What Do Anthros Do?

1. What Do Anthros Do? One way to describe anthropology is to describe some things anthropologists do. Traditionally, the things they do have been divided into: PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY and CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

2. Physical Anthropometry Osteology Primatology Human Genetics

3. In a pseudoscience called phrenology, Franz-Joseph Gall(1758 -1828)and his followers identified 37 mental and moral faculties which they thought were represented in the exterior surface of the skull. These faculties were divided into several spheres: intellectual, perceptiveness, mental energy, moral faculties, love, etc. Most of the faculties dealt with abstract and hard-to-define personality traits, such as firmness, approbativeness, cautiousness, marvelousness, eventuality, spirituality, veneration, amativeness. etc. The main result of Gall's theory was a kind of chart of the skull, which mapped the regions where the bumps and depressions related to the 37 faculties could be palpated, measured and diagnosed. This was a marvelous device for practicioners, and was widely used. Anthropometry One of the earliest specialties In the 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropometry was a pseudoscience used mainly to classify potential criminals by facial characteristics. For example, the work of Eugene Vidocq, which identifies criminals by facial characteristics, is still used nearly a century after its introduction in France. The most infamous use of anthropometry was by the Nazis, whose Bureau for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare recommended the classification of Aryans and non-Aryans on the basis of measurements of the skull and other physical features. Craniometric certification was required by law. The Nazis set up certification institutes to further their racial policies. Not measuring up meant denial of permission to marry or work, and for many it meant the death camps. It was during this period that many anthropologists were interested in populations such as the native Tasmanians….They were interested in measuring what they considered to be “living fossils”. Concerned with empirical description of many aspects of the human physical condition….. Never a good source of theory…has been mainly descriptive…important part of modern science of ergonomics. Today, anthropometry has limned human physical variation, and has many benign practical applications. For example, it is used to assess nutritional status, to monitor the growth of children, to identify human remains, and forms the basis of ergonomics. height; weight; skin pigmentation; skull shape; girth; ratios of measurements, i.e. the Cephalic Index.

4. Long bones such as the tibia grow the way a tree grows…that is from the ends. Using data from various bones, it is possible to determine with some degree of confidence such things as the approximate age, sex, population group, represented. Based on skeletal material alone, positive I.D. is rare. Osteology • Why study bones? • Often the question is asked "Why study bones?" A few of the more obvious reasons are listed below. • They constitute the evidence for the study of fossil man. • They are the basis of racial classification in prehistory. • They are the means of biological comparison of prehistoric peoples with the present living descendents. • They bear witness to burial patterns and thus give evidence for the culture and world view of the people studied. • They form the major source of information on ancient diseases and often give clues as to the causes of death. • Their identification often helps solve forensic cases. Study of bone….in anthropology with emphasis on primates Now recognized in prevention of osteoporosis and in identification of human remains. (i.e.Clyde Snow and Forensic Anthropology) Tibia (shinbone) provides a model to illustrate the process of bone development: Until recently our knowledge of osteology has been relatively ignored Bones are the framework of the vertebrate body and thus contain much information about man's adaptive mechanisms to his environment. The study of evolution essentially would be impossible if bones were eliminated as a source of data. In summary, the answer is that bones often survive the process of decay and provide the main evidence for the human form after death. Skeletal evidence also has the potential to provide information on prehistoric customs and diseases. At birth, human skeleton is very small and only partially calcified….the skull and other bones such as the tibia consist of a cartilaginous model, and proceed to harden as calcification proceeds with age. There are two kinds of bone cells….essentially hard, outer bone cells that overlap one another, and a soft, spongy interior bone whose cells develop along stress lines and provide housing for marrow.

5. Primatology Study of Primates Before the 1930’s knowledge of free ranging primates was riddled with “sea stories.” Early studies included: Clarence Ray Carpenter’s studies of Howler Monkeys on Barrio Colorado island in the Panama Canal Zone. Harold Bingham’s studies of the Mountain Gorilla. These were essentially studies in comparative psychology that employed anthropological field techniques….These studies were interrupted by WWII.

6. Dian Fossey’s studies of Mountain Gorillas in Ruwanda’s Volcanic National Park. Primatology Among these were: After the war studies of free ranging primates were resumed with renewed vigor. Jane Goodall’s studies among the Chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream Preserve in NE Tanzania. Watch this YouTube vid in which Jane Goodall addresses the question: “What separates us from the apes?” Sigourney Weaver, who played Diane Fossey in the movie Gorillas in the Mist, is featured in an Animal Planet special: When the television special, Gorillas Revisited, was aired, Weaver was stunned when she returned to Rwanda, where she filmed GORILLAS IN THE MIST, because the gorillas from the movie remembered who she was.

7. Human Genetics Basic Biology Two types of cells: body (somatic) cells and sex cells (gametes) Human body cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes (diploid cells). Human sex cells have half of each pair (haploid cells).

8. Human Genetics Basic Biology When male and female gametes are combined, the result, a zygote, normally develops into a human being through interaction with the environment. The term GENOTYPE refers to theactual genetic composition of the person while the way a person develops with interaction with the environment is called the PHENOTYPE.

9. Human Genetics aka Population Genetics (Microevolution) Species Largest set of individuals who can mate with one another with genetically viable offspring as a result.

10. Human Genetics aka Population Genetics (Microevolution) Population (Mendelian population; breeding population) Set of individuals who mate with one another more often than with others.

11. Human Genetics Barriers that divide species into populations: Geographic barriers Temporal barriers Psychological barriers Sociocultural barriers

12. Human Genetics The total genetic material of a population is the Gene Pool of that population. Evolution is operationally defined as change in the composition of a gene pool.

13. Human Genetics Processes that effect changes in composition of gene pools: Genetic Drift/Sewell Wright Effect (founder’s principle is related) Natural Selection (i.e. H.B.D. Kettlewell’s pepperback moth study) Mutation Cross breeding

14. EvoDevo (Evolutionary Development A number of problems in macroevolution that have not been successfully addressed by microevolution are now being addressed by molecular geneticistsin the field of evolutionary development (EvoDevo). The field of “EvoDevo”, looking at development from an evolutionary standpoint, has provided a great deal of information in recent years particularly in regard to development of complex body structures. The discovery of a set of control genes, referred to as the homeotic genes, has allowed scientists to understand how complex body plans are initially laid out in embryonic stages. The homeotic genes are a suite of genes found in animals that determine the axes of embryos, then control how embryos are divided into segments, and initiate the development of appropriate body parts in each segment. This system is interesting because it answers so many developmental questions and also because it provides a reasonable method for development of radically different body plans. EvoDevo demonstrates that evolution alters developmental processes (genes and gene networks) to create new and novel structures from the old gene networks (such as bone structures of the jaw deviating to the ossicles of the middle ear). Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_developmental_biology