Anth 111 Ch 1

Anthropology

The study of humankind, viewed from the perspective of all people and times

Four branches of anthrophology:

cultural
archaeology
linguistic
biological

Cultural anthropology

The study of cultures and societies of human beings and their very recent past. Traditional cultural anthropologists study living cultures and present their observations in an ethnography

Archaeology

The study of past societies and their cultures, especially the material remains of the past, such as tools, food remains, and places where people lived

Linguistic anthropology

The study of language, especially how language is structured, the evolution of language, and the social and cultural contexts for language

Biological anthropology

the study of human evolution and variation, both past and present

Culture

Learned behaviour that is transmitted from person to person

Artifacts

material objects from past cultures

Language

A set of written or spoken symbols that refer to things (people, places, concepts, etc) other than themselves

Language makes possible the transfer of knowledge from one person to the next and from one generation to the next

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Sociolinguistics

The science of investigating language's social contexts

Humans are bicultural - both biological and cultural beings

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Biocultural approach

The scientific study of the interrelationship between what humans have inherited genetically and culture

anthropology emphasizes a broad comparative approach to the study of biology and culture, looking at all people (and their ancestors) and all cultures in all times and all places

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What is physical anthropology?

The study of human biological evolution and human biocultural variation

Two key concepts underlie the definition of physical anthropology:

- Every person is a product of evolutionary history, or all the biological changes that have brought humanity to its present form
- Each of us is the product of his or her own individual life history

Hominin

Humans and humanlike ancestors

Hominins indicate that the earliest human ancestors, in Africa, date to sometime around 6-8 million years ago.

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Genome

the complete set of genetic information - chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA - for an organism or species that represents all of the inheritable traits

Your biological make up has been determined mostly by your genes. Your biological makeup is also strongly influenced by your environment

environment

Environment

The physical activities you have engaged in (placed stress on your muscle and bones), the food you have eaten, and many other factors that affect overall health and well being. Also includes social and cultural factors

Primates

a group of mammals in the order primates that have complex behaviour, varied forms of locomotion, and a unique suite of traits, including large brains, forward-facing eyes, fingernails, and reduced snouts

The discipline as practiced in the US began in the first half of the twentieth century, especially under the guidance of three key figures:

Franz Boas, Ales Hrdlicka, Earenst Hooton

This focus on biology means that physical anthropologists practice a biological sincere. But they also practice a social science, in that they study biology within the context of culture and behaviour.

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The very nature of their discipline and their constant borrowing from other disciplines means that physical anthropologists practice an interdisciplinary science

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Six key attributes make humans unique from other animals:

bipedalism, nonhoning chewing, complex material culture and tool use, hunting, speech, and dependence on domesticated foods

Bipedalism

Walking on two feet

Nonhoning chewing

An upper canine that, as part of a non honing chewing mechanism, is not sharpened against the lower third premolar

Our ancestors' honing canine disappeared because they developed the ability to make and use tools for processing food

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Material culture

The part of culture that is expressed as objects that humans use to manipulate environments
For example, hammers and nails are forms of material culture that enable us to make cabinets, tables, etc

Hunting, speech, and dependence on domesticated foods appeared much later in human evolution than bipedalism, non honing chewing, and complex material culture and tool use

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Hunting

refers to the social behaviour whereby a group, adult men in general, organize themselves to pursue animals for food.
- Dates back to millions of years ago

some nonhuman primates organize to pursue prey, but do not use tools or travel long distances as humans distinctively do when they hunt

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Humans are the only animal that communicates by talking

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The hyoid bone, in the neck, is part of the vocal structure that helps produce words. The unique appearance of the human hyoid helps anthropologists conjecture about the origins of speech

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Domesticated manner in which humans acquire food

when humans began to raise animals and grow plants, this led to our current reliance on domesticated species

The behaviours that are unique to humans such as speech, tool use and dependence on culture, are also related to the fact that humans are very smart

- this is reflected in our ways to think and interact, and communicate in complex ways, and accomplish diverse tasks on a daily basis to survive

Our brains are bigger and have more complex analytical skills than do the brains of both other primates and animals in general

- enable us to figure out complex problems, including how to survive in a wide range of environments

Social learning

The capacity to learn from other humans, enabling the accumulation of knowledge across many generations

Data

Evidence gathered to help answer questions, solve problems, and fill gaps in scientific knowledge

Hypotheses

Testable statements that potentially explain specific phenomena observed in the natural world

Scientific method

An empirical research method in which data are gathered form observations of phenomena, hypotheses are formulated and tested, and conclusions are drawn that validate or modify the original hypotheses

Science is empirical, meaning?

based on observational or experiment

After the systematic collection of observations, the scientist develops a theory

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Theory

An explanation as to why a natural phenomenon takes place

The scientist employs observation, documentation, and testing to generate hypotheses, and eventually, to construct a theory based on those hypotheses

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Hypotheses explain observations, predict the results of future investigation, and can be refuted by new evidence

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Anatomical

structural makeup

Darwin's hypothesis - the origin of human bipedalism was linked to the shift form life in the trees to life on the ground. This led to an additional hypothesis, that the first hominids arose in the open grasslands of Africa forms one apelike animal that w

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Arboreal

lived in the trees

Terrestrial

Life forms, including humans, that live on land versus living in water or trees

Morphology

Physical shape and appearance

Scientific law

A statement of fact describing natural phenomena -irrefutable truth of some action or actions occurring in the natural world