Quiz 1 - General Terms

Question 1

Savannah Theory

Answer 1

• Current habitat biases were shaped by selection pressures in our ancestral past
• African rainforests were slowly replaced by savannahs, which forced early humans to walk on two feet instead of four (cause of bipedalism)

Question 2

Archaeology

Answer 2

The study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains

Question 3

Physical Anthropology

Answer 3

• Study how we have changed biologically over the ages and how various present-day peoples differ biologically.
• Includes primatology and paleoanthropology.
• Primatology - the scientific study of the group of animals that includes human beings, apes and monkeys.
• Paleoanthropology - the study of human evolution through the fossil and archaeological records.

Question 4

Cultural Anthropology

Answer 4

• Study of human cultures, focusing on beliefs, practices, and social structures to understand how people create and interpret meaning.
• Uses participant observation and ethnograhpy.
• Includes: ethnology, linguistic anthropology(history and structure of language, and ways humans use language), and archaeology.

Question 5

Social Anthropology

Answer 5

• Analysis of social organization of living peoples
• Study of human society and cultures through a comparative lens.
• Social anthropologists seek to understand how people live in societies and how they make their lives meaningful.

Question 6

Primatology

Answer 6

Study of the behavior, biology, evolution, and taxonomy of nonhuman primates

Question 7

Participant Observation

Answer 7

Research method where the researcher immerses themself in a particular social setting or group, observing the behaviors, interactions, and practices of the participants

Question 8

Fossils

Answer 8

The preserved remains of plants and animals whose bodies were buried in sediments, such as sand and mud, under ancient seas, lakes and rivers

Question 9

Difference between humans and other animals

Answer 9

• Humans possess many cognitive abilities, like language capacity, reasoning ability, etc.
• All these qualities distinctly separate humans from animals.

Question 10

Bipedalism Theories

Answer 10

1. Standing up to reach food(postural feeding hypothesis)
2. Greater stamina, allowed tracking/killing prey effectively (hunter-scavenger) - no evidence of stone tools
3. Carry food and use tools - chimps carried things while walking on 3 legs, using less energy
4. Food was farther so bipedalism allowed quicker transport (environmental food distribution theory)
5. Less thermal stress/overheating, less need for water in savannahs (thermoregulation theory) - they evolved in woodlands not savannahs
6. Wade thru water –> bipedalism (aquatic ape theory)
   Most likely theory: savannah theory

Question 11

Aquatic Ape Theory

Answer 11

• The Aquatic Ape Theory states that our ancestors once spent a significant part of their life in water
• Much more than other primates, man has several features that are seen more often in aquatic than terrestrial mammals: nakedness, thick subcutaneous fat-layer, stretched hindlimbs, voluntary respiration, dilute urine etc.
• With the Pleistocene cooling, our ancestors returned to land and became bipedal omnivores and scavengers and later hunters of coastal and riverside animals.

Question 12

Ancient Tools

Answer 12

• The Early Stone Age began with the most basic stone implements made by early humans
• These Oldowan toolkits include hammerstones, stone cores, and sharp stone flakes
• By about 1.76 million years ago, early humans began to make Acheulean handaxes and other large cutting tools

Question 13

Values and belief systems

Answer 13

• Values are a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society.
• Values are critical for teaching a culture’s beliefs
• Beliefs are the convictions that people hold to be true.

Question 14

Material Culture

Answer 14

• Refers to the physical aspects of a society, the objects made or modified by a human
• These objects surround a people and its activities and are defined by their properties, be they chemical, physical, or biological

Question 15

Technology

Answer 15

• The application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals
• The products resulting from such efforts

Question 16

Language

Answer 16

The principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture.

Question 17

Ethnocentrism

Answer 17

• To apply one’s own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of using the standards of the particular culture involved
• An attitude characterized by the glorification of one’s own group and the defamation and discrimination of other groups

Question 18

Cultural Relativism

Answer 18

• The position that there is no universal standard to measure cultures by
• All cultural values and beliefs must be understood relative to their cultural context, and not judged based on outside norms and values

Question 19

Evolutionary

Answer 19

• The gradual development of something
• Relating to the process by which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms

Question 20

Should we say hello

Answer 20

The debate about whether or not to contact uncontacted tribes
Pros: they are being forced out by poachers, so we might as well give them an option to recieve help
Cons: contacting them will transmit deadly diseases and disrupt their life

Question 21

Nambikwara

Answer 21

• An indigenous people of Brazil, living in the Amazon
• In 1910 they were lured out of the forest by a Brazilian engineer. Three generations after contact, the tribe of 5000 had been reduced to 550.