Evolutionary Theory and Foundations in Biological Anthropology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on the history of evolutionary thought and the foundations of biological anthropology.

Evolutionary theory

Change in allele frequency within a population over time.

Uniformitarianism

Past natural processes are the same as those at work today; Earth’s features formed by gradual processes (e.g., wind, rain).

Catastrophism

Geological changes attributed to catastrophic events rather than gradual evolution; advocated by Georges Cuvier.

Stratigraphy

Order and relative position of rock layers (strata) and their relation to geological time.

Blumenbach

(1752–1840); proposed five racial categories based on skull studies and helped popularize racial typology through craniometry.

Craniometry

Measurement of skull features (landmarks, cranial capacity) used to study human variation.

Morton

(1799–1851); American founder of physical anthropology in the U.S.; amassed skulls and published Crania Americana (1839) detailing skull measurements and cranial capacity.

Crania Americana

Morton’s 1839 work outlining methods to measure skulls and cranial capacity to argue for racial differences.

Boas

(1858–1942); ‘Father of American Anthropology’; challenged scientific racism and taxonomic approaches; promoted cultural relativism.

Hrdlička

(1869–1943); founder of American Journal of Physical Anthropology and a key figure at NMNH; studied skeletons to understand disease and admixture.

Hooton

(1887–1954); emphasized racial classification; studied criminals; influenced the field and taught at Harvard.

Washburn

(1911–2000); ‘New Physical Anthropology’; integrated primate studies and evolutionary biology to study evolution and adaptation.

Lisht Senebtisi

Skeletal remains from the Egyptian site Lisht; contested handling of remains (Hooton favored hair preservation in mummified individuals; Hrdlička studied admixture); many remains disarticulated.

Descent with modification

Idea that species descend from common ancestors with changes over time.

Common Descent

Shared ancestry among structures or genes across different taxa; exemplified by homologous bones and other traits.

Homology

Existence of shared ancestry between structures or genes in different taxa.

Homoplasy

Trait that arises or is lost independently in separate lineages; not evidence of common ancestry.

Lamarck

proposed orthogenesis and the inheritance of acquired characteristics via use and disuse.

Orthogenesis

Directional, guided evolution toward higher or more complex forms.

Buffon

suggested organisms are adapted to environments but lacked a mechanism for how changes occurred.

Darwin

proposed natural selection as the mechanism of evolution; influenced by uniformitarianism, Beagle voyage, selective breeding, and Malthus.

Beagle voyage

Darwin’s 1831–1836 voyage on the HMS Beagle; observations of biodiversity and geology that shaped evolutionary thinking.

Natural selection

Process by which advantageous traits increase an organism’s survival and reproduction, raising their frequency in a population.

Malthus

argued that populations grow geometrically while resources grow arithmetically, leading to competition and checks on growth.

Wallace

(1823–1913); independently conceived natural selection; co-credited with Darwin for the idea.

Binomial nomenclature

Two-part naming system for species (genus + species), e.g., Homo sapiens.

Taxonomy

Classification of organisms into a hierarchical system reflecting degrees of relatedness.

Scala Naturae

The Ladder of Being; an early, pre-evolutionary idea organizing life in a linear hierarchy.

Creationism

Belief that God created the world and life; often involves a young Earth and little change since creation.