The development of formal, non-kin, organization means that:
a. the appropriation of the right by the state to decide which acts will be punished as
crimes
b. the end of kin relations as an important factor in society
c. political succession based on a family system
d. the transition from a ranked to an egalitarian structure
e. the end of an institutional religion
List the characteristics of Homo erectus discoveries in Java and China.
Answer:Will vary
The Olmec culture was located primarily:
a. along the Gulf Coast of Mexico
b. in highland Mexico
c. along the Andean coast of South America
d. in the Amazon basin of South America
e. in the southwestern United States
Arie Issar and Mattanyah Zohar have argued that what factor was likely responsible for
the development of early civilization in the Near East?
a. need to construct and maintain irrigation systems
b. fluctuating availability of water resources caused by major climatic changes
c. need for a communal flood defense system
d. population growth and nucleation
e. the development of a religious hierarchy
Which of the following would be best suited to the carbon-14 dating technique?
a. materials more than 100,000 years old
b. volcanic rock
c. sedimentary rock
d. metals
e. certain organic materials less than 75,000 years old
Which of the following is NOT evidence that supports the Bering Land Bridge model
for the peopling of the New World?
A. the age estimates for the earliest humans in North and South America
B. close geographic proximity of northeastern Asia and northwestern North America
C. presence of the Beringia “land bridge; during the late Pleistocene
D. the documented Pleistocene migration of animals along this route
E. the linguistic and genetic similarities of Asian and Native American populations
What is it called when a person possesses two different alleles at the same locus, and
both alleles are expressed in the phenotype?
a. recessiveness
b. codominance
c. dominance
d. homozygosity
e. X-linkage
What is the term for the ordering of organisms into categories, such as orders or
families?
a. evolution
b. classification
c. parallelism
d. analogy
e. generalization
Which of the following statements is false?
a. Several definite Homo erectus fossils have been discovered in France.
b. Earlier Homo erectus populations had a smaller cranial capacity than later
populations.
c. Thick cranial and postcranial bones characterize mostHomo erectus specimens.
d. Homo erectus appears to have been less encephalized than Homo sapiens.
e. Homo erectus was most likely the first hominid to live outside of Africa.
The Middle Pleistocene humans are morphologically
a. diverse and broadly dispersed throughout time and space
b. diverse but not broadly dispersed throughout time and space
c. similar and broadly dispersed throughout time and space
d. similar and not broadly dispersed throughout time and space
e. similar and broadly dispersed through time, but not space
Mousterian culture evidences all of the following except
a. more complex burials, with the body’s position deliberately modified
b. use of pigment, perhaps as body decoration, and jewelry
c. natural pigments deliberately applied to shells and animal bones
d. clear distinctions between Neandertals and early modern humans.
e. An expanded range of foods to include marine resources
Neandertal crania are characterized by which of the following?
a. small, flat faces
b. the absence of brow ridges
c. a rounded, smooth occipital area like that seen in modern humans
d. a vertical forehead like that seen in modern humans
e. a projecting midface
Which of the following best describes the changes in subsistence practices of groups
during the early and middle Holocene?
a. initial systematic exploitation of fish and fowl resources
b. primarily associated with hunting megafauna
c. intensive hunting, fishing, and gathering
d. a decreased emphasis on the importance of plant foods in the diet
e. a switch away from marine resources as sea levels rise
Which of the following would NOT be an example of a feature?
a. a human burial with grave goods
b. a circular arrangement of stones around wood charcoal
c. a pyramid
d. the foundation stones of a hut
e. plant and animal remains
Grooming accomplishes all except
a. plays an important role in the day-to-day life of nonhuman primates
b. is an affiliative behavior
c. occurs in a variety of contexts
d. reinforces social relationships
e. empathy
Maya centers typically served all of the following function except
a. commerce
b. religious ceremonies
c. socio-political centers
d. peasant village life
e. veneration of divine rulers
Amicable behaviors that promote group cohesion are called _______ behaviors.
a. cultural
b. philopatric
c. ritualized
d. affiliative
e. autonomic
Primatology is the study of
a. human evolution
b. human skeletal material
c. skeletal remains at crime scenes
d. disease in earlier human groups
e. living nonhuman primates
The ABO system is interesting from an anthropological perspective because it
a. illustrates that allele frequencies do NOT vary among populations
b. illustrates that some allele frequencies DO vary among populations
c. demonstrates that natural selection does not alter allele frequencies
d. has never been convincingly demonstrated for any allele
e. is no longer present in human populations
What characteristic of wild grasses is NOT likely to have been consciously selected for
by foragers in the process of domestication?
a. larger seeds
b. less tough glumes
c. more brittle rachis
d. more grains per seed head
e. structure which shatters less readily
Which of the following statements about the end of the Classic Period Maya civilization
reflects our current understanding of the collapse?
a. It marks the end of social complexity in Mesoamerica.
b. It does not affect the lowland areas.
c. It is associated with the end of palace and temple construction.
d. It may be linked to political instability, climatic factors, malnutrition, and various
other important elements.
e. Stelae were no longer produced.
As an order, primates
a. have highly specialized traits
b. can be easily defined by one or two traits
c. lack traits that define the mammals
d. have generalized traits
e. have very narrow, or specialized, dietary preferences
According to proponents of behavioral ecology,
a. individuals act to enhance the survival of their species
b. infanticide is beneficial for the social group
c. individuals consciously behave in ways that ensure their fitness
d. behaviors have evolved through the operation of natural selection
e. Individuals choose certain environments based upon the likelihood of carrying out
aggressive behavior
What factor is associated with the shift away from big game hunting in the temperate
latitudes?
a. the development of new technology which allowed them to more efficiently process
other resources
b. climate changes which resulted in many former prey animals going extinct or
becoming geographically unavailable
c. a decline in human population caused by the environmental shifts made big-game
hunting difficult
d. human over-hunting reduced the populations
e. a smaller range of potentially edible species were exploited
Prehensile ability to grasp with five digits is
a. a variable trait in the order
b. characteristic only of monkeys
c. characteristic only of apes and humans
d. the only truly distinctive primate trait
e. is hindered by an opposable thumb
Social relationships are crucial to nonhuman primates for all of the following reasons
except:
a. Individuals support each other against outsiders
b. Alliances can be used to enhance the status of members
c. Resources can be protected
d. Order can be imposed by allowing individuals to attack each other
e. Predator avoidance
Two people (both heterozygotes) are able to taste a chemical substance called PTC. The
ability to taste PTC is caused by a dominant allele (T). The inability to taste PTC is
caused by a recessive allele (t). What proportion of their children would be expected
not to be able to taste PTC?
a. 3/4
b. All
c. 1/4
d. 2/3
e. none
Which is not true about paleoanthropology?
a. It is the study of human evolution.
b. It includes the fossils of ancient reptiles and amphibians.
c. Its goal is to identify the various human ancestors.
d. It attempts to gain insights into human adaptation and behavior.
e. It is a valid way to conduct anthropology.
What is a major underlying factor for the declining numbers of nonhuman primates?
a. the killing of primates for human consumption
b. the trapping of live primates for biomedical research
c. unprecedented human population growth
d. the trapping of live primates for the pet trade
e. the overpopulation of nonhuman primate groups
Which of the following constituted the primary plant resources utilized in prehistoric
California?
a. pine nuts
b. chenopodium
c. acorns
d. squash
e. corn
The term used to describe the post-Pleistocene cultures in Europe is:
a. Upper Paleolithic
b. Mesolithic
c. Epipaleolithic
d. Archaic
e. Middle Paleolithic