Deck 1: What Is Physical Anthropology

Question 1

Archaeologists:

A)study primate evolution.
B)devote most of their effort to recovering artifacts and building museum collections.
C)study past human societies, focusing mostly on their material remains.
D)primarily study the evolution of language.

Answer 1

study past human societies, focusing mostly on their material remains.

Question 2

An archaeological field school is announced in your anthropology course.The description says that you will travel to Belize to learn about the lives of the ancient Mayans.What, primarily, do you expect to learn during this field school?

A)what species of nonhuman primate occupies this region
B)how current populations of immigrants have changed local dialects
C)how to excavate and study material culture
D)how to socially navigate life in a Central American setting

Answer 2

how to excavate and study material culture

Question 3

Physical anthropologists:

A)travel around the world to investigate human populations.
B)study living populations.
C)study primates like lemurs, monkeys, and apes.
D)travel around the world to investigate human populations; study living populations, and study primates like lemurs, monkeys, and apes.

Answer 3

travel around the world to investigate human populations; study living populations, and study primates like lemurs, monkeys, and apes.

Question 4

Before AD 1000, what did the people of St.Catherines Island eat?

A)They ate wild animals, fish, and wild plants.
B)They ate bison and salmon.
C)They were vegetarians and ate wild plants exclusively.
D)They ate mostly fruit.

Question 5

What are three key attributes related to human uniqueness?

A)eating, sleeping, and watching television
B)increased hunting, speech, and dependence on domesticated food
C)hunting, avoiding predators, and tool making
D)sleeping, hunting, and making clothing

Question 6

How is biocultural anthropology different from cultural anthropology?

A)Biocultural anthropology combines cultural studies with archaeology.
B)Biocultural anthropology studies the interrelationship between what humans have inherited genetically and culture; cultural anthropology studies diverse cultures and societies.
C)It is strictly a biological science.
D)It considers culture to be a by-product of our biological histories.

Question 7

A hypothesis is:

A)another word for a theory.
B)a testable statement that potentially explains specific phenomena observed in the natural world.
C)a statement concerning scientific facts assumed to be true.
D)unable to be refuted by future investigations.

Question 8

Physical anthropologists seek to study:

A)humans from a cultural perspective.
B)humans from a biological perspective only.
C)humans from a biological and cultural perspective.
D)human behavior only.

Question 9

Bipedalism is considered one of the hallmarks of hominid evolution because it:

A)was the first evolutionary development that distinguished humans from other animals.
B)was possible only after the advent of simple material culture.
C)followed brain expansion in human evolution.
D)allowed hominids to come out of the trees and make tools 10 mya.

Question 10

The hypothesis that the origin of human bipedalism was linked to a shift from life in the trees to life on the ground in the grasslands of Africa:

A)has been upheld by subsequent scientific data on human origins.
B)was developed in consultation with genetic and fossil evidence.
C)has been rejected recently subsequent to new fossil evidence.
D)has become a scientific law.

Question 11

Physical anthropologists view how humans come to be the way they are as the result of:

A)their biological makeups, which primarily define who they are.
B)both evolutionary history and their own individual life histories.
C)what their genes make them; environment has very little effect.
D)their environment; genes have very little effect.

Question 12

Bipedalism in primates means:

A)walking on two feet.
B)walking on four feet.
C)walking using two legs and a tail.
D)swinging from branch to branch.

Question 13

What can be learned from studying a population through time?

A)We can learn that lifestyles do not change over time.
B)We can learn that diets, and therefore human biology, change through time.
C)We can learn that consuming the wrong foods over time does little to population health.
D)We can learn that human physiology does not change through time.

Question 14

Primates are:

A)a group of mammals that share traits like forward-facing eyes, fingernails, and large brains.
B)often species with a long snout.
C) diverse species that live in various types of environments.
D)both a.and c.

Question 15

How is a theory different from a hypothesis?

A)A hypothesis explains observations and cannot be refuted by new evidence.
B)A theory is an explanation based upon controversial facts.
C)A theory is an explanation that has been carefully examined and tested.
D)A theory has been less thoroughly tested than a hypothesis.

Question 16

What makes it possible for humans to accumulate an amazing amount of information over long periods of time?

A)social learning
B)television
C)social media
D)mimicry

Question 17

Physical anthropologists study what type of science?

A)astrological
B)biological
C)social
D)biological and social

Question 18

What was the cause of the biological change in the indigenous people of St.Catherines Island after AD 1000?

A)They became sedentary and had less food to eat because they stayed in the same area.
B)They became sedentary and consumed more corn, which caused dental disease due to its high sugar content.
C)They became sedentary and did not have enough exercise to keep their bodies fit and healthy.
D)They continued as nomads, but loss of animals due to climate change created a decline in their food source.

Question 19

Physical anthropology as a discipline is NOT concerned with:

A)skeletal pathology.
B)primate behavior.
C)the construction and use of language by human societies.
D)human evolution.

Question 20

The scientific method:

A)relies on making hunches about the natural world.
B)involves empirical data collection and hypothesis testing.
C)is used to support preconceived notions or theories.
D)seeks to establish the absolute scientific truth.

Question 21

Forensic anthropologists:

A)focus their work on skeletal analysis of individuals.
B)study skeletal remains from past human populations.
C)study the evolution of human skeletal traits.
D)do not work outside academia.

Question 22

Which is the study of evolution and variation in humans?

A)physical anthropology
B)archaeology
C)linguistic anthropology
D)cultural anthropology

Question 23

The four branches of anthropology are:

A)archaeological, geological, geographical, and biological.
B)physical, biological, cultural, and linguistic.
C)cultural, linguistic, geological, and physical.
D)physical, archaeological, cultural, and linguistic.

Question 24

Discuss the six key attributes that make humans unique relative to other species.

Question 25

Discuss the difference between a hypothesis and a theory.Why is the distinction important?

Question 26

Just before the arrival of the Spanish on St.Catherines Island, people there:

A)were primarily fishermen.
B)had adopted maize agriculture.
C)became the first farmers of the region.
D)were vegetarians by choice.

Question 27

The results of a disadvantaged social environment include:

A)poor health, reduced height, and shortened life expectancy.
B)poor speech and excessive eating habits.
C)poor reading comprehension.
D)an inability to think critically and develop long-term planning.

Question 28

Discuss the steps of the scientific method.

Question 29

The study of physical anthropology varies in that some physical anthropologists study:

A)potential for life on other planets.
B)the interaction between domestic animals and disease.
C)extinct and living species of primates.
D)changes in marine life.

Question 30

To increase early humans' chances of hunting success, hunting:

A)was led by females.
B)was conducted with lithic tools and cooperative strategies.
C)was always well planned with a diagram.
D)strategies were developed to include children as bait.

Question 31

Anthropology views humans as:

A)primates and religious beings.
B)primates, religious, and cultural beings.
C)biological and cultural beings.
D)cultural and religious beings.

Question 32

Human production of stone or lithic tools is an example of:

A)linguistic comprehension.
B)subsistence strategies.
C)material culture.
D)ideology.

Question 33

Provide an imaginary example of the proper use of the scientific method.

Question 34

What makes us human?

A)physiology, culture, and planning
B)biology, culture, and religion
C)physiology, behavior, and religion
D)biology, culture, and behavior

Question 35

In the context of physical anthropology, a disadvantaged social environment includes one:

A)with minimal access to technology.
B)with no transportation system.
C)with poor-quality nutrition.
D)where most people do not know how to read.

Question 36

Discuss the value of the scientific method in our society.