Anthropology 101 Midterm

Applied Anthropology

the application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

Relative Dating

provides a time frame in relation to other strata or materials rather than absolute dates in numbers.

Cultural Consultants

people who by accident, experience, talent, or training can provide the most complete or useful information about particular aspects of life.

Cultural Anthropology

The study of human society and culture; describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences.

Archaeology

reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains

Holism

refers to the study of the whole of the human condition: past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture.

Adaptation

refers to the processes by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses, such as those posed by climate and topography or terrains, also called landforms

Anthropology

the study of humans around the world and through time

Ethnography

provides an account of a particular community, society, or culture

Biological Anthropology

the study of human biological through time as it exists through the world today.

Linguistic Anthropology

studies language in its social and cultural context, across space and over time

Cross-Cultural perspective

constantly comparing the customs of one society with those of others.

Paleoanthropology

the study of ancient humans and human evolution through bones, skulls, teeth, and other material remains

Culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

Symbols

signs that have no necessary or natural connection to the things they stand for, or signify.

cultural universals

general cultural traits that exist in all cultures

Franz Boas (1858-1942)

"The Father of American Anthropology," discovered plasticity of skulls, rejected craniometric classification

Ethnocentrism

the tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to apply one's own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people raised in other cultures

Fossils

Remains, traces, or impressions (e.g footprints) of ancient life forms.

Survey

a descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group

Primatology

the study of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman primates

Social Science

contains fields that studies people and the relationships among them

Science

a "systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through experiment, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with references to the material and physical world

Cultural-bound theories

a term that indicates the native country's culture is a trigger for a certain social behavior or trend.

Armchair Anthropology

an early and discredited method of anthropological research that did not involve direct contact with the people studied. Colonialism

The Old assumed timeline of humans

"Savages" -> "Barbarians" -> "Civilization

Enculturation

The social process by which culture is learned and transmitted across generations

Nacirema

A term anthropologists and sociologists have used to examine aspects of the behavior and society of American people

human rights

The doctrine that invokes a realm of justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries, cultures, and religions. Usually seen as vested in individuals, include the rights to speak freely, to hold religious beliefs without persecution, and not to be enslaved.

cultural relativism

The position that the values and standards of cultures differ and deserve respect. Anthropology is characterized by methodological rather than moral relativism: In order to understand another culture fully, anthropologists try to understand its members' beliefs and motivations. Methodological relativism does not preclude making moral judgments or taking action.

Emic

The research strategy that focuses on native explanations and criteria of significance

Etic

The research strategy that emphasizes the observer's rather than the natives' explanations, categories, and criteria of significance.

Excavation

Digging through the layers of deposits that make up an archaeological site.

absolute dating

Dating techniques that establish dates in numbers or ranges of numbers; examples include the radiometric methods of 14C, K/A, 238U, TL, and ESR dating

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)

who was born in Poland but spent most of his professional life in England, did fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands from 1914 to 1918. Malinowski is generally considered to be the father of ethnography

ethnographic fieldwork

entails spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and learning about their way of life.

informed consent

An agreement to take part in research, after the people being studied have been told about that research's purpose, nature, procedures, and potential impact on them.

Evolution

Descent with modification; change in form over generations

Genotype

An organism's genetic makeup, or allele combinations.

Melanin

A substance manufactured in specialized cells in the lower layers of the epidermis (outer skin layer); (blank) cells in dark skin produce more (blank) than do those in light skin.

ethnicity/ethnic group

Identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation.

race

An ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis.

Race in Japan

Image of racial and ethnic homogeneity cultivated, despite the presence of minority groups. Varying Race.

Genocide

Policies aimed at, and/or resulting in, the physical extinction (through mass murder) of a people perceived as a racial group, that is, as sharing defining physical, genetic, or other biological characteristics.

Achieved vs. Ascribed Status

achieved - acquires on basis of merit or effort/action, changeable

ascribed - by birth, unchangeable, unearned, lifelong, assigned to people or groups based on traits beyond control

The Gray & the Brown by Ronald Brownstein

1. Ethnic/racial diversity is increasing, especially among the young. 2. The country is aging, and most of the senior population is White. Referring to America

Gray(Older) and the Brown (Younger)

Cheddar Man

Remains of an ancient human found in England, believed to be the oldest documented DNA link - from 10,000 BC

Primates

Apes, monkeys, tarsiers, lemurs, lorises; members of the zoological order that includes humans.

recent African origins hypothesis

The theory that modern humans are all derived from one single population of archaic Homo sapiens who migrated out of Africa after 100,000 years ago, replacing all other archaic forms due to their superior cultural capabilities; also called the Eve hypothesis and the out of Africa hypothesis.

Natural Selection

Originally formulated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace; the process by which nature selects the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment, such as the tropics

Oldowan tools

Early (2.6-1.8 m.y.a.) stone tools; first discovered in 1931 by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge.

Homo erectus

"Upright man" these hominids became skillful hunters and invented more sophisticated tools for digging, scraping and cutting. They also became the first hominids to migrate from Africa. Also were the first to use fire.

participant observation

A characteristic ethnographic technique; taking part in the events one is observing, describing, and analyzing

Trobriand Islands

islands off the east coast of New Guinea where

Malinowski . Kiriwana islands

code of ethics

do no harm, do promote discussion and education, rather than to investigate possible misconduct. The code addresses several contexts in which anthropologists work. Some of its main points are highlighted in the next paragraph. 66 Chapter 3 Doing Anthropology Anthropologists should be open and honest about their research projects with all parties affected by the research. Those parties should be informed about the nature, procedures, purpose(s), potential impacts, and source(s) of support for the research. Researchers should pay attention to proper relations between themselves as guests and the host nations and communities where they work. Do not take stands

NAGPRA

Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act; Native American have rights to the remains of ancestors and sacred objects.

Artifacts

material items that humans have made, used, or modified—such as tools, weapons, campsites, buildings, and garbage

Phenotype

An organism's evident traits; its "manifest biology"—anatomy and physiology

Concordant Traits

the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic (phenotypic trait) given that one of the pair has the characteristic.

Hypodescent

A rule that automatically places the children of a union or mating between members of different socioeconomic groups in the less privileged group.

Race in Brazil

has many different classifications such as hair color, eye color, facial features, etc.

Ethnocide

the deliberate suppression or destruction of an ethnic culture by a dominant group.

Plural Society

A society that combines ethnic contrasts, ecological specialization (i.e., use of different environmental resources by each ethnic group), and the economic interdependence of those groups

Black Lives Matter

Civil rights movement sparked by a series of incidents of police brutality and lethal force against people of color.

White privalege

the unacknowledged and unearned assets that benefit whites in their everyday lives

Hominins

A member of the human lineage after its split from ancestral chimps; used to describe all the human species that ever have existed, including the extinct ones, but excluding chimps and gorillas.

Bipedalism

Upright two-legged locomotion, the key feature differentiating early hominins from the apes

Australopithecines

Varied group of Pliocene- Pleistocene hominins that includes the genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus

Acheulean tools

Derived from the French village of St. Acheul, where these tools were first identified; Lower Paleolithic tool tradition associated with H. erectus.

Neandertals

Distinctive group of hominins that inhabited Europe (through Siberia) and the Middle East from 130,000 to 28,000 b.p

Pleistocene Epoch

Homo's appearance and evolution; began 2 million years ago; divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper.

Denisovans

Cousins of the Neandertals who lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 b.p.

Anatomically Modern Humans

Including the Cro-Magnons of Europe (31,000 b.p.) and the older fossils from Jebel Irhoud (300,000 b.p.), Omo Kibish (195,000 b.p.), Misliya Cave (194,000-177,000 b.p.), Herto (160,000-154,000 b.p.), Skhūl (100,000 b.p.), and Qafzeh (92,000 b.p.); continuing through the present.

Behavioral Modernity

The advent of modern human behavioral capabilities based on symbolic thought and language, in addition to modern anatomy.

Clovis Tradition

Stone technology based on a projectile point that was fastened to the end of a hunting spear; it flourished between 13,250 b.p. and 12,800 b.p. in North America.

Broad Spectrum Revolution

Although hunting remained important, southwestern European economies became less specialized. A wider range, or broader spectrum, of plant and animal life was being hunted, gathered, collected, caught, and fished. It was revolutionary because, in the Middle East, it led to food production—human control over the reproduction of plants and animals, stated by Kent Flannery

Natufians

A widespread Middle Eastern culture, dated to between 15,000 and 11,700 b.p.; subsisted on intensive wild cereal collecting and gazelle hunting and had yearround villages.

Jomon Culture

Occupied Nittano and were in Asian

Hardin Village vs Indian Knoll

Hardin- . It is known for its contribution to the study of the Mississippian culture, which was a mound-building Native American civilization that flourished in the midwestern, eastern, and southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE.

Indian Knoll- It is recognized for its significant findings related to the Archaic period, which spans roughly 8000 to 1000 BCE in the Americas. The site has provided evidence of early human occupation, including the presence of various tools, artifacts, and the remains of prehistoric settlements.

Hardin is newer

Catalhoyuk

Neolithic site located in modern-day Turkey. It is one of the most important archaeological sites for understanding the early development of human society and culture. This site has yielded a wealth of information about the social, economic, and religious practices of one of the world's earliest known settled communities. Here are some key points about its significance in anthropology:

Pseudo-archaeology

the use of selective archaeological evidence to promulgate nonscientific, fictional accounts of the past (e.g "the missing link")

Bronze Age

to the study of human societies and cultures during the period in which bronze metallurgy was the dominant technology for making tools, weapons, and other implements. 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE

Ranked Society

a social structure in which individuals and groups within the society have varying degrees of prestige, honor, or social status that are formally recognized and institutionalized. This system is typically characterized by hierarchical relationships, where certain individuals or groups hold higher positions or authority compared to others.

Metallurgy

Knowledge of the properties of metals, including their extraction and processing and the manufacture of metal tools.

Indus River Valley Civilization

from the river valley along which it extended. Located in what is today northwestern India and adjacent Pakistan, the major cities of that state were Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Anceint Civilzation that thrived.

Teotihuacan

first major metropolis in Mesoamerica, collapsed around 800 CE. It is most remembered for the gigantic "pyramid of the sun".

Language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Evolution of language

Sumerians first written, First spoken varies.

Dialect

a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

Mousterian tools

A Middle Paleolithic tool-making tradition associated with Neandertals.

Blombos Cave

Southern africa , an archaeological team led by Christopher Henshilwood found evidence that AMHs were making bone awls and weapon points more than 70,000 years ago. Three points had been shaped with a stone blade and then finely polished.

Upper Paleolithic

Blade-tool-making traditions associated with AMHs; named for their location in upper, or more recent, layers of sedimentary deposits

Holocene Epoch

The geological epoch beginning around 11,700 b.p.; the transition from foraging to food production took place during the early Holocene.

neolitchic revolution

First sign of domestification transition to an agarian lifestyle.

Sedentism

Settled (sedentary) life; preceded food production in the Old World and followed it in the New World.

Mespotamia

The area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now southern Iraq and southwestern Iran; location of the first cities and states.

Primary States

States that arise on their own (through competition among chiefdoms), and not through contact with other state societies

Uruk

The largest city of ancient Mesopotamia

Social Stratification

The organization of society into sharp social divisions—strata— based on unequal access to socially valued resources.

Cueniform

Sumerian method of writing using a stylus to make combinations of wedge shapes, believed as first writing system