ANT 211
Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology
with Dr. Albert 

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Sample Test Questions for Exam 1

This is a practice "quiz" of 11 questions.  Your exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions (see review).  The questions below represent the type of wording, format, or content you can expect to find on your actual exam. 

Write the letters of the correct answers down on a sheet of paper.  At the end of the page, click the link to the answers and compare results. 

1. Which of the following are bones of the skull?

   1. Frontal, nasal, zygoma

   2. Parietal, atlas, mandible

   3. Frontal, parietal, atlas

   4. Occipital, temporal, lunate

   5. Frontal, lunate, zygoma

    

2. Based on Burns, Chapter 10 on Dentition, which of the following tooth types is absent in the primary dentition (first set of teeth)?

   1. Canine

   2. Molar

   3. Incisor

   4. Premolar

   5. Cuspid

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3. In Chapter 11, Burns discusses the nature of physical evidence.  All of the following are examples of typical physical evidence from a human burial EXCEPT:

   1. decomposing human remains

   2. clothing

   3. perimortem trauma (e.g., gunshot wounds, knife marks)

   4. handwriting

   5. projectile

    

4. In Chapter 1, "Everyday is Halloween,"  Maples describes a headstone that very early on piqued his interest in forensic science.  The headstone was of which famous person?

   1. Francisco Pizarro (Spanish conquistador)

   2. Bonnie Parker (of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame)

   3. Billy the Kid

   4. Elvis

   5. Davey Crockett

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5. Algor mortis is:

   1. postmortem cooling

   2. postmortem blood pooling

   3. postmortem decomposition

   4. instantaneous rigor

   5. time since death

    

6. Why is photographing a death scene important?

   1. photographs are mandatory exhibits at trials

   2. a case may not come to trial for years and memories fade

   3. photographs provide better, more reliable information than mapping a site

   4. photographs are more convenient than note-taking
      

   5. photographs are more accurate than note-taking

    

7. During a body search, which of the following is the best evidence of a possible clandestine grave?

   1. a mound

   2. disturbed soil with new plant growth

   3. old, dying vegetation

   4. insect activity

   5. the body

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8. The metacarpals are bones of the:

   1. wrist

   2. hand

   3. fingers

   4. foot

   5. skull

    

9. Which of the following is true of rigor mortis?

   1. it is immediate

   2. once it peaks, it lasts about 12 hours, then fades

   3. it is permanent

   4. it often doesn't occur

   5. it begins about 2-4 hours after death

    

10. George Dorsey is important in the history of forensic anthropology because:

    1. his courtroom testimony was an early example of the significance of human identification for legal purposes

    2. he was the first forensic anthropologist to positively identify over 100 homicide victims

    3. his work on identifying repatriated military personnel is still greatly admired

    4. he wrote the now famous Guide to the Identification of Human Skeletal Remains during the late 1800's, which propelled the development of forensic anthropology

    5. he trained numerous anthropologists who later became noted forensic scientists
       
        

11. To locate a burial Burns, in Chapter 13 discusses what to look for.  Which of the following best indicates a possible burial?

    1. Regularities in ground surface patterns

    2. Compact (dense) soil 

    3. Vegetation changes

    4. Uneven topography

    5. Plowed field

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Click here for the answers