Anthropology Interview Questions and Answers

1 :: How would you compare and contrast the specific distinctions between psychology, anthropology, and sociology? Any suggestions would be appreciate.

Psychology is the study of Man's behavior Sociology is the study of his societies and social interactions etc... Thus, both Sociology and Psychology are sub sets of the study of Man. The study of anthropology also covers economics, medicine, archaeology, human evolution etc... Any area of human endeavor could be listed under Anthropology.

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2 :: What was the life expectancy of Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and early Homo sapiens? Is 18 to 20 years about right, with the oldest age around 40?

Your figures are about right for maximum life expectancies. Individuals in their 40s are extremely rare. Some scholars place the age of the "old man" of La Chapelle aux Saints in its mid-30s. Be aware, though that once individuals are skeletally mature (ca. 18 years) estimates of age are based on wear and tear on the skeleton, and this can vary widely among individuals based on subsistence adaptation, parasite load and other factors.

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3 :: How do societies without access to text decide what are good and bad sources of information?

I am assuming that you mean by " with out access to text" as preliterate societies. One such society would be the “Kung San! - Bushmen of the Kalihari”. In this society, there are storytellers who know the history of the people (or given group). These peoples also care for their elderly after their ability to hunt ends. There are often people with injuries, blindness and other disabilities received over a long life in the bush. These elderly people often have an important role for the children not yet old enough to hunt and they impart a lot of the tribal knowledge to these youngsters as they grow up.

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4 :: When did humans first use fire? Was the primary use of fire to cook food or something else?

There is possible evidence from about 1.4 Million years ago in Sterkfontein Cave in South Africa. Other than this, evidence for controlled use of fire that is distinct from naturally occurring phenomena (i.e., burnt tree stumps) does not become a regular part of the record until after around 300,000-200,000 year ago (Terra Amata and Pech de L'Azé Cave, both in France). You will see references to fire use in the 300,000-700,000 BP range from Zhokoudian Cave in China, but recent studies suggest this evidence is not really the result of fire.

Presumably, there was a long period during which human ancestors ate most of their food raw (much as do living chimpanzees and bonobos), however, evidence for regular controlled use of fire is pretty common by the time modern Homo sapiens fossils start showing up in the fossil record (ca. 150,000 BP).

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5 :: How much mass extinction has been completed?

Most paleontologists recognize five major ones, End-Ordovician, Late Devonian, Late Permian, Late Triassic, and Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT- the "dinosaur killer"). Extinction rates and habitat destruction appear to be increasing over the last 10,000 years leading some scholars to propose the present day as a "sixth extinction".

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