ANTH Final Review Questions PDF

Saturday, December 14, 2-4 p.m. (120 minutes total) Topic 9 The various types of hominins that lived between the time of Homo erectus and modern Homo sapiens. (This is also relevant for chapter 11.) Think about: ○ Where and when were these species discovered? ○ approxim...

Saturday, December 14, 2-4 p.m. (120 minutes total) Topic 9 The various types of hominins that lived between the time of Homo erectus and modern Homo sapiens. (This is also relevant for chapter 11.) Think about: ○ Where and when were these species discovered? ○ approximately when did each of these species first appear? (to the closest half million years)? ○ Where did each of these species live? ○ What were the distinguishing features of each of these species? Homo erectus: “Java Man” Homo: ergaster, erectus, & heidelbergensis 1.7 mya Larger brain Long and low frontal area and prominent brow Less prognathic face Relatively small teeth Taurodontism Comparable to modern humans in size Homo floresiensis Small, hunted dwarf elephants As recent as 18,000 ya Archaic Homo Sapiens 0.5 mya Increased cranial capacity Issues of classification relating to later hominins ○ Due to a mixture of H. erectus and H. sapien traits Continuity between the 2 leads to thinking that it’s arbitrary to call them different species & argue they’re instead later varieties of a single species: H. sapiens  The different tool traditions (e.g., Acheulian, Mousterian, etc.) associated with Homo erectus, archaic Homo sapiens, and Neandertals Genetic evidence for connections between Neandertals and modern humans Topic 10 The difference between the Single-Origin, Multiregional and Assimilation hypotheses and how these pertain to the palaeoanthropological/archaeological evidence ○ Single-Origin Hypothesis Modern humans evolved in a single region (Africa) and then replaced all existing Archaic populations in other regions of the world (i.e., Neandertals) Originated w/ mtDNA studies in the 80’s Studies found the greatest genetic diversity in modern human populations was associated w/ African populations ○ Implies that these populations represent the oldest human lineage ○ Suggests that anatomically modern humans diverged from an Archaic H. sapiens ancestral population shortly after 200,000 ya Y-chromosome studies imply a common male ancestor to modern human populations living between 100,000-180,000 ya, with deepest lineages in Africa ○ Multiregional Hypothesis Anatomically modern humans evolved in situ in a variety of different regions around the world  ○ Assimilation Theory A variation on the replacement theory that suggests modern human populations that evolved in Africa interbred and replaced populations they encountered in North Africa, Europe, & Asia Most widely supported theory Fossil evidence can be used to support the Single Origin or Multiregional hypothesis, depending on the geographic area under study Cultural evidence (e.g., tools) does not clearly support either the SIngle Origin or Multiregional hypothesis Cultural, biological and technological (i.e., tool) developments in the Upper Palaeolithic ○ Upper Palaeolithic: period associated with the emergence of modern humans and their spread around the world (40,000-14/10,000 ya) ○ New developments… Cave art Personal ornaments of bone, antler, shell, stone (often obtained from distant sources) Population increase New inventions Heavy reliance on meat from megafauna, with a gradual shift towards sedentary lives and inter-group trade Homesites often found in caves and rock shelters Tools: Most characteristic tools os this period are blades Other common tools: burins, bone, antler tools, microliths Microliths: A small, razor-like blade fragment that was probably attached in a series to a wooden or bone handle to form a cutting edge Secret Weapons of the Upper Palaeolithic: 1. Atlatl: Aztec word for “spear-thrower” 2. Bow and Arrow 3. Harpoons Evidence for the migration of humans into the Americas and Clovis culture (discussed in posted notes and in the text) ○ Routes & Arrival How America’s First Peoples arrived remains subject to debate Formerly dominant theory: people crossed across Beringia (landmass now under water between Siberia and ALaska) from Northeast Asia and passed through an ice-free corridor running east of the Rocky Mountains to reach the southern part of the continent Clovis Culture ○ 13,200-12,900 ya ○ Big game hunters 3 lines of evidence for migrations 1) Linguistic/language families 2) Dental 3) Genetic Upper Palaeolithic art and its significance Earliest discovered traces of art are beads, carvings and (somewhat later) paintings from Upper Palaeolithic sites Even the earliest cave paintings of Spain and southern France show an impressive degree of skill Also true for naturalistic rock art from southern Africa c. 28,000 ya Potentially older painting may have been created in rock shelters and on cliff faces in Australia between 30-60,000 ya ○ Most subjects of cave paintings are animals; depictions of humans are rare  ○ May reflect a possible focus on hunting and desire to control game animals ○ Cave art peaked toward end of Upper Palaeolithic period when herds of game were decreasing ○ Paintings may also portray animals that painters may have feared “Venus” Figurines ○ Represent a distribution of ages ○ Often faceless but some provide details on clothing styles ○ Could mean… Fertility objects How a woman represents herself through self-observation Objects in a widespread religious belief system Dolni Vestonice An entire settlement plan from c. 25,000 ya Huts housed 20-25 people–total population of ~100 Huts were surrounded by a wall made partially from mammoth bones Fifth hut up the hill dug into ground featured an oven with +2,300 fired fragments of animal figurines as well as possible musical instruments of bone (also features an unusual burial) Topic 11 Bergmann’s, Allen’s, and Gloger’s rules Bergmann’s Rule: smaller-sized subpopulations of a species inhabit the warmer parts of its geographical range and larger-sized subpopulations inhabit the cooler areas ○ More massive bodies retain heat better because they have a lower surface area-to-volume ratio in comparison to small bodies ○ Human populations in regions w/ widely differing temps generally support the application of the rule to humans ○ Clear correlation between male body mass and temperature  Allen’s Rule: Protruding body parts are relatively shorter in the cooler areas of a species’ range than in the warmer areas ○ Longer protruding parts provide a greater surface area for the dissipation of more body heat ○ Undesirable in cold, desirable in warm climate ○ Inuit populations have short limbs to retain body heat ○ Masai have long limbs that help dissipate body heat Gloger’s Rule: Populations of birds and mammals living in warm, humid climates have more melanin than do populations of the same species living in cooler areas Factors affecting skin colour and general development Factors contributing to skin colour; 1. Amount of melatonin in the skin 2. Amount of blood in the small blood vessels of the skin Melanin appears to be linked to climate Women, on average, have lighter skin colours than men Populations living permanently at high elevations are adapted physiologically to extreme cold, deficient nutrition, strong wings, rough countryside, and intense solar radiation Poor nutrition and disease contribute to reduced height and weight Children in higher social classes are typically taller and healthier than children in lower social classes Virgin Soil Epidemics: Occurs when a disease enters a population that has not been previously exposed to it, or has not had exposure for a considerably long time ○ Because there is no immunity, the disease will tend to affect all members of the population equally The biological fallacy of race ○ The concept of race, as understood by biologists, does not usefully apply to humans  ○ Racial classifications are typically the product of social and cultural beliefs that certain groups of people are biologically different (therefore inferior or superior to others) ○ However, there is no biological evidence that this is so Hypodescent: American practice of determining the lineage of a child of mixed race ancestry by assigning the child the race of the parent of lowest social status Topic 12 Processes of plant and animal domestication Period Key Developments Mesolithic (AKA Beginning of sedentism and Epipalaeolithic in areas with broad spectrum collecting limited glacial impact; 12-8,500 BCE) Neolithic (New Stone Age, 8,500 Beginning of farming (at very BCE → use of copper tools) different times in different places) Horticulture Broad-spectrum collecting/(+?) sedentism Intensive Agriculture Independent centres of domestication and key crops/domesticated animals associated with each Eurasia/Africa: 8500 BCE: earliest food production in SW Asia 7000-6000 BCE: independent centres of domestication present in China, SE Asia, and Africa CHINA: Foxtail millet sites SOUTH CHINA: Rice, bottle gourds, water chestnuts, jujubes – pigs, dogs, water buffalo Americas: 7000 BCE: cultivation and domestication began independently in Mesoamerica and the Central Andes 3000 BCE: Eastern Woodlands of North America MESOAMERICA: maize, squash (+ bottle gourds–earliest), beans, sunflowers - Dogs & turkeys - Central Andes–Camelids By 2000 BCE… Most modern major food plants and animals were domesticated Most basic techniques of plowing, fertilizing, fallowing, and irrigation had been developed Domestic Organisms Wild Organisms Certain traits are selected for E.g., barley, wheat during breeding Fragile rachis that shatters easily LARGER SEEDS and releases spikelet (Animals) Horn shape Tail and colour Wool Skeleton Bone deformities Evidence of disease  Çatalhöyük ○ 6250-5400 BCE ○ Adobe brick town featuring 200+ interconnected houses or rooms Crops grown for surplus (possibly traded) included lentils, wheat, barley, and peas Rich handicraft tradition included carved wood bowls and boxes; stone and bone tools Also evidence of trade (e.g., shell from Mediterranean; wood from hills, and obsidian and marble from elsewhere in Turkey) Little evidence of social differentiation Theories about the origins of agriculture (in text but not discussed in detail in class) Consequences of food production For humans: - Accelerated population growth - Declining health - Over-dependence on a few dietary staples lacking necessary nutrients - Nutritional stress caused by famine if a key crop fails - Nutritional problems connected to a social reorganization: class/gender-based inequality → different groups have differential access to food resources - More babies doesn’t necessarily mean healthier babies - Arch. evidence for nutritional and disease problems for agricultural problems (incomplete formation of tooth enamel and bone, reduction in stature, decreased life expectancy, etc.) - Elaboration of material culture - Sedentism and food production require more sophisticated and elaborate technology - Also signs of long-distance trade based on this tech For animals: - Environmental damage  Jared Diamond’s main hypothesis from Guns, Germs, and Steel ○ (see link and transcript under “Documentaries & Web Links” on Blackboard) Farming was crucial to the story of human inequality, especially the type of farming People around the world who had access to the most productive crops became the most productive farmers. ○ Ultimately it came down to geographic luck (Americans– more nutritious and productive crops) E.g., New Guinea agriculture not productive enough to generate food surpluses, and the result is no specialists, no metalworkers, and no metal tools The New Guinea way of life was perfectly viable, people didn’t advance technologically because they spent too much time and energy feeding themselves. And then Westerners arrived, and used their technology to colonize the country Over-exploiting environment caused to lose headstart/ruin environment Topic 13 The world’s earliest civilizations and the approximate dates associated with the appearance of each (to the nearest 500 years) - SW Asia (1st) – 4000-3500 BCE - Egypt – 3100 BCE - India/Pakistan (Harappa) – post-3200 BCE - Northern China – post-1900 BCE (Erlitou Culture/Xia Dynasty) - Americas (Andes+Mesoamérica) – 2500-1500 BCE  Theories about the origins of states 1) Hydraulic Hypothesis - Karl Wittfogel suggested that irrigation is the key to the emergence of states - The first great civilizations in Eurasia were typically based on the large-scale irrigation of alluvial rivers: - Sumer: Tigris-Euphrates - Egypt: Nile - Shang: Huang He - Harappa: Indus & Sarasvati 2) Circumscription - Robert Carneiro: states may emerge because of population growth in an area that is physically/geographically or socially circumscribed (limited) - Competition in such a setting could lead to population pressure, warfare, and the subordination of defeated groups 3) Local and Long-Distance Trade - Trade may have played an important role in the emergence of earliest states - Seem to be connections between trade and bureaucratic growth in at least some areas - Sumer: people obtained wood and building stone through trade with surrounding highland people Common feature: in each theory, the states emerge to organize something No single theory fits all known situations The development of ancient Sumer and Teotihuacan History Begins at Sumer (6000 BCE mixed herding-farming communities) ○ Rivers provide water, food resources, transportation routes ○ Change suggest increasing socio-political complexity, + gradual emergence of chiefdoms (Ubaid period 6300-4500 BCE) ○ Over time, centres with larger populations (Eridu–1st city in Sumerian creation accounts) become more common ○ Uruk Period (4000-3100 BCE) represents era of primary state formation in SW Asia  ○ Impressive public works (fortress-like walls, temples on artificial mounds, sewer systems) ○ Specialized crafts ○ Technological innovations (wheeled wagons, sailboats, horse-drawn chariots, spears, swords, bronze armour) ○ Social Complexity… Sumer government included an elaborate justice system, codified laws, specialized government officials, and a professional standing army Economic stabilization contributed to more elaborate social stratification Sumerian documents refer to separate social classes of nobles, priests, merchants, craftworkers, metallurgists, bureaucrats, soldiers, farmers, free citizens, and slaves ○ Cuneiform: wedge-shapes writing invented by Sumerians as early as 3400 BCE Earliest Sumerian writings comprise ledgers with inventories of items stored in temples and records of livestock, etc. owned or managed by the temples Consequences of state formation Consequences ○ Larger, denser populations ○ Increased agricultural production States provide infrastructure and coordination of information ○ Non-agricultural specialists ○ Cities often located in areas suited for trade or defence (not agriculture) ○ Concentration of populations in cities contributes to development of other hallmarks of the state E.g., organized religion, art, literature  Negative Consequences ○ People no longer permitted to disagree with their leaders ○ Military forced become instruments of coercion and oppression ○ Differential access to resources leads to the emergence of classes or castes ○ Underclass of poor and unhealthy ○ Cities themselves may provide unhealthy living environments where disease can flourish ○ Competition between states can lead to warfare and conquest Factors leading to the decline and collapse of state societies Environmental degradation is commonly proposed as an explanation for the collapse of ancient states ○ E.g. Akkadian empire (dry spell? 300 ya) Environmental degradation can also result from unsustainable human activities; e.g.: ○ Deforestation (Puebloan cultures in southwestern US) ○ Overuse of agricultural fields (Iraq) ○ Human activity encouraged diseases Flexibility in dealing with change is itself a contributing factor ○ E.g., Greenland Norse might have survived if they had chosen to adapt to a more sustainable food resource