anthrcul test 2

What does political mean?

- The exercise of power. - Regulation of relations among groups -.Decision making, dispute management, and conflict resolution.

What are biological anthropology's major concentrations?

1. Human biology, anthropometry, and genetics 2. Human evolution and paleoanthropology 3. primatology

How do fossils form?

1. Organism dies 2. decomposition and rapid sedimentation 3. minerals in ground water replace bone 4. bone becomes mineralized and turns to rock

homo erectus

1.9-0.5 mil years ago, first homo outside of Africa (western and eastern asia), 5th oldest fossil, first to intentionally use fire and acheulean (symmetrical) tools

homo habilis

2.8-1.44 mil years ago, still only in Africa, name means "handy man", 4th oldest fossil, associated with oldowon tools even though they did not invent them

Phylogenetic tree

A diagram representing the phylogeny of a species

Phylogeny

A genetic relatedness of species based on common ancestry

Analogies

Adaptive traits due to convergent evolution

wealth

All a person's material assets: income, land, and other private property

sagittal crest

Bony projection on top of the cranium for attachment of chewing muscles.

What are our two closest relatives?

Chimpanzees and bonobos

prestige

Esteem respect or approval for acts, deeds, and qualities

What are the six primate adaptations?

Grasping, smell to sight, nose to hand, brain complexity, parental investment (gorilla), and sociality (orangutans opening coconuts)

Australopithecus afarensis

Lucy, found in East Africa , 3.8-3 million years ago (3rd oldest fossil)

Homo Sapien

Modern humans (about 0.25 mil years ago to present), everywhere (newest fossil)

Platyrrhines

NEW WORLD: broad septum, flat nose, arboreal, prehensile tails

dentition

Natural teeth in the dental arch/ arrangement of teeth

la chapelle aux saints

Neanderthal site in France. la chapelle aux saints 1 is the name of remains of a specific individual

Cattarrhines

OLD WORLD: narrow septum, sharp nose, mostly arboreal, patches for sitting

What is a tarsier?

One of the smallest primates, has massive eyes, is used for the smell to sight example of primate adaptations

power

The ability to exercise one's will over others and get what one wants

authority

The formal, socially approved use of power

Why do anthropologists study primates?

They are our closest living relatives, and they are able to compare our behavior to theirs (competition, cooperation, sharing, and care, behavioral ecology)

Homologies

Traits inherited from a common ancestor

shared derived traits

a common ancestor must have been shared recently

brachiation

a method of movement that uses the arms to swing from branch to branch

levallois

a tool technology in which uniform flakes are struck from a prepared core

domesticating animals

adapting animals for human use, they tend to become smaller over time

weapons of the weak

another name for hidden transcript

primitive traits

are ancestral, and were apparent in the last common ancestor

hafting

attaching an artifact to a haft; starting to see more lighter/throwing spears, clovis points, atlatl

four levels of political organization (sociopolitical typology)

band, tribe, chiefdom, state

Behavioral modernity

behavior based on symbolic thought and cultural creativity (AMH creating tools and art, consists of Venus of Willendorf)

what does social control make use of?

beliefs (hegemony) practices (surveillance) institution (prison/ the panopticon)

what makes humans unique?

bipedalism, teeth, brains

brow ridge

bone on frontal part of the skull

zygomatic arches

cheek bones

hidden transcript

critique of the power structure that goes on out of sight of those who hold power (private resistance)

dental arcade trend

dental arcade goes from being more u-shaped to more parabolic over time

hegemony

domination over others

Pros of bipedalism

energy efficient (can exchange potential for kinetic energy), frees the hands, can see farther distances due to height

broad spectrum revolution

foraging of varied plant and animal foods at end of Ice Age; prelude to Neolithic

What makes humans unique?

foramen magnum, lumbar lordosis, pelvis, longer lower limbs, angled femur, tibia, foot, larger brain, longer childhood, smaller teeth

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

found in chad, (oldest fossil)

Ardipithecus ramidus

found in ethiopia and kenya, second oldest

Svante Paabo

geneticist, showed that we share DNA with Neanderthals

hominid

group consisting of all living and extinct great apes

hominin

group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and immediate ancestors

downside of functional specialization

harder work, more crime and war, slavery, social inequity, health declines, environmental degradation

foramen magnum trend

hole shifts more toward center of skull over time

band

kin based group, smallest of four (less than 100 people), no formal leadership, foraging

state

kinship is less important, society w central government, social strata

apes

larger body size, longer lifespans, more upright posture, larger brains, no tail

haplorrhines

larger brain size, both arboreal and terrestrial, mostly diurnal, larger bodies, more complex socially (humans are part of the haplorrhine category)

what are the three kinds of domesticated animals?

livestock (pigs), working animals, pets (dogs, cats)

arboreal

living in trees

prehensile tail

long tail that can coil tightly enough around a branch

what type of spears did neanderthals have?

neanderthals were heavier than human spears, and were more often stabbed as opposed to human spears, which were thrown.

Homo neanderthalensis

neanderthals, 6th oldest (2nd newest), 130,000-39,000 years ago, all across europe, start to use mousterian tools (which means different tools for different tasks)levallois

ned

ned was a neanderthal skeleton found in shanidar cave, he had a missing right hand, his skull was bashed in, yet he still survived. ned would have had to be taken care of in his condition, which shows that neanderthals did care for one another and have that level of compassion

benefits of functional specialization

new inventions, architecture, writing, trade, measuring, more reliable crop loads

phylogenetic relationships

new species evolve by splitting off from older species (can be placed on a phylogenetic tree)

catal huyuk

one of the first settlements/cities

independent invention

one of the rarest forms of cultural change because there is no diffusion and no acculturation. Different things are being independently invented in different areas (foraging to food production is an example of this)

public transcript

open, public interactions between oppressed people and their oppressors (public resistance)

Traits of chimpanzees

pan troglodytes, violence, warfare

Chiefdom

permanent political structure, kinship, social ranking, more agriculture

what four things must a state have to maintain themselves?

population control, judiciary, enforcement, fiscal support

knuckle walking

quadrupedal terrestrial movement

resistance

refusal to comply, using action or argument to deviate from a system of power

egalitarian

relatively equal relationships between people

Traits of bonobos

sex to avoid conflict, female holds power

stepsirrhines

small bodies, long snouts, big ears, arboreal, mostly nocturnal, can be solitary

tribe

still kin based, slightly larger than band, achieved status, egalitarian, horticulture and pastoralism

types of social strata

subordinate (under privileged) and superordinate (privileged)

domesticating plants

taking wild plants and adapting them for human use, downside is they have to be planted by humans, example is teosinte (corn changing over time)

teeth trend

teeth go from being small incisors and big molars, to approximately equal sized incisors and molars

the bigger the sagittal crest....

the bigger the jaw/chewing muscles

the bigger the cheekbones...

the bigger the zygomatic arches

foramen magnum

the hole in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes.

social stratification

the making of unrelated groups in terms of social status, differential access to resources, Access to wealth, prestige, authority, and power specifically

functional specialization

the manufacture of special tools for a particular job

sedentism

the practice of living in one place for a long time

parsimony principle

the preferred explanation of observed data is the simplest explanation

cranial capacity

the size of the brain case (as hominins evolve, the brain case expands)

derived traits

traits evolved since the time of the last common ancestor

neolithic period

when 50% of a society's diet is domesticated plants or animals

who would win in a fight: neanderthals or humans?

while we can never know for sure, we can theorize that human intelligence would trump neanderthal strength, and that humans would probably win