Anthropology 110August 27, 2012Key ideas:What is Anthropology? What is critical thinking? The scientific method- Anthropology: anthropos = human, logos = studyo What it means to be human o Anthropologists recognize that we are the result of the same forces that produced all other life forms on earth- **Four major subfieldso Cultural anthropology:o Linguistic anthropology: language o Archaeology anthropology: study of people through what is left behindo Physical/biological anthropology: the field of inquiry that studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology- *Cultureo Learned shared beliefs Something that you are not born with – enculturation (something you learn from your peers, parents, family, etc…) o Strategies that humans use to adapt to their natural environment  Used to manage the stress of the worldo All parts of culture are connected and related. Some technological advances will impact the economy and jobso Examples: Technologies, subsistence patterns, housing types, clothing, religion, values, gender roles and marriage and familyo Seek to know about peopleso Methods: Fieldwork- Participant observation: a way for anthropologists to collect data by participating in the culture they’re studying Product- Ethnography: detailed descriptive studies of human societieso Some specializations in cultural anthropology Medical anthropology- Explores the relationship between culture, health and disease Urban anthropology- Deals with issues of inner cities- *Linguistic anthropology: study of the origin of language and speecho Words in languageo Dialecto Regional variationo Words and languages evolve over time otherwise they will become extinct- *Archaeologyo Reconstruct pasto Information comes from artifacts left behind – material cultureo Must interpret the significance of the artifactso What is investigated? Artifacts: anything used or modified by humans or hommininso Recovery Excavationso *Split into  Historic: written records that gives you more data about the people Prehistoric: before written recordso Cultural Resource Management: number 1 employer of archaeology Scientists have to do an assessment of resources in any area that people want tocommercialize.8/29/12- Physical anthro and the scientific methodo Make an observation  ask a question  form a hypothesis  conduct an experiment  accept hypothesiso Theory: a substantiated scientifically tested explanation of events- Biological/physical anthropologyo Foundations in 1900’s Recognition of variation Concern over how species came to beo Major research areas Paleoanthropology: the study of old/earlier peoples Primatology: study of living primates Human variation- Biological study areas and specializationo Molecular anthropology Osteology Paleopathology: paleo = old; pathology = diseases Forensic anthropology: recognizing variation in the skeleton and doing so for lawenforcement- Biological anthropologyo Demonstrates: How human populations vary That past populations have evolved That modern human populations are evolving- Changing through time- Evolution: a change in the makeup of a population from one generation to the nexto That means that we as individual entities cannot evolve.o 2 different types Microevolution: change at the genetic level Macroevolution: where the change accumulates to bring about a new specieso What’s the primary mechanism of Evolution? Natural selection (made up of micro- and macro-evolution Darwin, WallaceChapter 2: The Development of Evolutionary Theory- Charles Darwin o Exposed to lamarck ideas and otherso On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, 1859o Species could change, they weren’t fixed, and they evolved from other species through the mechanism of NS- Alfred Russel Wallaceo On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original typeSeptember 10, 2012- Mutation as a mechanism for variation; ch. 3 for prelab- Look at 2 web links under week 4 to further explain phylogeny - Changes over timeo Climate, plants, animals and land surfaces vary through time, but underlying influences are constanto Wind, water erosion, local flooding, frost, decomposition, volcanoes, earthquakes and glaciers in the past produced what we see todayo Uniformitarianism, or uniform processes over time (something is constant, or repeats as natural events) Charles Lyell: By pointing this out, he also implies a fair antiquity of the earth. Healso makes everyone realize you can’t get a mountain range overnight - Animals accommodate environmental changes (Jean-Baptiste Lemarck)o Continued use, but in different ways may bring change in formo Changes made in one lifetime are passed on to offspringo If we use a part of our body and it develops a certain condition, then you will pass it on to your offspring. He said we will acquire qualities in our life that we will pass on to the next.o He was revolutionary in making people think about generations passing on traits- Population relative to resourceso Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle of Population led both Darwin and Wallace to the principle of natural selection Populations can grow to a certain point but it’s determined by available resourceso Darwin and Wallace recognized that competition for food and water is critical- Natural selectiono Hence in the struggle for existence individuals featuring favorable variations will enjoy a competitive advantage over others…o And they will survive in proportionately greater numbers…o And they will produce offspring in increasingly greater numbers- Theory of natural selectiono Observation All species are capable of producing many offspring Could multiply faster than their food supply Heritable variation exists within all populations Competition exists due to limited environmental resources- “Struggle for existence” a la Malthus Biological variation exists within all species Individuals with favorable combinations of variations have advantage over other members of that species Environment dictates what is advantageous - Human variationo What forces account for variation? Can make variation increase or decrease in a population Mutation Natural selection Gene flow (genetic migration) Genetic drift: chance, small population,