Anthro Study Guide Exam 1Chapter 1- Anthropology: the study of what it means to be human; anthropos = human, logos = studyo Anthropologists realize that we are the result of the same forces that produce other life forms on Earth. o The scientific discipline that studies all aspects of the human species- Culture: the behavioral aspects of humans, including technology and institutions, which we learnand transmit between generations. The strategy by which humans adapt to their environment tomanage stresso Learned shared beliefs. All parts of culture are interconnected- The subfields of anthropology: o Cultural/social anthropology: focusing on the study of human behavior Ethnology: ethnographic accounts form comparative cross-cultural studies Ethnography: detailed descriptive studies of human societies from participant observations. They describe traditional lifestyles Medical anthropology: explores the relationship between various cultural attributes, health and disease Urban anthropology: deals with issues of inner citieso Linguistic anthropology: study of the origins, cultural perceptions and uses of language Words and languages evolve over time otherwise they will become extincto Archaeology: interprets past cultures through material remains recovered through excavation  The investigation of artifacts, which can tell them about people from the past, toreconstruct the past Artifacts: objects that have been modified or used by ancient humans Material culture: the physical remains of human cultural activity Prehistoric archaeology: before written records Historic archaeology: written recordso Biological/physical anthropology: the study of human biology within the framework of culture, variation, adaptation and evolutionary aspects  Demonstrates how human populations vary, that past populations have evolved and that modern human populations are evolving Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 marked the beginnings of modern evolutionary science and heightened interest concerning human origins Major research areas:- Paleoanthropology: the study of human evolution primarily through fossil recordo Primate paleontology: study of ancient primates known only through fossil record - Primatology: study of mammalian Order Primates (nonhuman primates)- Human variation: a field which considers the observable physical traits in humans and the genetic factors that influence themo Study variation to obtain clues about how humans adapted to the environment over timeo Data are collected from populations living in different environments to measure biological adaptation Biological study areas and specialization- Osteology: the study of skeletal biology that focuses on the interpretation of skeletal remains of past populations o Paleopathology: studies the evidence of disease and injury in human skeletal remainso Forensic anthropology: recognizing variation in the skeleton anddoing so for law enforcement Primate biology: the study of primates and their biology; size, shapes, fur, color Skeletal biology: the study of aspects of humans with a focus on bones. Some anthropologists may identify themselves as skeletal biologists meaning much of the research involves bones Molecular anthropology: use genetic data and technologies to study evolutionary relationships within our species and between humans and non-human primates- Scientific method: a problem is identified, a tentative explanation is proposed and data are collected to test the explanationo Make an observation  ask a question  form a hypothesis  conduct an experiment  accept hypothesis - Hypothesis: a provisional explanation of phenomena- Theory: an explanation of scientific observations that has withstood repeated empirical tests - Evolution: changes in the genetic structure of a population from generation to generationChapter 2- 1. Pre-scientific view:o Foundations of evolutionary principles are traced to Western Europeo Western science borrowed from the Arabs, Indian and Chinese cultureso Middle ages: European worldview was that the world was fixed and unchanging Fixity of the species: the idea that species do not change/evolve, which was mostly influenced by the Christian church and the feudal system  The world was seen as a product of the “Grand Designer”- Great Chain of Being/Scala Natural: proposed by the Christian Church that there was a strict order to the rankings of organisms on earth starting with God, then angels, the pope, kings and queens, etc… James Ussher: Arc bishop claimed earth created on Oct. 23 4004 BC- 2. Scientific revolution:o Discovery of the new world challenged the traditional ideas of Europeans World is no longer flat and discoveries of new plants and animals increased awareness of the biological diversity on our planeto Copernicus: earth was not the center of the universeo Galileo: the universe was a place of motion, not fixityo By the 16th and 17th centuries, scholars began searching for natural laws- 3. Precursors to the theory of evolutiono John Ray (1627-1705): provided first concept of species and genuso Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778): classification system and basis for taxonomy Taxonomy: the biological discipline that names and classifies organisms Binomial nomenclature: identifying each organism by two names, genus and species Included humans among animals in his taxonomy Believed in fixity of species, but later questioned it Wrote Systema Naturaeo Comte de Buffon (1707-1788): stressed the importance of change in nature and recognized that the environment was an important agent of change Wrote Natural History: compiled data on habits/habitats and geographical distribution of plants and animalso Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802): wrote that life originated in the seas and that all species descended from a common ancestor  Grandfather of Charles Darwin, expressed ideas similar to those that his grandson would publish over half a century latero Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829): first to produce a systematic explanation for the evolutionary process Postulated that the environment played a crucial role in the physical change an organism could experience Believed that as an organism used certain body parts, or did not use them, the structures would change in response to the environment- Future offspring would inherit the modified condition, known as Inheritance