1. Introduction to Biological Anthropology
Archaeologist Octavio del Rio - spotted bones while diving in caves along the Caribbean coast of Mexico
They were able to reconstruct 80% of a human structure that they named “Eve of Naharon” - dated to 13,600 years ago
Eve is known as the oldest North American skeleton
Anthropologists determined that Eve was 4.6 feet tall, had a broken back, and died in her early 20s
In underwater caves - Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula - archaeologists have found eight well-preserved skeletons dated between 9,000 to 13,000 years old
The four major areas that make up the discipline of anthropology: are biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology
Applied anthropology is sometimes considered to be a fifth subdiscipline
Biological anthropology - anthropologists study when and how human beings evolved
Cultural anthropologists - focus on similarities and differences among people and society
Learn perspectives through cultural relativism and participant- observation fieldwork
Cultural relativism - suspending judgment and seeking to understand another culture
Participant-observation - research method that involves living with, observing, and participating in the same activities as the people one studies
Anthropology - a discipline that explores human differences and similarities by investigating our biological and cultural complexity, past and present
Derived from Greek - –anthropos means “human” and –logy refers to the “study of”
Margaret Mead - cultural anthropologist - wondered if the emotional turbulence exhibited by American adolescents was caused by the biology of puberty
She went to the Samoan Islands - lived there for several months and found that Samoan adolescence was happier
Based on her research - wrote a book - “Coming of age in Samoa” - it critiqued US parenting for being stricter than Samoan parenting
She argued that nurture (i.e., socialization) more than nature (i.e., biology) shaped adolescent development
Philippe Bourgois - cultural anthropologist - asked how pockets of extreme poverty are in the United States
He lived with Puerto Rican drug dealers in East Harlem to understand more
After this he argued that both individual choices and social inequality can trap people in drugs and poverty
Linguistic Anthropology - The study of Language and how it impacts humans / how it evolved alongside humans
Benjamin Whorf - argued that grammar effects the way we think about time
Shaped the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - the language you speak allows you to think about some things and not other things - aka. linguistic relativity hypothesis
Archaeology - the study of material items (such as tools, pottery, and art) to better understand people and societies
Excavation - the method of carefully digging and removing sediment to uncover remains
Ex. Kathleen Kenyon - British archaeologist - excavated Jericho and found that it is the oldest city in the world
Ex. Present day - Garbage Project - had people recycling in the 1970s - showing they should have more eco friendly practices
Biological Anthropology - the study of human evolution and biological variation
They also look at our ancestors and similar species in comparison to us
Applied Anthropology - the application of anthropological theories, methods, and findings to solve real-world problems
It’s sometimes considered the fifth discipline
They span across disciplines - Ex. An applied cultural anthropologist could work for a technology company that seeks to understand how people interact with their products in order to design them better
Paul Farmer - An applied anthropologist who took action to help relieve the suffering of Haitians - founded a nonprofit organization that establishes health clinics in resource-poor countries
Anthropological Approaches - Holism, comparison, dynamism, and fieldwork
Holism - The idea that the parts of a system interconnect and interact to make up the whole
Comparison - Using comparative approaches to compare and contrast data within a population or from the same group overtime
Dynamism - Describes our abilities as humans and societies to be able to change both biologically and culturally
Fieldwork - Any form of data collection that is used to gain more knowledge
Physical Anthropology - An early discipline (18th century) that focused mostly on physical variation among humans
Some early anthropologists were physicians or anatomists interested in comparing and contrasting the human form
They dedicated themselves to measuring bodies and skulls
There used to be the racist belief that it was possible to differentiate between races by measuring human anatomy - differences are actually due to a variety of different factors
The focus shifted to why human and primate variation developed through evolutionary processes and is now known as biological anthropology
6 Subfields within Biological Anthropology - primatology, paleoanthropology, molecular anthropology, bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and human biology
Primatology - the study of anatomy, behaviour, ecology, and genetics of living and extinct nonhuman primates
This research helps us learn how evolution has shaped our species
Behavioural studies done on apes by Jane Goodall reveal that they form very strong familial relationships and have similar behaviours to humans such as playing and tickling
Paleoanthropology - the study of human ancestors to learn how they evolved
Paleoanthropologists - typically rely on fossilized remains, DNA, artifacts
Molecular Anthropology - the study of using molecular techniques (primarily genetics) to compare ancient and modern populations
Molecular anthropologists - can estimate how closely related two populations are and identify population events (ex. population decline) by examining DNA sequences
Svante Pääbo (2022) - won the Nobel prove in physiology (medicine) - for his work extracting the DNA from 40,000-year-old Neanderthal bones and producing the first complete genome of Homo neanderthalensis
The research led to scientists identifying genetic differences between modern humans and Neanderthals + analyze how those differences influence how diseases affect our bodies
Ancient DNA does not preserve well and older extraction techniques tended to become contaminated
Pääbo and his team designed specialized clean rooms for handling ancient DNA - made advances in DNA sequencing
Bioarchaeology - the study of human skeletal remains to learn abojut enterie populations to reveal biological and cultural patterns
Bioarchaeology research methods - skeletal biology, mortuary studies, osteology, and archaeology
Forensic Anthropology - the study of developing a biological profile for unidentified individuals (estimating sex, age at death, height, ancestry etc) and they may go to a crime scene to assist law enforcement
It’s considered an applied area of biological anthropology - since it involves a practical application of anthropological theories
Human Biology - Many biological anthropologists do work that falls under this label
This type of research explores how the human body is affected by different physical environments, cultural influences, and nutrition
Includes studies of human variation and human adaptations
Anyone can participate in science - science is a body of knowledge and the process of learning that knowledge - 4 sections of science are below
Science studies the physical and natural world and how it works
Scientific investigation is generally focused on natural phenomena and natural processes - excludes the supernatural
Science neither supports or deny supernatural powers
Scientific explanations must be testable and refutable
Must start off with a scientific hypothesis
Scientific hypotheses rely on empirical evidence, are testable, and are able to be refuted
Science relies on empirical (observable) evidence
Empirical - observable evidence
In anthropology - evidence about our world is collected by observation through fieldwork or in a laboratory
Science involves the scientific community
Scientists pay attention to what others have done before them and present new ideas to each others
Most scientific research is collaborative
Engaging in scholarly peer review (the process where an author’s work must pass the scrutiny of other experts in the field before being published in a journal or book)
Theory - An explanation of observations that typically addresses a wide range of phenomena
Law - A prediction about what will happen given certain conditions; typically mathematical
Knowledge system - A unified way of knowing that is shared by a group of people and used to explain and predict phenomena
Scientific understanding - Knowledge accumulated by systematic scientific study
Belief - A firmly held opinion or conviction typically based on spiritual apprehension rather than empirical proof
Faith - Complete trust or confidence in religion - typically based on spiritual apprehension rather than empirical proof