Anthropology Semester 1 Exam
Questions with Correct Answers
Anthropology - Answer-The study of humankind in all times and all places (textbook
definition), can also be the study of migratory patterns
The Purpose of Anthropology - Answer-Make the world safe for human differences
-Ruth Benedict
Thinking like an Anthropologist - Answer-1. Observe without judgement
2. Infer (making educated guesses) based on logic and evidence
3. Compare and contrast without hierarchy
4. Acknowledge your bias and ethnocentrism but do not be limited by it
"You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it"
Eight Features of Civilization (Result of Western Culture and Ideology) - Answer-1.
Cities
2. Organized central governments
3. Complex religions
4. Job specialization
5. Social classes
6. Writing
7. Public Works
8. Art & Architecture
Society - Answer-An organized group or groups of interdependent people who generally
share a common territory, language, and culture and who act together for collective
survival and well being.
All societies must do the same things! - Answer-1. Adapt to their natural surroundings
2. Adapt biologically to ecosystems and reproduce
3. Develop tools and shelter
4. Organize human labor to produce goods
5. Organize individuals into working groups
6. Develop a way of making collective decisions to govern
7. Develop knowledge, belief systems, and values
Culture - Answer-A society's shared and socially transmitted ideas, values and
perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and
are reflected in that behavior.
Seven Categories of Analysis - Answer-1. Culture - all the things a society passes from
generation to generation
,2. Geography - the natural setting of a society
3. Biology - the study of all living things surrounding a society, including plants, animals,
and microorganisms
4. Government/Authority - the sum total of ways in which society delegates authority to
make collective decisions and the power to enforce those decisions
5. Social Structure - Organization of individual society members into groups or
categories
6. Economy - The means and methods a society uses for the production and
distributional goods and services
7. Technology
Barrel Model of Culture - Answer-
Environment - Answer-Natural resources in a society's habitat
Infrastructure - Answer--Economic bases; the mode of subsistence
-The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices, labor
organization, job specialization and the tools/ material equipment used make a living
Social Structure - Answer--Social organization; the patterned social arrangements of
individuals within society
-Rule-governed relationships- with all their rights and obligations- that hold members of
a society together
-Includes households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics
-Rule-governed relationships- with all their rights and obligations- that hold members of
a society together
-Includes households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics
Superstructure - Answer--Worldview; the perception of the self and the world around us
-Society's shared sense of identity and worldview
-Collective body of ideas, beliefs, and values by which a group of people makes sense
of the world and their place in it
-Includes religion and national ideology
-Society's shared sense of identity and worldview
-Collective body of ideas, beliefs, and values by which a group of people makes sense
of the world and their -place in it
-Includes religion and national ideology
How Does Anthropology Differ From Other Disciplines? - Answer-**Comparative and
Cross-Cultural - Many social science courses focus predominantly on contemporary
Western culture while historically, Anthropology has focused on non-Western cultures.
**Long-Term - Anthropology often examines societies historically and presently
**Holistic - Anthropologists must be synthesizers and study societies in the broadest
way possible often combining the study of disciplines to find interconnections and
interdependence (ex. studying biology and culture together
,What Do Anthropologists Try to Avoid - Answer-**Culture Bound Theories - theories that
are based on the assumptions and values present in the culture of the individuals that
created the theory or
**Ethnocentrism - Belief that the ways of one's own culture are the only right ones
Archaeology - Answer-The study of human cultures through the recovery and analysis
of material remains and environmental data
-Studies material remains in order to describe and explain human behavior.
-Study tools, pottery, and other features such as hearths and enclosures that remain as
the testimony of earlier cultures.
What do archaeologists study? - Answer-**Artifacts: Anything made, altered or used by
humans (e.g. rock - used as a tool)
**Features: Artifact that is often large, fixed in place and cannot be removed to lab (e.g.
large wall, foundation, charcoal from fires)
**Ecofacts: Information or articles from the surrounding environment
Subfields of Archaeology - Answer-**Academic: Traditional, research-oriented, often
affiliated with universities or museums, often guided by scientific interest or specific
research questions, studies tend to occur over extended periods of time
**Cultural Resource Management (CRM): Often done to preserve cultural sites
threatened by development projects, mandated by federal or state law, projects often
constrained by time and budget
**Historic Archaeology: Societies/time period has written records also
**Prehistoric Archaeology: Society/time period pre-dates written records
Bioarchaeology - Answer-Study of human remains as a record of cultural processes.
Fieldwork - Answer--Done on site, on location
-Often involves digging, excavating and getting dirty
-Almost twice as much time is devoted to detailed note-taking, mapping, writing and
recording details
Stone Tools - Answer--Raw Materials: Chert (flint), obsidian
-Where is the raw material found? Near or far has different interpretations (ie, trade)
-Stages of Construction: Raw material, finished point, debitage (garbage)
-Function of the Tool
Analyzing Stone Tool Use - Answer--Trying to found out the function of a stone tool is
called a "use-wear" analysis
-How to answer, "what the function of this tool is?"
-Use the tool's "archaeological context", SEM (scanning electron microscope), edge
wear analysis (microwear and scratches), polishes, phytoliths (microscopic silica
residue of plants left on stone tool), experimentation
-Use the ethnographic record for clues (i.e. look at historical or contemporary societies
that may have similar objects)
, Four Main Fields of Anthropology - Answer-1. Cultural Anthropology
2. Linguistic Anthropology
3. Archaeology
4. Physical/Biological Anthropology
Applied Anthropology - Answer-**Sometimes seen as the "fifth field" of Anthropology
OR as embedded in each of the four fields
**Defined - use of anthropological methods to solve a practical problem, for a specific
client
Cultural Anthropology - Answer-**The study of different patterns in human behavior,
thought, and feelings.
**Focuses on humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures.
**CULTURE = A society's shared and learned ideas, values, and perceptions, which are
used to make sense of experience and which generate behavior and are reflected in
that behavior.
Linguistic Anthropology - Answer-Studies human languages -
1. Description of a language - the alphabets and building blocks of language and the
way words and sentences are formed
2. History of languages - the way languages change over time
3. The study of language in its different social settings
Cultural Resource Management (CRM) - Answer-**Branch of archaeology tied to
government policies for the protection of cultural resources and involving surveying
and/or excavating archaeological and historical remains threatened by construction or
development.
**A Pre-Columbian rock carving from Tecaltzingo in Puebla, Mexico. Notice the damage
caused by modern graffiti.
**CRM is also about the stewardship of archaeological sites for the benefits of all.
Physical Anthropology - Answer-*Also called biological anthropology.
*Focuses on humans as biological organisms, the process of evolution, and human
variation.
*Analyze fossils and observe living primates to reconstruct the ancestry of the human
species.
Physical Anthropology: Subfields - Answer-*Paleoanthropology: Study of the origins of
the human species
*Primatology: Study of living and fossil primates
*Human Growth, Adaptation and Diversity: Study of the ways the natural and cultural
environment impact human growth and biological diversity
*Forensic Anthropology: Specializes in the identification of human remains for legal
purposes
