Detailed census records made in Roman Egypt show that brother-sister marriages among members of the non-royal farming class were common. What light does this shed on the incest taboo?

a. It proves that there is a biological basis for avoidance of inbreeding among humans.
b. It proves that incest is committed only among royalty and is done in order to preserve the bloodlines.
c. It demonstrates that despite the human tendency to avoid inbreeding, it occasionally occurs and may even be preferred.
d. It supports Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of the universality of the Oedipus complex.
e. It shows that humans are no different from chimpanzees.


ANSWER: c

Anthropology & Archaeology

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