Anthropology
Rodney Mileski
Eighth Grade Social Studies
What is Anthropology?

The study of humankind everywhere,
throughout time, seeks to produce reliable
knowledge about people and their behavior,
both about the things that make them
different and the things they all share in
common.
What makes us different?
What makes us the same?
Subfields of Anthropology
Franz Boas

German-American
anthropologist Franz
Boas, a professor at
Columbia University
in New York City for
37 years, helped
pioneer modern
anthropology. He
advocated the
theories that there is
no pure race and that
no race is superior to
any other.
• The University of Rochester was the first college or university to
carry credit for a general anthropology course (1879).
• Prior to this the Western Hemisphere was restricted to its
geographical horizon.
• With the advancements in transportation and technology, the
world was reachable to explore and study.
• This introduced the anthropologist to the study of ethnography.
• Ethnography is the systematic description of a particular culture
based on firsthand observations.
• The technique of learning a people’s culture through direct
participation in their everyday life over an extended period of time.
• These types of anthropologists are ethnologists.
Physical Anthropologist

Also referred to as biological anthropology,
focuses on humans as biological
organisms, and one of its main interests is
human evolution.
Biological evolution is the
natural process by which
new and more complex
organisms develop over
time. (Human Evolution and
Darwinism)
Non-Academic careers in physical
anthropology (Website)
Cultural Anthropology


The branch of anthropology that focuses on
human behavior.
Anthropologists welcome the contributions from
other disciplines (psychology, economics,
sociology, and biology) to reach the common goal
of understanding humanity.
Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Archaeology Web-site
Forensic anthropologists
specialize in the analysis of
human corpses or remains for
legal investigations. In this
photo, a forensics team working
for the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia examine human
remains on a hillside near
Srebrenica in northeastern
Bosnia. Forensic analysis helps
investigators determine how
large numbers of civilians died i
the Yugoslav Wars of Succession
(1991-1995), information
needed to convict those
responsible for the killings.
Archaeology


The branch of cultural anthropology that studies
material remains in order to describe and explain
human behavior.
While history tells us something of the horrors of
slavery in North America, the full horror is
revealed only by archaeological investigation of
the African burial ground in New York. Even
young children were worked so far beyond their
ability to endure that their spines actually
fractured.
The Ohio Historical Society (Serpent Mound)
Located on the west bank of the Nile River on the outskirts of Cairo, the
pyramids at Giza, Egypt, rank as some of the best-known monuments
in the world. The ancient Egyptians constructed the pyramids to serve
as royal tombs. Built without the use of cranes, pulleys, or lifting tackle,
the massive structures stand as testaments to the engineering skills of
their makers.
.
Archaeology fieldwork website
Linguistic Anthropology


The branch of cultural anthropology that
studies human languages.
Linguists may deal with the description of
a language or with the history of languages
(the way language develops and changes
with passage of time).
American anthropologist Margaret Mead spent many years studying how culture
influences individual personality. Mead lived among the Samoan people during
1925 and 1926 to observe their way of life and the types of personalities common
in their cultural group. Her 1928 book, Coming of Age in Samoa, provoked a great
debate among sociocultural anthropologists regarding the proper method and
interpretation of field research. Mead’s approach to studying groups of people,
which focused on the individual people and groups with whom she lived, earned
her much criticism from anthropologists who believed that research must rely more
directly on statistical research and the incorporation of cross-cultural and testable
hypotheses.
Ethnohistory

The study of cultures of the recent past
through oral histories, accounts left by
explorers, missionaries, and traders, and
through analysis of such records as land
titles, birth and death records, and other
archival materials.
They recognize that they have obligations to three sets of people
1. Those whom they study.
2. Those who fund the research.
3. Those in the profession who expect us to publish our findings so
that they may be used to further our knowledge.
!!! The first responsibility clearly is to his or her informants and their people.
!!! Informants are members of a society in which the ethnographer works
who help interpret what she or he sees taking place.
Activity #1
All students are required to do this activity from the website linked at the bottom
of this slide.
First click on the topic archaeology for the glossary words.
I want you to write down and define ten (10) words we did not cover in class.
Second, I want you to click on cultural anthropology.
I want you to choose ten (10) words to define that we did not cover in class.
Last, I want you to click on physical anthropology.
I want you to choose ten (10) words to define that we have not covered in
class.
I want all of the definitions (25) hand-written and turned in by the
required date.
Anthropology glossary website
Activity #2

The students will be required to work from the website
linked on the slide titled Physical Anthropologist. The title is
Non-Academic careers in Physical Anthropology.

The students are required to hand-write five professions the
website suggests are careers in non-academic physical
anthropology. The students will be required to explain in
detail what that profession entails and if he or she can see
themselves pursuing that type of career (Explain why or why
not).
Activity #3
Bibarch website
1. Click on to the website above.
2. Click on to the link for Concepts and Theory.
3. Click on Scientific Archaeology.
4. Click on the chart next to scientific method.
The students are required to hand-write the formula (chart) for
the Scientific Method (The Process of Conducting Scientific
Inquiry) as it is given on this website. I stress that it must be
exactly like the one on the website and study it before you hand
it in on the required due date.
Activity #4



The students will be watching the video
series Faces of Culture.
The students will be required to follow a
worksheet as the video is playing.
They will hand in the worksheet and write
a short essay about what was most
interesting about the video.
Activity #5
The students will be responsible for the material we covered
in our readings and the material that was covered on the
previous activities. The test will be a combination of multiple
choice, matching, and short essays.