Anthropology 101, Study Guide for first exam in Biological Anthropology

Dr. Jeffrey Kaufmann

Note: go over your notes from lecture and readings (Ember and Ember textbook), and then work
through the topics listed below. Knowing all of this, you should do well on the exam.
Chapter 1: The Importance of Anthropology
Concepts and terms to know and questions to answer: Differences between the four subfields of
anthropology: biological or physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and ethnology. How is
anthropology holistic? What is the scientific method? What is a hypothesis? What are theories? In
what way is anthropology both part of science and the humanities? What is ethnography? What is
applied anthropology? Examples?
Chapter 2: How We Discover the Past
Concepts and terms to know and questions to answer: The kinds of evidence of human pasts:
artifacts, ecofacts, fossils, features; kinds of sites: excavation, taphonomy, stratigraphy; dating the
evidence: relative vs absolute methods. Why do archaeologists have such rigorous methods? Why
is context so important in archaeological research? What factors have to be considered when
choosing a dating technique?
Chapter 3: Genetics and Evolution
Concepts and terms to know: PAY SOME ATTENTION TO: DNA, allele, locus, homozygous
and heterozygous, allele frequencies, genotype, phenotype, dominant vs. recessive with examples;
PAY MORE ATTENTION TO: populations, gene pool, evolution, processes of evolution: i.e.,
mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, kinds of natural selection (directional and normalizing
selection, speciation), hybridization (examples such as sickle cell anemia and malaria). Pay
attention to the boxed study Is Evolution Slow and Steady or Fast and Abrubt?. What might be
the future of the species Homo sapiens?