Mid-Term Exam Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 4 basic principles of Natural Selection?

A

1) Variation exists within populations
2) Variation can be inherited
3) Populations can have way more offspring than environment can handle
4) Competition for resources + heritable traits that affect individuals’ fitness variations in survival and reproductive rates

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2
Q

Subset of Physical Anthropology

The study of nonhuman primates, the closest living relatives of modern humans

A

Primatology

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3
Q

What are the characteristics of primates?

A
Opposable thumb
Large brain
Good stereoscopic vision (i.e. both eyes point in the same direction making 3D vision possible)Ability to brachiate (i.e. the ability to move arm over arm on a limb)
Flexible elbows for hand rotation
Grasping feet
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4
Q

What are the characteristics of apes?

A

Social mammals
Grasping hands
Bony, enclosed eye sockets
Relatively large brains OR intelligence
Manual dexterity OR skilled with hands OR opposable thumbs
Visual acuity OR excellent vision OR stereoscopic vision (3-dimensional vision)
Generalists – live in wide variety of environments
Locomotive flexibility OR collarbones at shoulders
Longer gestation (pregnancy) OR longer childhood

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5
Q

Study of the human past through material remains of human and hominin activity

A

Anthropology

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6
Q

A tested and repeatedly supported hypothesis

A

Scientific Theory

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7
Q

An object that has been manufactured or intentionally modified by a human or hominin

A

Artifact

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8
Q

Evidence of human activity that is non-portable (cannot be excavated and taken to a lab)

A

Feature

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9
Q

These make it clear that we share common ancestors

A

Homologous structures

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10
Q

How much of our DNA to we share with chimps?

A

98%

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11
Q

how well a species is able to reproduce in its environment

A

fitness

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12
Q

What are the Primate group types?

A
  • multi-male
  • single male
  • Variable group formation w/habitat
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13
Q

What are the characteristics of a multi-male group?

A

Open, dangerous habitat
Several males needed to protect females
Competition between males, but cannot be too destructive

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14
Q

What are the characteristics of a single male group?

A

Resource poor habitat, but safer
Smaller groups of females
Males compete only for access to a female group
Males not in direct, daily competition

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15
Q

What are the characteristics of a variable group formation?

A

Move between habitats

Group structure changes with habitat

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16
Q

Difference between the average size of males and females

A

Sexual Size Dimorphism (SSD)

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17
Q

Artifacts that are found together and that presumably were used at the same time or for similar or related tasks

A

Assemblage

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18
Q

What do assemblages help to do?

A

help archaeologists make hypotheses about human behavior in a site or how artifacts were used

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19
Q

is the scientific and systematic study of human material remains

A

Archaeology

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20
Q

What are the four phases of archaeological research?

A
  1. Survey
  2. Excavation
  3. Laboratory Analysis
  4. Writing
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21
Q

What is the survey phase?

A

The physical examination of a space in which promising archaeological sites will most likely be found

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22
Q

What are the aspects involved in the survey phase?

A

GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar)
Magnetometry
Areal Photography
Lidar (Light raDAR) (by plane)

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23
Q

What is the excavation phase?

A

The systematic uncovering of cultural material

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24
Q

What are the aspects of the laboratory analysis phase?

A

Stratigraphy
Dendrochronology
Radio-carbon dating

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25
Q

Archaeologists using strata to determine what archaeological period an artifact is from

A

Stratigraphy

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26
Q

Radar pulses can detect and map subsurface archaeological artifacts and features

A

GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar)

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27
Q

Technique to measure and map patterns of magnetism in the soil

A

Magnetometry

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28
Q

Allows archaeologists to see the outlines of former buildings and features that may not be visible on the ground

A

Areal Photography

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29
Q

Pulses of light (i.e. from a laser) can measure minute differences in elevation

A

Lidar (Light raDAR) (by plane)

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30
Q

software to input Geophys data and make maps that help them to make educated guesses about where to put test pits or larger excavation pits

A

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

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31
Q

When archaeologists test hypotheses by replicating or approximating ancient tasks or activities

A

ethnoarcheology

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32
Q

The technique of dating sites or artifacts using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in tree trunks

A

Dendrochronology

or tree ring dating

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33
Q

A method of determining the age of an object containing organic material (e.g. cannot be used on rocks) by using the properties of radiocarbon

A

Radio-carbon dating

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34
Q

What are the aspects of the writing phase?

A

Field reports

Scholarly Articles

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35
Q

something that is meant to represent something else

A

symbol

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36
Q

ability to learn and communicate a shared set of ideas, meanings, or beliefs

A

symbolic culture

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37
Q

What tools and what species were associated with the Acheulean tradition?

A

hand axes, flakes

lilmya/homo erectus

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38
Q

What tools and what species were associated with the Mousterian tradition?

A

smaller more sophisticated hand axes, flake tools, toothed instruments, wooden spears (Neanderthals)

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39
Q

What is cultural material?

A

physical evidence of culture (objects, architecture, and features humans make/have made

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40
Q

Define hominid

A

Great apes and their extinct relatives

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41
Q

Define hominin

A

Humans and their immediate (extinct) relatives

-defined by habitual bipedality

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42
Q

What are the two hypotheses to explain the evolution of habitual bipedality?

A

1) Climate Change:
- see predators
- carry infants, food, and tools
- reduce skin exposure
- energy efficiency
2) Bipedalism evolved in trees
- increased maneuverability
- use of hands at all times
- balance
- pre-adaptation

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43
Q

What is the male morphology in a single-male group?

A

male is very large compared to females; smaller testes; very large canines

44
Q

What is the male morphology in a multi-male group?

A

males have very large testes; sperm competition; smaller canines

45
Q

what is the male morphology in a pair-living group?

A

males have the smallest testes

46
Q

What characteristics do we share with chimps and bonobos?

A
intelligent brain 
emotions 
tool use
social organization (politics) 
mating behavior
47
Q

What characteristic do we share with just chimps?

A

Intraspecies violence

48
Q

What characteristics do we share with just bonobos?

A

peaceful coexistence

49
Q

What are the two reasons for mammalian aggression?

A

1) Defense of territory

2) Aggression between rival males

50
Q

What is conspecific aggression?

A

aggression within species

51
Q

What do chimps and humans have in common when it comes to aggression?

A

the only two species who exhibit aggression with the intent to kill

52
Q

What conspecific agression do gorillas exhibit?

A

infanticide

53
Q

What conspecific agression do chimps exhibit?

A

battering of females

aggression to establish dominance

54
Q

What forms of organized aggression do chimps exhibit?

A

boarder patrolling

raiding

55
Q

What is boarder patrolling?

A

maintaining and defending territory

56
Q

What is raiding?

A

a groups enters a neighboring territory in search of victims

57
Q

What is infanticide?

A

killing of infants

58
Q

What else do humans and chimps share a _____ for ______

A

propensity for violence

59
Q

What is the obstetric dilemma faced by hominins?

A
  • big brained infants
  • a pelvis designed for walking upright
  • a rotational delivery in which the baby emerges facing backward
60
Q

What were the features of homo naledi?

A

homo like hand shape and feet
homo like facial features
primitive small skull of an australopith
slight finger curve

61
Q

What are some of the factors of social complexity?

A
increased population 
social stratification 
rank/prestige for some centralized control 
division of labor 
craft specialization
62
Q

What is craft specialization?

A

assignment of specific tasks to specific people or groups

63
Q

scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their related non-human primates and their extinct hominin ancestors

A

Biological/Physical Anthropology

64
Q

an approach to research that emphasizes the study of complex systems. Systems are approached as coherent wholes whose component parts are best understood in context and in relation to one another and to the whole

A

Holism/Holistic Approach

65
Q

What is evolution?

A

the change in the characteristics of a species over several generations and relies on the process of natural selection

66
Q

What is natural selection?

A

the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring

67
Q

arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests

A

primates

68
Q

any of a group of anthropoid primates characterized by long arms, a broad chest, and the absence of a tail

A

apes

69
Q

a nonhuman primate mammal with the exception usually of the lemurs and tarsiers

A

monkey

70
Q

What is morphology?

A

the branch of biology that deals with the form of living organisms, and with relationships between their structures

71
Q

thickset body with long arms, short legs and no tail. Much of the body is covered with long black hair, but the face, ears, fingers and toes are bare. They have hands that can grip firmly, allowing them to pick up objects.

A

chimpanzee

72
Q

Form larger parties biased towards females. Males show dominance relations among themselves with less aggression

A

bonobos

73
Q

forming of a groups specifically for the killing of adults in neighboring groups

A

Coalitionary killing

74
Q

the oldest known foot prints of early humans

A

Laetoli footprints: 3.6 million years ago in Laetoli, Tanzania, two early humans walked through wet volcanic ash. When the nearby volcano erupted again, subsequent layers of ash covered and preserved the oldest known footprints of early humans

75
Q

What is habitual bipedality?

A

is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs

76
Q

What is obligate midwifery?

A

assistance during labor that is necessary for a successful and safe birth

77
Q

What is experimental archeology?

A

a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats

78
Q

relating to or denoting the early phase of the Stone Age

A

Paleolithic

79
Q

relating to or denoting the later part of the Stone Age

A

Neolithic

80
Q

a chamber, built wholly or partly underground, used by male Pueblo Indians for religious rites

A

kiva

81
Q

What are grave goods?

A

the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased’s journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods

82
Q

What was the Neolithic revolution?

A

the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an increasingly larger population possible

83
Q

How do archeologists determine how old/the age of the artifacts they find?

A

Stratigraphy
Dendrochronology
Radio-carbon dating

84
Q

When did the Neolithic revolution start?

A

10,000 BCE

85
Q

What changes constitute the Neolithic revolution?

A
  • hunting and gathering to farming and domestication of animals represents an alteration in humanity that cannot be reversed
  • The Neolithic revolution introduced the idea of permanent settlement and class stratification and the population increased as a result of the food obtainment changes
86
Q

What are the advantages of habitual bipedalism?

A
  • energy efficient
  • allowed for a wider range of vision due to raising the head
  • freeing of hands allowing for carrying abilities
  • better for tool use
87
Q

What characteristics on a skeleton can tell us that a fossil was bipedal?

A

-placement of the Foramenmagnum: Latin,“largehole”,cranialopening
where spinal column articulates
-S-curvature of the spine: not present
at birth, we normally settle into an S-curve due to pressure exerted on the spine from bipedality, also narrow rib cage
-short,broad(wide)&curved pelvis
Femur:bicondylarangle(femoralangle):purposefully knock-kneed
-foot arches
-Non-divergent big toe

88
Q

What does it mean to be bipedal?

A

using only two legs for walking

89
Q

What does it mean to be habitually bipedal?

A

bipedalism is assumed as the regular means of locomotion

90
Q

How are gracile australopithecines different than the robust australopithecines?

A

Gracile: Smaller jaws, no buttressed mandible, Smaller back teeth, Jaw muscles anchored on the side,No flaring zygom. Arches, Larger cranial capacity, thinner (lightly built)

Robust: Large jaws (buttressed mandible), Molarized premolars& lrg molars (grinding teeth), Jaws muscles anchored on top (sagittal crest),Flaring zygomatic arches, Smaller cranial capacity

91
Q

What tools are associated with the Oldowan tradition? and what species?

A

choppers (flakes), Homo habilis

92
Q

Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus)

A
  • 5.8-4.4 mya
  • Awash River in Ethiopia
  • small endocranial capacity (small cranial size)
  • intermediate form of terrestrial bipedality
  • long and curved fingers
  • no evidence of cultural material
93
Q

Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis)

A
  • 3.8-2.9 mya
  • Hadar, Ethiopia
  • small brain size (1/3 of modern human brain)
  • stood on two legs
  • walked upright regularly
  • curved fingers
  • no known culture
94
Q

(Taung child) Australopithecus africanas

A
  • 3.3-2.1 mya
  • Taung, South Africa
  • small brain (larger than modern chimps)
  • had ability to walk on two legs
  • curved fingers
  • no known culture
95
Q

Homo naledi

A
  • 300,000 ya
  • Rising star cave in South Africa
  • homo like hands and feet
  • homo like facial features
  • small primitive skull
  • slight finger curve
96
Q

Homo habilis

A
  • 2.3-1.4 mya
  • Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania
  • significant increase in skull size
  • walked on two legs regularly
  • slightly curved fingers
  • closer to straight bones of humans
  • shaped stone tools
97
Q

Homo erectus

A

-1.8 mya-30,000 ya
-Indonesia
-expanded braincase
-loss of tree climbing ability
-ability to walk and run long distances
-closer to modern human hand
-use of earliest hand axes
-first to control fire
colonized outside africa

98
Q

Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis)

A
  • 300,000-30,000 ya
  • Feldhofer Cave of the Neander Valley in Germany
  • larger than average human brain
  • walked on two legs
  • wider pelvis
  • modern hands formed
  • advanced tools
  • built hearths
  • controlled fire
  • had complex culture
99
Q

anatomically modern human (Homo sapien)

A
  • 200,000-present
  • early had slightly larger brains
  • narrower pelvis
  • longer legs
  • only walks on two legs
  • straight finger bones
  • continued to improve tools
  • sophisticated control of fire
  • full of culture
  • creates art
100
Q

What are the two major changes in human evolution are and what species are they associated?

A

Habitual Bipedality (Lucy) and Larger craniums (Not sure the species)

101
Q

What was the first animal to be domesticated and why do archaeologists think it was key to domesticating other animals?

A

The Dog. Used to heard animals and hunt

102
Q

What technology predated bread making?

A

**idk asking donaldson

103
Q

What are the characteristics of simple societies?

A

Simple Societies are going to lack things in infrastructure, specializations, and usually are just families grouped together

104
Q

What are the characteristics of complex societies?

A

Complex Societies are going to have evidence of infrastructure, permanent residency, culture, specialized fields, and diversity

105
Q

What archaeological evidence did archaeologists use to determine of a site represents the transition from simple society to social complexity?

A

Grave Goods, Complex art and pottery (indicating specialization), written history, or evidence of permanent homes (walls) and things like that