Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Graduate of Human
Fieldwork
Masters Thesis
Research
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Aymara & Quechua
women in Urban Center
Focus:
Reproductive Ecology
Timing of Reproduction
Demographic Transition
Medical Anthropology
Reproductive Medicines
Fieldwork
Dissertation Research
Tsimane
Lowland Bolivia
Focus
Evaluation
Two exams
Paper or presentation
.ppt lectures
Exams
Syllabi
Discussions
Calendar
Important Links
And other stuff
Anthropology
Study of humans in all
Biology, psychology,
culture, behavior
Interdisciplinary in
nature, thus is holistic
Levels of Culture
National culture refers to the
Ethnocentrism is a cultural
universal
Ethnocentrism contributes
to social solidarity
Cultural Relativism
Ethnocentrism
Our ethnocentrism causes us
unalienable, individual
human rights challenges
cultural relativism by
invoking a moral and
ethical code that is superior
to any country, culture, or
religion
Cultural rights are vested in
groups and include a
groups ability to preserve
its cultural tradition
Cultural relativism does not
preclude an anthropologist
from respecting
international standards of
justice and morality
BioCultural Connections
are found throughout cultures
Example: height
determined by
genes but
influenced by
access to food,
which is ecological
and culturally
determined
Tikal Mayan burial
skeletons showed
that the richest
burials contained
individuals that
were significantly
taller
An Introduction to Cultural
Adaptations by way of Boyd and
Richerson
1.
2.
Culture is Information
that people acquire from others
information
Stored information varies among
individuals
Is property of the population in a
statistical sense
Culture Change.
should be modeled as a Darwinian
evolutionary process
Culture changes as some traits/values
become more common or diminish
Those that enhance fitness should be
expected to be retained; examples:
Behaviors to lengthen life
Behaviors to make wealth
Behaviors to increase RS
Migrate when X happens (more complex)
Culture is
a part of biology
The capacity to acquire culture is part of the evolved
other organisms
Humans have cumulative cultural adaptation
We learn, improve, transmit, etc.
Allowed for incredible adaptability to a variety
of niches thus settlement of the planet
Maladaptive ideas sometimes spread through
this same process, and because individuals
cannot create/evaluate every single piece of
information for themselves
THUS
Culture is
The great engine that powered the
an overall growth
delay, the brain
develops in
advance of the body
and matures rapidly
so that 90% of
growth occurs by
age 6.
Energetically
expensive organ,
accounts for over
50% of BMR during
first year, and 1/3 or
more during
childhood.
So how did we get
here?
Brain Expansion
Australopithecines (380-
Hominid Evolution
Australopithecines
Cultural traditions
probably slightly
more advanced
than chimps (so
not much)
Advancement of
technology and
culture from habilis
through sapiens
sapiens
Toolmaking
Not apelike behavior
Indicates complex
cognitive notions
Boundary (bifacial
flaking)
Order (constant
directional movement of
unifacial flaking)
Mental template?
Unlikely in early hominids
Homo habilis
Mary and Louis Leakey
(1961)
Are Homo because of
increase in brain size
Mostly scavengers of
med large sized game
known from leg bones
and skulls (little meat)
Primarily gathered fruits
and vegetables
Lots of sexual
dimorphism: mating
system
Oldowan
Tools
Home bases
Male-male physical competition
Traveled for food
Polygynous
Short transport of raw materials
Scavenged and (hunted) meat
Ate fruit, insects,roots and tubers
(yams)
Prey to leopards and large birds
of prey (African crowned eagle)
Could still climb well, so spent
some time in trees (maybe sleep)
Homo erectus
1.8 - .4 mya (erect ape
man)
First Hominid to walk out
of Africa
Brain size avg. 1000cc
Made possible by greater
intelligence, technology
and culture
Possibly using hides to
move into colder climates
Decreased sexual
dimorphism (pairbonding?) due to less
male-male competition
Homo neandertalensis
V. large brains AMH (avg. 1490)
Possibly capable of language hyoid
Paleolithic)
Standardized
Levallois technique
Progressive reduction
of larger cores
Larger took kit
Awls and scrapers to
work hide and
puncture holes
All of previous
Plus tended their sick
Took care of young
Cooperative hunt drives
Mastered fire for many uses
Occasionally buried dead
Cognitive mapping: Levalloisian technique
Music? (82-43kya)
1st to make spears
Made plates from wood
Worked skins for clothes and (tents?)
Used caves and rock shelters
Ritually buried heads of cave bears
Language (had brain capacity/physiology)
300-500
------
Australopithecines
400-530
------
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Neandertals
modern Homo Sapiens
550-750
800-1250
1300-1750
900-2300
Tools
Termite fishing
Probably similar to chimps
Language
Capable of taught sign
language
Probably similar to
chimps
631
?????
1000
?????
1400
Mousterian; standardized;
levallois mental mapping
1345
Milton 1993 Ancient hominids used brain power to solve dietary problems and thus relied on ever
increasing complexity of technology a trend that is still seen today
chimpanzees
australopithecines
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Neandertals
modern Homo sapiens
range (cm3)
average (cm3)
300-500
400-530
500-750
800-1250
1300-1750
900-2300
------631
1000
1400
1345
Consequences of
food production
Agriculture based ancient city
(Thebes, Egypt)
Description
Symbolic reasoning
S Social Intelligence
P Practical Intelligence
E Emotional Intelligence
A Aesthetic Intelligence
K Kinesthetic Intelligence
Sociality are
major
components of
HE history
SI, MI, Culture,
Sociality, and
Human adapted
behaviors all
operate under
Darwinian
natural
processes
Cultural Universals
1. communicating with a verbal language consisting of a limited set of
Participant Observation
The best way to really get to
Culture Shock
Any person who
lives in another
different society is
likely to initially
develop culture
shock
Feelings of
confusion, distress,
depression resulting
from psychological
stress
Occurs during the
first weeks or
months of a total
cultural immersion in
an alien society
Re-entry Shock
After growing accustomed
After Adjustment
Rejecters: cant accept so isolate