ANTH 120 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture I. Defining AnthropologyII. Defining CultureIII. Defining BiologyIV. The Four Subfields of Anthropology V. Six Defining Traits of Being HumanCurrent LectureAnthropology → a generalized field of the study of humansExamines the interactions between culture and biology that affects all humans; past and presentIt allows us to understand what culture is Culture → Exosomatic means of adaptation the nature and social and environment Learned behavior Shapes behavior, interactions, environment, values and reactionsIt distinguishes societies from othersCulture is the environment beings come from and the world perception that they have comes from their cultureCulture is crucial in shaping how we see the world Biology → allows us to protect and learn culture We could not live without it Humans are the result of long term BIOCULTURAL interactionsex: we originally used stone tools → now we are able to send shuttles into space Biocultural Evolution: Biology Makes Culture Possible Biocultural interactions have caused... anatomical, biological, and behavioral changes in humans Anthropology has Four SubfieldsCultural → learned behavior from individual to individualLinguistic → language origins and useArchaeology → material culture of past peopleBiological → humans as organisms, within an evolutionary framework Paleoanthropology: the study of earlier hominins and fossil primatesOsteology: the study of skeletal materialsForensic: an applied anthropological approach to dealing with legal mattersPrimatology: biology and behavior of nonhuman primates (Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey) Effects All of Humankind Evolutionary Origins → What makes us human? Variation? Six Steps to Being Human 1) Bipedalism → walks around on two feet, defining trait 2) Smaller Canine Teeth, nonhoning (doesn’t sharpen) 3) Material Culture (1.25 Million Years Ago) 4) Increased Brain Size (~1.4 Million Years Ago) 5) Fully Opposable Thumb w/ Precision Grip (~2.4 Million Years Ago) 6) Cultural Symbolism and Art (~350,000 Years Ago) Removed from the list above was: Group HuntingSpeechDomesticated Foods Dr. Fellman did not feel that these were necessary traits because...There are some groups of monkeys that hunt in groups and create spear like weapons (tools) to hunt their live food... it isnot a trait that is only unique to humansSpeech is an extremely difficult thing to assess especially when dealing with beings from millions of years
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