Anthropology

Anthropology
• The scientific study of the origin, behavior and
the physical, social and cultural development
of humans.
• The study of humankind everywhere
throughout time, that seeks to produce
reliable knowledge about people and their
behavior, both about what makes them
different and what they have in common.
 History
• 2500 – Herodotus wrote extensively about
other cultures
• 1879 – first course in Anthropology carry a
credit in a university
• Late 1800s – recognition of Anthropology as a
separate branch of history
• 1900 – 1910 – Anthropology was taught in the
academe in the University of London
 Branches of Anthropology
Human
Paleontology
Physical/Biological
Anthropology
Human Variation

Anthropology
Enthnology

Cultural Linguistic
Anthoropology Anthropology

Archaeology
 Kinds of Evidences from the Past
• Artifacts • Ecofacts
 Kinds of Evidences from the Past
• Fossils • Features
 Human Evolution
18th to 19th century
the concept of
evolution is a viable
theory

Uniformitarianism
the earth is constantly
subject to change and
Theory of Natural Selection reshaping by natural
forces over vast
by Charles Darwin and stretches
Alfred Wallace of time.
 Gregor Mendel’s Theory on Genetics
• Research in genetics and understanding of the
structure and function of DNA and mRNA to
understand the biological function of
inheritance
Law on Segregation
Law on Independent Assortment
 Human Evolution
16 – 11M years ago, the drying trend of climate led to the development of
grasslands which favored ground living

4.4M years ago, Ardipithecus ramidus was the earliest hominid which walked
bipedally

2M years ago, the development of the genus Homo

Theories on the Origin of New Humans
Human Variations and Adaptation
• Mutation
Adaptation• Genetic Drift
• Gene Flow

Acclimatization

Cultural
Environment
 Physical Variations in Humans
• Body Build and
Facial
Construction

– Bergmann’s Rule
– Allen’s Rule
 Physical Variations in Humans
• Skin Color

– Gloger’s Rule
– The Song
Sparrow: birds
that live in more
humid
environments
tend to be more
heavily
pigmented
 Internal Variations in Humans
• Sickle Cell Anemia
• Lactase Deficiency
• Intelligence
 Cultural Anthropology
• Culture – set of learned behaviors, beliefs,
food preferences, music, work habits, gender
roles, how children are reared, how houses
are constructed, other learned behavior and
other customary ideas that have come to be
widely shared or customary among a specific
group
 Culture is shared

People living together in a society share culture. For

example, almost all people living in the Philippines
share the Filipino language, dress in similar styles,
eat many of the same foods, and celebrate many of
the same holidays.

Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is learned

People are not born with culture; they have to learn

it. In all human societies, children learn culture
from adults. Anthropologists call this process
enculturation, or cultural transmission.

Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is symbolic

People have culture primarily because they can

communicate with and understand symbols.
Symbols allow people to develop complex thoughts
and to exchange those thoughts with others.
Language and other forms of symbolic
communication enable people to create, explain,
and record new ideas and information.

Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is integrated

In order to keep the culture functioning, all aspects

of the culture must be integrated. For example the
language must be able to describe all the functions
within the culture in order for ideas and ideals to be
transmitted from one person to another.

Characteristics of Culture
 Culture vs. Subculture
• Culture is the commonly shared cultures of a
society

• Subcultures are commonly shared customs of

a group within a society
 Theories on Culture
• Ethnocentrism – a theory that
one’s culture is superior to
others

• Cultural Relativism – theory

that society’s customs and
ideas should be understood in
the context of the society’s
problems and opportunities
 Evolution of Society
Productive
Type of Society Population Size Settlement Pattern Examples
Technology

Hunting and
Bushmen of
Gathering 25-40 people Primitive weapons Nomadic
Africa
Societies

Settlements of several Horticulturalists

hundred people, form relatively
Horticultural Hand tools, Middle East
connected through permanent
and Pastoral domestication of Societies
trading ties to form settlements;
Societies animals (5000 B.C.)
societies of several pastoralists are
thousand people nomadic

Cities become
common, though Egypt during the
Agrarian they generally construction of the
Millions of people Animal-drawn plow
Societies contain a small Great Pyramids;
proportion of the Medieval Europe
population
24
 Social Stratification

• Social Husband

stratification
exists in recent Wife
and modern
industrial and
Children
post industrial
societies
Slaves
 Family
• Forms of Marriage
– Monogamy

– Polygamy

– Exogamy

– Endogamy
– Levirate
– Sororate
 Family
• Forms of Marriage

– Monogamy M W

W1
– Polygamy
M
W4 W3
 Family
• Forms of Marriage
W
– Exogamy W M W
M

– Endogamy W
M
M W
W
– Levirate
 Family
• Forms of Marriage
– Levirate
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not
be married abroad unto one not of his kin; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take
her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.

And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate
unto the elders, and say: 'My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in
Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother unto me.‘

~ Deuteronomy 25: 5,7

– Sororate
this type of marriage strengthens the ties between both groups (the wife's family or clan and the
husband's) and preserves the contract between the two to provide children and continue the
alliance.
Levels of Organization
 Religion
MONOTHESIM POLYTHEISM
 Methods of Dating Evidence
Relative Dating Absolute Dating
• Based on Statigraphy • Based on Decay of
Radioactive Isotope
 Field Methods

Post-
Survey Excavation Excavacational
Analysis
 Linguistics
• Study of languages

– Language is a system of communication

using sounds or gestures that are put together

• Concerned with the emergence of language

and divergence over thousands of years
 Applied Anthropology
• Programs
• Preservation of cultural resources
• War prevention
• Forensics
• Medicine and Public Health
• Education and Communication