Anthropology 100
Spring 2008
Rich Blanton
Study Guides for Quiz 1 and Exam 1
1. Items only for Quiz 1 These terms and concepts will not be included on Exam 1
These items are from recitations (weeks of Jan. 7th and 14th) and chapter 3 in the text:
DNA
gene
chromosome
gene frequency in a population
sources of change in gene frequencies in a population (biological evolution):
mutation
natural selection (differential reproductive success)
drift (founder effect or Wright effect)
gene flow
sources for natural selection: variation, heritability, differential
reproductive success
2. Items for Exam 1 (from the lectures, and chapters 1, 4, 6 (pp. 91-5 only), 7, 8, 12, and
recitation the week of Jan. 21st):
(the time line for this section is attached)
biological anthropology
primatology
human paleontology and paleoanthropology
human variation
cultural anthropology
anthropological archaeology
linguistics
ethnology (also called cultural anthropology)
applied anthropology (practice anthropology)
Living Primates
arboreal adaptation
omnivorous diet
prehensility
opposable thumbs
finger nails typical
stereoscopic vision
dependency period of offspring
The Primate Grades:
prosimians (example: Lemur)
quadrupedal locomotion and vertical clinging and leaping
anthropoids
monkeys
quadrupedal locomotion
hominoids
apes (living examples: gibbon, orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee)
suspensory locomotion,, e.g., brachiation
knuckle walking
hominids (generalized teeth, arch-shaped jaw, location of foramen
magnum, bipedality, loss of foot-grasping)
Machiavellian intelligence or "social brain hypothesis" (social
manipulation and cooperation for individual or group benefit)
including: tactical deception, formation of cooperative groups,
strategic imitation, anticipating another's actions, choosing the
best collaborators, and sense of self/other in higher primates (apes
and humans), including empathy
related features:
increasing communicative abilities across the primate grades
temporal displacement in tool use
African savanna hypothesis
Later Hominids (know the time line):
genus Australopithecus (australopithecines)(bipedal—ape-like brain)
(the names of the diverse species of the australopithecines are not
relevant to this course)
adaptive radiation
early genus Homo (Homo habilis)
(larger cranial capacity, reduction of face, teeth, jaws)
Olduvai Gorge
percussion flaking and handedness hypothesis
technical intelligence
Oldowan tool assemblage
home base theory in relation to: bipedalism and carrying, growth in
brain size (and its costs), changes in female pelvis, period of infant
dependency, food sharing, continuous female sexuality
Homo erectus:
know: basic physical features, inc. cranial capacity and post-cranial
features; Acheulean tool assemblage (Lower Paleolithic); fire use and
clothing; large-game hunting; adaptive radiation to Eurasia, Asia,
and Europe, including to temperate climates such as northern China
Homo erectus to Homo sapiens sapiens transition
(“archaic H. sapiens”)
know: basic physical features inc. cranial capacity;
adaptive radiation to very cold climates
example: Neandertals in Europe and the Middle East
Neandertals:
can live in very cold climates
Middle Paleolithic (“Mousterian”) tool assemblages
possible burial of dead and funerary ritual
possibly partially ancestral to modern Europeans
Homo sapiens sapiens (fully modern humans)
know: basic physical features; cranial capacity;
colonization of Australia, North Asia, New World, Pacific Islands;
first shaping of bone, ivory, and shell; evidence for symbolic
behavior; elaboration of artistic representation, including items of
personal adornment
Note: increased technological efficiency of chipped-stone tools since
2.3 MYA
Beringia
single-origin theory ("Out of Africa" theory or "Eve hypothesis")
multiregional theory
Human Variation:
biological adaptation
acclimatization
Bergmann’s Rule
Allen’s Rule
melanin
causes of variation in skin color and jaw/tooth size
hypoxia
lactose intolerance (lactase deficiency)
shovel-shaped incisors
racism
race as a social category (or social construct)(the fallacy of misplaced
concreteness")
clinal variation in biological traits
The Bell Curve
early ("classical") evolutionism
eugenics
Franz Boas
Eurocentrism