Exam 1 Study Guide ANTH 205 Lecture 1 Introduction to Anthropology The broad spectrum of what anthropology really is What are the four major subfields of anthropology And what is involved in each subfield Anthropology is Holistic the physical characteristics of people the physical prehistoric historic social and cultural environments so essentially what shapes people to who they distinctly are Scientific Method a logic system used to judge data collected from systematic observation hypothesis observation explanation The four major subfields Physical Biological studies more of the biology of species is most related to other natural sciences Paleoanthropology study of human evolution using fossils classifying dating and comparing human fossils and seeing when modern people evolved Primatology studying primates to study human evolution in terms of their biological and behavioral characteristics there s a wide range of physical anthropology in modern humans especially when dealing with growth and development and genetics Archaeology interpreting relics from the past There are classical archaeologists figuring out societies from centuries ago and historical archeologists figuring out societies that are recent think Indiana Jones Linguistic Anthropology studying the relationship between the language and the culture there are focuses Structural the brain understanding grammar and syntax of the language Sociolinguistics the languages used within specific groups Historical Linguistics classifying and comparing different historical languages and how rules for languages are created overtime Cultural Anthropology studying the contemporary languages around the world there is participant observation in which an anthropologist goes to a culture and studies them by living there for a set period of time intensive fieldwork Lecture 2 How the theory of evolution is different from faith based origins of humans Know the mechanisms of evolution and process of natural selection What exactly are hominids Be sure to know the part of the skeleton which makes this possible and four theories for this development Theory of evolution started by Charles Darwin in his book Origin of Species in 1859 Essentially it is the change overtime in the genetic alleles in a population Popular because it gives a scientific explanation of the origin of species though very accepted not everyone agrees with it Faith based origin Though not seen as scientifically observable people believe human origins were created from a higher being Mechanisms of evolution for natural selection Mutation DNA sequence changes of a cell s genome Gene Flow Migration gene exchange between formerly separated populations Genetic Drift arbitrary differences in the allele frequencies from a specific generation to the next one Natural Selection survival of the fittest Natural Selection genetic variation exists within populations and so the ones that survive pass on their traits heritability Hominids renowned from other species because of bipedalism ability to walk on two legs In bipedalism there are structural differences in their feet that allows for them to walk on two feet toes grouped together and arch support Spinal adaptation as well vertical spinal column and the foramen magnum hole in the head where the spinal column goes in Four Theories for hominid development Africa went from woodlands to savannah grasslands not as many trees to live in Advantage to having free hands heat stress with standing upright are able to better shield self from the sun energy efficiency conserving more energy walking on two feet Lecture 3 Know the time periods major events and the main species that show the four major steps in evolution of the hominid Know and give evidence for the three models of evolution This is where hominid evolution began Orrorin tugenesis 6 mya million years ago essentially ape but was bipedal Ardipithecs ramidus 4 4 mya not bipedal but has transitioning characteristics such as omnivore and beginning face changes Australopithecus afarensis 4 2 9 mya more structurally human but has an ape brain Lucy was this 2 mya brain size increase stone tools are beginning to be used hunter gatherer starting to move into Asia and Europe from Africa Homo Erectus 1 8 25 mya brain size increase really leaving Africa 500 000 years ago brain size increase technology increase controlling fires using better stone tools associating with modern Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals Homo neanderthalensis 250 000 24 000 years ago are in Ice age Europe Modern Homo sapiens 130 000 years ago anatomically modern humans 50 000 years ago elaborate culture with technology and art 3 Models of hominid evolution Replacement Model traditional argument Homo sapiens moved out of Africa and replaced Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis Supported because of the early Homo sapiens in Africa and mitochondrial DNA Hybridization and Assimilation Model Homo erectus to Neanderthal to modern humans they spread in place to modern humans Supported by genetic and skeletal similarities Multi regional Evolution Model Homo sapiens went out of Africa and bred with populations already there Supported by overlapping evidence in fossils and DNA similarity Lecture 4 What is enculturation and the three defining elements of culture Culture in non humans give two examples What is social learning and the debate about the non humans having a culture The big differences in human culture from non human culture what are they Enculturation Process of social interaction and individuals learn and gain culture 3 defining elements information is shared among a population information is socially transmitted internalized becomes natural for that being Non human culture examples song birds learn the songs they sings from hearing other birds singing like parents and neighboring birds and different songs are sung by the same species all over the country there is one reported orca pod that has learned to beach itself in order to hunt down seals and the offspring learn to do this from their pod family Social Learning organism watches another respond to an event and begins acting that way There s a debate whether these animal behaviors symbolize culture Difference between human culture In non human examples show there s really no increasing growth meaning their behaviors are not elaborate Non humans do not have much symbolic depiction They do not have symbolic learning use and understand symbols symbols significant units