Anthropology 1306 UTA
Paleolithic Age
(750,000 BCE - 10,000 B.C.E.) Old Stone Age. A period of time in human history characterized by the use of stone tools and the use of hunting and gathering as a food source.
Neolithic era
(literally, the New Stone Age) has been called revolutionary in human history. - the time period after the Paleolithic Era, marked by the use of tools ---= Farming
The Mesolithic Roots of Farming and Pastoralism
- By 12,000 years ago these glaciers receded, causing changes in human habitats globally. Sea levels rose -Bering Strait, - . Diets shifted to abundant plant foods as well as fish and other foods in and around lakes, bays, and rivers. this transitional period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age. -Mesolithic The Middle Stone Age of Europe, Asia, and Africa beginning about 12,000 years ago. -Archaic cultures The term used to refer to Mesolithic cultures in the Americas
Evolution and Creation Stories
-Evolution differs from creation stories in that it explains the diversity of life in a consistent scientific language, The Classification of Living Things
Why Humans Became Food Producers
-Food foragers may avoid food production simply be- cause of the hard work it involves -Relative food scarcity in such an environment drove people to collect the wild grasses and seeds growing around the oases -Accord- ing to this theory, animal domestication began because the oases attracted hungry animals = earliest plant domestication took place gradually in the Fertile Crescent, - from the Upper Nile (Sudan) to the Lower Tigris (Iraq). - dry summers significantly longer and hotter than today. As a consequence, many shallow lakes dried up, leaving just three in the Jordan River valley. - people realized that they could play a more active role in the process by deliberately breeding the strains they preferred - People followed the animals in their seasonal migrations, eating and storing other wild foods as they passed through different zones
The Neolithic and Human Biology
-Neolithic burial grounds have found evidence for a somewhat lessened mechanical stress on peoples' bodies and teeth - peoples generally show less wear, their bones are less robust, - but= Neolithic villages show evidence of severe and chronic nutritional stress as well as pathologies related to infectious and deficiency diseases -Dental decay increased during the Neolithic due to the high-starch diet. Scientists have documented den- tal drilling of teeth in a 9,000-year-old = The close association between humans and their domestic animals even facilitates the transmission of some animal diseases
The Culture of Neolithic Settlements
-Neolithic peoples were the first in human history to wear clothing made of woven textiles -buildings suggest that the inhabitants knew one another very well and were even related, so that most of their relationships were probably highly personal ones, with equal emotional sig- nificance.
Civilization and Its Discontents
-Whatever its benefits, civilization produced new problems. Among the -sewage created optimal environments for infectious diseases such as bubonic plague, typhoid, and cholera === =early cities were disease-ridden places, with relatively high death rates =Genetic adaptation to urban disease has influenced the course of history globally. -The continued existence of such diseases depends = City environments also promote tuberculosis (TB). The bacteria that causes TB cannot survive in the presence of sunlight and fresh air -Social stratification impacts who gets sick as much
The Spread of Food Production
-although domestication increases productivity, it also increases instability. - =farmers depend on a rather narrow choice of resources, compared to the wide range utilized by food foragers -when a crop fails, for whatever reason, farmers have less to fall back on compared to food foragers - some virus, bacterium, or fungus could wipe out vast fields of genetically identical organisms
The Making of States
-impressive accomplishments indicate the superiority of civilization - emergence of centralized governments, characteristic of civilizations, has allowed some peoples to dominate others and for civilizations to flourish - fyi = All of these borders were artificially drawn by Britain, France, and Soviet Russia after World War I, between 1918 and 1923, according to their imperial- istic interests. These borders imposed with total neglect of local geography and former political, religious, and ethnic boundaries threw the region— - Historic memories preserved in religious, ethnic, and nationalistic narratives sometimes serve to justify and intensify today's conflicts. -
Natufian culture
A Mesolithic culture from the lands that are now Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and western Syria, between about 10,200 and 12,500 years ago - Mesolithic was less of a changed way of life than Europe -Natufians buried their dead in communal cemeteries, usually in shallow pits without any other objects or decorations --the Natufians stored plant foods. Natufians also used sickles— small stone blades
cultural resource management
A branch of archaeology concerned with survey and/or excavation of archaeological and historical remains that might be threatened by construction or development; also involved with policy surrounding protection of cultural resources.
holistic perspective
A fundamental principle of anthropology: The various parts of human culture and biology must be viewed in the broadest possible context in order to understand their interconnections and interdependence.
The Earliest Governments
A king and his advisers typically headed the earliest city governments - Hammurabi, the Babylonian king who lived in Mesopotamia between 3,700 and 3,950 years ago, stands out as truly remarkable for the efficient government -he issued a set of laws now known as the Code of Hammurabi - Although some civilizations flourished under a single ruler with extraordinary governing abilities, other civiliza- tions prospered with a widespread governing bureaucracy that was very efficient at every level. - Inca had no known form of conventional writing. Instead, they used an ingenious coding system of colored strings with knots known as quipu or khipu (the Quechua word for "knot")
microlith
A small blade of flint or similar stone, several of which were hafted together in wooden handles to make tools; widespread in the Mesolithic era. - Microlithic ("small stone") tools existed in central Africa by about 40,000 years ago -led to more sophis- ticated tools and weapons, such as bows to propel arrows -in the north) somewhat more settled lifestyle characterized the Mesolithic - In the warmer parts of the world, where wild plant foods were more readily available, collection al- ready had complemented hunting in the Upper Paleolithic - shaped and sharpened by grinding the tool against sandstone,
hypothesis
A tentative explanation of the relationships among certain phenomena - anthropologists often begin their research with a hypothesis
Food Production and Population Size
Across human populations, increased dependence on farming and increased fertility seem to go hand in hand: -higher fertility rates among farmers might derive from higher mortality rates -need kids for work hunter-gatherer lifestyle as inferior and- interpreted the differences in fertility to be the consequence of nutritional stress among the hunter-gatherers. - However, detailed studies among the !Kung or Ju/'hoansi-disproved this nutritional theory. The low fertility among the Ju/'hoansi ultimately derives from cultural beliefs about the right way to handle a baby
empirical
An approach based on observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith.
biocultural
An approach that focuses on the interaction of biology and culture.
doctrine
An assertion of opinion or belief formally handed down by an authority as true and indisputable.
domestication
An evolutionary process whereby humans modify, intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of a population of wild plants or animals, sometimes to the extent that members of the population are unable to survive and/or re- produce without human assistance. =interdependence between different species --human interactions, domestication ensures the plants' reproductive success while providing humans with food. - selective breeding -produced changes in the skeletal structure ,= The age and sex ratios of butchered animals
innovation , primary innovation
Any new idea, method, or device that gains wide- spread acceptance in society. The creation, invention, or chance discovery of a completely new idea, method, or device ---discovery that clay permanently hardens when exposed to high temperatures.
Biology, Genetics, and Evolution
Biology, Genetics, and Evolution
chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
chapter 7
Chapter 7
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology has two main components: ethnography and ethnology -ethnography A detailed description of a particular culture pri- marily based on fieldwork. fieldwork The term anthropologists use for on-location research.
The History of Human Classification
Early European scholars tried to systematically classify Homo sapiens into subspecies, or races, based on geographic location and phenotypic features such as skin color, body size, head shape, and hair texture. The 18th-century Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus - divided them into color we know now (black,yellow,..) The German physician Johann Blumenbach - started to study the skulls - The tragic story of Ota Benga, a Twa Pygmy man who in the early 1900s was caged in a New York zoo with an orangutan, painfully illustrates the disastrous impact of racial dogma -Ota was placed in the care of the museum and then taken to the Bronx Zoo and ex- hibited in the monkey house -In 1916, upon hearing that he would never return to his homeland, he took a revolver and shot himself through the heart = England had already refined this ideology of dehumanization and the practice of slavery in their dealings with the Irish (Smedley, 2007). They even imported Irish slaves and indentured servants and also enslaved American Indian
Franz Boas
Father of American Anthropology - In the early 20th century, when scholars began to challenge the concept of racial hierarchies, anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942) was among the strongest critics. Ashley Montagu (1905-1999), a student of Boas (one of the best-known anthropologists of his time), devoted much of his career to combating scientific racism.
Anthropology and Cities of the Future
Had it not been for a constant influx of rural peoples, cities might not have persisted --Dense population and the inequalities of class systems and oppressive centralized governments created internal stress. = When war broke out, people crowded into walled cities for protection
theory
In anthropology, an explanation of cultural or natural phenomena, supported by reliable data.
Defining Civilization
In anthropology, societies in which large numbers of people live in cities, are socially stratified, and are governed by a ruling elite working through centrally organized political systems called states. Neolithic villages grew into the world's first cities between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago, first in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and Syria), then in Egypt's Nile valley and the Indus valley, today's India and Pakistan (organized planning by a central authority, technological intensification, and so- cial stratification. For example, flood control and protection were vital components of the great ancient cities of the Indus River valley,) -In China, civilization was underway by 5,000 years ago. - -first American Indian cities appeared in Peru around 4,000 years ago and in Mesoamerica about 3,000 years ago. - (Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan, founded 2,200 years ago, translated the solar calendar into a unified spatial pattern.) Each of these services or places of business depends on others from outside this two-block radius
hydraulic theory - irrigation theory,
In archaeology, the theory that explains civilization's emergence as the result of the construction of elaborate irrigation systems, the functioning of which required full-time managers whose control blossomed into the first governing body and elite social class; also known as irrigation theory
participant observation
In ethnography, the technique of learning a people's culture being studied, as well as interviews and discussion with individual members of the group over an extended period of time.
Bronze Age
In the Old World, the period marked by the production of tools and ornaments of bronze; began about 5,000 years ago in China, the Mediterranean, and South Asia and about 500 years earlier in Southwest Asia - production of tools, ornaments, and weapons made of this metal alloy. Copper and tin
Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism
Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism
The Emergence of Cities and States
The Emergence of Cities and States
forensic anthropology
The analysis of human biological and cultural remains for legal purposes.
Tikal: A Case Study
The ancient city of Tikal, situated in Central America - around Guatemeala- is one of the largest lowland Maya centers in existence. The Maya settled here 3,000 years ago - At its height, Tikal covered about 120 square kilometers (46 square miles). - Tikal swelled to at least 45,000 people. By 1,550 years ago - Four years of mapping revealed that ancient Tikal ex- tended far beyond the original area surveye - record that the gov- ernment was headed by a hereditary ruling dynasty -\ -the pressure for food and land reached a critical point, and growth stopped. At the same time, warfare with other cities took its toll on Tikal -Tikal demonstrated the splendor, the social organization, the belief systems, and the trading and agricultural practices of the ancient Maya civilization.
paleoanthropology
The anthropological study of biological changes through time (evolution) to understand the origins and predecessors of the present human species.
molecular anthropology
The anthropological study of genes and genetic relationships, which contributes significantly to our understanding of human evolution, adaptation, and diversity.
bioarchaeology
The archaeological study of human remains, emphasizing the preservation of cultural and social processes in the skeleton.
pastoralism
The breeding and managing of migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, and camels - Early Neolithic food production included
horticulture
The cultivation of crops in food gardens, carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks and hoes. Early Neolithic food production included
Vegeculture
The cultivation of domesticated root crops, such as yams and taro. ---species of Southeast Asia. Other Centers of Domestication
secondary innovation
The deliberate application or modification of an existing idea, method, or device. --=ex- knowledge about fired clay to make pottery containers and cooking vessels.-tween 15,430 and 18,300 years ago,
Neolithic revolution (or Neolithic transition)
The domestication of plants and animals by peoples with stone-based technologies, beginning about 10,000 years ago and leading to radical transformations in cultural systems; sometimes referred to as the Neolithic transition. - grew directly from the preceding Mesolithic. -well studied in Southwest Asia --=Human groups throughout the globe independently, but more or less simultaneously, invented food production.
social stratification
The emergence of social classes, a series of ranked social categories according to characteristics such as wealth, occupation, or kin group. - farmers were usually the lower calss - Burial customs also provide evidence of social stratification- houses, laws.ex = grave goods Items such as utensils, figurines, and personal possessions, symbolically placed in the grave for the deceased person's use in the afterlife. --- higher ups - would have servants killed in grave to serve them - like some Egyptians
primates
The group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and human mammals The class of vertebrate animals distinguished by bodies covered with hair or fur, self-regulating temperature, and in females, milk-producing mammary glands species The smallest working units in biological classificatory systems; reproductively isolated populations or groups of populations capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring. genus (genera) In the system of plant and animal classification, a group of like species. taxonomy The science of classification. (Greek for "naming divi- sions") analogies In biology, structures possessed by different organisms that are superficially similar due to similar function but that do not share a common developmental pathway or structure. -Cross-species comparisons identify anatomical fea- tures of similar function homologies In biology, structures possessed by two different organisms that arise in similar fashion and pass through similar stages during embryonic development, although they may have different functions
Mesoamerica
The region extending from central Mexico to the northern regions of Central America. - similar villages did not appear until about 4,500 years ago -after plant and animal domestica- tion, also did not emerge in the Americas until about 4,500 years ago.
diffusion
The spread of certain ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another -leads to further innovations as cultures meet.
ethnology
The study and analysis of different cultures from a comparative or historical point of view, utilizing ethnographic accounts and developing anthropological theories that help explain why certain important differences or similarities occur among groups.
archaeology
The study of human cultures through the recovery and analysis of material remains and environmental data - include tools, pottery, hearths, and enclosures that remain as traces of cultural practices in the past, as well as human, plant, and marine remains, some dating back 2.5 million years
primatology
The study of living and fossil primates.
biological anthropology
The systematic study of humans as biological organisms. Also known as physical anthropology -focuses on humans as biological organisms. - concentrated on human evolution, primatology, growth and development, human adaptation, and forensics.
action theory
The theory that self-serving actions by forceful leaders play a role in civilization's emergence -- In this case, certain individuals could monopolize power and emerge as divine kings, using their power to subjugate any rivals -
culture-bound
Theories about the world and reality based on the assumptions and values of one's own culture.
ethnocentrism
a belief that the ways of one's own culture are the only proper ones
Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Methods
artifact Any object fashioned or altered by humans. - material culture The durable aspects of culture such as tools, buildings, and art objects. - ecofacts The natural remains of plants and animals found in the archaeological record. - features Nonportable archaeological elements such as architecture. - fossil The preserved remains of past life forms. - Places containing re- mains of previous human activity are known as sites.
Cities and Cultural Change
by illuminating the unethical money exchange you insure that the -ex.irrigation - Diversified labor activity also characterized early civiliza- tions. -ex- (city of Lagash (modern-day Tell al-Hiba, Iraq) These lists included coppersmiths, silversmiths, sculptors, merchants - Extensive trade systems developed for the procure- ment of raw materials they needed. Boats provided faster and less costly access - Egyptian kings, or pharaohs, sent expeditions in various directions for prized resources: -Increased contact with foreign peoples through trade spread innovations and bodies of knowledge such as geometry and astronomy -A governing elite emerged in early civilizations. -They levied taxes and appointed tax collectors so that construction workers, the army, and other public expenses -With writing, governors could disseminate information and store, systematize, and deploy written records Before 5,500 years ago, records consisted of "tokens," ceramic pieces shaped to indicate different commercial objects. By 5,000 years ago, a new writing technique emerged in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk in today's Iraq - However, in 2003, archaeolo- gists working in the Henan Province of central China discov- ered signs carved into 8,600-year-old tortoise shells; these markings resemble later-written characters and predate the Mesopotamian evidence by about 2,000 years
chapter 2
chapter 2
Ethnographic Methods
ethnographic fieldwork On-location participatory research to gather in-depth information on a society's customary ideas, values, and practices. key consultants Members of the society being studied who provide information that helps the researchers understand the meaning of what they observe. Early anthropologists referred to such individuals as informants. informal interview In ethnography ,a research technique involving an unstructured, open-ended conversation in everyday life. formal interview A structured question-answer session, care- fully notated as it occurs and based on prepared questions. eliciting devices Activities and objects used to draw out indi- viduals and encourage them to recall and share information
The Neolithic and the Idea of Progress
food production as a great step upward on a ladder of progress. - agriculture - Intensive crop cultivation, employing plows, ferti- lizers, and/or irrigation.
Anthropology and Globalization
globalization Worldwide interconnectedness, evidenced in global movements of natural resources, trade goods, toxins, human labor, finance capital, information, and infectious diseases
anthropology
is the study of humankind in all times and places.
Dogs Get Right to the Point
puppies, like babies, understand pointing, which indicates that this ability is encoded in their genome a - And like babies, they rely on social cues to interpret the meaning of a pointing finger - domesticated species = implies that one species has effectively altered the genetic makeup of another. - Hare = Instead of seeing humans, he proposes that dogs domesticated themselves --wolves today, were probably partly scavengers and so came to orient to human habitations because of edible discarded material - Evolutionary processes have favored dogs that could best manipulate humans. DOGS -arguing instead that animals (specifically, dogs) took advantage of new survival opportunities cre- ated by human settlements - globe realized that the productivity of the domestic species increased relative to the wild species.
Race as a Biological Concept
race In biology, the taxonomic category of subspecies that is not applicable to humans because the division of humans into discrete types does not represent the true nature of human biological variation. In some societies race is an important cultural category ( as a subspecies, or a population of a species differing geographically, morphologically, or genetically from other populations of the same species ) =no scientific criteria exist on how many differences it takes to make a race. -- Second, no single race has exclusive possession of any particular variant of any gene or genes byw-= We are related, you and I. Darwin says so. The Bible says so. Not much controversy about it. - MtDNA, however, is inherited only through the maternal line: thus, you are a mitochondrial clone of your mother and mitochondri- ally unrelated to your father.
egalitarian
societies Societies in which people have about the same rank, and share equally in the basic resources that support income, status, and power -=Neolithic social structure had minimal division of labor -Neolithic farming villages were common in Southwest Asia between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago.
Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Methods #2
soil marks The stains that show up on the surface of recently plowed fields that reveal an archaeological site. middens In archaeology, refuse or garbage disposal areas in prehistoric sites. grid system A system for recording data from an archaeological excavation into three dimensions. datum point The starting point or reference for a grid system. relative dating In archaeology and paleoanthropology, desig- nating an event, object, or fossil as being older or younger than another by noting the position in the earth, by measuring the amount of chemicals contained in fossil bones and artifacts, or through association with other plant, animal, or cultural remains. absolute dating (chronometric dating) In archaeology and paleoanthropology, dating archaeological or fossil materials in units of absolute time using scientific properties such as rates of decay of radioactive elements - . Relying upon advances in chem- istry and physics, these methods use properties such as rates of decay of radioactive elements. The radioactive ele- ments may be present in the remains themselves or in the surrounding soil.
Anthropology and Its Fields
specialize in one of four fields or subdisciplines: cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological (physical) anthropology - applied anthropology The use of anthropological knowledge and methods to solve practical problems, often for a specific client. medical anthropology The specialization in anthropology that brings theoretical and applied approaches from cultural and biological anthropology to the study of human sickness and health. cultural anthropology -social or sociocultural - The study of customary patterns in human behavior, thought, and feelings. It focuses on humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures. Also known as social or sociocultural anthropology. culture A society's shared and socially transmitted ideas, val- ues, and perceptions that are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are reflected in behavior.
Historical archaeology
the archaeological study of places for which written records exist, often provides data that differ considerably from the historical record
Linguistic anthropology
the branch of anthropology that studies human languages, investigates their structure, history, and relation to social and cultural contexts. - =Descriptive Linguistics This branch of linguistic anthropology involves the painstaking work of dissecting a language by recording, delineating, and analyzing all its features. - Historical Linguistics - Language in Its Social and Cultural Settings Some linguistic anthropologists study the social and cul- tural contexts of a language
Ethnography
the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures. - Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) A vast collection of cross-indexed ethnographic, biocultural, and archaeological data catalogued by cultural characteristics and geographic location; archived in about 300 libraries (on microfiche or online). informed consent A formal recorded agreement between the subject and the researcher to participate in the research; legally required for researchers in many countries.