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Chapter 3

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I.

Ethics and Anthropology A. B. C. The mission of the AAA is to advance anthropological research and encourage the spread of anthropological knowledge through publications, teaching, public education, and application. Anthropology, like any science, exists in society, and in the context of law and ethics. Researchers must create and maintain proper relations between themselves and the host nations, regions, and communities where they work. The AAA Code of Ethics states that anthropologists should recognize their debt to the people with whom they work, and should reciprocate in appropriate ways. 1. 2. 3. 4. Researchers should obtain informed consent from anyone who provides information or who might be affected by the research. In the case of working at an international site, researchers should include host country colleagues in their research planning and requests for funding. Researchers should establish collaborative relationships with host country institutions and colleagues before, during, and after their fieldwork. Informed consent (agreement to take part in the researchafter having been informed about its nature, procedures, and possible impacts) should be obtained from anyone who provides information or who might be affected by the research. 5. 6. Researchers should include host country colleagues in dissemination, including publication, of the research results. Researchers should ensure that something is "given back" to host country colleagues.

II.

Research Methods in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology A. Multidisciplinary Approaches 1. 2. 3. Physical anthropologists and archaeologists collaborate with scientists from diverse fields in the study of sites, fossils, and artifacts. Paleontology is the study of ancient life through the fossil record. Not only do archaeologists search for and work with visible remains such as animal and human bones, rocks, and ceramics, they also study microscopic evidence such as phytoliths (microscopic crystal found in many plants). 4. 5. Bioarchaeologists examine human skeletons to reconstruct their physical traits, health status, and diet. Forms of remote sensing, such as aerial photos and satellite images, are used to locate archaeological features as well as patterns of flooding and deforestation, which can then be investigated on the ground. B. Primatology 1. Primate behavior has been observed in zoos and through experimentation, but the most significant studies have been done in natural settings, among free-ranging apes, monkeys, and lemurs.

2.

Studies of primate social systems and behavior suggest hypotheses about behavior that humans do or do not share with our nearest relatives, and also with our hominid ancestors.

C.

Anthropometry 1. 2. Anthropometry is the measurement of human body parts and dimensions, including skeletal parts (osteometry). Body mass and composition provide measures of nutritional status in living people. Bone biology (or skeletal biology) is the study of bone as a biological tissue, including its genetics; cell structure; growth, development, and decay; and patterns of movement (biomechanics). 2. 3. Paleopathology is the study of disease and injury in skeletons from archaeological sites. Forensic anthropologists work in a legal context, recovering, analyzing, and identifying human remains and determining the cause of death.

D.

Bone Biology 1.

E.

Molecular Anthropology 1. Molecular anthropology uses genetic analysis (of DNA sequences) to assess evolutionary links: relationships among ancient and contemporary populations and among species. 2. Molecular anthropologists also reconstruct waves and patterns of migration and settlement.

F.

Paleoanthropology 1. 2. Paleoanthropology is the study of early hominids through fossil remains. Paleoanthropological studies are usually undertaken by multidisciplinary teams that may include physical anthropologists, archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists, palynologists, paleoecologists, physicists, and chemists.

G.

Survey and Excavation 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Systematic survey provides a regional perspective by gathering information on settlement patterns (the distribution of sites) over a large area. During a survey, researchers record the location, size, and approximate age of sites. During an excavation, scientists recover remains by digging through cultural and natural stratigraphythe layers of deposits that make up a site. The layers or strata that make up a site can be used to establish the relative time order of the materials encountered during the dig. According to the principle of superposition, in an undisturbed sequence of strata, the oldest is on the bottom and each successive layer above is younger than the one below. Generally, artifacts and fossils from lower strata are older than those recovered from higher strata in the same deposit. Sites are excavated because they are endangered (e.g., by modern development), or because they are well suited to answer specific research questions.

III.

Kinds of Archaeology A. Experimental archaeologists try to replicate ancient techniques and processes (e.g., toolmaking) under controlled conditions.

B. C. D. IV.

Historical archaeologists use written records as guides and supplements to archaeological research on societies with written histories. Classical archaeologists study the literate civilizations of the Old World, such as Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Underwater archaeology is a growing field that investigates submerged sites, most often shipwrecks.

Dating the Past A. B. C. The fossil record is not a representative sample of all the plants and animals that have ever lived. Taphonomy is the study of the processes that affect the remains of dead animals. Paleontologists and anthropologists have established a chronology for the evolution of life by assigning dates to geologic layers (strata) and to the material remains, such as fossils and artifacts, within them. D. E. F. To date fossils or artifacts, scientists use several relative and absolute techniques that offer different degrees of precision and that are applicable to different periods of the past. In the words of paleoanthropologist Christopher Stringer, "absence of evidence does not necessarily prove evidence of absence." Relative Dating 1. 2. 3. G. Relative dating provides a time frame in relation to other strata or materials rather than absolute dates in numbers. Stratigraphy is the science that examines the ways in which earth sediments accumulate in layers known as strata (singular, stratum). Fossils or artifacts in a given stratum are younger than those in the layers below them and older than those in the layers above them. Absolute Dating 1. 2. 3. Absolute dating techniques allow fossils or artifacts to be dated more precisely, with dates in numbers. Radiometric techniques are based on known rates of radioactive decay of elements found in or around fossils. Examples of absolute dating techniques include carbon-14 (14C), potassium-argon (K/A), uranium series (238U), thermoluminescence (TL), and electron spin resonance (ESR).

V.

Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology A. Cultural anthropology and sociology share an interest in social relations, organization, and behavior. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sociologists have traditionally worked in the large-scale nations of the industrial West. Sociologists rely heavily on questionnaires and other means of collecting masses of quantifiable data. Sampling and statistical techniques are basic to sociology. Traditionally anthropologists used ethnographic techniques to study small, nonliterate (without writing) populations. mile Durkheim, one of the founders of both anthropology and sociology, compared the

organization of simple and complex societies. VI. Ethnography: Anthropology's Distinctive Strategy A. B. C. Ethnography is the firsthand, personal study of local cultural settings. Traditionally, ethnographers have tried to understand the whole of a particular culture. In pursuit of this holistic goal, ethnographers usually spend an extended period of time in a given society or community, moving from setting to setting, place to place, and subject to subject to discover the totality and interconnectedness of social life. VII. Ethnographic Techniques A. Observation and Participant Observation 1. 2. 3. B. Ethnographers are trained to be aware of and record details from daily events, the significance of which may not be apparent until much later. Ethnographers strive to establish rapporta good, friendly working relationship based on personal contactwith their hosts. Participant observation involves the researcher taking part in the activities being observed. Conversation, Interviewing, and Interview Schedules 1. Ethnographic interviews range in formality from undirected conversation, to openended interviews focusing on specific topics, to formal interviews using a predetermined schedule of questions. 2. C. Multiple conversational and interviewing methods may be used to accomplish complementary ends on a single ethnographic research project. The Genealogical Method 1. 2. D. The genealogical method includes procedures by which ethnographers discover and record connections of kinship, descent, and marriage, using diagrams and symbols. Anthropologists need to collect genealogical data to understand current social relations and to reconstruct history. Key Cultural Consultants 1. Also called key informants, key cultural consultants are people who by accident, experience, talent, or training can provide the ethnographer with the most complete or useful information about particular aspects of life. E. Life Histories 1. 2. F. Life histories reveal how specific people perceive, react to, and contribute to changes that affect their lives. Since life histories are focused on how different people interpret and deal with similar issues, they can be used to illustrate the diversity within a given community. Local Beliefs and Perceptions, and the Ethnographer's 1. An emic (native-oriented) approach investigates how local people perceive and categorize the world, what their rules of behavior are, what is meaningful to them, and how they imagine and explain things. 2. 3. Cultural consultants or informants are individuals who provide the ethnographer with the emic perspective. An etic (scientist-oriented) approach shifts the focus from local observations,

categories, explanations, and interpretations to those of the anthropologist. G. Problem-Oriented Ethnography 1. Although anthropologists are interested in the whole context of human behavior, most ethnographers now enter the field with a specific problem to investigate, and they collect data relevant to that problem. 2. Because local people lack knowledge about many factors that affect their lives, anthropologists may also gather information on variables such as population density, environmental quality, climate, physical geography, diet, and land use. H. H. Longitudinal Research 1. 2. 3. I. Longitudinal research is the long-term study of a community, region, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits. Longitudinal research has become increasingly common, as improved transportation has allowed anthropologists to visit their research area repeatedly. Longitudinal research is often conducted by teams of ethnographers (see team research below). Team Research 1. VIII. Team research involves a series of ethnographers conducting complimentary research in a given community, culture, or region. Survey Research A. Anthropologists working in large-scale societies are increasingly using survey methodologies to complement more traditional ethnographic techniques. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. IX. Survey involves drawing a study group or sample from the larger study population, collecting impersonal data, and performing statistical analyses on these data. By studying a properly selected and representative sample, social scientists can make accurate inferences about the larger population. Survey research is considerably more impersonal than ethnography. Survey researchers refer to the people who make up their study sample as respondents. Respondents answer a series of formally administered questions. Ethnography can be used to supplement and fine-tune survey research, thereby providing new perspectives on life in any society. Anthropology Today: Archaeologist in New Orleans Finds a Way to Help the Living A. One role for anthropologists is to help communities preserve their culture in the face of threat or disaster. This account describes the work of an anthropologist doing public archaeology in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. B. Cultural resource management (CRM) is one form of applied anthropology: the application of anthropological perspectives, theory, methods, and data to identify, assess, and solve social problems.

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