Anthropology Question Bank

1. Wheel-made pottery appears in which period?
(A) Mesolithic
(B) Neolithic
(C) Chalcolithic
(D) Iron Age

2. Bronze is an alloy of which metals?
(A) Copper and zinc
(B) Copper and tin
(C) Copper and nickel
(D) None of these

3. The Bronze Age in India is represented by
(A) PGW
(B) Chalcolithic culture
(C) NBPW
(D) Indus valley civilisation

4. Microliths are characteristic tools of which cultural period?
(A) Palaeolithic
(B) Mesolithic
(C) Neolithic
(D) Copper-Bronze Age

5. Which of the statements about the cleaver is correct?
(A) It is a round and heavy stone tool
(B) It is a flat tool which is made by fluting technology
(C) It has a broad cutting edge
(D) It has a pointed working end and a thick and heavy butt end

6. ________ is the “deluxe” ware of the early Iron using groups in India.
(A) OCP
(B) PGW
(C) NBPW
(D) None of these

7. The typical stone tools of the Neolithic are
(A) Axe, adze, chisel, wedge
(B) Handaxe, chisel, hammerstone
(C) Axe, adze, blade, point
(D) Blade, scraper, axe, ringstone

8. Cultural relativism refers to the principle that
(A) People’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that people’s culture
(B) All peoples and cultures are the same and they develop in the same manner
(C) There exists a hierarchy in cultures where some are superior to others
(D) None of these

9. Which of the following statements about culture is incorrect?
(A) Culture is a whole which is an integrated unit which includes various aspects
(B) Culture is acquired by humans as a member of the society
(C) Culture includes both material and non-material aspect
(D) Culture is inherited and instinctive, and so a person instinctively knows how to act and react.

10. Tribal societies are generally _______.
(A) Endogamous
(B) Exogamous
(C) Monogamous
(D) Polygamous

11. A system where it is preferred that a boy marries his mother’s brother’s daughter (MBD) is known as a _______ system.
(A) Preferential
(B) Prescriptive
(C) Proscriptive
(D) None of these

12. A family comprising of a father, mother, son, son’s wife and son’s children is a/an _______ family.
(A) Joint family
(B) Extended family
(C) Nuclear family
(D) Neolocal family

13. A unilineal society is one in which descent of an individual is reckoned from
(A) Mother’s or father’s line of descent
(B) Mother’s line of descent
(C) Father’s line of descent
(D) None of these

14. Matrilocality refers to rules of
(A) Lineage
(B) Residence
(C) Marriage
(D) Inheritance

15. If a society is divided into exactly two descent groups, each is called a
(A) Lineage
(B) Clan
(C) Phratry
(D) Moiety

16. The gift-giving feast practised by indigenous people of Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States is
(A) Kula exchange
(B) Potlatch
(C) Koha
(D) Potluck

17. Group A would leave goods at one place and signal that they had left goods. Group B would then arrive at the spot, examine the goods and deposit their trade goods that they want to exchange and withdraw. Group A would then return and either accept the trade by taking the goods from Group B or withdraw again leaving Group B to add or to change out items to create an equal value. The trade ends when Group A accepts Group B’s offer and removes the offered goods leaving Group B to remove the original goods. This form of trade is known as
(A) Barter
(B) Silent barter
(C) Special purpose trade
(D) None of these

18. The evidence called for while deciding a criminal case in tribal societies is
(A) Oath
(B) Ordeal
(C) Both (A) & (B)
(D) None of these

19. The post of a tribal chief is _______.
(A) Hereditary
(B) Elected
(C) Both (A) & (B)
(D) None of these

20. A _______ is usually found among foragers and it does not have a leadership position.
(A) Clan
(B) Band
(C) Tribe
(D) None of these

More Question Papers on Anthropology

21. “Religion as a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” This definition was given by
(A) Clifford Geertz
(B) Emile Durkheim
(C) Anthony Wallace
(D) James Frazer

22. A _______ is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people such as a family, clan, lineage or tribe.
(A) Taboo
(B) Anima
(C) Totem
(D) None of these

23. The sacred-profane dichotomy was put forward by
(A) Clifford Geertz
(B) Emile Durkheim
(C) Anthony Wallace
(D) James Frazer

24. “Like produces like” is the principle behind _______.
(A) Sympathetic magic
(B) Contagious magic
(C) Black magic
(D) None of these

25. A _______ is a person who is not a part of organised religion and is in direct contact with the spirit world usually through a state of trance.
(A) Priest
(B) Shaman
(C) Healer
(D) Prophet

26. Which of the following is incorrectly matched?
(A) The Golden Bough – James Frazer
(B) Coming of Age in Samoa – Ruth Benedict
(C) Argonauts of the Western Pacific – Bronislaw Malinowski
(D) The Gift – Marcel Mauss

27. Who proposed the three stages of evolution through changes in technology, political organisation and kinship systems and terminologies?
(A) E. B. Tylor
(B) Herbert Spencer
(C) L. H. Morgan
(D) V. Gordon Childe

28. Who saw evolution of culture in terms of invention of food, urbanisation and industrialisation?
(A) E. B. Tylor
(B) Herbert Spencer
(C) L. H. Morgan
(D) V. Gordon Childe

29. Who introduced the following formula?
P = ET
Where E is a measure of energy consumed per capita per year, T is the measure of efficiency in utilising energy harnessed, and P represents the degree of cultural development in terms of product produced.
(A) V. Gordon Childe
(B) Leslie White
(C) Julian Steward
(D) Marvin Harris

30. _______ refers to the process that brings in changes in a culture when it comes in contact with another.
(A) Diffusion
(B) Acculturation
(C) Assimilation
(D) Trans-culturation

31. The survey schedule is a
(A) Tool
(B) Technique
(C) Method
(D) None of these

32. Which of the following statements about a questionnaire is incorrect?
(A) It has a list of questions
(B) It is filled up by the respondent
(C) The questions are only in yes-no format
(D) It is employed in a literate population

33. Which of the following field methods and techniques cannot be applied when studying nomadic huntergatherer societies who are illiterate and away from civilisation?
(A) Participant observation
(B) Questionnaire
(C) Interview
(D) Case study

34. Who is credited with introducing participant observation in anthropology?
(A) Franze Boas
(B) Bronislaw Malinowski
(C) Margaret Mead
(D) E. E. Evans-Pritchard

35. The most important method in the study of kinship determined by marriage and descent is
(A) Interview
(B) Observation
(C) Case study
(D) Genealogy

36. Which of the following is not a characteristic of culture shock?
(A) Confusion over how to behave
(B) Surprise or disgust after realising some of the features of the new culture
(C) Feeling rejected by members of the new culture
(D) Changing the topic of research in the field

37. Which of the following statements about ethnoarchaeology is correct?
(A) It is the ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological reasons usually through the study of material remains of a society
(B) It is the study of archaeological sites and artifacts in order to trace their history
(C) It is a systematic study of tools and weapons of the past and their probable functions
(D) None of these

38. Megalithic structures connected to funerary functions is still today found among the
(A) Mizos
(B) Nagas of Manipur
(C) Karbis
(D) Khasis

39. A fully underground chamber for funerary purposes can be called a
(A) Dolmen
(B) Dolmenoid cist
(C) Cist
(D) None of these

40. Which of the following names of ethnoarchaeologists and their well-known works is correctly matched?
(A) Brian Hayden – Functional usage of African quern stones
(B) Lewis Henry Binford – Hunting and butchering strategies of Mesoamerican hunters
(C) John Yellen – Campsites and activities of Arctic foragers
(D) William Longacre – Pottery production, use, exchange and discard

41. The focus of ethnoarchaeology is
(A) Culture
(B) Material remains
(C) Both (A) & (B)
(D) None of these

42. The Middle Range Theory was introduced by
(A) Brian Hayden
(B) Lewis Binford
(C) John Yellen
(D) William Longacre

43. _______ observed that a modern community of Nunamiut Eskimos left bone assemblages similar to those found on Palaeolithic sites.
(A) Brian Hayden
(B) Lewis Binford
(C) John Yellen
(D) William Longacre

44. Who coined the term “living archaeology”?
(A) Richard Gould
(B) Kleindiest and Watson
(C) David and Kramer
(D) Jesse Fewkes

45. When a specific set of ethnographic data is compared to a set of archaeological data it is referred to as
(A) Ethnoarchaeological process
(B) Ethnographic analogy
(C) Study of material culture
(D) None of these

46. Who studied the !Kung San of Kalahari desert?
(A) Richard Lee
(B) John Yellen
(C) Both (A) & (B)
(D) None of these

47. The book “Ethnoarchaeology in Action” has been written by
(A) Lewis Binford
(B) John Yellen
(C) David and Kramer
(D) Kleindiest and Watson

48. A living megalithic tradition does not exist among the
(A) Gond
(B) Khasi
(C) Kurumba
(D) Garo

49. The National Museum of Mankind set up in Bhopal in 1985 is popularly known as
(A) Anthropology museum
(B) Local museum
(C) IGRMS
(D) ICOMOS

50. Which of the following statements about the “museum period” of anthropology is incorrect?
(A) There was no university training in anthropology so all anthropologists were people originally trained in other fields.
(B) The collection of museum items during fieldwork and studying them later was an important part of the activities.
(C) Emphasis was on classification of objects, and their geographical distributions.
(D) Many universities were set up with attached museums and museum curators.