ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sociocultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Osteology
9 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Anthropology is historical, comparative, contextual, and holistic. Four subfields of anthropology (1) biological anthropology (2) archaeology (3) sociocultural anthropology (4) linguistics. Sociocultural anthropology = the study of contemporary cultures and societies: culture is defined as transmitted, learned behaviour, methodology = ethnology and participant observation, ethnography = description of an aspect of culture within a society. Archaeology v. treasure hunting : archaeology is rigorously controlled using standard procedures, sampling = usually do not excavate whole site, just a specific/small area, evidence/artifacts are recorded, labeled, photographed and mapped systematically, excavation procedure depends on associate challenges. Physical anthropology = studies all aspects of the biology and behaviour of human species, past and present. No anthropologist is an expert in all 4 subfields. Many do research that crosses over the subfields (interdisciplinary) View that humans are cultural and biological. Biological anthropology = all aspects of biology and behaviour of human species: evolutionary and biocultural perspectives, holistic.
