GED210 Unit 1 Exam Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Multiple Choice Questions (Enter your answers on the enclosed answer sheet)

1. Which of the following would not be considered a specialization within the discipline of physical anthropology?

a. human anatomy

b. paleopathology

c. primatology

d. phonology

2. The material products of former societies are known as:

a. artifacts.

b. fossils.

c. legacies.

d. antiquaries.

3. Anthropologist, Spencer Wells, is the director of the genoraphic project which is:

a. making significant contributions to the philosophy of archaeology.

b. conducting ethnographic fieldwork among the Vanomamö Indians of Venezuela.

c. helping to illuminate the migrations of humans throughout the world.

d. using computer technology to do cross-cultural comparisons.

4. Kelley Hays-Gilpin, a southwestern U.S. Archaeologist, studied:

a. Brazil.

b. gender approaches to the archaeological record.

c. tropical rainforests.

d. East Africa.

5. The people known as classical archaeologists conduct research on:

a. ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome.

b. the evolution of prehistoric stone tools.

c. societies of the more recent past.

d. ancestors of contemporary Native Americans.

6. Research on artifacts found in the remains of slave quarters at an 18th century tobacco plantation in Virginia would be an example of:

a. historical archaeology.

b. forensic anthropology.

c. applied anthropology.

d. classical archaeology.

7. One of the most important tool types invented by homo erectus was the:

a. Mousterian hammerstone.

b. Clovis projectile point.

c. Neolithic grinding stone.

d. Acheulian hand axe.

8. The stone tool industry associated with Neanderthal populations was called the:

a. Oldowan complex.

b. Mousterian tradition.

c. Acheulian technology.

d. Chopper tool system.

e. Composite tool tradition.

9. The climate characteristic of environments occupied by Neanderthals was:

a. hot.

b. warm.

c. temperate.

d. cold.

10. Fossil and archaeological evidence suggests that the first hominids to practice intentional burial of their dead were:

a. modern upper Paleolithic homo sapiens.

b. Homo erectus.

c. neanderthals.

d. Homo habilis.

11. The remains of four individuals, one of whom appears to have been surrounded by a bed of flowers, represent the first evidence of intentional burial. They were found at an archaeological site in:

a. England.

b. Mexico.

c. China.

d. Iraq.

12. Evidence suggesting that there were religious beliefs among Neanderthals includes:

a. cave paintings of supernatural beings.

b. small chambers in the far recesses of caves that contained “religious objects,” primarily clay figures of gods and goddesses.

c. stone-lined rectangular pits containing dozens of cave bear skulls.

d. burial sites.

13. The earliest traces of material culture are:

a. fossil teeth of the species australopithecus.

b. words like “ma” to indicate mother.

c. simple stone tools, like choppers and scrapers.

d. forms of social organization among different primates.

14. Which of the following would not be considered a form of material culture?

a. igloos.

b. cufflinks.

c. lullabies.

d. forks

15. The term “ideology” refers to:

a. signs and symbols used to communicate particular ideas.

b. beliefs and values supporting the interests of a group.

c. specific expressions of material culture.

d. a faulty or misguided world view.

16. One example of an ideology would be:

a. Capitalism.

b. Egyptian hieroglyphs.

c. Navajo sand paintings.

d. the Big Bang theory.

17. __________ may occur when one dominant group in a complex society imposes its cultural beliefs on subordinate ethnic groups. For example, the dominant ethnic group in the U.S. during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (the white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants) was able to impose its language, cultural beliefs, and practices on other minority groups in U.S. society.

a. Cultural hegemony

b. Cultural chaos

c. Multiculturalism

d. Ethnic superiority

18. Norms are:

a. prohibitions against a particular kind of behavior.

b. values that are accepted by every human society.

c. a given society’s rules for right and wrong behavior.

d. individuals who look like the majority of people.

19. In her classic work Patterns of Culture (1934), Ruth Benedict used the terms “apollonian” and “dionysian” to describe:

a. cultural “personalities” of pueblo and plains Indians.

b. religious cults of northern and southern Greece.

c. rituals of warfare and celebration in the South Pacific.

d. contrasting models of cultural diffusion.

20. Margaret Mead got most of her information on the behavior of adolescents in Samoa from:

a. accounts of travelers and missionaries.

b. newspaper accounts and government reports.

c. watching ethnographic films.

d. interviewing young women.

21. The central object of Mead’s study, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), was to determine whether or not:

a. kinship patterns in Samoa could be attributed to diffusion from China.

b. the events of World War II had an effect on traditional family structure in Samoa.

c. the transition from adolescence into adulthood was stressful in all societies.

d. maturation rates of Samoan teenagers were directly related to race and heredity.

22. After spending nine months in Samoa and working with individuals in three different villages, Margaret Mead concluded that:

a. Samoan society differed little from that of the U.S. in the 1920s.

b. many key elements of Samoan culture had diffused from Thailand.

c. Franz Boas’ theories of cultural relativism had serious flaws.

d. becoming an adult was less stressful in Samoa than in the U.S.

23. One of the principal criticisms of the culture-and-personality school is that:

a. there is no evidence for a biological link between culture and personality.

b. it tends to assume greater uniformity in personality than actually exists in society.

c. the investigation of personality should be done by psychologists, not anthropologists.

d. individual behavior is more important than the behavior of a whole society.

24. Functionalist anthropologists have suggested that incest taboos originated in order to:

a. encourage alliances and cooperation between descent groups.

b. avoid the serious consequences of genetic interbreeding.

c. strengthen the role of patrilineal descent groups.

d. regulate and limit sexual behavior within small communities.

25. Research on the “childhood familiarity hypothesis” supports the notion that:

a. unrelated children raised together make good marriage partners.

b. children who have grown up in the same household share sexual attractions.

c. children living in close association with one another develop mutual sexual aversion.

d. unrelated adolescents who live together are likely to become erotically involved.