Anthropology Terms

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  1. Acheulian technique
    Derived from the French village of St. Acheul, where these tools were first identified; Lower Paleolithic tool tradition associated with H. erectus.
  2. Absolute dating technique
    Dating techniques that establish dates in numbers or ranges of numbers
  3. Allele
    A biochemical difference involving a particular gene
  4. Anthropoids
    Members of Anthropoidea, one of the two suborders of primates; monkeys, apes, and humans are anthropoids.
  5. Anthropology
    study of human
  6. Arboreal
  7. Archaic homo sapiens
    (H. heidelbergensis) Early H. sapiens, consisting of the Neandertals of Europe and the Middle East, 300-400,000 years ago
  8. Ardipithecus Ramidus
    Ethiopia 4.4mya, looks like ape, not bipedal
  9. Australopithecus afarensis
    Early form of Australopithecus, found in Ethiopia at Hadar ("Lucy") and in Tanzania at Laetoli; dating to the period between 3.8 and 3.0 m.y.a.
  10. Biological anthropology
    The branch of anthropology that studies human biological diversity in time and space—for instance, hominid evolution, human genetics, human biological adaptation; also includes primatology
  11. Bipedalism
    Upright two-legged locomotion, the key feature differentiating early hominins from the apes.
  12. Branchation
    Swinging hand over hand through trees (arboreal & New World monkeys)
  13. Carnivores
    All meat diet
  14. Chimpanzees
    strong bond between mother and child, sleep in trees, able to use tools
  15. Cladistic Taxonomy
    uses and evolutionary tree to categorize all living things
  16. Color vision
    characteristic of primates and humans
  17. Cultural relativism
  18. Culture
    Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs; distinctly human; transmitted through learning.
  19. Diurnal
    behavior of animals that are active in the daytime
  20. Emic
    The research strategy that focuses on anative explanations and criteria of significance
  21. Etic
  22. Ethnocentrism
  23. Ethnography
    fieldwork in a particular culture
  24. Eve hypothesis
    transition from archais to modern H. sapiens; took place in Africa.
  25. Evidence of fire
    ashes dating 500-700,000 years ago in Thailand
  26. Forensic anthropology
    identify bodies
  27. Fossil
    remains (e.g. bones), traces or impressions (e.g. footprints) of ancient life.
  28. Fire
    gor from a natural grass fire and transported; used for heat, soften and cook meat, light, and protection
  29. Gene flow
    Exchange of genetic material between populations of the same species through direct or indirect interbreeding.
  30. Gene Pool
    All the alleles and genotypes within a breeding population—the "pool" of genetic material available.
  31. Genes
    Area in a chromosome pair that determines, wholly or partially, a particular biological trait, such as whether one's blood type is A, B, AB, or O.
  32. Genetic code
    set of rules by which DNA is translated into proteins by living cells
  33. Genetic drift
    Change in gene frequency that results not from natural selection but from chance; most common in small populations.
  34. Genotype
    An organism's hereditary makeup
  35. Goodall, Jane
    Primatologist and activist; studied chimps in Goma, Africs
  36. Hand axe
    Archulean technique; chipped rock to form a sharp edge
  37. Holistic approach
    - idea that something as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts; ex. One child per family ~ kill girls and keep the boys in order to continue lineage
  38. Homo africanus
    2-3mya in Africa ;bipedal
  39. Homo antecessor (dates)
    780,000 year ago in Spain; oldest in Europe
  40. Homo erectus (dates, places)
    Turkana boy; 350,000 years ago in Kenya
  41. Homo habilis
    ancestor or contemporary of H. erectus; lived from about 1.9 to 1.44 m.y.a.
  42. Homo heidelbergensis (dates, places)
    500,000 years ago in Germany; 30 complete skeletons found in the Pit of Bones, buried with pink quartz hand axe
  43. Homo sapiens
    populated the world 50,000 years ago, painted wallart, seafood, jewelry, evolved from H. erectus in Africa
  44. Homology
    traits that organisms jointly inherit from their common ancestor
  45. Key cultural consultant
    An expert on a particular aspect of local life who helps the ethnographer understand that aspect
  46. Levallois technique
    H. heidelbergensis and Neanderthal specialized tools for specific jobs
  47. Linnean Taxonomy
    system used to name and categorize all livingcreatures; share similarities
  48. Longitudinal research
    Long-term study of a community, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits.
  49. Lucy
    A. afarensis; 3mya
  50. Meiosis
    Special process by which sex cells are produced; four cells are produced from one, each with half the genetic material of the original cell.
  51. Migration
    all humans migrated from Africa
  52. Mitochondria
    Organelles responsible for producing energy
  53. mitosis
    Ordinary cell division; DNA molecules copy themselves,creating two identical cells out of one.
  54. Modern humans
    H. sapiens; bipedal, brain size of 1350cc
  55. Mousterian technique
    Middle Paleolithictool-making traditionassociated with Neandertals.
  56. MtDNA
    (mitochondria DNA) DNA difference among species
  57. Multiregional Evolution Model
    all populations of archaic H. sapiens areeasily derivable from earlier populations of H. erectus from the same region
  58. Mutation
    change in the DNA molecules of which genes and chromosomes are built
  59. natural selection
    Originally formulated by Charles Darwin andAlfred Russel Wallace; the process by which nature selects the forms most fitto survive and reproduce in a given environment, such as the tropics.
  60. Neandertals
    H.sapiens neanderthalensis, representing an archaic H.sapiens subspecies, lived in Europe and the Middle East between130,000 and 30,000 B.P.
  61. New world monkeys
    Platyrrhini- S/C America, flat nose and longtail Anthropoids
  62. Old world monkeys and apes
    Catarrhini- Asia and Africa, bignose and short/no tail
  63. Nocturnal
    Live at night
  64. Oldowan tools
    Earliest (2.0 to 2.5 m.y.a.) stone tools; first discovered in 1931 by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge.
  65. Omnivore
    plant and meat diet
  66. Osteology
    field study (no digging) of human vs. primate bones
  67. Paleoanthropology
    The study of hominin evolution and human lifeas revealed by the fossil record.
  68. Participant observation
    A characteristic ethnographic technique; takingpart in the events one is observing, describing, and analyzing.
  69. Phenotype
    An organism's evident trais; its "manifest biology"—anatomy and physiology.
  70. Prehensile
    appendages that have adapted for grasping/holding (feet, tails, claws)
  71. primatology
  72. Principle of association
    buried together = same time period
  73. Principle of superposition
    date according to layer
  74. Prosimians
    The primate suborder that includes lemurs, lorises,and tarsiers.
  75. Racial categories
    The attempt to assign humans to discretecategories (purportedly) based on common ancestry
  76. Reproductive strategies (males and females)
    males: mate as much aspossible to produce more offspring and continue lineage; women: mate once
  77. Rift Valley
    fault line in E. Africa; location of Turkana boy/H. erectus
  78. Sexual dimorphism
    marked differences in male/female biology besidesbreasts and genitals
  79. Sickle cell anemia
    mutation as a result of having bothmalaria-resistant chromosomes
  80. subfields of anthropology
    • Biological/Physical (paleoanthro,primatology, osteology, forensic)
    • Archaeology
    • Linguistics
    • Applied Anthro(medical, urban, education)
    • Social/Cultural (ethnography and ethnology)
  81. Taxonomy
    Classification scheme; assignment to categories
  82. Theory of evolution
    humans evolved from apes, Charles Darwin
Card Set:
Anthropology Terms
2011-02-09 03:13:00
Anthropology Terms Midterm

Anthropology Terms for Midterm 1
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