Course Introduction
Forensic Anthropology Study Guide Questions
Forensic Anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains in a legal context, applying biological anthropology techniques to assist in the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed, burned, mutilated, or otherwise unrecognizable. This course explores methods for determining age, sex, ancestry, and stature, as well as analyzing trauma and pathologies to aid in criminal investigations. Students will engage with real-world case studies and learn about the role of forensic anthropologists within multidisciplinary investigative teams, emphasizing ethical considerations and the legal standards required for evidence in court.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Physical Anthropology 9th Edition by Robert Jurmain
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Physical Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not one of the subfields of anthropology in the United States?
A) Cultural
B) Physical
C) Psychological
D) Archaeology
E) Linguistics
Answer: C
Q2) The origins of physical anthropology arose from two areas of interest among 19<sup>th</sup> century scientists. What did these areas concern?
A) the origins of modern species and human variation
B) the genetic determinants of behavior and osteology
C) nonhuman primates and origins of modern species
D) human variation and osteology
E) human evolution and nonhuman primates
Answer: A
Q3) Anthropology can be applied to practical issues outside the university setting. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 2: The Development of Evolutionary Theory
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who coined the term "biology"?
A) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
B) Georges Cuvier
C) Thomas Malthus
D) Charles Darwin
E) Charles Lyell
Answer: A
Q2) The theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics has recently displaced natural selection as mainstream science's most accepted theory of evolutionary change.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The concept of evolution is unique to Western science.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Many people argue that evolution is "only a theory." Define theory, and then describe how evolution does or does not fit the definition.
Answer: Will vary
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Chapter 3: The Biological Basis of Life Connections
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Q1) Mitochondrial DNA has the same molecular structure and function as nuclear DNA found in the nucleus.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The discovery of the structure of DNA dates back to the late 1700s.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Enzymes
A) are specialized proteins
B) are major constituents of body tissues
C) cannot break the bonds between bases throughout the DNA molecule
D) are not responsible for separating two previously joined strands of nucleotides
E) do not direct chemical reactions in the body
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Heredity and Evolution
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Q1) What are the typical Mendelian phenotypic and genotypic ratios in the F<sub>2</sub> generation for a cross of purebred tall and short plants? Why are these ratios typical?
Q2) Explain the concepts of dominance, co-dominance, and recessiveness as used in modern genetics.
Q3) Mendelian traits
A) are governed by more than one genetic locus
B) occur only in some people
C) are always dominant
D) are governed by one genetic locus
E) are always recessive
Q4) Explain how two parents who do NOT express a particular trait in their phenotype can nevertheless produce children who express the trait. Give an example of a specific trait or disease where this could occur.
Q5) What is the only source of new genetic material in any population?
A) mutation
B) genetic drift
C) founder effect
D) migration
E) natural selection
6
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Chapter 5: Processes of Macroevolution
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Q1) Much of what we know about the history of life comes from studying fossils.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Ideally, taxonomic classification
A) reflects evolutionary relationships
B) is based on the presence of acquired characteristics
C) is always based solely on between-species behavioral similarities
D) reflects the current geographic distribution of species
E) is only applicable to nonhuman species
Q3) In grouping organisms together in a cladistic classification, the most important characteristics are those that are
A) ancestral
B) shared derived modified)
C) shared primitive
D) analogous
E) homologous
Q4) Contrast ancestral traits with derived traits.
Q5) What does it mean to say that evolutionary processes can be both microevolution and macroevolution?
Q6) Why is geographic isolation important to the process of speciation?
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Chapter 6: An Overview of the Primates
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Q1) The suborder Strepsirhini includes
A) Lemurs and lorises
B) Tarsiers, lemurs and lorises
C) Lorises, chimpanzees, and gorillas
D) Chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans
E) Strepsirhini is not a suborder of primates
Q2) Which of the following does not characterize Cercopithecines
A) are one subfamily of Old World monkeys
B) are more generalized than colobines
C) include baboons, guenons, and macaques
D) have cheek pouches for storing food
E) found only in Sri Lanka and Madagascar
Q3) Which are the largest of the living primates?
A) orangutans
B) chimpanzees
C) gibbons
D) bonobos
E) gorillas
Q4) Gibbons are said to be adapted for brachiation. What anatomical features do gibbons possess that enable them to carry this out efficiently?
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Chapter 7: Primate Behavior
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Q1) Cultural behavior
A) has never been observed in nonhuman primates
B) is learned
C) is purely genetic
D) has only been observed in chimpanzees
E) has only been observed in bonobos
Q2) Scientists who use the behavioral ecology approach believe that primate behaviors have evolved through the operation of natural selection.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is chest slapping by gorillas an example of?
A) reassurance gesture
B) submission
C) display
D) involuntary behavior
E) affiliative behavior
Q4) Contrast autonomic responses and behaviors with intentional behaviors that serve as communication.
Q5) What are dominance hierarchies, and what important functions do they serve?
Q6) Discuss the evolutionary explanation of infanticide in Hanuman langurs.
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Chapter 8: Primate and Hominin Origins
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Q1) What have researchers concluded from the fossil remains of hominin feet from South Africa?
A) They indicate obligate quadrupedalism.
B) They indicate many forms of hominins spent considerable time in trees.
C) They were adapted for quadrupedalism.
D) They indicate the big toe could NOT have aided the foot in grasping.
E) Remains from hominin feet have not been found in South Africa
Q2) Because organic materials such as sticks and bones are usually well preserved in the archaeological record, we have good evidence of the earliest stages of hominin cultural modifications.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Where have Miocene hominoid fossils been found?
A) North America
B) Australia
C) Mexico
D) South America
E) Africa, Europe, and Asia
Q4) Contrast obligate bipedalism with habitual bipedalism.
Q5) What general conclusions can be drawn regarding the Miocene hominoids?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: The First Dispersal of the Genus Homo: Homo
Erectus and Contemporaries
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Q1) Homo erectus represents a different kind of hominin than the more ancient African predecessors. One of the reasons is
A) H. erectus is a step towards being more ape-like
B) An increased body size and robustness
C) Less encephalization
D) Less variation among different regional populations
E) Less like modern humans
Q2) Until recently, H. erectus sites outside of Africa all have shown dates later than the earliest finds of species in Africa. This has led paleoanthropologists to assume that A) the hominins who migrated to Asia and Europe descended from earlier Asian ancestors
B) the sites outside of Africa are misdated
C) the earliest finds in Africa are misdated
D) the hominins who migrated to Asia and Europe descended from earlier African ancestors
E) there is another, heretofore unknown hominin, who is the missing link
Q3) Kamaya Kimeu discovered the most complete Homo erectus at Zhoukoudian.
A)True
B)False
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Premodern Humans
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Q1) When African migrants came into contact with premodern humans living in Eurasia, some interbreeding occurred.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the term for the stone tool technology most often associated with the Neandertals that extended across Europe and North Africa, into the former Soviet Union, Israel, Iran, central Asia and possibly China?
A) Mousterian
B) Middle Paleolithic
C) Early Paleolithic
D) Denisovian
E) Oldowan
Q3) Upper Paleolithic stone tools were found at the French Neandertal site of St. Césaire, dated to _______ years ago.
A) 75,000
B) 50,000
C) 100,000
D) 35,000
E) 65,000
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Page 12
Chapter 11: The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans
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Q1) According to the Regional Continuity Model, ________ prevented local populations of premodern Homo sapiens from becoming separate species.
A) founder's effect
B) gene flow
C) displacement by African Homo sapiens
D) mitochondrial DNA
E) genetic drift
Q2) Genetic evidence indicates that all native Australians are descendants of a single migration 50 kya.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Upper Paleolithic
A) began at the onset of the Pleistocene
B) is a cultural period attributed primarily to Neandertals
C) is characterized by the invention of iron tools
D) began about 150,000 years ago
E) is divided into five different industries, based on stone tool technologies
Q4) Why do most paleoanthropologists agree that several fossil forms, dating back to 100,000 ya, should be included in as fully modern humans?
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Chapter 12: Human Variation and Adaptation
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Q1) Forensic anthropologists must deal with the race concept because they are asked by law enforcement agencies to identify an individual's race from skeletal remains.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Light-skinned people, when compared to dark skinned people
A) produce too much melanin
B) have rickets
C) lack melanin
D) have no melanocytes
E) are not found in African populations
Q3) Explain the historical views on human variation.
Q4) What is AIDS caused by?
A) mosquito bites
B) a bacterium
C) a mutation on a cell's receptor site
D) a virus
E) bad meat
Q5) Discuss the factors that are contributing to the reemergence of infectious diseases that used to be close to extinction.
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Chapter 13: Legacies of Human Evolutionary History: Effects
on the Individual
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Q1) Life history theory
A) does not seek to answer why humans have long periods of infancy and childhood
B) does not have an evolutionary perspective
C) seeks to understand the impact of natural selection on life cycles
D) allows us to predict the timing of reproduction under less than favorable conditions
E) suggests that the life course is not a series of trade offs
Q2) What does the "grandmother hypothesis" propose to explain?
A) the age of onset of menopause
B) the age of puberty for males
C) the age of onset of menarche
D) the existence of menopause
E) the existence of estrogen production
Q3) Define the term adolescent growth spurt.
Q4) Which hormone is among those important in growth?
A) insulin
B) hemoglobin
C) gluten
D) lactose
E) hormones are not important in growth
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Chapter 14: The Human Disconnection
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Q1) What impacts have cultural adaptations had on local environments?
Q2) Discuss the nature of the dangers posed by human overpopulation of the planet.
Q3) The scientific community is now in almost complete agreement that we are seeing the effects of global warming.
A)True
B)False
Q4) With regards to the consensus among the scientific community,
A) there is some doubt that greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere
B) there is almost complete agreement that we are seeing the effects of global warming
C) we have yet to see any effects of global warming
D) global warming is not a complex phenomenon
E) c and d only
Q5) Culture
A) has not been an important factor in the evolutionary success of humans
B) is a means by which humans adapt beyond biology
C) has been a limiting factor in the evolution of humans
D) does not have profound effects on the choices we make
E) has not impacted the lives of other species on the planet
Q6) Why are scientists concerned about the loss of ecosystems?
Page 16
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