Class 11 Anthropology Chapter 2 Physical Anthropology, HS 1st year Anthropology notes, Anthropology Class 11 Question Answer to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters SCERT Class 11 Anthropology Chapter 2 Physical Anthropology and select needs one.
Class 11 Anthropology Chapter 2 Physical Anthropology
Also, you can read the SCERT book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per SCERT (CBSE) Book guidelines. NCERT Solution of Class 11 Anthropology Chapter 2 Physical Anthropology is part of AHSEC All Subject Solutions. Here we have given AHSEC Class 11 Anthropology Chapter 2 Physical Anthropology Notes for All Subjects, You can practice these here.
Physical Anthropology
Chapter – 2
ANTHROPOLOGY
Very short type questions
1. Mention the number of bones of the human cranium.
Answer: There are 8 numbers of bones of the human cranium.
2. what is the shape of the human vertebral column?
Answer: ‘S’ is the shape of the human vertebral column.
3. How many bones are there in the human skeleton?
Answer: There are 206 bones in the human skeleton.
4. State the number of milk teeth of man.
Answer: The number of milk teeth of man is 20.
5. Mention the number of bones in the vertebral column of man.
Answer: The number of bones in the vertebral column of man is 33.
6. How many bones constitute the human skull?
Answer: 14 bones constitute the human skull.
7. What is the dental formula of man.
Answer: In humans, the deciduous dentition consists of 20 total teeth is the dental formula of man.
8. How many ribs are there in the human skeleton?
Answer: There are 24 ribs in the human skeleton.
9. What is the name of the highest point of the skull?
Answer: The vertex is the name of the highest point of the skull.
10. Name the bone where nuchal lines are present.
Answer: Anatomical terms of bone where nuchal lines are present.
11. Name the suture between two parietals.
Answer: The suture between two parietals is Sagittal suture.
12. By what scientific name is man known?
Answer: By ‘wise man’s scientific name is man known.
13. In which part of the bones of the human skeleton linea aspera is found?
Answer: The bones of the human skeleton linea aspera is found in ridge or crest, on the middle third of the bone.
14. Which is the longest and strongest bone of human skeleton?
Answer: The femur bone is the longest and strongest bone of human skeleton.
15. Name the bone where supra orbital ridges is located?
Answer: The bone where supra oribital ridges is located in frontal bone.
16. Why man is called a primate?
Answer: Man is called a primate because they are the only mammals that have the following combination of features: relatively large, complex brain forward-facing eyes with overlapping fields of view that allow depth perception.
17. What physical characteristics differentiate man from animals?
Answer: The physical characteristics differentiate man from animals are:- Humans walk upright and on two legs. Therefore they are called bipedal. Most animals walk on four legs, and they are called quadrupedal. Also, some animals have different kinds of locomotion.
18. Give a classification of the mammals.
Answer: The classification of the mammals are:-
a) Cetacea: The animals belonging to this order are aquatic mammals.The body is devoid of hair and is spindle shaped and fishlike, with forelimbs modified into paddles. Eyes are minute, nostrils are on the top of the head, skull bones are spongy and contain fat so as to swim efficiently in the water e.g. Whales.
b) Sirenia: They are aquatic forms presenting a porpoise like body. The posterior appendages are absent and the anterior appendages are modified into flippers. e.g. sea-cow. Two pectoral mammae are present.
c) Insectivora: Small and furry animals, nocturnal and terrestrial, teeth are sharp and pointed, usually very tapering. The live on insects, i.e. shrew, mole etc.
d) Carnivora: They are small to large quadruped terrestrial, arboreal or aquatic. Teeth have sharp cutting edges, canines are well developed. Toes or digits are provided with strong sharp claws, clavicles are incomplete or absent eg. bear, dog, tiger, hyena etc.
e) Rodentia: They are small animals with single pair long and chisel like incisors. Canine teeth are absent in these animals eg. rat, mice, squirrel etc.
f) Edentata: The animals of this order are characterised by the absence of teeth, if present in some members, incisors and canines are always absent. These animals have well developed claw in their teeth eg. Armadillos, American anteaters, sloths.
g) Ungulata: They are large sized four-footed hoofed animal with horns. Teeth are lophodont ( having grinding teeth) eg. Horse, Cow, deer, rhinoceros.
h) Chiroptera: They are nocturnal with forelimbs modified into wings for flight. Eyes in such animal are small and vision is weak. They possess large pinnae e.g. bat.
i) Logomorpha: The animals belonging to this order small moderate sized with two pairs of incisors present in the upper jaw. Canines are always absent. The animals are herbivorous eg. Rabbit and Hare
j) Proboscidea: They are largest and highly specialised terrestrial mammals. The skin is thick and sparely covered with hair. The most unique features of the animals of this order is the presence of long proboscis or trunk formed by the elongation of the nose and upper lip bearing the nostrils at the tip. They bear small and large ears. The legs are large and have fine functional digits on both fore and hind limbs. The incisor teeth of the upper jaw develop into great task, clavicle is absent. There are two pectoral mammae. Example of this order is the Elephant.
k) Primate: The animals of this order possess prehensile limbs adapted for arboreal life. According to Martin, “Primates are typically arboreal inhabitants of tropical and subtropical forest ecosystems”. The thumb and great toe are shorter and opposable to the other digits. Their brain is large and well convoluted. Some of the representative type of this order are lemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, apes and man.
By examining the biological features of different orders of the class Mammalia, it is appeared that man belongs to the ordes primate. A thorough explanation of the morphological and anatomical characteristics of this order throws light to understand the evolutionary adaptations of this order.
19. Give the classification of the pongidae. Write a brief note on any of them.
Answer: The classification of the pongidae:-
i) Primate.
ii) Therapsid.
iii) Euarchonta.
i) Primate: Primates are the mammals that belong to order primate. Primates are divided into two groups which contain prosimians and anthropoids.
These are the certain characteristics of primates:
i) Unfused and highly mobile radius and ulna in the forelimb and tibia and fibula in the hind.
ii) Comparatively poor sense of smell.
iii) Prehensile five digit hands and feet possessing flat nails instead of claws.
iv) Primate teeth are distinguishable from those of other mammals.
v) The mammals which do not have these characteristics are called non-primates.
20. Mention three important distinguishing physical characteristics of Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Answer: Three important distinguishing physical characteristics of Homo Sapiens Sapiens are:-
i) Homo Sapiens skulls have a distinctive shape.
ii) They are from earlier human species.
iii) Homo Sapiens were from people who lived in East Africa about 200,000 years ago.
21. Compare the important physical features of platyrrhine monkeys with that of catarrhine monkeys.
Answer: The important physical features of platyrrhine monkeys with that of catarrhine monkeys are:- The platyrrhine monkey inhabits the New world, central and south America. The new world monkeys are represented by two families, Hepalidae ( Callitrichidae) and Cebidae while the Catarrhine or old world monkeys are categorised into two super families namely cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea. The Cercopithcoidea or old world monkeys are mote closely related to man than the new world monkeys. The cercopithecoids possess same number of teeth as apes and human with the dental formula l 2/2, C 1/1, PM 2/2 M 3/3.
Super family cercopithecidae consists of a single family cercopithecidae. The family cercopithecidae has two sub families like cercopithecidae and the colobinae.
22. Mention two animals belonging to the order ungulata.
Answer: Two animals belonging to the order ungulata are:-
i) Horse.
ii) Cow.
23. Write the names of four animals under prosimian.
Answer: The names of four animals under prosimians are:-
i) Tarsiers.
ii) Lemurs.
iii) Lorises.
iv) bushbabies.
24. What are the principal food items consumed by prosimians?
Answer: The principal food items consumed by prosimians are integral to food chains, with various species being insectivorous, crickets, grasshoppers, carnivorous, or consuming fruits, while being preyed upon by large cats, predatory birds, and so forth.
25. ‘Man is a primate’ show the reasons.
Answer: ‘Man is a primate because they are the only mammals that have the following combination of features, relatively large, complex brain forward-facing eyes with overlapping fields of view that allow depth perception.
26. Write four physical characters of the mammals.
Answer: Four physical characters of the mammals are:-
i) Mammals are warm blooded animals. They are called as homeotherms i.c. the body temperature does not fluctuate with the fluctuations of temperature and environment. The standard body temperature of man is 37°C.
ii) Body is covered with hair.
iii) Respiration is through lungs.
iv) Presence of mammary glands in female is a unique features of mammals. The young get nourished through the milk of the mother produced by the mammary glands.
27. How the metatherian mammals differ from eutheria?
Answer: The metatherian mammals differ from eutheria are:- Metatherian are marsupial mammals whereas Eutheria are placental mammals. Metatherian mammary glands developed and is present but Eutheria mammary glands well developed and is absent.
Metatherian includes marsupial that possess a punch and give birth to partially developed young ones whereas Eutheria is the largest subclass of mammals that includes placental mammals that give birth to completely developed young ones. Thus, this is a key difference between Metatheria and Eutheria.
28. What are the two divisions of the suborder Anthropoidea? In what respect they differ from each other?
Answer: The two divisions of the suborder Anthropoidea are:-
i) Platyrrhine.
ii) Catarrhine.
Platyrrhine includes the monkeys of the new world while Catarrhine includes the monkeys of the old world, apes human. The new world monkeys Platyrrhine is again divided into two family namely Hepalidae and Cebidae and the Catarrhine involves three families viz. cercopithecidae, hylobatidae, pongidae and hominidae. Platyrrhine monkeys have broad noses with a wide septum separating outwardly directed nostrils, whereas Catarrhine monkeys have narrow noses with a thin septum and downward-facing nostrils, as do apes and humans.
29. Mention four physical characters of the primate.
Answer: Four physical characters of the primate:-
i) They have prehensile hands and feet adapted for arboreal life. The digits of both hands and feet possess flat nails provided with highly sensitive tactile pads. The thumb and the great toe are more or less opposable.
ii) They possess bony eye socket and have stereoscopic vision.
iii) Their teeth are specially meant for mixed diet. The dentition is therefore less specialised, they have neither high development of the canines and incisors
(characteristics of carnivorous) nor the excessive molar specialisation of herbivores. The crown of molar teeth exhibits simple cusp pattern.
iv) They have a highly developed and convoluted brain. The cerebral cortex, particularly its sensory part shows progressive development. Their brain shows expansion of the occipital lobe which is concerned with visual interpretation. Primate brain also show elaboration of temporal lobe responsible for the perfection of the sound discrimination required for vocal communication. The sense of smell is markedly reduced in primate.
30. Give a short account on the evolution of man.
Answer: Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioural traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years. The origin of human beings is called human evolution. All human beings belong to same species i.e. sapiens. The species originated in Africa and spread to different parts of the world.
31. Name the only ape that is found in the forests of Assam.
Answer: Hoolock gibbon is the only ape that is found in the forests of Assam.
32. Who discovered pithecanthropus erectus?
Answer: Eugene Dubois discovered pithecanthropus erectus.
33. Give an account of Neanderthal man.
Answer: The term Neanderthal is used to describe a series of fossil finding from Western Europe dating between 1,00,000 and 35,000 years ago belonging to the upper pleistocene epoch. The first discovery was in 1856, from a cave in the Neander valley, near Dusseldorf Germany.
The following list includes the members of Neanderthal group showing their distributions and year of discovery.
Hooton has classified the Neanderthal people into conservation Neanderthals and Progressive Neanderthals. The conservative Neanderthals possess classical Neanderthals features. Some members of conservative Neanderthal are La Chapelle-aux saints, La Moustier, La Quina, La Ferrassie etc. The progressive group includes the Krapina, Ehringsdorf, Steinheim etc.
Many fossils of Neanderthals group were discovered in association with hand made stone tools and faunal remains of woolly rhinoceros, hippopotamus and mammoth. The stone tools include dressed flints, scrapers and points of mousterian culture belonging to middle palaeolithic period and the floral and faunal remains indicate that Neanderthals lived in a very moist and cold climate.
34. Name two places where the fossil remains of Neanderthal men were found.
Answer: Two places where the fossil remains of Neanderthal men were found are:-
i) Europe.
ii) Germany.
35. Mention the different stages of the evolution of man.
Answer: The different stages of the evolution of man are:-
i) Dryopithecus: The fossil of Dryopithecus discovered from southern France belong to Miocene layer. The Dryopithecus is regarded as the direct ancestor of modern apes namely gorilla, chimpanzee and urang utan.The fossil remains of propliopithecus belong to oligocene epoch
ii) Ramapithecus: The Ramapithecus is considered to be the earliest man like primate, the oldest of man’s ancestor which is on the direct line of human evolution. The fossil Ramapithecus have been discovered from Siwalik Hills, India Dryopithecus were terrestrial.
iii) Australopithecus: The pleistocene epoch of Quaternary period exhibits the evidences of successive stages of emergence of first ape man the Australopithecus.
iv) Homo Erectus: This is considered to be the first stage in the course of human evolution followed by the stages of Homo erectus of middle pleistocene and the stage of Neanderthal respectively. The Neanderthal man is regarded as the intermediate stage between Homo erectus and human. The fossil of the old man of cro magnon and others belong to the upper pleistocene layer.
36. Write a short note on organic evolution.
Answer: The concept of organic evolution suggests the following facts:
i) All the present species have originated from a common ancestor of the distant past.
ii) The environmental conditions in nature are always subjected to change and organisms are to modify themselves according to this change. This is called adaptability of the organism to adjust itself to the particular mode of environment. For example the different forms of the class Mammalia show varied structural features so as to adapt to different mode of life.
The animals of order ungulata eg. horse possess limbs adapted for running faster on ground. The squirrels, monkeys, show adaptations for climbing purpose. The camel is adapted to live in the desert with water cells in the stomach wall with eyes, ears and nostrils well protected against dust. The Bats showing volant adaptations to fly efficiently in the air. The whales with stream lined, hairless body forelimbs modified into paddle to live an aquatic life.
iii) The adaptive changes in organisms lead to the appearance of new species. The new species are always better adapted than its ancestral stock. It different members of a species are adapted to different environment they will become diversified from each and will evolve as a new divergent species. Moreover, isolation also favours origin of new species, when individuals of a species occupy a new geographical territory leaving their place of origin and are subjected to adaptations to the new habitat, in course of time they may become quite dissimilar from their ancestral stock, that they can be differentiated as a new species.
There are many theories put forward by different scholar regarding the concept of evolution. Here, the two theories, one proposed by French naturalists Jean Baptise Lamarck and the other by English Charles Robert Darwin have been taken into consideration.
37. Give a description of the skull of La- chapelle- aux- saints.
Answer: The skull of La-chapelle-aux-saints is discovered in French. The skeletal materials of the La Chapelle aux saints includes a skull with lower jaw, a clavicle, two almost complete humerus, two complete radii, vertebral ribs, fragments of ilia, two incomplete femur, fragments of tibia, bones of foot.
The skull is large and heavy. The head is dolichocephalic with cranial capacity about 1600 cc. The length and breadth of the skull are 208 mm and 155mm respectively. The forehead is very receding. The vault of the skull is low. The temporal fossae are large and the temporal lines are situated at about half way the side of the brain box. Like in chimpanzee, gorilla and pithecanthropus the supra orbital ridges are well developed and continuous forming a rounded torus. The transverse diameter of the enlarged orbit is greater than its large wide pyriform aperture. Their facial part bears a flat cheek. The palate is large and the mastoid processes are very small. The glenoid cavity are wide and shallow. The foremen magnum is placed much posteriorly than in man.
The mandible is strong and massive, without a chin. The sigmoid notch is shallow, the coronoid process of the mandible is blunt and low. The ascending ramii is broader in comparison to modern man.
The dentition of La-chapelle-aux-saints exhibits similarity to the dentition of modern man. Diastema is absent, the canines are small and are in same line with other teeth.
The bones of the trunk and limbs signifies a powerful muscular development. The vertebral column is short. Vertebral column show similarly with that of chimpanzee. The ribs are strong and bears a large head nearly similar to that of man. The bones of the fore arms are strong and short with a markedly curved radius. The fore arm is relatively shorter than the upper arm. The hand shows humanoid features with relatively short fingers. The strong massive femur is provided by a large head. As in apes the shaft of the femur is bent forward. The linea as pera is not well marked. The head of the strong and short tibia is bent backward.
The stature of the skeleton of La Chapelle-aux saints was 5 feet 1 inch. The members of progressive Neanderthals group are taller than the members of the conservative type.
Although the Neanderthal man possess some features which distinguishes them from modern man yet they are considered to be a major stage of human evolution.
38. Write the physical characters of the old man of Cro-magnan.
Answer: The skeleton of the old man of Cro-Magnon is taken as the type specimen of this group.
The skull is massive with length and breadth of 20.3 mm and 15.0 mm respectively. The skull is dolichocephalic. The contour of the skull is pentagonal with market projection of parietal mass. The average cranial capacity is estimated to be 1660 cc which is about 150 cc more than the modern European average cranial capacity. Cranial vault is high. The moderately high forehead is broad. The Occiput bulges behind and is flattened in the lambdoid region. The skull is broad across the middle of the parietals. The face is very broad, short and flat. The short and broad face is in disharmony with the long narrow head. The zygomatic region is strong, large and prominent indicating a well developed cheek. The nose is leptorrhine. Alveolar prognathism is seen in face. The palatine arch is narrow and of medium size. The lower jaw is strong but not massive with a well developed chin. The sigmoid notch is fairly deep. The bones of lower extremity indicates a stature over 5 feet 6 inches. The fore arms are relatively longer than the upper arms and the legs are long in comparison to the thigh. The femurs are strongly bowed and marked by linea as pera.
Many anthropologists state that the morphological features of cro-magnon man suggests its affinity to the caucasoid stock. Dr. collignon demonstrates that some people of Dordogne, show resemblance with the Cro-Magnon of late pleistocene in respect of physical traits. He considers, the cro magnons as the ancestors of these people from whom they have been descended.
Thus, the course of human evolution went through successive stages like the Australopithecine, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, Homo sapiens stage and have reached the Homo sapiens sapiens stage.
39. Write briefly about the skull and the femur of pithecanthropus erectus.
Answer: The skeletal materials consists of skull fragments, three teeth – one lower premolar and two upper molar and a high bone found in association of remains of rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant etc.
The skull was larger in comparison to that of living apes but was smaller than that of an adult man. In respect of cranial capacity they are intermediate between apes and man. Their cranial capacity ranges from average apes 500 cc to average human’s 1300 cc. As in apes the cranial vault is very low and the supra orbital ridges form a torus. The narrow, low and receding forehead resembles that of an ape. In respect of inclination of the nuchal plane it is also intermediate between ape and man. Face is less prognathous.
The femur is complete and is 45.5 cm in length matching a modern man femur. The femur is elongated and straight in structure. The well marked lineae apara of femur demonstrates the attainment of fully erect posture.
40. Describe the skull of Australopithecus africanus.
Answer: In 1924, proof. Raymond Dart, an anatomist at the university of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. South Africa discovered an almost complete skull from the Taungs cave on the edge of Kalahari Desert. The almost complete skull belongs to a young individual. He termed the specimen as Australopithecus africanus meaning southern ape of Africa.
The fossil skull consists of twenty deciduous milk teeth and four permanent first molars. The specimen dates back to the pliocene epoch of quaternary period.
The skull closely resembles that of a chimpanzee. It is a dolichocephalic head. It lacks the high vertical forehead of modern man and high roundness of the skull vault. From the back, the widest point of the skull is quite low as compared to that of modern man. The sagittal crest is absent. The supra orbital ridges are feebly marked. The foramen magnum is placed anteriorly. The skull like in apes, exhibits a well marked pre maxilla, the nasal bones are flat showing similarities to that of a chimpanzee like simians the inter nasal suture is absent.
41. Mention four physical characters of either Orang-utan or chimpanzee.
Answer: Four physical characters of chimpanzee are:-
i) Chimpanzee are the inhabitants of equatorial region of Africa from Sierra leone in the west and to Tanzania in the east. They are arboreal and make nest on the trees. There are three species of chimpanzee namely the white faced or common chimpanzee, the rare pygmy chimpanzee or bonobo and the black faced or bold head chimpanzee. The former two are found in the North of the Congo river, Pygmy chimpanzees are found in West Congo river. The body of Bonobos is slender than that of the chimpanzee. Bonobos have longer limbs and digits, smaller heels, darker faces, a distinct portion in the head hair. The bonobos are more gregarious than the common chimpanzees. Their groups centred around females.
ii) The body proportion of the chimpanzee show resemblance to that of man. The average height of a full grown male is about five feet. The weight of an adult male is about 100 pounds. The females are shorter and lighter than the male chimpanzees. Long coarse hair of varied colour covers the body excluding parts like palm, face and sole. The head of the bold faced chimpanzee is devoid of hair. The chimpanzees possess a round low vaulted head with an average cranial capacity of 400 cc. The supra orbital ridges are poorly developed but are continuous to form a torus. The nasal bones are very small and bridge is not elevated. The face is small in relation to the skull. They have elliptical orbits. They have large, projecting canines.
iii) Chimpanzees walk on the ground quadrupedally. They occasionally stand on their hindlimbs but they rarely walk bipedally. The adopt the bipedal mode of locomotion while travelling through tall grasses and to cover a wider range of view. Like gorillas the chimpanzee are also knuckle walker. The female chimpanzee experience a similar sexual cycle as human females do. Their gestation period is about 226 days. They give birth to one baby at once.
iv) Chimpanzee are capable of making similar emotional expression like man vocal expression is more advanced in chimpanzee than other forms of apes. They use their long and narrow hands with opposable thumb for gripping, grooming and building nest and using tools. Their diet consists of fruits , buds, ants, insects etc.
42. Write the geographical distribution of Orang-utan.
Answer: The geographical distribution of Orang-utan are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China.
43. What are the principal food items of Gorilla or Chimpanzee?
Answer: The principal food items of Gorilla are:- leaves, roots, bamboo shoots, vegetables, fruits etc.
And the principal food items of Chimpanzee are:- fruits, buds, ants, insects etc.
44. Mention briefly the culture of the Cro-magnon man.
Answer: In 1868 M. Louis lartet discovered five human skeleton from the rock shelter of Cro-Magnon on the bank of Vezere in the village of Les Eyzies, France. These are grouped under the name Cromagnon man. The findings include skeletons of two adult men, one woman, an infant and a old man. The fossils of cro magnon dates back to late pleistocene epoch and the associated artefacts belong to the Aurignacian tool tradition of the upper Palaeolithic period. Besides, stone tools bone tools and masterfully created cave art are unique features of the culture developed during upper Palaeolithic time. The bones found in the deposits of this period are of the animals of glacial climate like mammoth, cave, bear, woolly rhinoceros etc.
Hi, I’m Dev Kirtonia, Founder & CEO of Dev Library. A website that provides all SCERT, NCERT 3 to 12, and BA, B.com, B.Sc, and Computer Science with Post Graduate Notes & Suggestions, Novel, eBooks, Biography, Quotes, Study Materials, and more.
