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Anthropology

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Holistic (multifaceted): approach to the study of human beings.
Refers to an approach that studies many aspects of a multifaceted system.
Cross-cultural: discovering general patterns about cultural traits
Two broad classification of anthropology
Biological (Physical)
Seeks the emergence of humans & their later evolution (called human paleontology) and how & why contemporary human populations vary biologically (human variation)
Study the fossils of human, prehumans & related animals
Human genetics, population biology & epidemiology
Cultural
How & why cultures vary or are similar in the past & present
Archaeology: study of past cultures
Anthropological linguistics: study of language
Ethnology: study of existing & recent cultures
Archaeology
Seek to reconstruct the daily life & customs of peoples who lived in the past but also to trace cultural changes & to offer possible explanations for those changes
Deal with prehistory (time before written records)
Historical archaeology: studies the remains of recent peoples who left written records
Must used info from present & recent past in trying to understand the distant past
Linguistics
Study of languages
Had to construct a dictionary & grammar, then could study the structure & history of language
Study changes that have taken place over time
Historical linguistics: study of how languages change over time & how they may be related
Descriptive: focus of linguistics
Discovering & recording the principles that determine how sounds & words are put together in a speech
Sociolinguistics: study of how language is used in social contexts
Social aspects of language what people speak about & how they interact conversationally
Applied
Making anthropological knowledge useful
Ethnography
A description of a society’s customary behaviors and ideas
Relevance of anthropology
Must study humans and it help us avoid misunderstandings between peoples
Anthropology is a comparatively young discipline

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Acquired characteristics could be inherited & therefore species could evolve; individuals who in their lifetime developed characteristics helpful to survival would pass those characteristics on to future generations, changing the physical makeup of the species.
Use & Disuse of organs & body parts
Fluids & forces directed toward need
Interactions between organisms & environment
Charles Lyell
Uniformitarianism: suggested that the earth is constantly being shaped by natural forces that have operated over a vast stretch of time.
Beliefs that explanations for past events should be sought in ordinary forces that continue to work today
Tomas Malthus
Competition for resources & food
Focus on human populations
More offspring born than can survive to age of reproduction
Charles Darwin
Natural Selection:
We descended from monkeys
Variation in nature/nature selects specific traits
The origin of specifics (1859)
Is the main process that increases the frequency of adaptive traits through time.
Unilinear Evolutionist
Compile accounts of cultures written primarily by explorers, settlers, missionaries, traders and other Western observers;
Compare all cultures to determine which were the simplest, the next most simple, to the most complex;
Lewis Henry Morgan
Progressive cultural evolution
Ancient Society postulated several sequences in the evolution of human culture.
Interested in the local Iroquois Indians
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity in the Human Family (1870) was the first systematic compendium of cross-cultural data on systems of kinship terminology;
Early pioneer in the study of kinship systems and recognition of cross cultural differences.
Edward Tylor
Maintain that culture evolved from the simple to the complex & that all societies passed through three basic stages of development: from savagery through barbarism to civilization
Psychic unity among all peoples that explained parallel evolutionary sequences in different cultural traditions.
Different societies often find the same solutions to the same probs independently
Cultural traits may spread from one society to another (diffusion)
Carolus Linnaeus
Humans are classified into 4 distinct races (American, European, Asiatic, & African)
Defined by physical, emotional, & behavioral
Frank Boas
Disagreement with the evolutionist involved their assumption that universal laws governed all human culture
Opposed race theory
Historical particularism: premature to formulate universal laws.
Single cultural traits had to be studied in the context of the society in which they appeared
The essence of science is to mistrust all expectations & to rely only on facts
Father of anthropology
Margaret Mead
Student of Boa
Psychological of a psychological orientation
Bronsislaw Malinowski
Functionalism assume that all traits cultural traits serve the needs of individuals in a society; they satisfy some basic need of members of the group
Father of ethnography
Sociobiology/Human behavioral ecology
The study of the relationships between organisms & their environment
Scientific Approach vs. Humanistic Approach
Scientific Approach
Find answers about humans
Humanistic Approach
Strive for humanistic understanding

Qualitative Research/Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Concerned with understanding behavior from the informant’s frame of reference;
Participant observation or interview common.
Quantitative Research
Employs statistical analyses and relationships of cause and effect between variables;
Surveys or questionnaires, experimental procedures, correlational designs, survey instruments, experimental instruments, observations (differences between ethnography and sociology).
John Whiting
Societies with apparently low-protein diets tend to have long postpartum sex taboos
Call the relationship between low-protein diets & the sex taboo a statistical association
Theories
Explanations of laws & statistical associations, are more complicated than the observed relationships they are intended to explain
A theory can suggest new relationships or imply new predictions that might be supported or confirmed by new research
Random Sample
A sample in which all cases selected have an equal chance of being included in the sample
Ethnology
Cross-cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, society, & culture
Participant Observation
They observed, & took part in, the important events of those societies & carefully questioned the people about their native customs (participant observation)
Ethnographic Method
Provide much of the essential data for all kinds of studies cultural anthropology
Get to know the context of the society’s customs by asking the people about those customs & by observing
Fossils
Are the hardened remains or impressions of plants & animals that lived in the past
Relative Dating Methods
To determine the age of a specimen or deposit relative to another specimen
Stratigraphy: study of how different rock or soil formations are laid down in layers
Fluorine Absorption Analysis
Another Relative Dating Technique Applies Only to Bones (Groundwater) and to Local Conditions Only. Bones fossilizing in the same ground for the same length of time absorb the same proportion of fluorine from the local groundwater. *
Potassium Argon Dating
40K is radioactive isotope of potassium (found in volcanic rocks)
40Ar is an inert gas
Half-life 1.25 billion years (potassium into argon)
Molten lava is 100% potassium (no argon)
Often used on inorganic compounds older than 500,000 ya; text states 5,000 to 3 billion years old.

Darwin’s principles
All species capable of producing more offspring than their food supply can support;
Biological variation within all species;
Competition between individuals (for resources);
Favorable variations more likely to survive and reproduce (fitness).
Environmental context determines if trait is beneficial;
Greater reproductive success of some individuals (more favorable traits);
Changes accumulate, new species emerge;
Geographical isolation and different selective pressures may also lead to formation of new species.
Selective Pressures
Forces in the environment that influence reproductive success in individuals (e.g., predators, conspecifics, resource availability, climate, etc.) (moth changes color)
Fitness & reproductive success
Reproductive success: The number of offspring an individual produces and rears to reproductive age; an individual’s genetic contribution to the next generation as compared to the contributions of other individuals.
Peppered Moth
Fit in the environment in order to hide from predators
Mendelian (Traits)
Genetics studies the ways in which chromosomes transmit genes across generations
Mendel’s Experiments
Pea plants
Genotypes
The total compliment of inherited traits or genes of an organism
Phenotype
The observable physical appearance of an organism, which may or may not reflect its genotype or total genetic constitution.
Mendelian Inheritance
Characteristics that are influenced by alleles at only one genetic locus. Examples may include blood types such as ABO. Many genetic disorders such as sickle-cell anemia and Tay-Sachs disease are also Mendelian Traits.
V.A. McKusick (1998) lists 1700 traits;
ABO system (blood types);
Genetic disorders (sickle-cell anemia, brachydactyly);
Common misconceptions regarding dominant and recessiveness (e.g., eye color);
Carriers; one recessive allele (heterozygotes)
Genetic Drift
To various random process that affect gene frequencies in small, relatively isolated populations
Change in gene frequency that results not from natural selection but from chance; most evident in small populations.
Pitcairn Island
Genetic Drift
Gene Flow
Gene flow is the process by whereby genes pass from one population to that of another through mating and reproduction;
Unlike the other processes of natural selection and genetic drift, gene flow tends to decrease differences between populations;
Provides variability on which natural selection can work;
Gene flow tends to prevent speciation or the formation of new species;
Critical factor in better understanding hominid evolution;
John Scopes Trial
Sociobiology
Evolutionary psychology & dual-inheritance theory involve the application of evolutionary principles to the behavior of animals & humans

Acclimatization involves physiological adjustments to environmental conditions in individuals. May have underlying genetic factors but variation is largely attributable to environmental factors effecting growth and development. One example is short (shivering) and long-term (increased metabolic rate) adaptations to exposure to cold weather.
Are simply psychological changes in the body that appear & disappear as the environment changes
Bergmann’s rule
Describes what seems to be a general relationship between body size & temperature: the slender populations of a species inhabit the warmer parts of its geographic range & the more robust populations inhabit the cooler areas
W.F. Loomis & the Vitamin D Hypothesis
Ultraviolet light stimulates production of Vitamin D (available in a few foods)
Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium in the intestines (nervous system, normal bone growth);
Too little calcium – Rickets (bone deformities in legs, pelvis, spine);
Narrowing of birth canal; Complications during childbirth; Even death of mother and fetus.
Too much calcium – Hypervitaminosis;
Hypervitaminosis leads to kidney malfunction;
Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) provide empirical support;
African Americans in northern U.S. cities suffered a higher incidence of rickets than African Americans who lived in southern states;
Dairy industry begins supplementing milk with Vitamin D.
Sickle-Cell Anemia + Malaria (Natural Selection)
A condition in which red blood cells assume a crescent (sickle) shape when deprived of oxygen, instead of the normal (disk) shape. The sickle-shaped red blood cells do not move through the body as readily as normal cells, and thus cause damage to the heart, lungs, brain, and other vital organs.
Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a variant form of the genetic instructions for hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the red blood cells;
Individuals who have sickle-cell anemia have inherited the same allele (HbS) from both parents are therefore homozygous for the gene (HbS HbS) or (HbSS). This is often fatal.
Individuals who receive this allele from only one parent are heterozygous (HbA HbS or HbAS). They have one normal (HbA) and one sickled (HbS).
Heterozygotes generally will not show the full-blown symptoms of the sickle-cell disease (may have a mild anemia and are “carriers).
Common in the tropical belt of Africa, Greece, Sicily, and southern India;
Heterozygotes appear to have a selective advantage in malarial environments where the plasmodium parasites transmitted by anopheles mosquitos cannot reproduce. Example of a balanced polymorphism (balancing selection). Sickled version not selected out of population.
Geographic comparisons show that the sickle-cell allele tends to be found where the incidence of malaria is high;
More prevalent in the tropics with yam and rice agriculture (slash-and-burn cultivation provides breeding grounds for the Anopheles mosquito);
Children who are heterozygous for the sickle-cell trait have fewer malarial parasites;
If no balancing selection because malaria is not present, we should find a rapid decline in the incidence of the sickle-cell allele (HbAHbA is normal).
Inherit less efficient form (from both parents). Sickle- or crescent-shaped;
Impaired circulation, oxygen deprivation to vital organs, death (100,000 worldwide);
Malaria caused by the Plasmodium parasite transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes;
Invade red blood cells and reproduce (oxygen).
HbA HbA
Homozygous (Normal)/Malaria
HbS HbS
Homozygous/Sickle-Cell Anemia
HbA HbS
Heterozygous/Sickle-Cell Trait
Most Adaptive in Malarial Environment
Prevalence reaches 50-75% in some African populations;
Spread in the tropics as result of economic and cultural changes;
West African cultures adopt slash-and-burn agriculture over last 2000 years;
Clear tropical rainforests; Deforestation causes stagnant pools of water;
Powerful selective force;
Biological Race vs. Social Race
Biological: different populations, traits
Variety of a species that differs
Social: color of skin
R.D. Lewontin’s (1972) Multivariate Approach, Conclusions, and AAA Statement on Race
Lewontin’s research at the heart of the American Anthropological Association statement on race:
Evidence from the analysis of genetics indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groupings. Conventional geographical groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes.

Physical Features (Primates)
Arboreal:
Tree-dwelling; arboreal primates include gibbons (apes), all New World monkeys, and many Old World monkeys.
Terrestrial:
Ground-dwelling; baboons and macaques (monkeys), and humans are terrestrial primates; gorillas (apes) spend most of their time on the ground.
Most skeletal features of the primates reflect arboreal adaptation or heritage;
Grasping hands and feet (prehensile);
Clavicle or collarbone gives primates great freedom of movement (flexibility in the shoulders);
Primates generally omnivorous—varied, broad diet eating all kinds of food including insects and small animals, fruits, seeds, leaves, and roots;
Molars and premolars are unspecialized (generalized for omnivorous diet);
Incisors and canines are often very specialized, particularly in the lower primates such as the dental comb among some prosimians
Primate hands are flexible and prehensile (grasping) and have five digits on hands and feet;
Tactile pad enriched with sensory nerve fibers (digits);
Adapted for quadrupedal locomotion (arboreal and terrestrial primates);
Forelimb/hind limb ratios vary according to mode of locomotion;
Vertical clinging and leaping;
Brachiation/suspensory (arms longer than legs).
Primate Classification System
Different methods exist of classifying primates (authors present a simplified classification);
Tarsiers and humans somewhat controversial in terms of their classification into various primate taxonomies;
The order Primates is generally divided into two suborders: the Prosimians (lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers) and Anthropoids. Include New and Old World monkeys, lesser apes (gibbons and siamangs), the great apes (orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees), and humans.
Prosimians (Lemurs, Lorises, Tarsiers)
60+ Million Years Ago
More Variety Than Any Other Primate Group
Non-Primate Appearance
Moist Nose or Rhinarium
Lack of Fully Developed Facial Muscles
More Laterally Placed Eyes
Power Grip But No Precision Grip
Dental Comb (Incisors)
Grooming Claw (i.e., Toilet Claw) Used to Clean Fur
Color or Stereoscopic Vision Debatable
Shorter Gestation and Maturation Periods
Lemurs and their relatives—the indris and the aye-ayes, are found on two island areas off the southeastern coast of Africa, Madagascar, and the Comoro Islands;
Range in size from the mouse lemur to the 4-foot long indri;
Usually produce single offspring but some produce twins or even triplets;
Many species are quadrupeds—walk on all fours in the trees and on the ground;
60 species of lemur found on Madagascar (adaptive radiation). Ring-tailed lemur more terrestrial (adapted to the ground);
Other species, such as indris, practice vertical clinging and leaping (long, powerful hind limbs propel them through the trees);
Many lemur species are nocturnal (active during the night);
In some species, females dominate males over access to food.
Lorislike
Found in both Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. All are nocturnal and arboreal;
Eat fruit, gums, and insects and usually give birth to single infants;
Two major subfamilies—lorises and bush babies (galago) and show wide behavioral differences. Bush babies much more agile and active than lorises.
Tarsiers
Nocturnal, tree-living tarsiers, found only on the islands of the Philippines and Indonesia, are the only primates that depend completely on animal foods (eat insects, small animals);
Possess enormous eyes for night vision and have elongated tarsal (ankle) bones useful for vertical clinging and leaping;
Classification of tarsiers controversial. Have prosimian and anthropoid traits.
Anthropoids (Monkeys, Apes, Humans)
One of two suborders of primates that includes monkeys, apes, and humans;
Most anthropoids share several traits including rounded braincases, reduced, nonmobile outer ears; and relatively small, flat faces instead of muzzles, and highly dexterous hands;
Divided into two main groups.
New world monkeys
Three premolars instead of two (2133 dental pattern). Incisors, canines, premolars, molars);
Some have a prehensile tail (grasping) such as Howler and Spider Monkey;
All are completely arboreal;
Diet ranges insects to nectar and sap to fruit and leaves.
Callitrichidae (Marmosets, Tamarins) NWM
Are very small and eat insects;
Multiple births (often twins);
Have claws instead of nails on some digits;
May contain a mated pair (monogamy) or a female mated to more than one male (polyandry).
Males often heavily involved in infant care (early in life).
Cebidae
Larger than Callitrichids;
Bear one offspring at a time;
Include woolly spider, capuchin, squirrel monkeys, howlers, etc.;
Diet of leaves, insects, flowers, fruits.
Old World Monkeys (Hook Nosed Catarrhines)
Rock of Gibraltar, Africa; India, Pakistan, Japan;
Hooked-nosed Catarrhines (narrower noses with downward facing nostrils (no rhinarium);
Full color vision (monkeys, apes, and humans);
Arboreal and terrestrial species;
2123 dental pattern;
More morphological and behavioral diversity than New World monkeys;
Cercopithecines (Baboons and Macaques)
Closely related baboon and macaque females form the core of a local group, or troop;
Many social behaviors seem to be determined by degree of biological relatedness;
Sexual dimorphism more pronounced among terrestrial species (and heavily studied by primatologists for implications of savanna dwelling group-living primates).
Lesser Apes (Gibbons and Siamangs)
Found in the jungles of Southeast Asia;
Relatively small weighing between 11 and 15 pounds for the gibbon, 25 for the siamang;
Mostly fruit eaters (frugivorous);
Long arms and curved fingers adapted for brachiation;
Live in small, monogamous (primary) family groups that mate for life with offspring. Primary group is territorial;
Low levels of sexual dimorphism and high male parental investment in offspring.
Hominoid Characteristics
Large brains, especially in the areas of the cerebral cortex associated with the ability to integrate data;
Long arms, short, broad trunks, and no tails;
Wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints allow a greater range of movement than in other primates;
Hands are longer and stronger than those of other primates.
Skeletal features evolved for suspensory locomotion;
Other anthropoids move quadrupedally along or along tops of tree branches or on the ground, hominoids suspend themselves from below the branches and swing hand over hand (brachiation);
This suspensory posture also translates to locomotion on the ground; all hominoids occasionally move bipedally.
All hominoids except for humans have long canine teeth that project beyond the tops of the other teeth and a corresponding space in the opposite jaw called a diastema to accommodate the canines when the mouth is closed;
The contact of the upper canine to the lower third premolar creates a sharp cutting edge (sectorial premolar). Diet characterized in part by fibrous plant materials.
Orangutans (Great Apes)
Orangutans live only on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra (Asiatic Great Ape);
Pronounced sexual dimorphism (males twice as large as females, have large cheek pads, throat pouches, beards, and long hair);
Primarily frugivorous and arboreal;
Four handed fist walkers;
Largest arboreal primates.
Orangutans historically studied by Birute Galdikas and considered solitary (except mother and young);
Recently, this view has been challenged with data suggesting more group life than previously thought;
Regional differences in behavior suggesting evidence for orangutan culture.
Gorillas/Western and Eastern Lowland, Mountain
Western Lowland Gorilla (110,000 in western and central Africa): Central African Republic, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria
Eastern Lowland Gorilla (12,000 in the Congo)
Mountain Gorilla (600 in Rwanda, Congo, Uganda). Traditionally studied by Dian Fossey.
Gorillas found in the lowland areas of western equatorial Africa and in the mountain areas of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda;
Other apes primarily fruit eaters, gorillas eat other parts of plants—stems, shoots (bamboo), pith, leaves, roots and flowers. Also eat fruit;
Largest of the surviving apes and characterized by pronounced sexual dimorphism.
Gorillas, like chimps, are semiquadrupedal knuckle-walkers;
Sleep on the ground or in nests made from non-food plant items;
Live in groups consisting of a dominant male called a silverback, other adult males, adult females, and immature offspring;
Leave natal groups upon adolescence/young adulthood. Find mates in other groups.
Chimpanzees/Common and Bonobo
Western Central Africa (Gabon, Congo, Cameroon);
Western Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia);
Eastern Africa (Congo, Uganda, Tanzania).
Traditionally studied by Jane Goodall at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania and their and in other locations by a number of primatologists.
Bonobos seem to differ in social behavior being more gregarious, groups tend to be more stable, and, importantly, centered around females instead of males;
Sexual habits well publicized among bonobos and this provides another emerging contrast between the two groups of chimpanzees.
Hominidae/Humans
Hominids (family Hominidae) make up one living species, humans;
Humans have many distinctive characteristics that set them apart from other anthropoids and hominoids;
Some believe these traits are significant to justify a separate family (Hominidae) from the great apes (Pongidae) while others lump chimps, gorillas, and humans in Hominidae and leave orangutans as the sole member of Pongidae. Chimps, humans, gorillas, closely related genetically and African in origin.
Humans are the only primate that are habitually bipedal and have several critical adaptations to bipedalism in terms of skeletal structure (shape of pelvis, lumbar curvature, arched, nonprehensile feet, etc.);
Hominid brain large and complex, particularly the cerebral cortex, the center of speech and other higher mental activities;
Brain size averages 1300cc compared to 525cc for the gorilla.

Oligocene Epoch (34-24 mya)
Aegyptopithecus Zeuxis: 13-lb fruit-eating quadrupedal primate;
Also characterized by considerable sexual dimorphism and large brain dedicated to vision;
Teeth, jaws, and some aspects of skull apelike—monkeylike from the neck down
Miocene Epoch (24-5.2 mya)
During the Miocene (24-5.2 mya), monkeys and apes diverged—Europe, Asia, and Africa;
Infer that at the end of this period (8-5 mya), the direct ancestor of humans appears (i.e., the hominids);
Section discusses “proto-apes”—anthropoids with some apelike characteristics of the early Miocene and definitive apes of the middle and late Miocene.
Most of the fossils from early Miocene described as proto-apes including the best-known of this time called Proconsul (20 mya).
Proconsul
Arboreal quadrupedal fruit-eater found in Kenya and Uganda;
Characterized by classic ape feature of no tail, but was not a suspensory primate. Apelike dentition but monkeylike limb proportions including longer legs than arms. Ancestor to both monkeys and apes?
Some describe as “dental apes.”
Sivapithecus
was once thought ancestral to hominids due to its flat and thickly enameled molars, smaller, canines, and less sexual dimorphism than other Miocene apes (Asia);
Also lived in a mixed woodland-grassland environment like early hominids and diet consisted of diet of coarse grasses and seeds;
Gigantopithecus
similar in dentition to Sivapithecus but much larger, perhaps as tall as 10 feet and 600+ pounds. Largest primate and may have lived from about 10 mya-250,000;
Eat grasses, fruits, seeds, bamboo (crushing and grinding diet);
The real Bigfoot, Yeti, or Sasquatch! U.S. servicemen claimed to have seen in Vietnam.
Dryopithecus
was a chimpanzee-sized ape that lived in the forests of Eurasia;
Arboreal, omnivorous, and had thinner tooth enamel. Some characteristics resembled modern hominoids;
Dryopithecus and Sivapithecus adapted for suspending, brachiating locomotion.
Divergence/Split of Chimpanzees and Humans
7-6 mya

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