| Study Guide for ANT 111 Final Exam The main topic for this final section of the course is archaeology--the study of human behavioral diversity in the past. In the first two sections of the course, we established the physical characteristics of humans. There has been no significant evolution of the human body in the last 35,000-100,000 years. All more recent human adaptation has been cultural adaptation. Topics: Know what archaeology is and how its methods compare to physical anthropology. Know the correlations between physical evolution and cultural evolution (fossils vs. artifacts, etc.) Know the major periods of cultural evolution and their basic dates and characteristics: Paleolithic (Lower, Middle, and Upper) Mesolithic Neolithic Civilization Upper Paleolithic: Know the new traits of U.P. culture--e.g. cave art, tools, etc. Mesolithic: Know the characteristics of "broad-spectrum" foraging and why it was related to environmental changes. Be prepared to write about one mesolithic/archaic/epipaleolithic culture in some detail. Neolithic: Know when and where Neolithic culture arose. Be familiar with the main theories of the Neolithic. Understand domestication as "artificial selection" in Darwinian terms. Know the two different Neolithic culture styles: pastoralism and horticulture. Be prepared to write about one Neolithic culture in some detail. Civilization: Know what is "revolutionary" about the urban revolution. Understand and remember Childe's 10 characteristics of civilization. Know the original four civilizations of the Old World--their location, date, and main features. Know the two main civilizations of the New World (Maya/Aztec and Inka) and a few key facts about them. Be prepared to write about one civilization in some detail. Think about why civilizations rise and collapse. Think of civilization in terms of complexity, organization, authority/discipline, and differentiation/stratification. Human diversity today: Know that human physical evolution has not made any important changes in 35,000+ years but that evolution never stops. Understand the two main former explanations for human variation--monogenesis and polygenesis. Know the main processes of adaptation: acclimatization, developmental adaptation, evolution, and cultural adaptation. Know what a clinal distribution is and why it might be useful. Understand the notion of race as "folk taxonomy" or "folk classification." |