatherers and later agriculturalists,followed by modern peoples,show?
A)an increase in size
B)greater robusticity of the long arm bones only
C)a decline in size
D)a stasis in bone density
Q3) Where is the Neolithic site Çatalhöyük located?
A)southwest Asia
B)southern Africa
C)central Mexico
D)India
Q4) What form of subsistence pattern is found in the Neolithic period? Name three geographic regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Evolution: Today and Tomorrow
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Sample Questions
Q1) The H2 haplotype on chromosome 17 occurs in about 21% of European women.Why is natural selection strongly implicated?
A)H2 women are infertile.
B)H2 women have 3.5% more children than do non-H2 women.
C)H2 women have 25% more children than do non-H2 women.
D)H2 women suffer from high rates of tuberculosis.
Q2) Discuss which forces of evolution are currently affecting human evolution.Also,consider how these forces are influenced by human intervention and global warming.
Q3) What is a trend of human life expectancy in the United States?
A)It has increased since 1900,due largely to improvements in medicine and sanitation.
B)It has decreased since 1900,because of fast food and sedentary lifestyles.
C)It has not been affected by nutrition.
D)It has decreased since 1900,due to a rise in infectious disease.
Q4) What is one of the human activities that have contributed to greenhouse gases?
A)the burning of fossil fuels
B)use of solar power
C)use of windmills
D)nuclear power
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