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| A term used to refer to all indigenous groups in North and South America. Includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, as well as Native Americans and Indians in the USA and South America. |
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1.5 million to 150 thousand years ago
A tool-making tradition mainly associated with Homo ergaster in Africa and Europe, characterized by teardrop-shaped axes and flake tools. Named after the site where it was first defined, St-Acheul, France. |
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| A process that organisms undergo to achieve a beneficial adjustment to an available environment. Also refers to the result of that process; the characteristics of an organism that fit them to the particular set of environmental conditions they are found in. |
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| A professor of anthropology at Penn State University. Notes the correlation between brain size and body size in human evolution. |
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| Alfred L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn |
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Definition
| North American anthropologists who collected more than one hundred definitions of culture from literature in the 1950s. |
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| Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown |
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Definition
| A British anthropologist who focused on functions of economic, social, religious, and political institutions, which are found in every culture. Focused on how cultures function to maintain themselves. |
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Definition
| A cultural anthropologist specializing in gender studies. Called participant observation a "time honoured tradition of making a fool of oneself for a point". |
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| Andrew Hill and Mary Leaky |
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Definition
| Discovered the Laetoli footprints in 1976. |
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Definition
| Male-centredness. Feminist anthropologgy arose to address the androcentrism that is found in most early ethnographic research. |
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| An anthropologist who found that she had to let go of preconceived ideas of work, power, and family when studying the economic importance of Trobrian women while studying the culture of the Trobrian Islands. |
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| Anthony Parades and Elizabeth D. Purdum |
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| Said that human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs "reassures many that society is not out of control after all, that the majesty of the law reins, and that G-d is indeed in his heaven". |
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| A sub-order of primates which includes humans, apes, and monkeys. |
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| May work as a teacher, consultant, advocate, policy analyst, or researcher for a university, government, non-government organization, or private sector in business and marketing. |
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Definition
| The holistic and comparative study of humankind and its cultures in all places and in all times. Tries to answer the questions of where people come from, and why they act as they do. Seeks to expose fallacies of racial and cultural superiority; devoted to study of all peoples, regardless of where and when they live(d). Anthropology as a distinct field of inquiry is a recent product of Western society. Split into four fields: biological, archaeological, linguistic, and sociocultural. |
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Definition
| May be considered a fifth field of anthropology. Includes medical, forensic, and development anthropology. Cultural knowledge is put to practical use to solve social problems. Applied anthropologists may work in government bureaux, private corporations, and international development agencies, and may function as mediators between cultural groups and government or private agencies. |
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Definition
| One of the four fields of anthropology. Includes prehistoric, pre-contact, and historic archaeology, and forensic anthropology. The study of material remains to reconstruct the lives of people who lived in the past. Archaeologists excavate sites where evidence of cultural activity is found, unearthing tools, pottery, bones, and other enduring artifacts. |
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Definition
4.4. million years ago
A genus of extinct hominin. Smaller than a chimpanzee, and walked on two feet with a grasping foot. Includes A. kadaba and A. ramidus. |
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Definition
| A spear thrower. Developed by the Upper Paleolithic peoples. |
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Definition
"Southern ape"
4.2 - 1 million years ago
The earliest well-known hominin. A genus which included several species. Found in eastern Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. Bipedal, and not as large as early hominins, but more muscular and with teeth more like modern humans. Had brain size similar to a modern chimpanzee. Walked upright by 4 million years ago. |
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Physical anthropology
One of the four fields of anthropology. Includes paleoanthropology, primatology, and forensic anthropology. The study of humans as biological organisms. Looks at how biology does and does nto influence culture, as well as how culture affects biology. Examines morphological and physiological variation in present-day humans, and relates it to different environments people have lived in. |
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Definition
| Walking upright on two legs. Frees the hands to carry things. Chimpanzees can make bipedal displays. |
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| A well-known Canadian primatologist who studied orangutans. |
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| A sociocultural anthropologist who carried out research in Southern Africa since the early 1990s. Helped establish the Institute of African Studies on the campus of Carleton University, and was its first director. |
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Definition
| A British anthropologist who focused on functions of economic, social, religious, and political institutions, which are found in every culture. Looked at how cultures meet the needs of its members, and payed attention to his key informant's point of view. Studied cultures in New Guinea including the Trobrian Islands. His diaries proved that he had sexist, racist, and ethnocentric views. However, he changed anthropology when he first observed that people then perceived as "savage" or "barbarian" were in many ways similar to British culture, and shared many aspects, different but seeking the same end. Ended the practice of "armchair anthropology" in Britain; afterwards, almost all anthropologists went on a "rite of passage" ethnographic trip. |
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Definition
| An anthropologist from McGill University. The world's leading expert on Huron Indians and the fur trade. |
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| Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) |
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Definition
La Société Canadienne D'Anthropologie
Founded in 1974 at Laval University. Ensure continuing financial support for anthropological research. Publishes the journal Anthropologica, and a bulletin called Culture. |
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Definition
| Originally developed the theory of evolution, that all species originally derive from the same grouping of common ancestors, who evolved through the process of natural selection. |
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Definition
| Social animals with organizational units of 50 or more individuals. Practice affiliative behaviours such as body postures and signals. Mother-infant bond is strong for the first five years, with close association common after this period. Have dependence on learned cultural behaviour. Have tool use and problem-solving skills. Have 98% of their DNA in common with humans. |
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Definition
| An Oldowan tool. An implement made by striking flakes from the surface of a stone core, leaving a tool with one or two faces with sharp edges. Used for cutting meat and cracking bones. |
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Definition
| Follows the same prophets as Islam: Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Both religions call for the triumph of good over evil. |
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Definition
| Argued that free will and ability to make choices based on ideas and desires influences culture. Identified a universal pattern of human thinking in all peoples. |
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Definition
| Studied the uniqueness of each culture, and the actions that have meaning for them. |
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Definition
| When one nation dominates another through occupation in colonies, administration with military presence, and control of resources, thereby creating a dependency. This contributed to the slow development of the field of anthropology. Reached its zenith in the 17th and 18th centuries, with European colonies in Africa, the Americas, and India. These actions were justified with cultural imperialism. |
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Term
| Cross-cultural comparison |
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Definition
| Comparing one particular aspect of a culture with that same aspect in others. A key characteristic of sociocultural anthropology. Can be applied to any current issue. |
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Definition
| The term for sociocultural anthropology used by American scholars. |
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Definition
| Promoting one nation's values, beliefs, and behaviours as superior to those of all others. Often associated with the Western world inundating other cultural groups with technology, religion, and ways of living, via the media, but also through missionism, education, and economic control, thereby strongly influencing how people live. It justified colonialism. |
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Definition
| The thesis that one must suspend judgement on other people's practices to understnad them in their own cultural terms. No single culture is in a position to rank cultures. It refutes ethnocentrism, and has become common in anthropolgical field work. |
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Definition
| The mechanism through which humans share and transmit their ideas, technologies, beliefs, behaviours, and languages. An expression of our humanity. A set of shared values and perceptions that generate a standard of behaviour. Shared by members of a cultural group, and produces behaviour that is intelligble to other members of that culture. Learned through language. Components include economy, spirituality, material systems, and kinships. All cultures represent collective behaviour of people as they co-operate to ensure collective survival and well-being; culture sets the limits of behaviour, and guides people along predictable paths. Enables people to adapt to adapt to a wide range of environments and circumstances to take control of our own evolution. Culture manipulates the environment with technology and social relations. Cultures can expand their population and territorial range. Cultures which have conflict, overpopulation, and/or environmental degradation may lead to termination of the culture. Human children require a long period of learning to acquire language and cultural knowledge necessary to survive, and instinct plays a relatively minor role. Culture is complex, shared, acquire, learned, based on symbols, and integrated. |
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Definition
| Theories about the world and reality based on the assumptions and values of one's own culture. Types of questions asked, theories applied, and interpretations are based on assumptions in the sociologist's or anthropologist's upbringing. |
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Definition
| The difficulty anthropologists have in adapting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own. The term was coined by Kalervo Oberg in the 1950s. |
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Definition
1884 - 1934
A Toronto-born anthropologist. Earned a medical degree from the University of Toronto, and completed military service in the Canadian Medical Corps. Moved to China and became the director of the Anthropology Department at University of Peking. Uncovered and made casts of fractured bones of Homo erectus in Zhoukoudian, leading to designation of a new member of the Homo genus. Unfortunately the original fossils were lost in a shipwreck during Japanese invasion of China in 1937, but plaster casts still exist. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of linguistic anthropology. The study of patterns and structure in language. Deals with description of languages, such as the way a sentence is formed, or how a verb is conjugated. |
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Definition
1886 - 1969
A New Zealand-born anthropologist who was the Chief of Anthropology at the National Museum of Canada, and published The People of Twilight (1928) and Indians of Canada (1932). Made many contributions to our understanding of Aboriginal cultures of Canada. In 1913, he took part in an expidition to the Canadian Far North in a ship which was crushed by Arctic ice. He and other expidition members took refuge in an Inuit settlement on Wrangle Island. Produced ethnographic analyses which are widely read to this day. |
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Definition
| A well-known primatologist who studied gorillas. |
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Definition
| Discovered the fossil of Lucy. Founded the Institute of Human Origins at Berkley, California in 1981. |
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Definition
| An anthropologist with the National Museum of Canada. The head of the Anthropology Division of the Geological Survey of the National Museum of Canada. Held numerous distinguished positions, and contributed much to the field of structural linguists. |
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Term
| Sir Edward B. Tylor and Louis Henry Morgan |
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Definition
| American anthropologists in the 19th century. Urged anthropologists to base theories on firsthand observations rather than ethnocentric biases, and "armchair anthropology". In 1871, Tylor defined culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, laws, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." |
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Term
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Definition
"Insider"
Subjective. A research strategy approach which tries to get "inside the head" of the informant. The values and norms a person must know in order to think as a native. The anthropologist tries to convey as accurately as possible what people think, how they feel, or what they believe. Feedback from the informant is crucial. Different insiders may have different points of view. |
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Definition
| The process that transmits a society's culture from one generation to the next. People learn socially appropriate ways to satisfy biologically determined needs. Enculturing forces include school, family, peers, religious organizations, and the media. Enculturation can occur at any age. |
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Definition
Cultural traits
Indicators or characteristics such as dress, language, history, beliefs, values, tradition, or food, that identify individuals as belonging to a particular ethnic group. |
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Definition
| A group of people who take their identity from a commonplace of origin, history, and sense of belonging, drawing on culture traits passed down through generations. |
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Definition
| The practice of judging other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture. It is an attitude found in most cultures; people regard their own culture to be the best, sensible, familiar, and normal. We evaluate other cultures in terms of what is familiar to us. In the 19th century, European anthropologists displayed their own ethnocentrism. It can prevent us from appreciating other cultures and other ways of living, and can lead to prejudice and racism. No one can escape this condition, but anthropologists try to get past it to see other cultures from the point of view of an insider. |
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Definition
| Someone who researches and writes an ethnography. Often imerses into a culture to study it. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of sociocultural anthropology. The collection of descriptive material on a culture. Information collected provides a descriptive account of the people. A written account of life in another culture. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of sociocultural anthropology. The study of cultures from the recent past using oral histories, archaeological sites, adn written accounts left by explorers, missionaries, and traders, as well as archival documents such as land titles and birth and death records. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of sociocultural anthropology. The comparative study of patterns witnessed in cultures to explain human behaviour. Attempts to develop generalizations or rules to explain human behaviour. |
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Definition
"Outsider"
Objective. This approach is the outsider's point of view. The norms and conventions of the anthropological community, including assumptions concerning the causes of socio-cultural differences and similarities. Must pass the test of cross-cultural validity, but does not require that the people being studied understand, agree with, or recognize the explanation of their belief or behaviour provided by the anthropologist. Different anthropologists may have different ponits of view. |
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| Extreme cultural relativism |
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Definition
| We might condone human sacrifice, violence against women, and public stoning, even though these might be parts of another culture. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of anthropology that investigates gender and gender relations, and that critically analyzes gender roles, positions, and experiences. Arose to address androcentrism found in most early ethnographic research. |
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Definition
| A relatively new field of applied biological anthropology and archaeology. Specializes in the identification of human skeletal remains for legal purposes. |
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Definition
| Skeletal remains of extinct species, including extinct species of early humans. |
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Definition
1858 - 1942
The "Father of Fieldwork". An empiricist who argued that every culture is unique, and is neither superior nor inferior to any other. Rejected racism, and promoted cultural relativism. Used participant observation, and emphasized need for collecting empirical data by going into the field and living among the people for extended periods of time. Followers of Boas developed the Four Field Approach. |
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Definition
| A set of standards and behaviours attached to individuals, usually, but not always, based on biological sex. A social construct that provides us with guidelines for social identity, status, and behaviour, which can include more than the feminine and masculine genders. Gender is learned, and is culturally defined. |
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Definition
| A professor at Miami University. Completed research projects for the National Park Service, and completed several community-driven research efforts for the Tijua Tribe of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo. |
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Definition
| A place in Ethiopia where the fossil of Lucy was found. |
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Definition
| A group of people who live in the Eyasi Basin in northern Tanzania. They are modern hunters and gatherers. Their population is about 1,000 people, a quarter of which sustain themselves on honey, fruit, and game animals. Live in huts made from woven branches. Move camp with the seasons. Have egalitarian social structure with no hierarchical divides. There is a "click" in their language, which is unrelated to any neighboring languages. The Tanzanian government is trying to convert them to an agricultural lifestyle, because they want to use their land. |
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Definition
| A Canadian anthropologist from the University of British Columbia in the 1960s, who was actively involved in Aboriginal policy issues. Examined sociocultural reasons for tensions between local residents and Doukhobors who had moved to British Columbia from Saskatchewan. Wrote a report in 1955 on the impact of providing First Nations peoples with old-age pensions, a historic example of applied anthropology. |
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Definition
| Created a work of anthropological significance in the 5th century BC. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of archaeology. The study of past cultures that possessed written records of their history, using historic documents as well as material remains. In most literate societies, written records are associated with the governing elites, so they do not tell the whole story. |
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Definition
| An anthropologist who, as a single woman alone, had difficulty finding a village in Myanmar which would allow her to live with them and conduct ethnographical research. |
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Definition
| A sub-field of linguistic anthropology. The study of language origins, language change, and the relationships between langauges. Looks at the way languages develop and influence one another. |
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Definition
| A fundamental principle of anthropology, that the various parts of culture must be viewed in the broadest possible context to understand their interconnections and interdependence. |
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Definition
Hominidae.
A family which includes some apes, humans, and our ancestral forms. Two-legged primates. |
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Definition
| A subfamily of hominids which includes humans and our ancestral forms. A tribe of hominoid primates to which all human species, including those that are extinct, are assigned. |
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Definition
| A super-family of anthropoids which includes humans and apes. |
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Definition
Java Man
Peking Man
"Erect man"
2 million - 300,000 years ago
The species of Homo which evolved from H. habilis. Generally refers to Asian species, but some scholars contend that African and European specimens belong to this species. Discovered in 1891 by Eugene Dubois on Java island. Widely distributed through time and geographical location. Evolved in Africa and migrated to Asia. Had a similar body to modern humans, but smaller, more muscular, and with a smaller birth canal. Had a larger brain than H. habilis. Dentition was similar to humans, but larger. Used language, and had fire and clothing, enabling them to migrate further north. Developed more sophisticated tools, and began to hunt for meat rather than scavenge. Teeth size decreased as cooking and tool use developed. |
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Definition
| An alternative, and the original classification of the African species of Homo also called H. erectus. Brain size is similar to H. erectus, but with less cultural and technological development. |
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Definition
25,000 years ago
A species of Homo found on Flores Island. Stood a metre tall, and had a vertical face and smaller teeth than humans. Used tools, had fire, and hunted for meat. |
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Definition
1.8 million years ago
A species of Homo found in the Republic of Georgia. There is some question about whether it is actually H. habilis or H. erectus. Brain size is similar to H. erectus, but with less cultural and technological development. |
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Definition
"Handy man"
2.5 - 1.5 million years ago
The earliest species of the genus Homo. Found in South and East Africa. Similar to Australopithecus, but had a larger brain and smaller teeth. Had a complex cerebral hemisphere, associated with speech. Scavenged for meat, even by stealing from predators, and used Oldowan tools to process it. Meat and cooking of food played an important role in expansion of the brain. Evolved into H. erectus. |
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Definition
Archaic Homo sapiens
500,000 - 800,000 years ago
The common ancestor of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis. |
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Definition
180,000 - present
The modern human species. Includes Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. |
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Definition
| For the last 40,000 years, all humans on the earth have belonged to this sub-species of H. sapiens. We are the only living members of the hominine family. Racial differences are due to minor genetic variation. |
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Definition
"Man"
A genus which include humans, and our earlier ancestors. |
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Definition
| The first ethnographer to discover the linguistic link between Siouan langages and the Tutelos of Ontario. Recorded Iroquoian oral traditions, and in 1883 published Iroquois Book of Rites. |
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Definition
| A set of guidelines for the equal treatment of all peopel, regardless of gender, age, or ethnicity. It can mean different things to different people, and can be used to serve various agendas. The UN defines it as "Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world." |
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Definition
| Created a work of anthropological significance in the 14th century. |
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Term
| Institute of African Studies |
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Definition
| At Carleton University. Founded by Blair Rutherford. Provides opportunities for its students and the wider public to learn about the rich histories and current realities of Africa. Provides placement opportunities for students to study in Africa. |
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Term
| Institute of Human Origins (IHO) |
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Definition
| At Arizona State University. FOunded in 1981 at Berkley, California by Donald C. Johanson. Conducts, interprets, and publicizes scientific research on humans. Releases a free newsletter, Human Origins. |
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Definition
| The tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole. |
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Definition
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Definition
| Follows the same prophets as Christianity: Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Both religions call for the triumph of good over evil. |
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Definition
| A Canadian archaeologist who excavated sites at the Bluefish Caves in the Yukon. Found bones and small tools indicating human presence between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. |
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Definition
| A well-known primatologist who studied wild chimpanzees. Did pioneering studies in Tanzania. |
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Definition
| One of the best-known examples of a hunting and gathering society, living in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Studied by Richard B. Lee. Observations made in the 1960s noted highly active lifestyle, low calorie diet, and record-breakingly low blood serum chloesterol. Restrictions on hunting made by the government in the 1980s, as well as roads and government food supplies, caused reduction in hunting and gathering lifestyle, leading to loss of purpose, increased blood pressure, and increase in rates of alcoholism, HIV, and tuberculosis. |
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Definition
| An anthropologist who acknowledges the value of presenting multiple voices. Studied female empowerment among Kenyan women, and recorded the women's experiences in her own words. |
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Definition
| Built on Leslie White's idea of technology as a cultural mover, and suggested that societies evolve to fit their ecological niche, and that environment influences way of life. |
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Definition
| Coined the term "culure shock" in the 1950s. |
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Definition
| A researcher at the Institute of Human Origins, and professor in the Department of Anthropology at Arizona State University. Did excavation work in Hadar. |
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Definition
| A linguist who coined the terms "emic" and "etic", and saw emic explanations as equaly valid as etic explanations. |
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Definition
Key informant
Members of a culture who help the ethnographer interpret what she or he observes. The term "respondent" or "subject" is lately preffered over "informant", since the latter has negative connotations associated with providing inside information to authorities. The ethnographer develops a close relationship with the key respondent. |
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Definition
| A cave in Australia where early humans lived. A series of swirling lines had been fingered into the soft limestone walls; these engravings are older than cave art in Europe. |
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Definition
| A culture of hunters and gatherers. They practice reciprocity; if a hunter was unsuccessful in a hunt he could use another person's resources, and return the favour later on. |
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Definition
| Footprints of some of the first upright-walking hominids. There were two of tem, the smaller one burdened on one side. Formed and preserved by a volcanic eruption, rainstorm, and ashfall. Formed at least 3.6 million years ago. Found in 1976 by Andrew Hill and Mary Leaky. |
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Definition
| An American anthropologist who studied the Kapauku people in western New Guinea in 1955. Observed that their economy as well as legal authority relied on plant cultivation, pig breeding, hunting, and fishing. This culture often had wars in which only men were killed, and the resulting imbalance of sexes allowed for the practice of polygyny. |
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Definition
| An anthropologist who recognized the potential of presenting knowledge of the resondents, when she examined indigenous knowledge with Gitksan people of northern British Columbia. She asked "When Gitksan people look at the environment, what do they see?" |
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Definition
| An anthropologist who proposed that culture changes in direct response to technological "progress". Observed that human behaviour originates from the use of symbols, the most important of which is language. |
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Definition
| A well-known Canadian primatologist who studied Japanese macaques and capuchins. Raised the question, why is gender relevant? Why would we want to know if the gender or sex of a researcher affects their research? |
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Definition
| One of the four fields of anthropology. Includes descriptive and historical linguistics. The study of how people use language to relate to one another, and how they develop and transmit culture. Examines the way language and other forms of expression are used to develop relationships and maintain social distinctiveness. Can be used to estimate how long speakers of a language have lived where they do. Words in related languages can suggest where an how speakers of ancestral languages lived. |
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Definition
| The first fossil of Australopithecus afarensis to be uncovered. Discoveredin Hadar, Ethiopia by Donald C. Johnson. An almost complete skeleton. Has stockier, heavier bones than humans. |
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Definition
| Discovered a shin bone of Australopithecus amenensis indicating older evidence for upright posture and gait. |
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Definition
| A class of vertebrates. Includes cows, cats, dogs, and primates. |
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Definition
| A French Canadian anthropologist who strongly advocated for Quebec nationalism. Helped shape government policies strengthening Quebec's identity and desires for self-determination. With Paul Charest and Yvan Breton, conducted a study of the fishing community in St-Augustin. |
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Term
| Marianne Boelscher Ignace |
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Definition
| An Associate Professor of Anthropology at Simon Fraser University's Kamloops campus. Has published a book on Haida sockal and symbolic discourse. |
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Definition
1883 - 1969
A Quebecois anthropologist. Earned a law degree from Laval University, and an anthropology degree from Oxford University. Accepted a position at the National Museum of Canada. Recorded the voices of First Nations people, capturing hundreds of folktales, and thousands of songs. Attempted to understand their world view. He studied totem poles, and collected thousands of artifacts, and wrote over a thousand books. Received a Prix David and honorary doctorates from the University of Montreal and Oxford University, and was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. |
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Definition
| First introduced the distinction between emic and etic in sociocultural anthropology. Put greater emphases on the relevance and priority of etic explanations, including etic explanations of religion. |
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Definition
| A group of people who share common interests or experiences, from which they take their identity. |
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Definition
| When two people are married. |
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Term
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Definition
100,000 - 40,000 years ago
A tool-making tradition of the Neanderthals and their contemporaries of Europe, southwestern Asia, and North Africa. Generally lighter and smaller tools, and a greater variety of types including hand axes, flakes, scrapers, borers, notched flakes, and many types of points which could be made into spears. Allowed for more effective use of food resources, and enhanced quality of clothing and shelter. |
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| A descriptor for a society or community made up of, involving, or relating to several distinct racial or religious cultures. Contrast with biculturalism or monoculturalism. Despite problems and disjuncture between theory and practice, it appears to function fairly well as a model for society. Includes Canadian society. |
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| A prominent feminist anthropologist. Holds that academia in general is a male world, and men produced male-biased theories and treat women as inherently inferior. A feminist approach considers cooperation, empathy, and holism where a masculine approach does not. |
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| National Museum of Canada |
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| A museum in Ottawa that played a major role in the direction of early Canadian anthropology. Anthropologists with this museum include Edward Sapir, Marius Barbeau, David Boyle, and Diamond Jenness. These anthropologists conducted ethnographic, linguistic, and archaeological research into Aboriginal cultures. |
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| The evolutionary mechanism by which individuals with characteristics best suited to a particular environment survive and reproduce with greater frequency than those without them. Favours survival of well-adapted individuals, and propagation of genetic traits. |
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Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
The representative group of the genus Homo living in Europe and the Middle East from 125,000 years ago to about 30,000 years ago. Had brains larger than modern humans, but with mid-facial projection of their noses and teeth, forming a prow, and a prominent brow ridge. They had an occipital bun providing for more powerful neck muscles, and their bodies were more muscular. Used fire, made complex tools, and communicated by speech. Lived in small bands took care of their disabled, and burried their dead with grave objects and flowers. Lived alongisde humans for 100,000 years. Their population interbred with humans. It is possible that humans engaged in conflict with them that lead to their extinction. |
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| From the California Academy of Sciences. A paleoanthropologist who studies bipedalism. |
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| The earliest identifiable stone tools. First appeared 2,5 million years ago, marking the beginning of the Paleolithic era. Incldues choppers. |
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6 million years ago
A hominin with molars similar to Australopithecus, but it is unknown if was bipedal. |
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| The body of a man who died 5,000 years ago, found in the Alps in 1991. The body was well-preserved in ice, and was found when the ice melted. Around the body artifacts were found including an ax, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. He had tattoos on his body, and tooth cavities. He died in the spring from a shot from a bow and arrow. In 2012, his genome was sequenced, and it was found that he had brown eyes, suffered from Lyme disease, was lactose-intolerant, and had type O blood. He is most closely related to the island people of Sardinia and Corsica. |
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| Compared the Laetoli footprints to those of a chipmanzee and humans, and found they were hardly distinguishable from modern humans. |
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| A sub-field of biological anthropology. The study of fossil remains of our ancient ancestors, members of the genus Homo, in order to reconstruct the course of human biological evolution. |
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Old Stone Age
Characterized by Oldowan tools. |
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| A method of learning a people's culture through direct observations and participation in everyday life. Developed by Franz Boas. The ethnographer lives among the people, eating their food, speaking their language, and experiencing their habits and customs. In this way the ethnographer understands the culture to a far greater extent than any nonparticipant could do. A hallmark of anthropological research, and is considered to be a "rite of passage" for sociocultural anthropologists. It is wrought with challenges, including research proposal, dealing with ethics and review board, learning the language, overcoming personal and professional insecurities, developing rapport with community members, health and safety issues, culture shock, as well as avoiding personal biases. The very presence of an ethnographer in the group can change the dynamic and atmosphere of a group, thus calling into question if the ethnographer is really observing how the people would normally live. |
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| A cultural historian and specialist in Australian rock art. Over 90% of these paintings are of human females. |
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| A society that contains several distinct cultures and subcultures. Includes Canadian society. |
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| When one woman is married to more than one man. It is practiced in Tibet. |
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| When one man is married to more than one woman. It is practiced in Nigeria. |
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| The culture of our everyday lives: television, sports, fashion, arts and crafts, fiction, and music. It is increasingly being recognized as having more profound impact on society than high culture, and must be studied. Can be as complex and worthy of interpretation as great works of art and literature. |
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| A term used instead of "prehistoric archaeology" to refer to study of ancestors of contemproary Aboriginal peoples, to avoid the suggestion that people living in the Americas before Europeans arrived did not have a history. |
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| A sub-field of archaeology. The study of ancient cultures that did not possess writing systems to record their history. Looks at human behaviour in the distant past. |
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| An order of mammals which includes humans, apes, monkeys, tarsiers, and lemurs. |
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| A sub-field of biological anthropology. The study of prosimians, monkeys and apes, and their biology, adaptations, and social behaviour. |
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| The gathering of detailed description based on interviews, documents, and participant observation to understand human social behaviour. |
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| The gathering of statistical and measurable numerical data. In anthropology less emphasis is placed on this type of research, although it may be used. |
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| Referred to culture as humanity's "social heredity". |
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| Gift exchange. Most economies are built upon reciprocity. |
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| A Canadian anthropologist and linguist. Shed light on the interdependence and dynamics of language and cultures in First Nations Peoples. A faculty member at the University of Western Ontario, and the director for the Centre for Research and Teaching of Canadian Native Languages. Focused on aspects of linguistics and culture from a historical, symbolic, and ethnographic perspective. Fluent in several First Nations languages. Wrote biographies of Franz Boas and Edward Sapir, as well as books on the history of anthropology and First Nations languages and cultures. |
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| An anthropologist from the University of Toronto who did ethnographic research into the Ju/'hoanis people of the Kalahari Desert. Painted a detailed picture of the diet and health issues facing these people. |
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| An anthropologist from Namibia. Said that "Whereas the sociologist or the political scientist might examine the beauty of a flower petal by petal, an anthropologist is the person that stands on the top of the mountain and looks at the beauty of the field. In other words, we try and go for the wider perspective". |
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| The curator of Arctic archaeology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Dismisses the value of artifact as objects; uses them to learn about the people who used and then discarded them. Highlighted the role the Arctic played in human history. |
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| A Canadian anthropologist who did research into the spiritual practices of the Dane-zaa. Employed a collaborative approach, and recorded oral histories and unedited narratives, telling the story of the Dane-zaa in their own voices. |
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| Found the hand and arm of a 3 million year old Australopithecus in South Africa. |
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| Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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7 - 6 million years ago
A hominin found in northern Chad. Had a small braincase like an ape. Small canines, and a human-like face. May be the ancestor of all hominins. |
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| A Malaysian culture which is peaceful and abhors war and violent behaviour. People suppress anger, and children avoid competitive games. |
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| A primatologist who studied baboons. Believes that being female has no impact on her work. |
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| A major figure in British anthropology. Noted that it can be difficult to examine your own culture, because you may have prejudices which derive from private, rather than public experience. |
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| The term for sociocultural anthropology used by British scholars. |
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| The relationship of groups within a society that hold it together. |
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| A group of people who live in the same geographical region, speak the same language, and are interdependent to a certain extent. Often it contains more than one cultural group. Members of a society are held together by a sense of common identity, economic systems, and family relationships. |
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| Sociocultural anthropology |
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Cultural anthropology
Social anthropology
One of the four fields of anthropology. The dominant form of anthropology in Canada. Incldues ethnography, ethnology, and ethnohistory. The study of human behaviour in contemporary cultures, which can be seen, experienced, and discussed, as well as the study of culture change. It is susceptible to being culture bound. Seeks to understand characterstics of diverse cultural groups, explain similarities and differences in human groups, and understand the interrelatedness of sociocultural systems and economic, religious, social, and political organizations. It can be used to raise cultural awareness and appreciation of the world's cultural diversity. |
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| The study of language in its social setting. Allows anthropologists to understand how people perceive themselves and the world around them. |
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| An early 20th century primatologist. Observed violence, aggression, and a well-defined hierarchy in baboons. |
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| A grouping of animals which form a breeding population. Animals of different species cannot produce fertile offspring. |
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| A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member. The term carries no connotation of lesser relative status to the word "culture". |
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| Teuku Jacob and colleaguges |
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| Believe that fossils of Homo floresiensis are the bones of humans who had microcephaly, caused by genetic isolation on a small island with low population. |
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| In 1925 was appointed lecturer in anthropology at the University of Toronto. Contributed to the growth of anthropology at the university, until the Department of Anthropology was created in 1936, the first department of anthropology at a Canadain university. |
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| A culture where women exchange banana-leaf skirts when someone in their village has died. A matrilineal society. Fathers have no control or responsibility over their children or to the mother of their children. Instead the mother's brother has command over his family and presents harvests of yams to his sister and her children. Fathesr are permitted only to love their children, but not to give them gifts. There is no conception of males as genitors, and they believe that a woman becomes pregnant when ancestral spirits enter her body. |
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| Upper Paleolithic peoples |
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| The first people of with modern appearance, who lived in the last part of the Paleolithic age. Had characteristically modern-looking faces. Developed the burin, atlat, bow and arrow, and art. |
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| A warlike culture which practices cannibalism. |
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| Devised a formula for measuring the success of a culture. How well does a culture satisfy the physical and psychological needs of those whose behaviour it guides?? The formula uses specific indicators of nutritional, physical, and mental health of its population, violence, crime, delinquency, demographic structure, stability and tranquility of domestic life, relations with neighboring groups, and the group's relationship to its resource base. |
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| An anthropologist who studied the Rashaavda Bedouin in Sudan, and experienced culture shock, but as he learned their way of life became more comfortable, and when he returned to USA, he experienced culture shock another time as he readjusted to American life. |
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| A project directed by William Rathje at the University of Arizona. A carefully controlled study of household waste, producing information about contemporary social issues. Aimed to test the validity of interview/survey techniques, and showed that there is a significant difference between what people say they do and what they actually do. |
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| The head of the Department of Social and Cultural History at the University of Greenland. Studied the Caribou Inuit on the west coast of Hudson Bay. |
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| A method of classifying animals into species, genus, family, et cetera. Used by biologists to indicate how closely related different species are to each other genetically and anatomically. All forms of animal life are given a scientific name which refers to their genus and species, as well as variety or breed within a species. |
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