ARCH 131 DAY 1

ARCH 131 DAY 1: Human Origins Physical or Biological Anthropology: - Archeology: The Study of past cultures through the part of their material culture that survives the archeological record (Things dug up, tools, pottery, structures, etc...) - Physical/Biological Anthropology: Human evolution and variability: Paleoanthropology (Study of early humans/ancestors) & Primatology (Study of primates) - Cultural Anthropology: Study of living creatures - Linguistics: Study of language What is the goal? - To understand why humans are the way they are. - Analyzing things from the past to help with that goal - Adaptations to environment, tools, materials - Arch: What were they used for? What was the function? Where was it made? What is it made of? - Bio: Looking at the biological structure/anatomy of the specimens Why do we do biological anthropology? - Reconstruct our evolutionary history - Collect data from the past, a look at the past culture - To understand the human condition, as we are the product of all that evolution - Why a we the way we are? - Similarities and differences between ancestors and modern humans Early studies of the distant past: - History: - Quite new in comparison to other studies - The earliest Scientists: - Arab Scholars: (Saved writings) - England/Europe: (Played a big role in the development of science) - Primarily Euro-centric

Development of the Scientific Framework in Europe: - The Enlightenment: Prior to this, the biblical story was the undeniable fact. Everything revolves around stories/Dogma. - Escaped from this era. - Irish Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656): The earth was created in 4004 BC (6025 years ago) Specifically on a Sunday, on 9: AM. An example of biblical teachings was considered fact. - Fixity of Species: No discussion on evolution or change, the end all be all was that God created all animals The Enlightenment: - Mid 1600s-Early 1800s - Humanism: Ethics should be based on logic, empathy & reason. Not Gods or stories - Liberation: Value of individual human life and individual freedom - Rationalism: Knowledge gained through logic & rational thought - Empiricism: Knowledge comes from experience & observation Science: - A term we use to refer to ideals, norms, ideologies and methodologies we use for research and explanation of our natural world - Free Speech: Individuals are free to develop and present new hypotheses, but everyone is free to criticize them - Peer Review: Researchers critically review each other's hypotheses. To review its validity, look for support & evidence - Empirical testing and standards of evidence: Hypotheses are tested against data from the natural world. Determines whether your hypotheses stand or falls. - Recognition of inherent biases: Methodologies were developed to avoid such problems Advances in Natural & Social Sciences: - The world is much older and more diverse than the bible could provide. With laws and explanations for why everything is the way they are.

- Charles Lyell: “ Extreme antiquity of the earth” Rocks and structures taking thousands and millions of years old 2) Extreme age of human history - The discovery of human tools, being much older than previously imagined - Boucher De Perthes: Looked for ancient artifacts and fossils, found old human tools near the old fossils of extinct animals, showing how old humans truly are - Tollius: “Flint artifacts are generated in the sky by lightning” - Hugh Falconer: Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist, and paleoanthropologist. He studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam,Burma, and most of the Mediterranean islands and was the first to suggest the modern evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium. He studied the Siwalik fossil beds, and may also have been the first person to discover a fossil ape. - 3) The Mutability of Organisms “Evolution” - Organic life evolved overtime - Dawin called “transmutation” - The older humanoid fossils should be considered human ancestors - Already though of/theorized in the 1700’s openly discussed in the 1800’s - Lamarck ; Accepted that evolution was a fact, and the first guy to look for how evolution occurred - Lamarckianism: “Inheritance of acquired characteristics” (Basically future generations would get characteristics their grandparents didn’t) - Ex: Giraffes would stretch their necks, and overtime, their necks would grow as they passed this trait down the line - George Cuvier: “Catastrophism” and “Fixity of Species” - His Belief system kept him from completely embracing concept of evolution - Catastrophism: Stating there wasn’t just one flood (biblical) that there was more, and would wipe out the population, and they would be replaced from animals in other regions, therefore you would see a change in life

- Evolution was an idea that didn’t originate from Darwin - Charles Darwin: - in 1859 published On the Origin of Species - Explained his theory on natural selection which has been tested over the last 150 years - He was scared to publish his writings until Alfred Russel Wallace outlined a similar theory to Darwin, which pushed him to publish his studies - Church was not happy with this, still wanted to believe God created us in his image - Acknowledged that we were similar to great apes, and we could have evolved from some branch of apes - Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 – 1895) : Known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his defense of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. - Eugene Dubois (1858 – 1940) : Discovered Pithecanthropus (Java Man) in 1891, a potential "missing link" in human evolution. - Arthur Keith (1866 – 1955) : Supported the idea that "modern humans are special" in their evolution. - Marcellin Boule (1861 – 1942) : Contributed to pale - oanthropology with research on the Broken Hill (Kabwe) Skull found in Zambia, Africa. - Raymond Dart (1893 – 1988) : Discovered the "Taung Child" in 1925, a representative of the species Australopithecus africanus. - Davidson Black (1884 – 1934) : Played a significant role in the discovery of "Peking Man" (Sinanthropus pekinensis) in Zhoukoudien, China. - Sterkfontein Cave, South Africa : A site dating back approximately 3 million years, contributing to human origins research. - 4) Key Topics in Biological Anthropology - Variation in the morphology of modern humans : Addresses the reasons behind our physical characteristics. - Concept of "race" : A concept explored within biological anthropology due to visible differences. - "Survival of the fittest" and cultural diversity : Examines how evolutionary principles intersect with cultural variation.