ANTH 1102 1st Edition Exam 3 Study Guide Lectures ALL 1 What is anthropology Anthropology is the study of human diversity and change throughout time and space What are key concepts regarding the scope and focus of anthropology 1 A holistic approach Holistic means not limited by space time or a dimension of human experience The study of the whole of the human condition past present and future biology society language and culture Considers the evolution of language and behavior in close living relatives 2 A comparative approach Insight of similarities and differences across cultures and time 3 Society and culture Society Culture Organized life in groups Structure and hierarchy Traditions customs norms beliefs behaviors or any aspect of identity Material manifestations of life material culture Things that are learned not inherited biologically Material and interpersonal relationships Classical typologies based on survival and politics Ethnocentrism way of evaluating people from your own cultural standpoint Cultural Relativism analytical perspective to evaluate other practices from their perspective no bias 4 Adaptation and variation Changes long term and short term changes or adjustments an organism makes to cope with changes or challenging circumstances Influences of biological and sociocultural anthropology What are the traditional sub fields of anthropology 1 Socio cultural Cultural Anthropology or Ethnology Study of living people and their social economic and religious aspects knowing how people produce meaning and how they interact in virtual spaces such as Facebook Reddit Twitter 2 Archeology Study of human diversity and change in past societies excavation involved 3 Linguistic Study of relationships between language and culture reasons behind word choice evolution and cognition of language body language and how communication influences world views stereotypes power etc 4 Biological Physical Study of human variation and adaptation biological development and health and human evolution and their environments Also studies of the cousins of humans such as primate studies study in diversity of species to help us understand biology What are primary research methods that anthropologists use Fieldwork Types of Fieldwork I Ethnographic Fieldwork in which the researcher immerses self into another culture for a long period of time Also called participant observation II Excavation Excavation is the revelation of archaeological remains along with the process of handling and recording the remains Goals include Finding all evidence about the past that a given site holds Recording the location of that evidence with precision Careful to not distort the placement and context of archeological findings Types of evidence of the human past I Artifacts anything or a piece of anything made by humans tools ceramics II Ecofacts something natural but has been altered by human activity wood for a house III Fossils organic matter that has been mineralized IV Features artifacts that cannot be removed from a site graves cooking pits cave paintings To help determine context you must date a site as in Relative dating determining the relative order of past events without knowing the absolute age of an objects or site Can do this by analyzing stratigraphy layers in the earth that show younger objects above older Or by indicator artifacts which are objects where the time period is known Absolute dating finding the precise dates of an object or site Can do this by carbon dating or Radiometric age dating Anthropometry study of the measurements and proportions of the human body for biological anthropology Clinical methods for biological anthropology What are the principles of biocultural anthropology Biocultural The mutual interaction between physical biological and behavioral cultural factors in which physical traits make certain behaviors possible and behavior feeds back to influence physical traits Biological Myth of Human Evolution Week 1 reading theme summary When studying human biology and evolution you cannot separate evolution from human culture Science and environment do not exist outside of culture Humans studying ourselves means we seek knowledge about us You cannot understand human biology today or in the past without culture 2 Basic principles for understanding human adaptation variation and evolution What is adaptation How in what ways do humans vary Human Variation and Adaptation is a key concept in Anthropology see def under question 1 1 4 It s biocultural It has external features and internal features It s in communities not genetic population NOT ALL VARIATIONS ARE ADAPTED they are random too Variation is due to interactions among factors like Genetics o Ex Variation in height genetic o Such as Wadlow an 8 1 man with a genetic mutation that allowed him to keep making growth hormones Environment o Ex Variation in height non genetic o Growth stunting could be caused by factors such as o Nutrition stress emotional or social prenatal Environment chronic infections intestinal parasites o Environmental factors strongly influence genetic variations o Biological Plasticity Changes in biology due to environmental changes or stresses Sociocultural o Ex Variation in height cultural behavioral o Group level or individual behavior o Such as Paraca skulls and mummy s head shapes resulting from head binding o Changes in anatomy due to corsetry Adaptation is a major source of human phenotypic variation Genetic changes microevoluntionary Acclimatization non genetic physiological changes may be temporary or permanent can be inherited ex Efficient shivering goose bumps Lewis hunting cycles Individual behavioral changes like putting on a coat Cultural group level behavioral changes Ex drought Maintained or changed by selection or based on preferences accidents What is the role of culture in human adaptation For times like during a drought adaptation is shown at the cultural level or group level behavior where people s behavior changes to be more efficient with water Another example is Paraca skulls and mummy s head shapes resulting from head binding to show class power or when changes occur in the anatomy of women due to corsetry from the shared idea of the culture that prettier women have smaller waists What are major trends in hominin evolution in other words how are hominins distinct from other primates and what sorts of traits characterize early hominins vs late hominins Think bipedal clues and bipedal blues