Humanities

Absolute dating methods

provide specific chronological dates or date ranges for archaeological materials. An example is radiocarbon dating, which measures the decay of carbon-14 in organic remains to estimate their age.

The four subfields are

physical anthropology, archaeology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Archaeological anthropology primarily focuses on examining the material remains (artifacts) of past societies to understand their cultures and ways of life.

Enculturation

the process by which individuals learn the norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors of their culture, beginning at birth. It is significant because it highlights that culture is learned, not biologically inherited.

The social brain hypothesis

suggests that the primary driver of primate brain evolution is the increasing complexity of sociality. It posits a relationship between brain size (specifically neocortex volume) and the ability to manage larger and more complex social groups.

Relative dating methods

determine the age of artifacts or sites relative to one another (e.g., stating that one layer is older than another), while absolute dating methods provide specific numerical ages or date ranges.

Robin Dunbar's social brain hypothesis

predicts a natural community size of approximately 150 for modern humans. This is supported by data from hunter-gatherer societies, historical village sizes, military units, and studies of social network sizes.

Culture

is a learned system of shared knowledge, values, ideas, concepts, meanings, and rules that underlie and are expressed in people's thoughts, behaviors, and material products. It enables humans to adapt to their environment and gives meaning to people, objects, and events.

Time budget models

consider the time an animal allocates to essential activities such as foraging (feeding and travel), social cohesion (e.g., grooming in primates), and resting, in relation to environmental factors like climate and diet, to determine the maximum sustainable group size.

Bipedalism

is the ability to walk upright on two legs. The Laetoli footprints provide early evidence of bipedalism in hominins. This adaptation is significant as it freed up the hands for carrying objects and tool use, potentially influencing brain development and social behavior.

Using cranial volume alone

can be limiting because brain regions can evolve at different rates. For example, gorillas and orangutans have relatively larger cerebella for managing their bodies in trees, leading to potential overestimation of neocortex size and predicted social group size if only cranial volume is considered. Bipedalism in hominins also increased cerebellum size, which could affect these estimations.