ANTH Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield ANTH facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which method estimates stature by measuring long bones and applying population-specific equations? → Trotter and Gleser regression
2. Which term describes the phenomenon whereby social and cultural factors produce systematic differences in health outcomes between population groups? → Health disparities
3. When two cultures come into sustained contact and one adopts traits from the other, the process is: → Acculturation
4. In anthropological kinship theory, what term describes a system in which descent and inheritance are traced through the mother's line? → Matrilineal
5. What is a common ethical concern in cultural anthropology? → Informed consent
6. Clifford Geertz argued that ethnography should provide a 'thick description,' meaning it should: → Interpret the meanings behind behavior
7. In archaeology, what does 'CRM' stand for, referring to the management of archaeological resources under federal and state laws? → Cultural Resource Management
8. Which theoretical perspective argues that nature and culture are not separate domains but are co-produced through ongoing interactions? → Multispecies ethnography
9. Which of these is an example of a homologous structure shared by primates? → The pentadactyl (five-digit) limb
10. What term refers to the complete collection of artifacts and other materials recovered from a single archaeological site or component? → Assemblage
11. Which method is commonly used in cultural anthropology? → Participant observation
12. Which branch of archaeology specifically focuses on the study of plant remains from archaeological sites to understand past environments and subsistence? → Paleoethnobotany
13. What term describes the process by which organic materials such as bones and wood become replaced by minerals over time? → Fossilization
14. The forensic significance of a taphonomic analysis is to reconstruct what? → Postmortem events affecting the remains
15. Which analysis can help distinguish human from non-human skeletal remains? → Comparative osteology of bone morphology
16. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium describes a population in which what is true? → Allele frequencies remain constant without evolutionary forces
17. Cargo cults that emerged in Melanesia during the 20th century are most accurately interpreted by anthropologists as: → Revitalization movements responding to colonial disruption, inequality, and deprivation
18. Which dental feature is commonly used to help estimate age in subadult remains? → Dental eruption sequence
19. Bronislaw Malinowski's approach explaining cultural institutions by the human needs they satisfy is called: → Functionalism
20. The spread of cultural traits from one society to another is termed: → Diffusion
21. What archaeological period is characterized by the use of chipped stone tools and generally predates the development of agriculture? → Paleolithic
22. 'Enculturation' refers to the process by which a person: → Learns the culture of their own society while growing up
23. The concept of a society's 'cultural niche construction' refers to: → How organisms, including humans, modify their environments to create ecological niches
24. What is ethnography? → A study of cultural practices
25. A ritual marking a person's transition from one social status to another, such as a wedding or initiation, is a: → Rite of passage
26. A researcher lives among a community for two years, learning the language and joining daily activities to understand their worldview. This method is called: → Participant observation
27. Which molecular tool allows anthropologists to estimate when two species diverged from a common ancestor? → The molecular clock
28. The customary practice of marrying within one's own social group is called: → Endogamy
29. The exchange system Malinowski documented in the Trobriands, involving the circulation of shell valuables, is the: → Kula ring
30. The anthropological term for a group claiming descent from a common ancestor, often symbolized by a plant or animal, involves a: → Totem