Anthropology 101
Spring 2008: Exam 1 review sheet
Dr. Valerie Singer
This exam will cover all readings, class lectures and discussion, and films to date. (see your
syllabus) This review sheet covers the vast majority, although not necessarily 100%, of the
material to be presented on your first exam.
Terms and Concepts:
Four Fields of Anthropology
Ethnography / Ethnology
Prehistoric / Historic Archaeology
Material Remains
What is studied within each sub-field of anthropology
Holistic Approach
Punctuated Equilibrium
Law of Independent Assortment
Human capacity for culture as biological
Mechanisms of Evolution:
● Natural selection (including sexual selection)
● Gene flow
● Random Genetic Drift
● Mutation
Adaptation
Genotype and phenotype
Definition of evolutionary success
speciation
Homozygous and heterozygous
Understand competition and cooperation in relationship to natural selection (have examples)
Six Characteristics of Primates
● Grasping Hands
● Tactile hands (touch over smell)
● Stereoscopic color vision
● Brain complexity and memory
● Parental investment
● Sociability
Bonobo versus common chimpanzee characteristics
(of group dominance, of parenting, of tool making, of hunting,
of sexual behavior, of troop ‘culture’)
Maraqui Monkeys
Old world vs new world monkeys
Olive Baboons and friendship patterns
Sexual Dimorphism
Estrus/sexual patterns of primates
Analogies and Homologies
Gracile versus robust
Environmental change for early hominids
Patterns and time periods of migration (Africa to Eurasia) for hominid species
Theories for why homonids became bi-pedal
● Freed hands to carry food, carry tools and other resources,
● Freed hands to carry babies
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Enabled them to reach higher resources
Visibility – to watch for danger/see further on the savanna
Heat reduction/ regulation
More energy efficient for long distance travel
Know these Hominids and their general characteristics (including approximate brain size, dates,
behavioral patterns, and evolutionary significance):
● Australopithecus Afarensis
● Australopithecus Boisei and A. Robustus
● Australopithecus Africanus
● Homo Habilis (the handy man)
● Homo Floresensis
● Homo Erectus
● Homo Sapiens
○ Archaic, including Neandertals
○ Modern Homo Sapien Sapiens (us)
Lumpers versus Splitters
Multiregional evolution theory versus Eve theory
Neandertals and anatomically modern humans (comparisons)
Behavioral patterns of neandertals
Famous Hominids to know:
-La Chapelle Aux Saints
-Nariokatome boy
-Dikika baby
-Lucy
-Portuguese boy
-The Hobbit
-Taung baby
Laetoli footprints
hyoid
brow ridge
sagittal crest
occipital bun
foramen magnum
prognathic
Early hominids as scavengers, vegetarians, or hunters (dietary patterns)
Human childbirth (in relationship to brain growth, bi-pedalism, social structure)
Absolute dating and Relative dating
Carbon dating and Potassium argon dating
Molecular dating (mitochondrial DNA)
Stratigraphy
Dwarfing and Giganticism
Reasons for variations in human skin color
Cultural construction of Race (why race is not biologically valid)
History of Scientific racism
Samuel Morton
Franz Boas