Integrative Approach In Anthropology

What is anthropology? This is a question that can be answered in numerous ways, but we are going to define it as simple as possible. If we break the word down into its two components it means the study of human beings. “Anthropo” means human beings or human kind and “logy” or “logia” is Greek for the study or knowledge of something. When we put it all together, it is the study of human beings which can be very broad. Anthropology can be broken down into four subfields: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology.

Caleb L. Fry and Lauren T. Rios Department of Anthropology Lake Tahoe Community College One College Drive South Lake Tahoe, California 96150 USA Faculty Advisor: Daryl G. Frazetti Abstract

In society today, the discipline of anthropology has made a tremendous shift from the practices it employed years ago. Anthropologists of today have a very different focus from their predecessors, who would focus on relating problems of distant peoples to the Western world. In more modern times, their goal has become much more local, in focusing on human problems and issues within the societies they live.

Todd collected many of the human skeletal remains in the collection; the majority of the remains collected were unclaimed bodies that came from mortuaries and city hospitals. The demographics that are comprised of in this collection consist of both sexes, various ages ranging from the early 30’s to early 80’s, different ethnicities, and being labeled as either “W” or “B” for white and black respectively.

The scientists, archeologists, and historians must use science to reveal all of the answers. If it weren't for science many mysteries would still remain about the findings at the historical sites visited in this book. Written in Bone was an enjoyable read hidden with science sprinkled on every

According to the novel, Paradigms for Anthropology Edited (An Ethnographic Reader) by E. Paul Durrenberger and Suzan Erem explained people consider their religious rituals as being their most creative expressions in indication of their cultural values as well as perspective. To study a religious belief including a ritual practice in another culture than one's own creates a series of difficulties. With such religious rituals cause their to be a search for attention and an explanation. Oftentimes, such beliefs cause there to be drama amongst others. Then all of a sudden, the people who were once considered reasonable become unsure if their beliefs when it's examined closely.

This is the approach in medical anthropology that analysis how the ecology or the natural environment cause or are related to specific health issues or diseases for that matter. The conditions under which the people in Haiti lived helped Farmer explain how health issues arise (Vine, 2013). Population pressure due to displacement led to congested

I find the article on ‘The Skeleton Chronicles’ interesting because part of a skeleton holds so much information, just looking at the bone density of a skeleton you are able to determine if a person had a physically stressful life or if they had a life with less physical stress. Bioarchaeology is also able to determine what the political and cultural climate may have been during that time period. In addition, dental clues such as the shape, size, and formation of enamel gives us clues about how a person lived, if they were suffered from malnutrition or if they have had any infections.

According to the lecturer, it is dubious that the discovery of bones show malnutrition. This is primarily due to the fact that poor nutrition was common among the people regardless of an abundance of crops. The farmers gave crops to the religious elite as offerings, who received the food as a tribute to themselves. This casts doubt on the reading passage that the founding of bones is plausible evidence to support the migration.

These type studies increase ususally don’t contribute to the advancement in the understanding of human behavior but increase our interpretive abilities. Archaeologists today spend the majority of their research efforts on the specific rather than the general, on the empirical rather than the theoretical, on the interpretation rather than the behavior. According to scholars, middle range theory will play a very important role in the future of archaeology as the focus returns to the issues in human

They present how anthropology is aiding in filling the gaps in history due to the lack of documentation in certain historical time periods. Without anthropological innovation and techniques, many people and their life histories would be lost in time. Anthropologists take the remains of individuals and give them back their stories and their lives. While their ideas are not preserved, there is a multitude of valuable information that can be extracted and understood via examination of bones and chemical analysis of the remains. The types of information that can be extrapolated from these findings are various: age, sex, stature, and from certain markers in the bones, socioeconomic status, diet, access to food and healthcare, aches and pains, diseases, etc. This information is invaluable when endeavoring to understand the lives of those who lived long ago. I am astounded by the sheer amount of information that can be found in a person’s

The amount of information archaeologists can learn from artefacts and ecofacts through archaeometry is staggering. Of particular use to archaeologists studying the Neolithic period is lead, strontium and oxygen isotope analysis. Lead, strontium and oxygen isotope analysis can reveal very useful information about the life of a human specimen- for example the type of diet they ate and their birthplace. This is particularly useful for studying the Neolithic period as it was a time of large cultural and demic diffusions, and the kind of diet people were eating changed drastically with the introduction and spread of farming.

Human bones are the part of the body which is most likely to survive in the burial. It can provide information about both individual and society. By considering different part of the bones can provide us the information about the individual itself, such as age, sex and nutrition, as well as the general information for that particular society such as the migration pattern.

Physical anthpologist study human physical differences in time and space.  Physical anthropologists have obligations to their scholarly regulations. Both anthropologist and physical anthropologist remain ethical with their host colleagues. Their host colleagues are obligated to research planning and requesting funding. Communication is also a major key when dealing with the ethical obligations of both archaeologists and physical

During an individual’s lifetime the activities they involve themselves in impact on their many bodily tissues. Markers for these activities are left in the bones, joints and dentition which is useful for anthropologists as only skeletal material is left in the case of most ancient populations. Subsequently much research has been undertaken in this area with varying levels of validity.In this essay I seek to explain what information can be reliably gathered from skeletal material, it will focus on bone density and muscle attachments associated with heavy workloads, joint wear caused by repeated processes such as grinding grain, osteoarthritis and tooth wear associated with tool use. To aid this discussion I will detail the activity changes