ANTHRO 105 Exam Notes

ANTHROPOLOGY NOTES

ASSIGNMENTS: A series of critical thinking mandatory assignments will be given for various reading/video assignments. To receive any credit for assignments, you MUST follow ALL ASSIGNMENT WRITING REQUIREMENTS.
PARAGRAPH REQUIREMENT – ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRE a minimum of a one paragraph answer to each question (unless it is a fill in the blank question or specified otherwise). For purposes of this course, a paragraph is defined as having A MINIMUM of 3-5 SENTENCE ANSWERS.
SPACING/FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS: a) One-inch margins b) 10–12-point font c) Single spaced. d) If an assignment contains a set of questions, be sure to include the question itself, followed by a double space, then your single-spaced paragraph answer. e) If the assignment requires a minimum number of pages, be sure your Identification/heading and references are in addition to the minimum page requirement. f) Some assignments will require the use of a set of “Critical Thinking Questions” that I will provide at the beginning of the semester. Other assignments will have their own set of questions attached that you will need to answer. I will only provide the “Critical Thinking Questions” set once at the beginning of the semester and students are recommended to SAVE the document AS A TEMPLATE on your COMPUTER at the beginning of the semester for use throughout the semester.

Anthropology: Physical Anthropology and Human Origins 8/25/22

The Nature of Anthropology

We must keep an open mind when looking at different cultures

Culture is passed down from ancestors

Rituals are very human

Mortality is a common theme across cultures

People are fundamentally alike, yet different all the same

To understand people and cultures is the task of anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humankind

“The systematic study of humankind”

Scientific and systematic study

Scientific: knowledge (not indisputable fact, it is subject to change when more data comes along)

Anthropology is holistic in that it searches for interrelationships among its own parts (physical anthro might pull from archaeology) and will pull from outside fields (different disciplines might aid anthropology)

Finding diversity and similarities among cultures

Humanity is complex and diverse

All humanity and culture are equally valid and worthwhile

Ethnocentrism: the tendency to judge others by our own standards and values

Tasmanian Aboriginal genocide is the worst genocide in written history

The British wiped out their entire race

Britain recorded all of their actions

Tasmania was settled as a colony

1820s and 30s

By 1858 there were only 15 Tasmanian Aboriginals living

Biologists began to believe Tasmanians were the missing link

Graves were robbed in search of skulls

Darwin and Wallace (Spencer coined “survival of the fittest”) idea of evolution created a craze

Tropanini was the last of the Tasmanians and her skeleton was hung as an example of “primitive anatomy”

Modern anthropology condemns earlier actions of genocide and grave robbing

Franz Boas, an early anthropologist, celebrated the humanist approach

Margaret Mead was his student (study between personality and culture)

Boasian anthropology introduced cultural relativism

Mead’s early work began in Samoa

Human behavior is influenced by cultural living, not biology

Lead the 1960s racial equality movement

Physical vs Cultural anthropology

19th century Alice Fletcher recorded Omaha culture

She stole artifacts from the Omaha and delivered it to the Peabody Museum in Harvard

Convinced many Omaha leaders to part with artifacts and rituals in the early 19th century

Cultural Relativism: the belief that all cultures are equal and valid and that we should not judge by our own beliefs

Holistic- searches for interrelationships of subject

Physical anthropology- studies humans as a biological species

Genetics

Evolution

Species: group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring among themselves but not with members of other groups

Fossils: Fragmentary remains of bones and living materials preserved from earlier periods

Physical anthropology and archaeology are different

Fossils are natural and were previously living

Fossil Record has gaps and absences

This is where physical anthropology steps in, using DNA

Cultural Anthropology – focuses on human cultural behavior and cultural systems

Variation in cultural expression

Culture: ideas and behaviors that are learned and transmitted

Non-genetic means of adaptation

Exclusive to humans

Focus on CHANGE OVER TIME

Nature vs nurture

Ethnology: analyzing/comparing human cultures and ethnicities

How are societies structured?

“Ethno” = cultural

Ethnography: a scientific description of human cultures

Video, written, drawn

Interviews/observations/etc.

Produced from ethnographic experience

Field Work: going out to do research

Studying out in the world, not a lab

Ex: Mead in Samoa

Linguistic Anthropology: studies characteristics of human language, relationships between languages, and the cultures that speak them

Archaeology- studies the human cultural past and “attempts” the reconstruction of past cultural systems

Artifact: object that has been consciously manufactured

Ex: knife used by the Sioux

Artifacts are material culture

Applied Anthropology

Concerned with making anthropological knowledge useful

Critical Thinking Questions

Topic/Purpose- what is the topic/purpose of the video/article?

Assumptions- What is an assumption that the video/article makes?

Gaps and Absences- Can you think of kinds of evidence, arguments, or interpretations that seem missing or even avoided?

Authority- Do the authors explore alternative possibilities and interpretation that stimulate further debate and analysis?

Personal- What is your personal reaction to the video/article? What did you learn from the article/video?

In question 1, what is a concept that the media discusses? Based on subject matter (3-5 sentences) Are there any issues you have with a piece of media?

In question 2, what assumptions exist in the media? Assumptions are necessary in anthropology, so are these assumptions supported with evidence? If assumptions are elevated with evidence, it becomes an argument. Is there room for more information?

Is there anything missing? Cover this in question 3. The fossil record has naturally occurring gaps and absences, does the media address this? Are there topics being avoided? Are they intentional?

Question 4 – Does the author/creator acknowledge or explore alternative explanations? Do they allow interpretations that stimulate further debate and analysis? I.E. Goodall allowing for other interpretations of Chimp behavior?

Question 5? Personal reaction. Do you like/dislike it? Explain. Did you learn anything from the media?

Quadraped- 4-legged walker

Biped- 2-legged walker

In article, calling Lucy a human ancestor. This has been proven incorrect

Dating techniques are tentative (“stone tools by about 800,000 years)- chronological

Australopithecus afarensis- “Lucy”

Study conducted by Alemseged and was published in Nature

According to Alemseged, the afarensis probably scavenged, rather than actual hunting live animals

Nicholas Toth from Indiana U is cautious of the findings

Marks are not typical of stone tool use, rather they look like they’ve been eaten by Crocodiles

In the marks on the bones, researchers state that they were used in a butchering

This is supported by Bernard Wood from GWU

Researchers believe they have found evidence of hominins using stone tools
“Lucy” species may have used said tools
There are major assumptions being used with very little evidence – I have an issue with this
Fossil dates are assumed
An assumption that hominins consumed meat
Assumption that hominins cooperated with each other (one group stood guard while the others butchered)
Did the Lucies actually use the stone tools?
Did the Lucy species have the brain ability to use tools?
Markings on tools are
Tools found on the surface
The stones might not have been tools, but stones that were trampled
A Lucy was not found with the tools, they are using bones (cow and goat like bones) and dating to assume
Alemseged and Wood’s exclamation that “Lucy” species used stone tools to butcher meat
Researchers like Nicholas Toth of IU disagree because there is a lack of evidence
Others argue that exclamations like this cannot be made if there is not enough evidence
Assumptions cannot be made without sufficient evidence if they’re going to be published
I liked the article due to my interest in archeology
However, I take issue with the lack of evidence

_ IMO when bold claims are made, they should be supported

Cow bones, Goat bones, and dates (that have naturally occurring gaps!) are not sufficient

Jane Goodall ?s

How was Jane Goodall’s research beneficial to science?

Was it “scientific?”

DO you notice any potential flaws in Jane Goodall’s research?

Was she an “objective” researcher?

Was it proper for her to name Chimps?

Notes:

Began in 1960

Observed for 30 years

Video starts off with allusions to Darwin’s THEORY- “a wilder version of ourselves”

Gombe National Park in Tanzania

Before Jane began her study, there had only been one other study of Chimps (which lasted 2 months – lacks credibility)

Goodall recorded the life history of 3 generations of the Chimps

Video calls Chimp’s lifestyles “culture”

Goodall assumes that Chimps feel identical emotions to humans (joy, fear, anger)

Goodall gave Chimps names and characteristics (David Greybeard was an intelligent, incredibly handsome male)

Goodall personifies Chimps

Jane became “primitive” to live with the chimps

Assumption that when Chimps use items they are “tools” despite no modification being made

“Endless tolerance, endless acceptance, endless patience, I modeled my maternal instincts after her”

Gives chimps credit to her mothering

Goodall personifies Flo

Chimps live in a hierarchy which “cliques” and “systematic conflict” and “communities”

Goodall’s study allowed us to learn more about people

Goodall drew lines between people and chimps

Their likeness

Goodall has an unorthodox approach

You're meant to be detached

You shouldn’t be emotionally involved

Goodall has developed relationships with the Chimps but recognizes they are NOT her family

For something to be testable and scientific, it should be falsifiable

There is always evidence that hasn’t been found yet

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

State the Problem

Formulate Hypothesis

Observations

Test

Generate Data and Analyze (interpret the data)

Draw conclusions

Report Results

If you were incorrect, go back to step 1

Just because you don’t recognize a pattern doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

Formulate a general explanatory principle and gather data pertinent to the question to falsify or support it

INDUCTION- general explanation based on specific observations

DEDUCTION- reverse of inductive; goes from the general back to the specific by making predictions

We look for: repetition, universality, explanations for exceptions, new data

THEORY- general idea that explains a large set of factual patterns

Primates: Humans, Apes, Monkeys

Class- Mammalia

Characteristics of Mammals

Warm blooded

Hairy

Give birth to live young and take extended care

Land dwellers

Usually defined as:

Large brain

Tree dwelling (arboreal)

Stereoscopic vision (3D/Depth Perception)

Reduced smell

Grasping hands and feet(prehensile)

Opposable thumb

Flexible limbs

Quadrupedal (bipedal for brief periods)

Few offspring (dependent young)

Primatology (study of primates): understand how different primates have adapted

Carolus Linnaeus- developed taxonomy

Taxonomy- classification system

Anthropoids

New World

Arboreal

Prehensile tails (using tail to get around)

Very long

Old World

No tail

Paleontology: the study of past life using fossil remains and their geological context

Believe primates date back at least 65 million years ago

Distinctive Human Traits:

Humans walk on two feet at all times

Dish shaped pelvis

Lumbar curve

Arched Non prehensile feet

Greater length and flexibility of the human thumb

Hand-eye coordination

Sophisticated brain

Human teeth are not specialized

Human behavior is learned and culturally patterned

Unique ability to use tools and create them

Have spoken, symbolic language

Sexuality of human females (reproduce at any time)

Division of labor by gender

Longest dependency period on parental figures

Inheritance of acquired characteristics: “Lamarck’s Will”

Organs change suddenly, or species could develop new organs if needed

New traits passed on in their new form

Law of superposition

As you go down through soil, older fossils are deeper and newer are towards the top

older/younger

Punctuated equilibrium – contradicts uniformitarianism

Things weren’t always evolving at the same time/rate

Jean Baptist de Lamarch: all living things are adapted and must change overtime to survive (plants and animals)

Charles Darwin: Observed and collected data to see how individual populations varied, natural selection, evolutionary change, The Descent of Man, On the Origin of Species, applied theory to humans

Gregor Mendel: Described basic laws of inheritance with pea plants

Natural Selection involves 3 conditions:

Variation

Heritability (Offspring inheritance of traits)

Differential Reproductive Succeses (better adapted individuals generally produce more offspring)

Evolutionary Change is based on reproductive success

Hugo de Vries: explained rare variations, mutations

Mutations: any spontaneous change/error in the genetic code

Example: sickle cell anemia

Ecology: studies the habitats of living things

Niche: environment of an organism and its adaptive response to that environment

Habitat: place occupied by a species

Gene Pool: all the genes in a population

Strata: layers of rock and soil under Earth’s surface

Gene Flow: Process whereby genes pass from one population to another through mating and reproduction

Will reduce variation

Genetic Drift: Distributes genetic variation

Fission: splitting up of a population to form new populations