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Chapter 1 and 2
Key Terms SAM
48
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
02/12/2013

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Term
Savanna
Definition
Large flat grasslands in dry hot climates
Term
Hominins
Definition
Members of the evolutionary group of humans and now extrinct bipedal relatives
Term
Species
Definition
Group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.  Members of one species can not interbreed with a different species
Term
Bipedally
Definition
habititually walking on two legs
Term
Anthropology
Definition
Field of inquiry that studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology; includes cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics or physical and biological
Term
Primates
Definition
Members of the mammalian order of primates; includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans
Term
Evolution
Definition
A change in genetic structure of a population.  Also used to refer to the apperance of a new species
Term
Adaptation
Definition
An anatomical, physiological or behavorial response of organisms or populations to the enviorment
Term
Genetic
Definition
Having to do with the study of gene structure and action and the patterns of inheritance of traits from parent to offspring.  Genetic mechanisms are the foundation for evolutionary change
Term
behavior
Definition
Anything organisms do that involves action in response to internal or external stimuli; the response of an individual, group or species to it's enviorment.  May not be delebrate and may not nessacarly be a conscious decision
Term
Continuum
Definition
A set of relationships in which all components fall along a single intergrated spectrum
Term
Culture
Definition
Behavioral aspects of human adaptation, includes technology, tradions, language, religion, marriage paterns and social rules.  Culture is a set of learned behaors transmitted from one generation to the next by nonbiological means
Term
Worldview
Definition
General cultural orientation or perspective shared by members of a society
Term
Biocultural evolution
Definition
Mutual interactive evolution of human biology and culture; the concept that biology makes culture possible and that developing culture further influences the direction of biological evolution, a basic concept in understanding the unique components of human evolution
Term
applied anthropology
Definition
the pricatical application of anthropological and archaeological therioes and techniques. Ex: many biological anthropologists work in the public health sector
Term
enthnographies
Definition
detailed decriptive studies of human societies.  In cultural anthropology, an enthnography is traditionally the study of a non-westeren society
Term
artifacts
Definition
Objects or materials made or modified for the use by hominins.  The earliest artifacts are usually tools made of stone or, occasinoally, bone.
Term
paleoanthropology
Definition
The interdisciplinary approach to the study of earlier hominins - their chronology, physical structure, archaeological remains, habitats and so on.
Term
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
Definition
The double-stranded molecule that contains the genetic code.  DNA is the main component of chromosomes.
Term
osteology
Definition
study of skeletal material
Term
bioarchaeology
Definition
study of skeletal remains from archaeological sites
Term
paleopathology
Definition
branch of osteology that studies the evidence of disease and injury in human skeletal remains
Term
forensic anthropology
Definition
aplied anthropological approach dealing with legal matters
Term
primatology
Definition
study of the biology and behavior of nonhuman primates (lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes
Term
hypothathesis
Definition
a provisional explanation of a phenomenon.
Term
empirical
Definition
relying on experiment or observation; from the latin empiricus, meaning experienced
Term
scientific method
Definition
approach to research whereby a problem is identified
Term
data
Definition
facts from which conclusions can be drawn
Term
quantitatively
Definition
pertaining to measurements of quality and including such properties as size, number, and capacity
Term
theory
Definition
a broad statement of scientific relationships or underlying principles that has been substantially verified through the testing of a hypotheses
Term
scientific testing
Definition
precise repetition of an experiment or expansion of observered data to provide verification, procedure by which hypotheses and theories and verified, modified or discarded
Term
quadrupedal
Definition
using all four limbs to support the body during locomotion
Term
ethnocentric
Definition
viewing other cultures from the inherently biased perspective of one's own culture. often results as other cultures viewed as being seen inferior.
Term
relativistic
Definition
viewing entities as they relate to something else
Term
natural selection
Definition
the most critical mechanism of evolutionary change, first described by Charles Darwin. genetic change or changes in the frequencies of certain traits in populations due to differential reproductive success between individuals
Term
fixity of species
Definition
notion that species, once created, can never change, dramatically opposes ideas of biological evolution
Term
reproductively isolated
Definition
pertaining to groups of organisms that, mainly because of genetic differences, are prevented from mating and producing offspring with member of other such groups
Term
binomial nomenclature
Definition
meaning two names. In taxonomy, the convention established by Carolus Linnaeus whereby genus and species names are used to refer to species.
Term
taxonomy
Definition
branch of science concerned with the rules of classifying organisms on the basis of evolutionary relationships
Term
catastrophism
Definition
view that the earths geological landscape is the result of violent cataclysmic events. Cuvier promoted this view, especially in oppisition to Lamarack
Term
uniformitarianism
Definition
theory that the earths feature are the result of long-term processes that continue to operate in the present just as they did in the past.
Term
fitness
Definition
pertaining to natural selection, a measure of the relative reproductive success of individuals. can be measured by an individual's genetic contribution to the next generation.
Term
reproductive success
Definition
number of offspring an individual produces and rears to reproductive age
Term
selective pressures
Definition
forces in the environment that influence reproductive success in individuals
Term
fertility
Definition
ability to conceive and produce healthy offspring
Term
genome
Definition
entire genetic makeup of an individual or species
Term
biological continuity
Definition
biological continuum. when expressions of a phenomenon continuously grade into one another so that ther are no discrete categories
Term
Christian fundamentalists
Definition
adherents to a movement in American Protestantism that began in the early 20th century.
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