Transcript Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Outline
• What is Anthropology?
• Fields of Anthropology
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Cultural Anthropology
Archaeology
Linguistic Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology and the Scientific
Method
• The Anthropological Perspective
Hominids
• Humans are hominids- bipedal apes.
– Taxonomic family Hominidae.
– Order- Primates: prosimians, monkeys and
apes.
• Bipedalism, walking on two legs, is a
critical feature of the hominids.
Culture
Strategies humans use to adapt
to their environment:
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technologies
subsistence patterns
housing types
clothing
Culture & Evolution
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religion
values
gender roles
marriage and
family
• Over time, cultural and biology interacted.
• Humans are said to be the result of
biocultural evolution.
Cultural Anthropology
• Studies all aspects of human
behavior.
• Subfields:
– Urban anthropology
– Medical anthropology relationship
between culture and health.
Archaeology
• Material remains/culture
recovered from earlier cultures.
• Information about culture- artifacts
left by early hominids.
– How does it relate to Physical
Anthropology?
Linguistic Anthropology
• Origin of language and speech.
• Language- 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?
Physical Anthropology
• Study of human biology in the
framework of evolution.
• Subfields:
– Paleoanthropology: human evolution
– Anthropometry: measurement of
body parts
– Primatology: nonhuman primates
– Osteology: study of skeletons
Evolution
• A change in the genetic makeup of
a population from one generation to
the next.
• Genetic alterations within
populations: microevolution.
• Genetic change resulting in the
appearance of a new species:
macroevolution.
Physical Anthropology
and 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.
Must be open to tested over time
(has not been proven false)