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Introduction to Physical Anthropology

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Title: Introduction to Physical Anthropology


1
Chapter 1
  • Introduction to Physical Anthropology

2
Chapter Outline
  • What is Anthropology?
  • Cultural Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Linguistic Anthropology

3
Chapter Outline
  • Physical Anthropology
  • Physical Anthropology and the Scientific Method
  • The Anthropological Perspective
  • Issue Evaluation in Science Lessons in Critical
    Thinking

4
Hominids
  • Humans are hominids, belonging to the taxonomic
    family Hominidae.
  • Bipedalism, walking on two legs, is a critical
    feature of the hominids.
  • Humans are members of the Order Primates, the
    group of mammals that includes prosimians,
    monkeys and apes.

5
Early Hominid Footprints - Laetoli, Tanzania
  • The tracks to the left were made by one
    individual, while those to the right appear to
    have been formed by two individuals, the second
    stepping in the tracks of the first.

6
Human Footprints - Lunar Surface
  • Human footprints left on the lunar surface during
    the Apollo mission.

7
Question
  • The mammalian group that humans belong to is the
    Order
  • Carnivora.
  • Rodentia.
  • Primates.
  • Chiroptera.

8
Answer c
  • The mammalian group that humans belong to is the
    Order Primates.

9
Species
  • A group of organisms that can interbreed to
    produce fertile offspring.
  • Members of one species are reproductively
    isolated from members of all other species.
  • They cannot mate with them to produce fertile
    offspring.

10
Evolution
  • A change in the genetic structure of a
    population.
  • The term is also frequently used to refer to the
    appearance of a new species.

11
Adaptation
  • An anatomical, physiological, or behavioral
    response of organisms or populations to the
    environment.
  • Adaptations result from evolutionary change.

12
Early Stone Tools
  • (a) An early stone tool from East Africa. One of
    the oldest types of stone tools found anywhere.
    (b) Assortment of a few implements available in a
    modern hardware store.

13
Evolution
  • Microevolution
  • Small genetic changes that occur within a
    species.
  • Macroevolution
  • Changes that occur only after many generations,
    such as the appearance of a new species
    (speciation).

14
Culture
  • Culture is the strategy by which humans adapt to
    the natural environment.
  • Culture is learned, and the process of learning
    ones culture begins at birth.
  • Even though culture isnt genetically determined,
    the human predisposition to assimilate culture is
    influenced by genetics.
  • Over time, culture and biology interacted so that
    humans are said to be the result of biocultural
    evolution.

15
Biocultural Evolution
  • The concept that biology makes culture possible
    and that developing culture further influences
    the direction of biological evolution.
  • This is a basic concept in understanding the
    unique components of human evolution.

16
Culture
  • Strategies humans use to adapt to their
    environment
  • technologies
  • subsistence patterns
  • housing types
  • clothing
  • religion
  • marriage and family
  • values
  • gender roles

17
Worldview
  • General cultural orientation or perspective
    shared by members of a society.

18
Behavior
  • Anything organisms do that involves action in
    response to internal or external stimuli.
  • The response of an individual, group, or species
    to its environment.
  • Such responses may or may not be deliberate and
    they arent necessarily the results of conscious
    decision making, as in one-celled organisms,
    insects, and many other species.

19
What Is Anthropology?
  • The study of humankind.
  • Integrates sociology, economics, history,
    psychology, and biology.
  • Comprises three subfields
  • Cultural anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Physical (or biological) anthropology

20
Cultural Anthropology
  • The study of all aspects of human behavior.
  • An interest in traditional societies led early
    anthropologists to study lifeways that are now
    all but extinct.
  • These studies produced ethnographies that
    emphasized religion, ritual, myth, use of
    symbols, subsistence strategies, technology,
    gender roles and child-rearing practices.

21
Archaeology
  • Study and interpretation of material remains
    recovered from earlier cultures.
  • Information about culture comes from artifacts
    and material culture left by early hominids.

22
Linguistic Anthropology
  • Study of the origin of language and speech.
  • The use of language is a unique human
    characteristic.
  • Relationship between culture and language
  • How do members of a society perceive phenomena?
  • How does the use of language shape perceptions?

23
Physical Anthropology
  • Study of human biology in the framework of
    evolution.
  • Subfields
  • Paleoanthropology - human evolution
  • Anthropometry - measurement of body parts
  • Primatology study of nonhuman primates
  • Osteology study of skeletons

24
Paleoanthropology
  • Paleoanthropologists excavating at the Drimolen
    site, South Africa.

25
Primate paleontology
  • The study of the primate fossil record that
    extends back to the beginning of primate
    evolution some 60 million years ago (mya).
  • Virtually every year, fossil-bearing beds in
    North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe yield new
    discoveries.
  • By studying fossil primates and comparing them
    with anatomically similar living species, primate
    paleontologists are learning a great deal about
    factors such as diet or locomotion in earlier
    forms.

26
Anthropometry
  • Anthropology student using spreading to measure
    cranial length.

27
Modern Population Studies
  • This researcher is using a treadmill test to
    assess a subjects heart rate, blood pressure,
    and oxygen consumption.

28
Modern Population Studies
  • Dr. Kathleen Galvin measures upper arm
    circumference in a young Maasai boy in Tanzania.
  • Data derived from various body measurements,
    including height and weight, were used in a
    health and nutrition study of groups of Maasai
    cattle herders.

29
Genetics and DNA
  • Genetics is the study of gene structure and
    action and the patterns of inheritance of traits
    from parent to offspring.
  • Genetic mechanisms are the foundation for
    evolutionary change.
  • DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the
    double-stranded molecule that contains the
    genetic code.
  • DNA is a main component of chromosomes.

30
Cloning
  • Cloning and sequencing methods are frequently
    used to identify genes in humans and nonhuman
    primates.
  • This graduate student identifies a genetically
    modified bacterial clone.

31
Primatology
  • Yahaya Alamasi, a member of the senior field
    staff at Gombe National Park, Tanzania.
  • Alamasi is recording behaviors in free-ranging
    chimpanzees.

32
Primatology
  • The study of nonhuman primates.
  • Because nonhuman primates are our closest living
    relatives, identifying the factors related to
    social behavior, communication, infant care and
    reproductive behavior helps us develop a better
    understanding of the natural forces that shaped
    modern human behavior.

33
Osteology
  • The study of the skeleton.
  • A thorough knowledge of skeletal structure and
    function is critical to the interpretation of
    fossil material.
  • Bone biology and physiology are of major
    importance to many other aspects of physical
    anthropology besides paleontology.
  • Paleopathology, a subdiscipline of osteology, is
    the study of disease and trauma in
    archaeologically derived skeletal populations.

34
Forensic Anthropology
  • An applied anthropological approach dealing with
    legal matters.
  • Forensic anthropologists work with coroners and
    others in identifying and analyzing human remains.

35
Forensic Anthropology
  • Physical anthropologists Lorna Pierce (left) and
    Judy Suchey (center) working as forensic
    consultants.
  • The dog has just located a concealed human
    cranium during a training session.

36
Forensic Anthropology
  • Forensic anthropologists at the location on
    Staten Island where all materials from the World
    Trade Center were taken for investigation after
    September 11, 2001.
  • The scientists are wearing HAZMAT (hazardous
    materials) suits for protection.

37
Question
  • Anthropologists who conduct excavations in order
    to recover artifacts are
  • archaeologists
  • ethnologists
  • linguists
  • medical anthropologists

38
Answer a
  • Anthropologists who conduct excavations in order
    to recover artifacts are archaeologists.

39
Human Anatomy
  • Dr. Linda Levitch teaching a human anatomy class
    at the University of North Carolina School of
    Medicine.

40
Continuum
  • A set of relationships in which all components
    fall along a single integrated spectrum.
  • All life reflects a single biological continuum.

41
Science
  • A body of knowledge gained through observation
    and experimentation from the Latin scientia,
    meaning knowledge.
  • A hypotheses is a provisional explanation of a
    phenomenon.
  • Hypotheses require verification or falsification
    through testing.
  • Empirical means to rely on experiment or
    observation.

42
Scientific Method
  • An approach to research whereby a problem is
    identified, a hypothesis (or provisional
    explanation) is stated, and that hypothesis is
    tested by collecting and analyzing data.
  • Data
  • Facts from which conclusions can be drawn
    scientific information.

43
Quantitatively
  • Pertaining to measurements of quantity and
    including such properties as size, number, and
    capacity.
  • When data are quantified, theyre expressed
    numerically and can be tested statistically.

44
Theory
  • A broad statement of scientific relationships or
    underlying principles that has been substantially
    verified through the testing of hypotheses.

45
Scientific Testing
  • The precise repetition of an experiment or
    expansion of observed data to provide
    verification.
  • The procedure by which hypotheses and theories
    are verified, modified, or discarded.

46
Question
  • Physical anthropologists developed techniques for
    measuring the human body. These type of
    measurements are called
  • calibration
  • dermatoglyphics
  • genetics
  • anthropometrics

47
Answer d
  • Physical anthropologists developed techniques for
    measuring the human body. These type of
    measurements are called anthropometrics.

48
Physical Anthropologyand the Scientific Method
  1. State the research problem.
  2. Develop a hypothesis.
  3. Test the hypothesis through data collection and
    analysis.
  4. If the hypothesis is verified, it becomes a
    theory.

49
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50
Anthropological Perspective
  • A broad perspective that helps us understand the
    diversity of the human experience within the
    context of biological and behavioral continuity
    with other species.
  • By learning about cultures other than our own, we
    can avoid an ethnocentric view of other cultures.
  • By recognizing that we have similarities with
    other animals, we may recognize that they have a
    place in nature just as we do.

51
Ethnocentric
  • Viewing other cultures from the inherently biased
    perspective of ones own culture.
  • Ethnocentrism often results in other cultures
    being seen as inferior to ones own.

52
Metabolism
  • The chemical processes within cells that break
    down nutrients and release energy for the body to
    use.
  • When nutrients are broken down into their
    component parts, such as amino acids, energy is
    released and made available for the cell to use.

53
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