ANTH 100 Flashcards
Culture (according to Lenekeit)
-total sum of knowledge, ideas, behaviors and material creations transmitted primarily through the symbolic system of language
4 traditional sub-themes of anthropology & definitions
Cultural
Linguistics (study of the nature, structure, history and social aspects of human language)
Archaeology (study of material evidence of past human remains + modification of the physical environment)
Biological
Ethnographers VS. Ethnologists
Ethnographers: describe culture by gathering observational data within a culture
Ethnologists: pull together and analyze data from different ethnologists
participant observation
researcher participates in culture while also observing it
primatology
study of non-human primates with a anthropological framework
paleoanthropology
study of early human biology and culture / recovery and analysis of early human biological and cultural evidence
7 key elements of anth
HEECCQL
Holistic, Evolutionary, Evidence Comparative, Change, Qualitative, Linkages,
Lewis Henry Morgan
First ethnography to analyze a Native American Group
-developed “unilinear theory of cultural evolution” : every society begins as savages and either progress to civilzation or barbarism
When/Where did anth emerge?
1800’s in Europe
Franz Boas
developed:
- “cultural relativism” (a person’s beliefs and actions are based on their culture)
- “historical particulrism” (each society is a representation of it’s unique historical past)
- the four sub-feilds of anth
Emic VS. Etic
EMIC: Insider’s view
ETIC: Outsider’s view
characteristics of culture
lasshp
- learned
- adaptive
- shared
- symbolic
- holisitic
- patterned
Community VS. Group
Community: people who share a physical geographical space
Group: people who share a culture
Identity markers
ethnicity, social class, religion, age, gender…
Homogenous VS. Heterogenous cultures
Homo: group that shares most identity markers (Hadza people of Tanzania)
Hetero: group that has a wide variety of differnent identity makers (USA)
Ethnocentrism
thinking your cultural customs are “right” and other’s are “wrong”
Culture-bound disorder
a disease/disorder that is specific to a particular ethnic group (sickle-cell anemia)
Dependence VS. Independence training
Dependence: child-raising practices that supports the family unit over the individual
Independence: child-raising practices that foster’s a child’s reilance on themself
Ideal VS. Real Behavior
ideal: what people say/think they do
real: what people do
Informants
trusted members of a society that gives info to an enthnographer
3 kinds of samples
- Random: ethnographer’s goal is for everyone to have an equal chance of being interviewed
- Judgement: ethnographer chooses informants based in skills, knowledge, insight and sensitivity
- Snowball: one informant refers the ethnographer to the next
Enculturation VS. Acculturation
Enculturation: process by which one learns their FIRST culture - in childhood
Acculturation: process by which one learns a second/third/fourth culture - can be in childhood or adulthood
5 things that human’s capacity for culture depends on
- Transmission: ability to copy behavior by observing, imitating, learning
- Memory: ability to remember behaviors
- Reiteration: ability to reproduce behaviors
- Innovation: ability to use knowledge to develop new behaviors
- Selection: ability to know which behaviors to keep or discard
Assimilation
changing your cultural practices to become more like the dominant culture
Distinguishing characteristics of primates
nails prehensile hands (and feet) stereoscopic vision (forward-facing eyes) large brains small # of offspring long period of infant dependency diurnal (awake during day) arboreal social non-specialized diets (omnivorous)
3 MAIN diets of primates
Insectivory (bugs)
Furgivory (fruits)
Folivory (leaves)
sometimes animal meat but not that often
Strepsirhines VS. Haplorhines
Strepsirhines: "wet nose" rely on sense of smell outward facing nostrils prognathic face lemurs, lorises
Haplorhines: "dry nose" rely on vision and touch larger/more complex brains flatter faces and fewer teeth more parental investment apes, humans, monekys
This was the first split on the genetic tree
Platyrrhines VS. Catarrhines
Platyrrhines: “new world monkeys”
ONLY found in S. america
flat (flat-plat) nosed, sideways nostrils
small sexual dimorphism
prehensile tails
spider monkeys, capuchins, howler monkeys
Cattarhines: "old world monkeys" found in Africa/Asia pointier nose, downward nosrils large sexual dimorphism no tail baboons, snub-nosed monkeys
bushmeat
monkey, ape, animal meat
huge cause of population decline of primates
said to have medicinal properties
Tarsiers
it’s own category (but lumped into the haplorihines)
only primate that is completely carnivorous
each eyeball is as big as their brain
largest eyeball size among primates
teeth pattern unchanged for ~45 million years
Hylobatidae VS. Hominidae
Hylobatidae: “lesser apes”
gibbons, siamangs
Hominidae: “great apes”
humans, gorillas, chimps, orangutans
which primates are human’s closest living relatives?
bonobos and chimps
why do we PLAY?
evolutionary behavior way to learn builds relationships fosters trust develops cognitive skills cultural identity builder way to just have fun/pass time something ALL HUMANS, PRIMATES AND ANIMALS DO
2 pillars of morailty
empathy and reciprocity
defining APE characteristics
brachiation developed shoulders no tail large size knuckle-walking & bipedalism big brains in relation to body upright posture greater flexibilty in finger, toes, wrist, ankle joints
Hominins
habitually bipedal apes
us!
smallest and largest ape species
smallest: Gibbons - mate for life, specific songs for communication, highly poached and endangered
largest: Gorillas - folivorous, live in troops led by dominant males, sub-species have diff. patterns of aggression
Pan Troglodytes (common chimp)
- omnivorous
- arboreal and terrestrial, have funny sideways walk
- live in large troops with big families and dominant males and females
- knuckle-walkers
- tool users and hunters
- very territorial, can be violent
- Jane Goodall
- live 40-50 years in wild
- very muscular upper body, hunky
- white beard and bald when they age
- show qualities of mourning
Pan Paniscus (bonobos)
- peaceful, very sexual
- omnivorous
- leaner muscle - grassile bodies
- society led by females
- egalitarian society
- dont go bald
- more even weight distribution and upright posture
- no documentation of tool use
Human traits that allowed us to evolve from ancestors into modern humans
- grasping ability and dexterity
- depth perception and color vision
- very fast learning ability
- parental investment
- social cooperation/ability to oraganize
- tool use
culture among non-human primates
- different sounds for communication (language)
- diff foods in diff groups (cultural food)
- tool use among diff groups (artifacts)
- behavioral patterns used and passed down (traditions)
difference between apes and humans
- trust of strangers
- larger unspoken commitments (money, safety…)
- general technological advances
fossil
evidence of past life forms
in ANTH: any type of early human remains (bones, tools, cities…)
uniformitarianism
the present is the key to the past
law of superposition
unless there was a disturbance, the top layer is the youngest and the bottom layer is the oldest
Osteology
study of the human skeleton
bones that preserve the best
teeth, jaw, skull
bones below the head - “post-cranial” - dont preserve well
common dating techniques
- potassium-argon dating : best for 200,000+ year old stuff, K turns into Ar over time, amount of K:Ar tells you how old something is roughly
- radio-carbon dating (aka C-14 dating): god for stuff up to 50,000 yrs old, C14 begins to decay at death, amount of C14 left tells you how old it is roughly
- dating by association: things found in same layer/area of something else said to be roughly the same age
“killer ape hypothesis”
theory that aggression and war was the driving force behind human evolution and success over other species - individuals that survived/thrived did so by establishing themselves with aggression
possible explinations for bipedalism:
- carrying more stuff/babies
- effective heat distribution
- increase height
- walking in trees
- less energy use to move body / greater endurance (compared to 4 legs)
negative aspects to bipedalism
- stress on skeleton
- slower movement
- harder to get into small spaces
Taphonomy
study of the processes that break down/alter remains after death
humans vs. primates
Hyoid bone: bone in human’s neck that allows us to have a huge range of vocalization - something unique to our species - BUT we are the most prone to choking because of this adaption
HUGE brains: biggest most complex brain of all primates
Babies: born with NO skills and NO chance of survival without another human, longest period of dependency
Tools: FIRE, food processing tools, technology…
Skeleton: Bipedalism, knee able to lock in place, femur angled inwards, flat feet with arch and non-grasping toes