Anthropology is the detailed study of humanity in different times and places. Anthropologists attempt to engender knowledge about diverse peoples and their behaviour, their differences and commonalties. Traditionally, myths and legends provided the answers to theese questinos. Anthropology offers another approach to answering the questions people ask about themselves. In employing a scientific approach, anthropologists seek to produce a reasonabl objective understanding of human diversity and those aspects of life that all humans have in common.

The five major branches of anthropology are biological antrhopology, archeaology, linguistic anthropology, applied anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology. Biological Anthropologists trace the evolutionary development of humans as biological organisms and investigate biological variations within the species. They also study the physical and behavioural nature of our closest biological variations within the species. They also study the physical and behavioural nature of our closest biological relatives: nonhuman primates such as monkeys and apes. Archaeologists seek to explain human behaviour by studying material culture. Linguistic anthropolgists study the way language is used and may deal with descriptions of languagesm with histories of languages, or with how languages are used in a particular social setting. Applied anthropologists put to practical use the knowledge and expertise of anthropology, whether relating to land claims or human resource management. Sociocultural anthropologists study contemporary human groups. Ethnographers go into the field to observe and describe human behaviour; ethnologists conduct comparative studies of particular facets of a culture; and ethnohistorians study cultures of the recent past using oral histories and written accounts left by explorers, missionaries, and traders. Each of these subfields faces its own challenges.

A great deal of anthropological investigation involves fieldwork. Physical or biological anthropologists, as well as archaeologists, excavate sites  in search of evidence of human activity. Linguistic anthropologists are concerned with understanding how people employ language to relate to one another. Linguistic anthropologists will often live for brief periods with the people whose language they are studying. Sociocultural anthropologists often immerse themselves in contemporary cultures by living with the group under study, taking part in their routine activities, and observing how they live their lives.

Anthropologists attempt to answer the questions that people have asked throughout human history, questions such as "who are we? Where do we come from? WHy do we behave as we do?" The multiple fields and subfields of anthropology are put to use in order to gain a thorough knowledge of any phenomenon under study. Combined, these multiple fields, and recourse to both the longue duree and a vast data bank of research collected over centuries, result in the anthropologists a well-rounded knowledge of the people and events they study. As both a science and one of the humanities

 the study of humankind in all times and places

when one nation dominates another through occupation (colonies), administration (military presence), and control of resources, thereby creating a dependency.

promoting one nation's values, beliefs, and behaviour as superior to those of all others. Often associated with the Western world inundating other cultural groups with technology, religins, and ways of living (most often via the media), but also through missionism, education, and economic control, thereby strongly influencing how people will live.

concept that all cultures passed through evolutionary stages until they reached the technologically advanced level of Western societies. When concept of race was brought forward.

Father of fieldwork

rejected racism, believed all cultures studied on their own terms

systematic study of humans as biological organisms

those indicators or characteristics, such as dress and language, that identify individuals as belonging to a particular ethnic group

As anthropologists see it, culture consists of the abstrat values, beliefs, and perceptions of the world that lie behind people's behaviour and that are reflected in that behaviour. These elements are shared by members of a cultural group, and when they are acted upon, they produce behaviour that is intelligible to other members of that culture. Culture is learned largely through the medium of language rather than inherited biologically. The parts of culture such as economy, spiritually, kinship, and so on, function as an integrated whole.

While distinct cultures differ in numerous ways, anthrolopologists have noted that cultures display remarkable similartities in that they fulfill the needs of their members. To survive, a culture must satisfy the basic needs of its members and deal with problems and matters that concern these members. IT must provide for its own continuity, and it mus furnish and orderly existence. In doing so, a culture msut strike a balance between the self-interests of of individuals and the needs of soceity as a whole. Also, a culture msut have the capacity to change and adapt to new cirmcunstances or to altered perceptions of exisiting circumstances.

Cultures are not uniform. All is not uniform within any culture one reason is that some differences exists between male and females roles in any human society. Anthropologists use the term "gender" to refer to the elaborations or meanings that cultures assign to the biological differences between men and women. Age variation is also universal, and in some cultures other subcultural variations  also occur. Individual members of a scoeity learn the accepted norms of social behaviour through the process of enculturation without encultration people suffer culture shock, such as that experienced by new immigrans. Culture shock is defined as the trauma one experiences when moving into a culture different from one's home culture. The loss of familiar symbols and the eperience of being a complete outsider can result in culture shock. The extent of culture shock can be affected by the degree of differences between the field anthropologist (the ethnographer and the "host" culture. Ethnocentrismis the belief that our own culture is superior to all others. To avoid makingenthnocentric judgements, anthropologists adopt the practice of cultural relativism, which requires examination of each culturesin its own terms and accordin to its own standards. Anthropologists respect all cutlures because they firmly believe that all cutltures are equally vald and must not be jduged according to a set of standards from outside the culture. The possession of a culture, any culture, is a deep expression of the history and the ability of a group to survive and flourish.

1. Culture is Shared

2. Culture is Leanred

3. Culture is Based on symbols

4. Culture is Integrated

The archaeological study of primates helps anthropoligsts understand the physical and cultural evolution of our earliest ancestors Cureent research into chimpanzee groups reveals that, like all monkeys and apes, chimpanzees live in structure social groups and express their sociability through communication by visual and vocal signals. They also exhibit learning, but unlike most other primates, they can make and use tools.

The emergence and elaboration of culture sets humans apart from all other animals. The first indications of cultural complexity are evidenced in advanes in tool technology, as early hominins began to butcher aimals and skin their hides. This begins with Homo habilis but would have had its roots in the earliest hominins, which used sticks and rocks to fend off predators and to smash open nuts and bones.

The human species evolved from ancient homins dated roughly to 7 million years ago. Although the eariest sequence is only dimly known, there is broad agreement that the australopithecines represented the real beginnings of the evolutionary sequene that would lead to the genus Homo. These early (4 million years ago) bipedal creatures led to the emergence of the Homo habilis some 2.5 million ears ago. Homo habilis was the first toolmake, with an enlarged brai over that of the australopithecines. Following rapidly (in paleoanthhropoligcal terms) on the heels on the habilines was Homo erectus, who emerged some 2 –1.9 mya. H. erectus had an even larger brain than the habilines., used fire, and created a more elobrate tool technology. Homo erectus was also the first hominid to leave Africa and head for Asia and parts of Europe.

During the upper paleolithic (40,000-10,000ya), anatomically modern human begins began the process of rapid cultural evolution. This culminated in increased artistic ability, the manufacture of very elaborate tool types, and the eventual displacement of the last remaining non-sapiens, the Neanderthals. With their advanced technologies and icnreased intelligence, Homo sapiens reached parts of the globe that were hitherto unoccupied, including Austrailia. By the end of this peripd, the Americas were inhabited and Homo Sapiens were the only surviving member of the genus Homo.

Language makes communication of infinite meanings possibly by employing srounds or gestures that, when combined according to certain rules, result in meanings intelligible to all speakers. Linguistics is the modern scientific study of all aspects of language. Phonetics focuses on the production, transmission, and reception of speech sounds, or phonemes. Phenology studies the sound patterns of lanugage to extract the rules that govern the ays sounds are combined. Morphology is concerned with the smallest units of meaningful combinations of sounds-morphemes-I a luaguage. Syntax refers to the principles with which phrases and sentences are built. The entire formal structure of a language, consisting of all observations about its morphemes and syntax, constitutes its grammar.

Lanugage is key component of culture. Components of culture, such as history, glass, and gender, all affect lanugage use. The languages, and the wrods, that people use reveal much about their cultural world. Lanuage has a strong impact on culture and is also influenced by culture. In the modern world, the retention of language has become a key concern for linguistic anthropologsts, as many languages are threatened with extinction.

One theory of language origins is that our human anestors, their hands having been freed by their bipedalism, began using gestures as a tool to communicated and implement intentions within a social setting. When homo erectus moved out of the tropics, they needd to be able to plan for the duture in order to survive seasons of cold temperatures; probably, this in turn required structure sentences to communicate information about events removed in time and space. By the time archaic Homo sapiens appeared, the developed ability to fienly control movements of the mouth and throat had probably given rise to spoken language.

the ability to describe actions and objects that occurred in another time and place. Sets us aprat from animals

a system of communication using sounds or gestures out together in meaningful ways according to a set of rules.  Means of transmitting information and sharing experiences

the process of changing from one level of language to another

Adaption is both a physical process and a social process. The manner in which different groups and socieities adapt to their environment is refereed to as their subsistence round, or their mode of production. Human groups have adapted to a wide variety of environments and practise an equally wide variety of ways to make a living. Foraging, which includes unting, gathering, and fishing, is one of the oldest adaptions of humanity and requires a set of social structures that are compatible to mobile socieities. Horticulture is almost as old as foraging and was the first adaptive strategy of humans; it relied on the domestication of plants. This adaptive strategy required settling down and biulding villages, which in turn required social adaption. Other modes of adaption are agriculture, which incldes the domestication of plants and animals, and pastoralism, which is the movement of omesticated herds and flcoks on a seasonal basis in search of pasture land.

How do humans adapt?

The adaptive strategy a human group chooses has a profound impact on its social adaption, the enactment of rules and norms, and the form of social order These cultural patterns in turn affect the laws, customs, and traditions of human socieities, helping structure marriage, kinshipm and legal systems. Throughout human history the ways n which humans have adapted have demonstrated remarkable continuity.

How does human adaption differ fro that of other animals?

Humans differ from animals in that they adapt to their environments not only physically but also culturally. The latter includes the use of language and technology. The advent of large urban centres with complex social strcutures requried that human groups develop a heirarchy of order. This often resulted in the development of kingship, egalitarian rule, or cheifdoms displaying a mox of both. Soceity as created by human adaptions can contain many different occupations and even different ethnicities. Human groups respond by creating internal order and structures based on symbols, language, and laws.

What sorts of adaption have humans achieved through the ages?

Humans hav gone from being scavengers, to hunters, to collectors, to producers. Each mode of production has its own intricacies and peculiraitie, but all serve the same goal of sustaining the physical and oscia needs of human groups. With the emergence of agriculture some 10,000 years ago, the human species began a process of adaption that saw incresing degrees of specialization, until it rached the advanced and intensive agriculture we are familiar with today.

What is Economic Anthropology?

Economic antrhopology is a subfield of cultural anthropology. There are a wide variety of economic anthropologists, ranging from those who study prehistoric economies to those who specialize in analyzing contemporary coultures. The economic anthropolgist differs from the ecnomist in the way he or she sapplies anthropological data and theory to understand the broad functioning of economic systms. Beyond money or the market, economic anthropology is interested in the cultural practices that help shage, and are shaped by, the functioning of the total economic system. Therefore, an economic anthropologist analysis of hunter-gatherers may focus on the taboos they place on the eating of certain resources, or it may look at the connections between the economy and other cultural realms such as marriage and kinship.

How do anthropologists study economic systems?

Anthropologists place the economy in the context of the total culture to understand economic patterns. By understanding the basic trade and exchange systems, anthropogists can understand the economy; however, they go further by addressing the role that other social institutions, such as kinship, marriage, and spirituality, play in the economic realm. Anthropologists attempt to understand the historical factors and the traditional practices that govern the way prouction and consumption are carried out. One can count all the salmon that the Kwkwaka'wakw cathcm but unless practices such as the potlatch are examined, oone will not fully understand the economy.

How do economies work?

All societies have economies, and they differ only in terms of scale and the calues that are attached to each of the component parts of the economic system. Economic anthropologists engage with the cultural subsystems of trade and exchange consumption and extraction. By doing so, they are able to dtermine all the elemetns of how an economy functions.

How and Why are Good exchanged?

Goods are exchanged so that each society can obtain what it needs or wants but does not have, and trade that which it has most of. A variety of systems are ivovled in this exchange process, and different cultural practices are witnessed. The exchange of goods varies through space and time, and the value placed on the goods, and the rituals and practices that attend these exchanges, reveal a great deal about specific cultures. The complexity of the social formation affects the types of production as well as the exchange syste,. Hunter-gathers practise various forms of reciprocity, while early horticulturalists developed centralized distribution. Sedentary communities have the largest economic surplus and the most complex market mechanisms, and they practise a form of centralized redistribution in which taxes are distributed in the form of services and subsidies.