Anthropology, Linguistics, and Human Evolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering Cultural Anthropology, Linguistics, Biological Evolution, and Behavioral Modernity based on lecture material.

Field notes

A written scientific account of anthropological observation taken during fieldwork.

Emic

The viewpoint of a culture through the eyes of those being researched.

Etic

The viewpoint of a culture through the eyes of the researcher.

Informed consent

A practice crucial to anthropology that builds trust, lays out the purpose of the study, and provides people with the opportunity to participate if they choose.

Phone

Any symbolic sound that a human is capable of making, such as glottal stops.

Phoneme

Sounds or sets of sounds used in a particular language.

Morph

The smallest unit of language that has meaning.

Morpheme

One or more morphs with similar meaning, such as un-, im-, a-, in-, anti-, and non-.

Lexicon

A dictionary of all morphemes in a language and their meanings.

Syntax

The arrangement of words in phrases and sentences.

Socio-linguistics

The study of how language is used in social contexts, including the ethnography of language and the intersection between language and expectation.

Code switching

The practice of using more than one language in a conversation.

Historic linguistics

The study of the origin of languages and how they change over time using the archaeological record.

Proto-Indo-European language

A language that likely emerged from Turkey between $6000-7000\text{ years ago}$ and was present around $3000\text{ BCE}$ in Ukraine.

Bipedalism

Locomotion on two feet providing movement economy, energy conservation, reduced UV exposure, improved environmental vision, and the capability to carry tools, food, and children.

S-shaped spine

An anatomical feature that holds up the head and acts as a shock absorber during bipedal movement.

Ardipithecus

An early hominin dating to $5.8\text{ million years ago}$, predominantly found in Ethiopia.

Australopithecus Anamensis

A hominin species dating from $4.2-3.8\text{ million years ago}$.

Australopithecus Afarensis

A hominin species dating to $3.8\text{ million years ago}$ found in East Africa.

Australopithecus Africanus

A hominin species dating from $3.5-2.5\text{ million years ago}$ with a cranial capacity of $420\,cc-510\,cc$.

Core

Fragile rock that flakes easily, used as raw material in Oldowan tool making starting $2.6\text{ million years ago}$.

Flake

The primary tool produced from a core using a striker in Oldowan stone tool technology, used to cut things and enable meat consumption.

Pliocene

An epoch lasting from $5.3-2.6\text{ million years ago}$ prior to global cooling.

Pleistocene

An epoch lasting from $2.6\text{ million}-12,000\text{ years ago}$ that turned Africa from arboreal to cooler and drier grassland environments with pronounced seasons.

Homo habilis

Meaning "Handy Human", a new genus species emerging $2.8\text{ million years ago}$ with a larger brain relative to body size, rounder head, and smaller face.

Homo erectus

Meaning "Upright human", a species existing $2\text{ million}-500,000\text{ years ago}$ across Africa, Europe, and Asia with modern limb proportions, taller stature, full bipedalism, and average cranial capacity of $950\,cc$ ($1200\,cc$ in Europe $1\text{ million years ago}$).

Acheulean tools

A tool type emerging $1.8\text{ million years ago}$ characterized by fluted edges on the flake and hand axes.

Behavioral modernity

A suit of human behaviors emerging $150,000-100,000\text{ years ago}$ involving tools, symbolism, personal adornment, shelters, rituals, brain growth, and language.

Assimilation model

A model for the rise of Homo sapiens noting shared traits between contemporary humans and sub-Saharan African populations from about $30,000\text{ years ago}$.