Anthropology Midterm

Question 1

What is Anthropology?

Answer 1

The study of humans as group members within an evolutionary and cross-cultural context via an eclectic approach.

Question 2

What is Gilbraltar and what is the significance of it to anthropology?

Answer 2

Gibraltar is located in Spain but is under British government. It is also the last known home to the Neanderthals. Currently, Gibraltar is home to the Barbary macaque - the only wild monkey population in Europe.

Question 3

How long ago was the period of overlap of Neanderthal and modern humans in Eurasia?

Answer 3

45,000 - 28,000 years ago (45-28 KYA)

Question 4

Why is Anthropology more focused on non-Western cultures/society?

Answer 4

Anthropology’s academic roots are in early twentieth century amidst colonialism and widespread migration (to countries like Canada and US). Put exposure on non-Western cultures front and centre. Raising questions on cultural diversity.

Question 5

What four fields make up the “four field approach”?

Answer 5

Biology, Archaeology, Language & Culture - developed by Franz Boas. (biological, archaeological, linguistic and cultural anthropology)

Question 6

What are the objectives of Applied Anthropology? (There are 3)

Answer 6

1) Integration of anthropological perspectives and method in solving human problems in the world
2) To advocate for fair and just public policy, based on sound research
3) To promote public recognition of anthropology as a profession

Question 7

What period is responsible for the greatest change on human lifestyle and what resulted from this?

Answer 7

The Neolithic Farming Revolution between 12,000 - 8,000 years ago. Lead to social stratification; humans prior were hunter gatherers.

Question 8

What are the 3 lines of evidence de Waal presents to oppose the view of humans as “Killer Apes”? [Russian Doll Model]

Answer 8

State-matching: emotional contagion/emotional synchronization of bodies (such as yawning being contagious)

Sympathetic concern: consolation (apes go out of their way to console distressed parties, as do humans)

Perspective taking: targeting helping (if I were in this situation, what would I need to be helped?)

Question 9

_________ ________ and _________ are the leading cause of death.

Answer 9

Stress-related diseases; illnesses.

Question 10

What generalization is important to remember for Medical Anthropology and what factors contribute to this?

Answer 10

Populations are not homogeneous and not equally susceptible/vulnerable to disease; factors include: age, sex, religion, birth place,

Question 11

______ has the greatest impact on shaping our genes.

Answer 11

Infectious diseases.

Question 12

What impact did Cholera, an infectious disease, have on the population of Gibraltar?

Answer 12

1/2 of the population was wiped out in 4 months during the summer of 1804.

Question 13

What is an epidemic and what are some effects?

Answer 13

An epidemic is a greater amount of sickness than normal. Effects include: increase in cost of food and provisions, fear and anxiety, sickness and death, breakdown of family and kin, flight, unemployment, imposition of quarantine, creation of Boards of Health, loss of civil liberties, etc.

Question 14

______________ were immunologically ignorant to smallpox which led to mass deaths when introduced.

Answer 14

Native Americans (notably in Mexico)

Question 15

In order for any characteristic to have an evolutionary basis, it must meet which 3 criteria?

Answer 15

1) Have an underlying genetic basis
2) It must vary among individuals in a population
3) It must be heritable

Question 16

Genes are ______, the bodies that carry them aren’t.

Answer 16

immortal

Question 17

Human bodies are ______ ______ vehicles.

Answer 17

genetic transport

Question 18

Which style of agriculture is responsible for the rapid boost in malaria cases? How?

Answer 18

Slash and burn agriculture. Cutting down and burning trees and grasslands led to sunlit pools of water - perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Question 19

What is bottom-up morality?

Answer 19

Bottom-up morality argues that the basis of human morality lies in our primate nature.

Question 20

What proof is there to defend bottom-up morality?

Answer 20

Research with non-human primates shows they share our human tendencies towards: fairness, loyalty, self-sacrifice, caring for others, strategies for conflict-avoidance and conflict resolution, etc.

Question 21

‘Evolved Morality’ which claims that the basic building blocks can be traced to primate evolutionary history highlights which 3 continuity with other primates?

Answer 21

• Empathy and Reconciliation
• Prosocial Tendencies
• Reciprocity and Fairness

Question 22

What are the notable differences between primate and human morality?

Answer 22

1) Human morality has to deal with the scale of society, where many moral issues are not simple face-to-face interchanges
2) Language and reason are used to address a demand for justification in human moral discourse
3) Humans often attempt to reach consensus (agreement) on what is morally acceptable. We meet as a community and agree on how things are to be done.

Question 23

“For species, such as primates ______ is the environment.”

Answer 23

Mother

Question 24

What are the goals of archaeology?

Answer 24

• To reconstruct human past events as they occurred in space and time (Where and when?)
• Reconstruct past human lifeways (How did they live)
• Explain how and why the past occurred as it did
• Interpret cognitive and symbolic aspects of past societies without bias

Question 25

Which tools, found in the Olduvai Gorge, are considered the starting point of archaeology?

Answer 25

Oldowan chopping tools; rocks with sharp edges probably used for procuring meat (2 MYA)

Question 26

The period in Northern Europe known for the explosion of symbolic expression is called what? When was this?

Answer 26

Upper Paleolithic period. 40,000 - 10,000 years ago

Question 27

Differentiate between primary and secondary context.

Answer 27

Primary context is the setting in which archaeological trace was originally deposited. Secondary is one which has been disturbed and redeposited.

Question 28

What is Ethnoarchaeology?

Answer 28

An approach used by archaeologists to gain insights into the past by studying contemporary people. (e.g. studying pottery of Afro-Caribbean to gain insight into the past)

Question 29

Research that attempts to replicate ancient technologies and construction procedures to test hypotheses about past activities is known as _______ ______. Provide an example.

Answer 29

Experimental Archaeology. Example: Learning how to use a spear to understand how Native Americans brought down wooly mammoths.

Question 30

What are the two dating methods? Give an example of each and their methodical bias.

Answer 30

Relative Dating; example: stratigraphy, cross-dating.
Bias: provides sequence only (which happened first, etc), no estimate in actual number of years

Chronometric Dating; example: Radiocarbon (carbon-14 - useful up to 100 KYA) Potassium, Argon
Bias: most techniques are radiometric. steady decay of radioactive isotopes provide estimate in actual number of years

Question 31

The first modern homo sapiens evolved in ______ by 200 KYA, _____ by 40 KYA, and _____ by 15 KYA.

Answer 31

Africa, Europe, North America.

Question 32

_______ is a trademark of modern human.

Answer 32

Presence of a chin.

as well as large vertical forehead; chin more so

Question 33

First genetic studies to investigate modern humans involved the use of ______ _______.

Answer 33

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA, provided from the mother)

Question 34

Which two major findings emerged from studying mtDNA?

Answer 34

Human variation is approximately 1/10th (or 10%) of the variation of chimpanzees - means chimps are older.

Africans display greatest degree of variation in their mtDNA - meaning they’re the oldest.

Question 35

_______ and ______ are the two broad categories of Upper Palelithic technology and art. Give examples.

Answer 35

Portable art (carvings, jewelry); Cave art (cave paintings in Lacaux Cave, France)

Question 36

Humans became farmers approximately how long ago?

Answer 36

12,000 years ago.

Question 37

Modern day Israel, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, etc., early Neolithic sites, are known as what?

Answer 37

The Fertile Crescent where farming began.

Question 38

Which 6 obstacles prevented domestication of some animals?

Answer 38

1) diet not easily supplied by humans
2) slow growth and birth rate
3) nasty disposition
4) reluctance to breed in captivity
5) lack of follow-the-leader dominance hierarchies
6) tendency to panic in enclosures

Question 39

What are some consequences of domestication?

Answer 39

Exposure to more bacteria, infections and diseases
A lot of emphasis on single food crops
More emphasis on carbohydrates
Huge population explosion that has continued to this day
Explosion of technology
Evolution of infectious diseases

Question 40

Evolution of epidemic infectious diseases depends on _________ and ___________.

Answer 40

Increased population; humans living close to animals.

Question 41

Common infectious have a _____ source. What does this mean?

Answer 41

Zoonotic; means it’s from an animal source.

Question 42

Social Stratification and poverty is no older than ___.

Answer 42

12 KYA.

Question 43

Compared to other primates, what is significant about how humans sleep?

Answer 43

Humans spend most proportion of it in REM sleep and have the shortest total sleep times.

Question 44

_____ is necessary for REM sleep.

Answer 44

Thermal regulation

Question 45

List three cognitive benefits from increased sleep intensity.

Answer 45

1) Threat priming (via dreams)
2) Increased innovation
3) Enhanced memory consolidation

Question 46

The fact that human populations are not ________ is a core theme of anthropology.

Answer 46

Homogeneous

Question 47

Three types of business anthropology are:

Answer 47

Organizational anthropology
Anthropology of marketing and consumer behaviour
Design anthropology

Question 48

What is culture?

Answer 48

Pattern of behaviour common to a group; beliefs, values, practices and traditions.

Question 49

What are the basic tools for business anthropology research? What is the purpose?

Answer 49

Participant observation and in-depth interviews/ethnographic fieldwork (and other methods such as focus group interviews).

These aid the organization or business in understanding the ‘other’.

Question 50

_______ _____ ______ involves scheming, cunning and planning to further one’s own goal without stating their intention. Relevancy to anthropology?

Answer 50

Machiavellian Power Politics.

This behaviour is observed in chimpanzees.

Question 51

______ ______, the size difference between males and females, is a good indicator of what?

Answer 51

Sexual dysmorphism; indicator of fights/competition between males.

Question 52

What invariably gets lost in celebrations of Scientific Advances? Provide examples

Answer 52

Inextricable link between social inequality and ill health (e.g. HIV aids is 60% women compared to 26% women in North America; due to discrimination, female lack of control of their own bodies)

Much of human disease, we bring on ourselves - preventable (diabetes; 66% of Aboriginals who are HIV positive contracted it from drug use)

Human social organization primary determinant of how diseases are distributed (poorer communities = sicker communities; chronic stress. 10x more susceptible to stress-related illnesses at bottom of social pyramid compared to top)