November 22, 2004
November 15, 2004
November 8, 2004
November 1, 2004
October 25, 2004
October 18, 2004
October 11, 2004
October 4, 2004
September 27, 2004
September 20, 2004
September 13, 2004
September 6, 2004
August 30, 2004
August 23, 2004

 

Week of November 22, 2004

Due date: Monday, November 29, 2004 by 12:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
    1. How do anthropologists conceptualize religion?
    2. Why are people accused of being witches, according to anthropologists?
    3. How do the arts function in culture, according to anthropologists?
Week of November 15, 2004

Due date: Friday, November 19, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
    1. What are the differences between social classes and social castes?
    2. In terms of political processes, how do tribal societies differ from those with centralized, state-level authority structures?
    3. How does witchcraft serve as a control on social behavior?
Week of November 8, 2004

Due date: Friday, November 12, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
    1. Nuclear families are found both among hunter-gatherers and modern industrial-urban cultures. Why?
    2. What conditions promoted the adoption of polygamous families?
    3. What roles did kinship serve in non-industrial societies
Week of November 1, 2004

Due date: Friday, November 5, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
  1. Economists might argue that the laws of economics apply to human behavior in general, across cultural boundaries and time.
    Do anthropologists agree or disagree that such laws are valid in a cross-cultural context?
  2. What are the most common marriage forms around the world?
  3. In our society, people are often free to marry on the basis of "romantic love." Is this approach to marriage
    common around the world, and why or why not?

Week of October 25, 2004

Due date: Saturday, October 30, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
  1. How do anthropologists today view studies of "national character?"
  2. What are the essential characteristics of the food-foraging way of life?
  3. What role do cultural adaptations play in cultural evolution?

 

Week of October 18, 2004

Due date: Friday, October 22, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

Please provide brief answers to all of the following questions using the assigned readings from your text book.
How do anthropologists look at the concept of race?
Why is the concept of culture central to the field of anthropology?
What role does language play in maintaining a culture?

 

Week of October 11, 2004

Due date: Friday, October 15, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
Please provide brief answers to all of the following questions using the assigned readings from your text book.
  1. Why was the "Neolithic Revolution" so important to human history?
  2. At one time, it was thought that the Neolithic Revolution happened very quickly, perhaps over a few human generations. Researchers now think it was slower process. Why?
  3. What characteristics define civilization?

Week of October 4, 2004

Due date: Friday, October 8, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

Please provide brief answers to all of the following questions using the assigned readings from your text book.

  1. If the spread of Homo erectus to Eurasia can be called "Out of Africa One," what was "Out of Africa Two" with the spread of Archaic Homo sapiens?
  2. What cultural innovations did Archaic homo sapiens introduce?
  3. Expert opinion is divided on whether the Neanderthals were ancestors of modern humans. Why?

Week of September 27, 2004

Due date: Friday, October 1, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

  1. What is the evidence that suggests that Homo habilis was our distant ancestor?
  2. Why are Oldowan (pebble) tools such an important piece of evidence for the appearance of culture?
  3. What cultural traits allowed Home erectus people to colonize Eurasia?

Week of September 20, 2004

Due date: Friday, September 24, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

    1. What is "bipedalism" and why is it important to our understanding of human evolution?
    2. Who is "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis), and why was she an important discovery?
    3. Who were the "gracile" and "robust" Australopithecines, and which was likely a human ancestor?

Week of September 13, 2004

Due date: Friday, September 17, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

    1. What are some of the most important Miocene ape fossils, and why are they important in relation to human evolutionary history?
    2. What is the "molecular clock," and what significant does it have for the study of primate fossils?
    3. What is the difference between "r-selected" and "k-selected" species, and why is this significant in relation to human evolution?

Week of September 6, 2004

Due date: Friday, September 10, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

    1. Why are anthropologists interested in the field of primatology?
    2. What adaptations or patterns of behavior do humans share with other
      primates?
    3. Which primates show the closest physical similarities to humans?

Week of August 30, 2004

Due date: Friday, September 3, 2004 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75
    1. What was the main idea that Charles Darwin contributed to the theory of evolution?
    2. What forces make for genetic variability among living things?
    3. What does the example of sickle cell anemia tell us about the effects of natural selection in humans?

Week of August 23, 2004

Due date: Monday, August 30 by 5:00 PM
Total points possible: 75

    1. What are the "four fields" of Anthropology?
    2. What role did the ideas of Lyell (geology) and Darwin (evolution) play in the creation of Anthropology?
    3. Anthropologists reject ethnocentrism. Why?