Intro to Biological Anthropology Unit 2

Extant primates and human variation

Age of Exploration

during the Age of Exploration, philosophers and naturalists sought to categorize these new discoveries as Europeans were introduced to more and more of the world

Giordano Bruno

• 1548-1600

• Italian philosopher

• attempted to classify humans based on rudimentary geographic arrangements based on skin color

Jean Bodin

• 1530-1596

• French philosopher

• attempted typology based on skin color, but purely descriptive 

John Ray

• 1627-1705

• classified human populations into categories

  • stature

  • shape

  • food habits

  • skin color

François Bernier

• 1625-1688

• first to develop a comprehensive classification of humans into distinct races 

• used “four quarters” of the earth as the basis for labeling human differences

  • Europeans (W)

  • far Easterners (E)

  • Negroes (S)

  • Lapps (N)

Johann Blumenbach

• 1752-1840

• German physician

• defined five hierarchical racial categories that were based on craniometry

  • Cacucasian

  • Mongolian

  • Malayan

  • Ethiopian

  • American

Pieter Camper

• 1722-1789

• craniometric theoretician

• conceived the “facial angle” measurement as a tool to measure intelligence and justify racial differences

  • a racist biological hierarchy

Arthur de Gobineau

• 1816-1882

• French aristocrat

• known for his book An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races

• proposed three human races: white, black, and yellow

  • described them as “natural barriers” that could not mix

• his ideas were influential to the Nazi Party of Germany

Carl Vogt

• 1817-1895

• polygenist evolutionist

• wrote that the “white” race and “Negro” race were two totally different species

  • claimed that the differences between the two were greater than those between two species of ape

Samuel Morton

• 1799-1851

• American physical anthropologist

• most famous for his collection of human skulls

• claimed he could judge intellectual capacity by measuring cranial capacity

  • large skull = large brain = high intellectual capacity

• wrote a book called Crania Americana

  • used craniometry to argue the hierarchy of racial intelligence

craniometry

the study of the shape and form of human skulls

polytypic species

a biological species that consists of two or more geographically distinct subspecies, or populations, which are differentiated by variations in physical characteristics, behavior, or genetics

subspecies

a subdivision of a species, typically a distinct geographically isolated population with minor, constant differences in characteristics from other populations of the same species

gene flow

the idea of migration and the mixing between population pools

Julian Huxley

• developed the term Clinal Variation

• describes how a species’ traits, such as body shape or color, can vary continuously across a geographical area

cline

the result of two opposing evolutionary drivers: selection and gene flow

C. Loring Brace

• physical anthropologist at the University of Michigan

• played an important role in the reconceptualization of genotypic and phenotypic variation in humans

  • observed that these variations were affected by natural selection, migration, or genetic drift were distributed along geographic gradients called clines

continuous variation

traits that show a gradual spectrum of differences within a population, such as height or skin color, rather than distinct, separate categories

melanin

a compound produced by cells known as melanocytes, determines the skin color, eye color, hair color, etc. in humans

eumelanin

a type of melanin that humans produce, ranges from back to brown in color

pheomelanin

a type of melanin that humans produce, ranges from red to yellow in color

dermis

epidermis

ultraviolet radiation (UVR)

destroys folate, but humans also need UVR for vitamin D

melanocytes

the pigment-producing cells that are central to understanding human skin color variation

melanosomes

pigment-producing organelles that store melanin, which provide skin and hair color

folate

• vitamin B9 that comes from your diet

• regulates gene expression

• maintains levels of aa

• helps in formation of myelin

• important in production of neurotransmitters

neural tube defects

birth defects that occur when the neural tube does not close completely during early pregnancy

vitamin D

• vitamin that humans cannot synthesize ourselves

• obtain from UV rays or your diet

MC1R gene

• Melanocortin-I receptor

• stimulates the production of eumelanin

  • a dark hair and skin phenotype

polymorphic

a phenomenon where a single species exhibits two or more distinct forms within a population, often due to the presence of multiple alleles for a specific gene

SLC24A5

a genetic variation that emerged in the European population that leads to lighter skin tones, which suppresses eumelanin in human bodies

lactose intolerance

lactose (galactose + glucose)

lactase

lactase persistence

dairying

adaptation

acclimatization

homeostasis

plasticity

hypoxia

Acute Mountain Sickness

respiration

hypothermia

vasoconstriction

shivering

cold-induced vasodilation

brown adipose tissue

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

CPT1A L479

hyperthermia

sweating

vasodilation

heat cramps

heat exhaustion

heat stroke

Bergmann’s Rule

Allen’s Rule