Anthropology Introduction
Anthropology Introduction
Anthropology Introduction
What Is Anthropology?
A
nthropology is the scientific study of the origin, the behaviour, and the
physical, social, and cultural development of humans. Anthropologists
Chapter Expectations
By the end of this chapter, you will:
summarize and compare major theories, perspectives, and research
methods in anthropology
identify the significant contributions of influential anthropologists
outline the key ideas of the major anthropological schools of thought,
and explain how they can be used to analyze features of cultural systems
explain significant issues in different areas of anthropology
explain the main research methods for conducting anthropological
research
Key Terms
bipedalism
culturally constructed
culture
ethnocentric
ethnography
ethnology
fossil
hominin
hypothesis
informant
kinship
objective
participant observation
radiometric dating
reflexivity
subculture
subjective
Primatology
Dian Fossey (19321985)
Birut Galdikas (1946)
Jane Goodall (1934)
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (1946)
Paleoanthropology
Raymond Dart (18931988)
Donald Johanson (1943)
Louis Leakey (19031972)
Mary Leakey (19131996)
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Fields of Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Archaeology
Prehistoric
Historic
Forensic
Anthropology
Archaeology
Human Variation
Charles Darwin
(18091882)
Cultural Anthropology
Ethnology
Ruth Benedict (18871948)
Franz Boas (18581942)
Napoleon Chagnon (1938)
Marvin Harris (19272001)
Diamond Jenness
(18861965)
Richard Lee (1937)
Bronislaw Malinowski
(18841942)
Margaret Mead (19011978)
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Linguistic Anthropology
Noam Chomsky
(1928)
Edward Sapir
(18841939)
MHR 15
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Spotlight on Anthropology
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Activities
1. In small groups, brainstorm an issue or problem in
your school or community that could be investigated.
2. Once you have your list, create at least three
research questions that are testable and unbiased.
3. How would you go about researching the problem?
What kinds of information would you need to gather?
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Section 1.1
human, how cultures adapt to new challenges in innovative ways, and how culture
is learned and passed on to new generations. In this section, you will learn about
the different fields of cultural anthropology, different theories and schools of
thought, and the tools cultural anthropologists use to conduct their research.
Cultural Anthropology
culture:
the total system of ideas,
values, behaviours, and
attitudes of a society
commonly shared by most
members of a society
What do you think of when you hear the word culture? Maybe you think about
the ballet, the theatre, or a concert. Culture is not just the artistic activities
a society considers valuable, like playing an instrument. Culture is made
up of what people do, what people make, and what people believe. Culture
includes all behaviour of people in their everyday lives, from daily rituals
(for example, washing dishes) to beliefs about abstract concepts (for example,
time), and is learned and transmitted from one generation to the next. It can
be the food people eat, the clothes they wear, the shelter they live in, how
they move from place to place, how they defend themselves, what they learn,
and the languages they speak.
Cultural anthropologists are anthropologists who study both past and
present cultures. They ask questions such as: Why is there social and
political inequality? How does language affect and express culture? What
can we learn about a culture from what the people leave behind? Researchers
attempt to answer these questions by immersing themselves in a culture for
months or years while conducting interviews and taking detailed notes as
they study the history and structure of languages and the physical remains
of past cultures. The mind map below (see Figure 1-3) explains the different
fields of cultural anthropology.
Cultural Anthropology
Ethnology
Ethnologists immerse themselves in
a culture for months or years and
take meticulous notes.
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropologists study the
history and structure of language,
and the ways humans use language.
Archaeology
Archaeologists study the physical
remains of a past culture through
excavation and reconstruction.
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Figure1-4Look carefully at the photos above. What aspects of culture can you see?
In what ways are peoples beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes evident?
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informant:
a reliable and knowledgeable person who provides
specific information to an
anthropologist studying his
or her community
Finding Informants
When anthropologists conduct their research within a community, it is
impossible for them to talk to everyone from every group. They rely on
informants, people in the community who are willing to share information
about their culture and their community. Informants should be reliable and
knowledgeable about what the anthropologist is studying. For example, if you
were studying hockey in rural Ontario, you would want to find informants who
had specific knowledge of the game, players, fans, or community volunteers. It
can be very difficult to find an informant. Anthropologists have to be aware that
informants will react to their presence as researchers and may be distrustful of
them or unwilling to share critical information. There has to be a certain level
of trust between an informant and an anthropologist. The relationship between
an anthropologist and an informant is a partnership and without the help of an
informant, an anthropologist cannot conduct his or her research. It is essential to
choose reliable informants and to verify their information through other methods.
Interviews
Interviews are important tools used by anthropologists (and other social
scientists) to understand the culture they are studying and obtain valuable
information. There are different kinds of interviews, each with its own
advantages and disadvantages. Before interviewing, it is important for the
anthropologist to inform the subjects about the purpose of the research, how
the information will be used, and the confidentiality they can expect. This is
called informed consent, and it is critical to obtaining information ethically.
Connecting
Anthropology
to Sociology
In the past, anthropologists
were concerned mainly with
documenting non-Western
cultures while sociologists
analyzed social problems
within Western cultures.
Today, many Canadian
universities have joint
anthropologysociology
departments where
researchers can work
together on understanding
culture and social problems
in Canada and in other
countries. The difference
between the disciplines
is often in the research
methods used.
Unstructured Interviews
Unstructured interviews are between an anthropologist and an informant.
Unstructured interviews allow the researcher to test out his or her initial
ideas and can lead to a greater understanding of the topic. The researcher
should have some knowledge going into the interview, but unstructured
interviews provide an excellent way for new directions to emerge and are often
a first step to more structured interviews and surveys. It is important that there
is no deception between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewee
knows why the anthropologist is interviewing him or her and the outline of
the project. For example, in your research on hockey you meet with the local
coach every morning so he can tell you about his experiences. Over several
months, you take detailed notes and let him direct the content of the interviews.
This is a useful method when you are at a field site for several months or years
and have a lot of time (Bernard, 2006). However, no questions can be preestablished and the researcher has little control over a respondents answers.
Semi-structured Interviews
Semi-structured interviews are often used by anthropologists who stay in a
community for only a few weeks and need to use their time efficiently. These
types of interviews allow the researcher to prepare some questions in advance
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and end up with reliable qualitative data. The researcher goes in with an
outline of what types of information are wanted, but not a strict list of
questions. The interview is semi-structured because it is flexible, allowing
both the interviewer and the subject to follow leads that may come up in
the course
of the interview and for the subject to express personal views.
Australopithecus afarensis [3.85 2.95 mya]
- bipedal
However,
it can be easy to stray away from the topic you need information
- may have survived dramatic climate change
on. For your hockey research, you might want to interview the mayor, but she
Australopithecus africanus 3.3 2.1 mya
cant meet
withfossil
you
- first hominin
found every
in Africa morning. The semi-structured interview is a good
- bipedal
method -ifmayyou
have
only
one
have survived
dramatic
climate
changechance to interview her.
More to Know...
You will learn more
about Richard Lee
and the Ju/hoansi on
pages 2627.
- not toolInterviews
users, massive jaws and ape-like skull
Structured
- may have died out in competition with homo erectus
Structured
interviews are interviews that use a set list of questions
Homo habilis [2.4 1.4 mya]
- first definite
tool user This method should be used when the researcher
that do not
change.
-larger brain size than Australopithecines
is very clear on the topic and there is other information that is easily
Homo erectus [1.89 mya 70 000 ya]
- hadThese
fire
available.
interviews can be conducted efficiently by non-experts,
- ate animal meat
trained to
follow
- species
to live theonly
longest the instructions on the interview questionnaire.
- first to leave Africa
This method does not require the development of a relationship between
Homo sapiens [200 000 ya to present]
interviewer
andhominin
interviewee, and it can produce consistent data that can
- sole surviving
- left Africa 100 000 years ago
easily be compared between respondents. However, since the questions
Homo
neanderthalensis they cannot be adapted to changing situations and few
are set in
advance,
[200 000 to 28 000 years ago]
- adapted to conditions
in Europe
are open-ended
questions,
so the researcher might obtain limited answers.
- first to wear clothing
- first to bury dead
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0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 central plaza, chu/o
1 circle of huts and fireplaces, da/tsi
2 ash dumps
3 cooking pits
4 empty area
5 zone of defecation, z/o
6 the bush t,si
Figure1-5A plan of a
Ju/hoan village. What kind
of information about peoples
culture and daily lives is
available in this diagram? How
is the information different
from the information provided
by the photograph?
Figure1-6Anthropologist
Richard Lee interviewing Ju/hoansi
hunter about cooking debris. How
does Figure 1-5 help you make
sense of this photo?
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Ethnology
Before You Read
Have you ever
misunderstood someone
trying to communicate
with you? What were
the circumstances and
what was the result?
What did you learn
from the experience?
Ethnology is the study of the origins and cultures of different races and peoples.
Ethnologists are concerned with topics such as marriage customs, kinship
patterns, political and economic systems, religion, art, music, and technology.
They study a culture through participant observation, in some cases living
with a group and participating in their culture, while taking extensive notes.
They use these notes to write an account of the culture, or ethnography.
Figure1-7Living with
a culture while studying
its members is a common
method of research in
anthropology. Can you think
of some of the challenges
and problems of using
participant observation as a
research method? What are
some of the benefits?
ethnology:
the study of the origins and
cultures of different races
and peoples
kinship:
the relationship between
two or more people that is
based on common ancestry,
marriage, or adoption
participant observation:
the careful watching of a
group, in some cases living
with its members and
participating in their culture
ethnography:
the written account of
a culture
Skills Focus
Field notes are accounts
of experiences, dialogues,
and observations made
by researcher while in
the field. Choose a
location in the school
(or other busy place)
and spend an hour
observing and taking
field notes about what
you experience.
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Youth perspectives
What is Canadian Culture?
Understanding the world view of another culture can
be very difficult. In order to do so, an anthropologist
must understand his or her own culture and how it
shapes how he or she sees the world. Canadian
culture has always been difficult to define; individuals
have different opinions about Canada based on where
they live, their background, and their experiences
with other culture. Read the following statements
from high school students about Canadian culture.
Which opinions do you agree with? Which do you
disagree with and why?
I find that Canadians say sorry a lot! Whenever
someone steps on my foot, Im the one to say sorry.
Ellie
I would describe the Canadian culture as an open
minded culture. People accept differences and respect
each other, not making fun of other cultures.
Sarah
I lived in China until my family moved to Canada when
I was 11. Canadian culture is definitely more about
freedom of expression and choices.
Mary
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objective:
type of conclusions based
on facts and data and
uninfluenced by personal
perspectives, prejudices,
or emotions
reflexivity:
the practice of reflecting
on your own world view,
biases, and impact on the
culture you are studying
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Figure1-10Japanese teens
demonstrating street fashion. Can
you draw any conclusions about
Japanese culture from this photo?
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ethnocentric:
believing that ones
own culture is superior
to all others
Cultural Relativism
Franz Boas, a pioneer of modern anthropology in the early twentieth century,
promoted the idea of cultural relativism, stating that an anthropologist cannot
compare two cultures because each culture has its own internal rules that
must be accepted. Everyone sees other cultures through the lens of their own
culture. For example, if you were born and raised in the United States, you
might view Canada differently than if you were born and raised in Canada.
Boaz urged anthropologists to understand cultures on their own terms
and avoid snap judgments about other practices. Cultural relativism was a
response to cultural evolutionism (the theory that all cultures evolve from
savage to barbarian to civilized), which assumed an ethnocentric view
that nineteenth-century European culture was superior to all others.
Functional Theory
In anthropology, functional theory is the idea that every belief, action, or
relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of individuals. This
theory stresses the importance of interdependence among all things within a
social system to ensure its long-term survival. Meeting the needs of individuals
makes the culture as a whole successful. Like Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski
rejected cultural evolutionism, but unlike Boas, he felt that societies could be
objectively measured and compared.
Malinowski saw functional theory at work in the Trobriand Islands
during World War I. Every year, there was a ceremonial exchange of a necklace
and an arm band between two men on each island in the South Pacific. The
jewellery was not valuable, but the exchange was a highly anticipated event
(New World Encyclopedia, 2008). Malinowski discovered that the jewellery
travelled the entire circle of the islands in two different directions, linking
distant individuals in what he called the Kula Ring. This exchange of
jewellery was not an economic trade, but it reinforced the status of the Kula
traders and allowed them to trade food and everyday objects, and maintain
peaceful relationships. What seemed to be a highly ceremonial exchange had
very real economic, social, and political functions, serving the needs of the
individuals and the whole society (Schwimmer, 2007).
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Cultural Materialism
Cultural materialism was pioneered by Marvin Harris in the 1960s. Influenced
by economists such as Karl Marx and Thomas Maltus, the theory states that
materials or conditions within the environment (for example, climate, food
supply, geography) influence how a culture develops, creating the ideas and
ideology of a culture (see Figure 1-13). Cultural materialists believe that society
develops on a trial-and-error basis. If something is not of value to a societys
ability to produce or reproduce, then it will disappear from society altogether.
Therefore, institutions, such as the law, government, and religion,
must be beneficial to society or they will no longer exist. One criticism
of cultural materialism is that it is too simplistic and ignores spiritual
considerations or that humans are thinking beings.
The Infrastructure
A societys material
resources technology, population,
available land, etc.
The Structure
A societys familial, political,
economic, and social systems
Figure1-13According
to Harris, culture develops
in three stages.
The Superstructure
A societys ideas, values,
symbols, and religion
Harris applied the theory to the Hindu belief in the sacred cow.
Among Hindus in India, the cow is a sacred animal that cannot
be eaten. Harris found that cows are used in India for important
agricultural work, pulling plows and hauling heavy loads. This
important function influences decisions about the best way to use
a cow and contributes to the belief that cows are sacred and should
not be eaten.
Maxine Margoliss research in North America in 1984 supports
the theory that material conditions change before ideas change. She
studied womens roles in postwar America and found that, even
though the cultural ideal in the 1950s was for women to stay home,
material changes (for example, inflation) sent women into the
workforce. Womens material activities (in this case, going to work)
drove the ideological changes of the feminist movement of the 1960s,
not the other way around (Margolis, 1984).
? Identify some examples of cultural relativism and cultural
materialism. How does each theory help you understand your
own culture?
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Connecting
Anthropology
to Psychology
Much in the way feminist
anthropologists examine
gender relationships in
different cultures, feminine
psychologists examine
female identity and issues
faced by women. The field
also highlights gender bias
in traditional psychological
theories and counters this
bias with alternative theories.
Feminist Anthropology
By the 1970s, feminist anthropologists were re-examining anthropology to
ensure that female voices were heard and included in research. They also
compared cultures to see how many were dominated by men, how many
were dominated by women, and how many were egalitarian. Ernestine Friedl,
an American feminist anthropologist, concluded that in forager societies,
the amount of freedom women had was strongly tied to their contributions
to the food supply. Men and women are relatively equal in societies where
women gather more of the food, but in societies where men have more
control over the food resources (for example, in societies where hunting is
the major food-gathering activity), men are more dominant and women have
less control over their lives and choices (Friedl, 1978). Figure 1-16 demonstrates
the division of labour by gender in the world.
WorldWidepAtternsinthedivisionoFlAbourbygender
typeofActivity
Primary
subsistence
activities
Males
AlmostAlways
Hunt and trap
animals
Secondary
subsistence
and household
activities
Other
Malesusually
eithergender
orboth
Fish
Herd large animals
Collect wild
honey
Clear land and
prepare soil
for planting
Collect shellfish
Care for small
animals
Plant crops
Tend crops
Harvest crops
Milk animals
Gather wild
plants
Butcher animals
Preserve meat
and fish
Lumber
Build houses
Mine and quarry
Make nets
Make
and rope
boats
Exercise political
musical
leadership
instruments
bone, horn, and
shell objects
Engage in combat
Femalesusually
Females
AlmostAlways
Spin yarn
Prepare skins
Make
leather products
baskets
mats
clothing
pottery
culturally constructed:
created or shaped by
a culture
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Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a theory that influences a number of disciplines, including
anthropology. It is the belief that it is impossible to have any true knowledge
about the world. Postmodernism rejects the idea of objective truth. What
we know about the world is our own construction, created by society.
Postmodernists try to deconstruct, or break down, what a society believes to
be true. Postmodernists believe that anthropologists cant study their subjects
in a detached or objective way, like a chemist studying a chemical reaction,
because of the personal relationships that develop between anthropologist and
informants during participant observation. Postmodernists practise reflexivity,
which you learned about on page 24.
Since the 1980s, postmodern anthropologists have more and more been
doing research in their own cultural settings. Some of the recent research
has focused on understanding the immigrant experience in urban Canada
(for example, defining of Italian cultural spaces in Toronto).
Another example of postmodernist anthropology is the research done
by Canadian anthropologist and director Sam Dunn on the subculture of
heavy metal music and heavy metal fans (sometimes called headbangers
or metalheads). In his two films, Metal: A Headbangers Journey (2006) and
Global Metal (2008), he explains how his passion for heavy metal music led
him to conduct his research at home and around the world. Dunns work is
an example of multisited fieldwork (fieldwork conducted in more than one
location), studying a culture that crosses national
and ethnic boundaries. Dunn is an insider in the
headbanger culture and shows reflexivity in his
documentary, frequently discussing how his own
bias as a metal fan is affecting his research.
VOICES
Mass media
communications
technologies also enable
people to participate in
communities of others
with whom they share
neither geographical
proximity nor a common
history but an access to
signs, symbols, images,
narratives, and other
resources with which
they can convey mutual
solidarity...
Rosemary E. Coombe
subculture:
a small group within a
larger group who shares
a common system of
values, beliefs, attitudes,
behaviours, and lifestyle
distinct from those of the
larger group
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Linguistic Anthropology
Before You Read
How does the slang of
your peers differ from
that of your parents?
What does this tell
you about the culture
and values of each
generation?
Figure1-18Road sign
in Squamish and English
in British Columbia.
How do you think
road signs like this one
would help the cultural
revival or survival of the
Squamish people?
Historical Linguistics
Historical linguistic anthropologists compare the similarities and differences
of language structures so they can understand how languages are related
and how people migrated in the past. This is an important field for cultures
with no written language. One of Canadas early anthropologists, Edward
Sapir, studied the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and recorded their languages,
often with the last living speaker. Through analysis and historical reconstruction, he was able to trace the languages of Canadas Aboriginal populations
and set the foundation for the understanding of the five major culture areas
of Canada. Much of Sapirs work in this field has been used by Canadas
Aboriginal groups to create written forms of their languages as part of their
cultural revival and survival.
Using linguistics
Widely dispersed throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America, there
are an estimated 4 million to 14 million Roma in the world. It is impossible to
estimate the total population with accuracy, since many governments do not
record Roma in their census figures and many Roma conceal their ethnic origin.
Historically, the Romani people were highly mobile and nomadic, moving
from place to place, as they were expelled from cities and countries. To study
the history of the Romani people, scholars have looked to linguistics to track
their migration. Recent studies have traced their origins to India. It was from
India that the Roma migrated from India to Europe in the eleventh century
(Matras, 2002).
Structural Linguistics
Noam Chomsky is known as the father of modern structural linguistics, or the
study of how sounds are put together to make meaning. He is best known for
developing the theory of universal grammar: that all human children are born
with internal, universal rules for grammar and that they apply these rules as
they learn their mother tongue.
According to Chomsky, the reason that children so easily master language
is that they have innate knowledge of certain principles that guide them. In
other words, Chomskys theory is that learning language is made possible by
a predisposition that our brains have for the structures of language. However,
evolutionary biologists disagree, saying that language is not an instinct encoded
in the brain, but is a learned skill. For Chomskys theory to be true, all the
languages must share some structural characteristics. In fact, linguists have
shown that the 5000 plus languages of the world do share rules and principles.
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Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the study of how people use language within their
culture to express status and context. For example, you would probably use
language differently when talking to a teacher in a classroom than with your
friends on the weekend.
A study by Roger Brown and Marguerite Ford from 1964 showed that
how people address each other can show the relationship between them.
Peers tend to address each other by their first names, while people who use
a title and last name to address each other often have a business relationship.
If one person uses a title and last name while the other uses a first name,
there is a difference in status (for example, students and teachers). In some
cases, generally among boys and men, people address each other by their last
names with no title, particularly in a sports context. Some anthropologists
suggest that this is a middle ground, indicating respect but not intimacy.
Sociolinguists study not only spoken language, but also body language in
different cultural contexts. For example, in many First Nations cultures, it is
rude for students to look a teacher in the eye. In Japan, showing your teeth is
a sign of social dominance and is considered very rude. North Americans who
tend to smile openly are often seen as aggressive or bullying in Japan. Many
large corporations employ linguistic anthropologists to train their employees
to work effectively in other cultures so that they are not misunderstood.
REflEct And RESpond
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Archaeology
Archaeology is the cultural anthropology of the past. Archaeologists excavate
physical remains of past cultures to understand and reconstruct them. Some
archaeologists study cultures with no written record (prehistory) or study
sites that have a recorded history to supplement their understanding of the
culture. Often written histories are incomplete or contain only some aspects
of society. Archaeologists work with historians and physical and cultural
anthropologists to make sense of the past.
in the Field
Archaeological Services Inc.
Have you ever wondered about what kind of jobs archaeologists
and anthropologists have? We usually hear about them working
in universities and colleges, but not all archaeologists and
anthropologists work in academic institutions. Archaeological
Services Inc. (ASI) is a Canadian-owned archaeological consulting
firm that works with the public and private sectors. The ASI team
excavates archaeological sites and assesses their heritage value,
reviews heritage planning studies, and documents archaeological
features of development sites.
Ontarios cultural history dates back about 11 000 years.
Archaeological sites can be found throughout the province. Some
sites we know about, like the First Parliament site in downtown
Toronto. Others are found accidently, sometimes when buildings
are being built or torn down.
Figure1-20Archaeologists
In one project, ASI excavated along the shoreline of the Niagara
from Archaeological Services Inc.
River in Fort Erie. Fort Erie was upgrading the towns infrastructure
working at the Snake Hill Cemetery
and redeveloping land. The municipality brought in ASI to minimize
impact of their work on the archaeological sites throughout the town. ASI drilled through roads and
sidewalks to study the soil and found evidence of a large settlement that existed 4000 years before
Europeans arrived in North America. The archaeologists from ASI also found the Snake Hill Cemetery,
a previously unknown American military cemetery from 1814. They were able to identify and exhume
28 bodies, which were then repatriated to the United States.
The staff at ASI have backgrounds in anthropology, archaeology, and geography. They interpret
data using state-of-the-art techniques, including 3-D imaging to bring to life an Iroquoian village, and
chemical analysis of animal and human bone samples to determine dietary trends.
Questions
1. What skills do you think are important for working at Archaeological Services Inc.?
2. What are some positives of working in this field?
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Prehistoric Archaeology
For civilizations with no written record, archaeology is the only way to find
out how people lived hundreds or thousands of years ago.
One study looked at the spread of tobacco in the Americas. Archaeologists
sifted through piles of dirt in many sites across North America for tiny tobacco
seeds. They traced the spread of tobacco from Central America up the Mississippi
River to Canada to about 800 CE. Tobacco did not spread to the Arctic and
West Coast until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Collishaw, 2009).
By understanding the movement of tobacco, archaeologists can understand
ancient trade routes, contact between peoples, and agricultural and cultural
practices of the Aboriginal peoples of North America before European contact.
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in Focus
Kwaday Dn Tsinchi
Figure1-22
The glacier in
TatshenshiniAlsek Park, British
Columbia where
Kwaday Dn
Tsinshi was found.
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Section 1.2
here do we come from? How did we evolve? What makes humans unique?
Physical anthropologists seek to answer these questions, constructing
Physical Anthropology
Physical anthropologists want to know where humans as a species
come from, how our bodies evolved to their present form, and what
makes humans unique. The mind map below (Figure 1-23) explains
how researchers attempt to answer these questions.
Physical Anthropology
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropologists study bone and
stone remains of our ancient ancestors
from millions of years ago.
Primatology
Primatologists study primates.
Human Variation
The study of the physical
differences and similarities of
existing human populations.
Look carefully at the following photos (Figures 1-24 and 1-25). What kind
of evidence is each anthropologist examining? What kind of questions might
they be asking about the evidence? What conclusions do you think they can
come to from the evidence shown?
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Paleoanthropology
Before You Read
Have you ever seen
a fossil? What do you
think we can learn from
these fossils?
hominin:
a human or human ancestor
fossil:
preserved remains of
biological matter
Figure1-26Lucys
skeletal remains
Femurandpelvis:
Lucys thigh has an
inward slant, a strong
indication that she
walked upright. The
length of her femur
suggests that she was
about 1 metre tall, and
the wear on her pelvis
shows that she weighed
about 27 kilograms.
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radiometric dating:
a process that is used to
determine the age of an
object, based on measuring
the amount of radioactive
material it has
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Name: Selam
Species: Australopithecus
afarensis
Date found: 2000
Found by: Zeresenay
Alemseged
Description: skull and
skeletal remains
Name: Ardi
Species:
Ardipithecus ramidus
Date found: 1994
Found by: Tim White
Description: a
fossilized skeleton
that is 45 percent
complete
Dikika Hadar
Aramis
ETHIOPIA
Lake Turkana
KENYA
Name: Lucy
Species: Australopithecus
afarensis
Date: 1974
Found by: Donald
Johanson
Description: A 40 percent
complete skeleton
Name: Turkana Boy
Species: Homo erectus
Date found: 1984
Found by: Richard Leakey
Description: nearly
complete skeleton
Olduvai Gorge
Laetoli
TANZANIA
Taung
SOUTH
AFRICA
bipedalism:
the trait of habitually
walking on two legs
VOICES
The fundamental
distinction between us
and our closest relatives
is not our language,
not our culture, not our
technology; it is that we
stand upright, with our
lower limbs for support
and locomotion and our
upper limbs free from
those functions.
Richard E. Leakey,
paleontologist
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in Focus
Ardipithecus Ramidus
Questions
Beginning to be
bipedal 6 mya
Tool Use
2.5 mya
Fire
800 000 ya
Australopithecus afarensis
3.85 2.95 mya
Brain size
increase
800 000 Agriculture
200 000 ya 12 000 ya
Homo neanderthalensis
200 00028 000 ya
Australopithecus africanus
3.3 2.1 mya
Paranthropus boisei
2.11.2 mya
Australopithecus anamensis
4.23.9 mya
Ardipithecus kaddaba
Ardipithecus
5.85.2 mya
ramidus
Orrorin tugenensis
4.4 mya
6.25.8 mya
Paranthropus robustus
1.8 1.2 mya
Homo habilis
2.4 1.4 mya
Sahelanthropus
tchadensis
76 mya
Homo erectus
1.89 mya 70 000 ya
Homo sapiens
200 000 ya to present
8
7
Million years ago (mya)
Present
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in Focus
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Figure1-33Compare
the three types of stone
tools shown here. What
differences do you notice?
What conclusions can you
draw about the hominins
who made and used
these tools?
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1. Is it bone?
2. Is it animal or human bone?
3. How many individuals are represented?
4. How long has the person been dead?
5. What is the sex of the individual?
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Primatology
Before You Read
Make a Venn diagram
to compare humans and
animals. How are they
similar and different?
Add to this organizer
as you read about
primatology.
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In some cases, this research took years. Galdikas spent over 40 years
studying orangutans, arriving in Borneo in 1971 to document the ecology
and behaviour of the wild orangutans. She lived in a hut, without telephones,
electricity, or regular mail service as she worked. She had been told that her
research couldnt be done, but four years later, Galdikas published her first of
many articles about the orangutan. She has also conducted the longest continuous study of any wild animal in the world and is a world-renowned expert.
Other primatologists work in laboratory settings, observing and testing
primates in motion, studying their communication patterns or teaching them
to use human language. In laboratory settings, primatologists can understand
specific behaviour or anatomical traits in more detail than in the wild.
Figure1-38This
chimpanzee is termite
fishing. Why do you think
it was important to find out
that chimpanzees make their
own tools?
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Figure1-39Kanzi and
Savage-Rumbaugh with
a language board. Is
there value in teaching
primates to communicate with humans? Is this
an ethical process?
One of the more remarkable laboratory studies is primatologist Sue SavageRumbaughs long-term study of bonobo communication. She has taught the
30-year-old Kanzi 348 graphic symbols, which he uses to communicate with
her and other bonobos in his compound. He and the other bonobos can state
simple sentences, respond to requests, and have conversations with their
human caretakers. Once, Savage-Rumbaugh says, on an outing in a forest,
Kanzi touched the symbols for marshmallow and fire. Given matches and
marshmallows, Kanzi snapped twigs for a fire, lit them with the matches, and
toasted the marshmallows on a stick. Kanzi can also make stone tools, draw
symbols, and create music (Raffaele, 2006).
While the capacity for language of great apes is still much more limited
than that of humans, the laboratory studies done by Savage-Rumbaugh and
many others are proving that great apes have the capacity to learn many things
previously considered to be only human (Rumbaugh, 2010).
REflEct And RESpond
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Human Variation
Look around and you will notice that human beings are all different.
Anthropologists study human variation, or the genetic differences between
people and populations, to understand the differences between people.
Anthropologists studying human variation try to find out how and why
human beings are different and try to understand these differences from
an evolutionary perspective.
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Percent of population
that has the O blood type
5060
6070
7080
8090
90100
Figure1-41This map indicates the distribution of type O blood in human populations.
What conclusions can you draw by looking at this map?
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point/counterpoint
Skin Variations
As humans migrated out of Africa, populations became more varied in skin colour. Was this variation the
result of specific environmental advantage or of isolation? Did skin colour give an evolutionary advantage
in the past? Are there evolutionary advantages for different skin colours today? Anthropologists examine
both sides of the issue below.
dodifferentskinColourshavespecificevolutionaryAdvantages?
yes
no
Questions
1. Using the information above, come up with a hypothesis about the evolutionary advantages of
different skin colours.
2. What questions do you have after considering this evidence?
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Chapter 1 review
Thinking/Communication
5. Which area of research in physical anthropology do you find most
interesting: paleoanthropology, forensic anthropology, primatology, or
human variation? Explain why. What skills would you need to develop
to pursue a career in that field?
52 MHR Unit 1 What Is Social Science?
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Communication/Application
9. Make a collage that depicts Canadian culture. Organize it to show ideas,
values, attitudes, and behaviours. Demonstrate culture that is commonly
shared, and show how it is passed on from one generation to the next.
Include captions and explanations for your choices.
10. In this chapter, we examined multisited fieldwork, where anthropologists
follow a particular culture with no ethnic or national boundaries.
a) What other cultures could be examined using multisited fieldwork?
b) What kind of research question would you ask to direct your research?
c) What kind of research methods would you use?
d) How would you know that your data is reliable?
e) Would it be better to study a culture that you are a member of or to
study a culture as an outsider? Explain.
11. Write and perform a skit or create a Facebook profile that demonstrates
an understanding of a key researchers work in anthropology. Include
the following:
a) What did the person research, and which school of anthropology is he
or she in?
b) What were the researchers key findings or theories?
c) How are the researchers findings relevant to you today? Include a
modern example that illustrates how his or her findings might help
you understand human behaviours today.
If performing a skit, try to make the skit memorable, using rhyme, humour,
costumes, or puppets to get your message across. If you choose to create
a Facebook profile, think about how to present your information in an
interesting way. Dont forget to include images!
12. Look at the Web sites of universities and colleges in Ontario that offer
anthropology courses. Make a poster comparing three different programs.
Look at the different fields and schools of thought at each school and give
an example of research being done there.
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