Review Questions

Question 1

Define anthropology and the 4 sub disciplines

Answer 1

Study of humankind; linguistic, cultural, biological (anthropology), archaeology

Question 2

What did John Frere and Jacques Boucher do Perthes discover, and what was the implication of these discoveries?

Answer 2

Frere and Boucher de Perthes discovered deeply stratifies, ancient stone tools in association with bones of extinct animals. These discoveries contributed to an understanding of the great antiquity of humankind

Question 3

What is the central difference between catastrophism and uniformitarianism?

Answer 3

Catastrophism suggests that a series of sudden, catastrophic events were responsible for the formation of the earths features, whereas uniformitarianism proposed that measurable, slow and steady processes such as erosion, weathering and deposition are responsible for the formation of geological features. Uniformitarianism recognized that these geological processes acted over an immense span of time

Question 4

What is unique about the anthropological approach to the study of humankind?

Answer 4

Anthropology is holistic and integrative in its approach. It takes a broad approach to the study of humankind. It studies past and present cultural and biological aspects of humankind.

Question 5

What mechanism did Darwin propose to account for changes in species, and what are the basic principles of this mechanism?

Answer 5

Darwin identified natural selection as the basic mechanism through which evolution takes place. Central principles of natural selection include variation, heredity, and differential reproductive success