Anthropology 261L Resources Web Page

• Link to the on-line syllabus. Find your in-class exercises and assignments here.

• Get On-line Help from CIRT. This includes tips for web navigation, the help desk, on-line "How To...", etc. Two helpful sites include:
  1. How to Get Started with Microsoft Excel on a Macintosh;
  2. How to Use Microsoft Excel to Create a Basic Spreadsheet.

• Search the PROPHET Statistics Guide. This site provides an excellent resource for answering both basic and advanced statistics and sampling questions.

Graphics used during the lectures include:

• Lecture 2 life table graphic.
• Lecture 3 tradeoff graphic.
• Lecture 5 variable type graphic.
• Lecture 5 questionnaire.
• Lecture 8 sampling graphic.
• Lecture 9 variable reference sheet .

Some important questions in Human Evolutionary Anthropology

1. Why do some spouses cheat on their mates?
2. Why do the Ache Indians continue to hunt and gather when they have access to agricultural technology?
3. Why are humans (and perhaps some toothed whales) the only species that experience menopause?
4. Why do wealthy men in modern industrialized economies fail to produce more offspring than poorer men?
5. Why do very productive hunters in most foraging societies share food freely with lazier hunters?
6. Why are some human groups (Tibetans, Tierra del Fuegans) polyandrous, while others are monogamous or polygenous?
7. Why do Kipsigis men with more land have more wives than Kipsigis men with less land?
8. Why are poor men in modern industrialized economies more likely to fail to reproduce before they die than wealthier men?
9. Why do some men fail to provide financial support for their children?
10. Why are children living with at least one non-biological parent much more likely to suffer abuse or neglect?
11. Why do most women experience psychological pain following rape?
12. Why are close relatives considered appropriate mates in royal families but not in common families?
13. Why are hominids the only primates to walk upright?
14. Why do individuals with many siblings receive less education than individuals with fewer siblings?