Introduction to Physical Anthropology

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Chapter 1

• Introduction to Physical Anthropology

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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

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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.

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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.

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Human Footprints - Lunar Surface

• Human footprints left on the lunar surface during
  the Apollo mission.

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Question

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

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Answer c

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

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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.

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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.

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Adaptation

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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Culture

• Strategies humans use to adapt to their
  environment

• technologies
• subsistence patterns
• housing types
• clothing

• religion
• marriage and family
• values
• gender roles

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Worldview

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

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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.

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What Is Anthropology?

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

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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.

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Archaeology

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

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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?

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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

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Paleoanthropology

• Paleoanthropologists excavating at the Drimolen
  site, South Africa.

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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.

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Anthropometry

• Anthropology student using spreading to measure
  cranial length.

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Modern Population Studies

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Primatology

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

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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.

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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.

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Forensic Anthropology

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

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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.

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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.

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Question

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

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Answer a

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

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Human Anatomy

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

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Continuum

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Theory

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

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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.

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Question

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

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Answer d

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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