Introducing Anthropology

What Makes Us Human?

Laura Pountney, Tomislav Marić

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781509544158
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Antropología cultural y social

The perfect starting point for any student new to this fascinating subject, offering a serious yet accessible introduction to anthropology.

Across a series of fourteen chapters, Introducing Anthropology addresses the different fields and approaches within anthropology, covers an extensive range of themes and emphasizes the active role and promise of anthropology in the world today. The new edition foregrounds in particular the need for anthropology in understanding and addressing today's environmental crisis, as well as the exciting developments of digital anthropology.

This book has been designed by two authors with a passion for teaching and a commitment to communicating the excitement of anthropology to newcomers. Each chapter includes clear explanations of classic and contemporary anthropological research and connects anthropological theories to real-life issues at the local and global levels. The vibrancy and importance of anthropology is a core focus of the book, with numerous interviews with key anthropologists about their work and the discipline as a whole, and plenty of ethnographic studies to consider and use as inspiration for readers' own personal investigations. A clear glossary, a range of activities and discussion points, and carefully selected further reading and suggested ethnographic films further support and extend students' learning.

Introducing Anthropology aims to inspire and enthuse a new generation of anthropologists. It is suitable for a range of different readers, from students studying the subject at school-level to university students looking for a clear and engaging entry point into anthropology.

CHAPTER 1
What Makes Us Human?

Contents

1. Key issues and debates
2. How Did Humans Evolve?
3. Explanations of human evolution
4. Early humans
5. Climate change, human evolution and the Anthropocene
6. Where did modern humans originate from?
7. Similarities and differences between humans and nonhuman primates
8. Cultural Evolution
9. Cooking
10. Language
11. Symbols
12. Recording information: The origins of written language
13. Social life
14. Sharing resources, exchange
15. Rituals.
16. Expressing identity
17. How Do Humans Vary? The Concept of Race and a Critique of the Concept
18. Biological differences between humans
19. Culturally constructed concepts of race
20. American Association of Physical Anthropologists’ Statement on Race and Racism (2019)
21. Conclusion
22. End-of-chapter questions
23. Key terms
24. Personal investigation
25. Suggested further sources

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Key issues and debates

• How and when did Homo sapiens evolve?
• How similar are humans to other animals and in what ways are they different?
• What methods do we use to find out about early humans?
• How did different groups of early humans interact and what can this tell us about humans today?
• What impact has humanity’s specific biological evolution had in terms of shaping our cultural evolution: what is the relationship between human biology and culture?
• To what extent do humans vary?

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The question of what makes human beings different from all other species is central to anthropology. This chapter explores the particular characteristics that, over the past 6–7 million years, since they shared a common ancestor with apes, have allowed Homo sapiens to become the most successful of the primates. We now know that there were many types of early human, so this chapter explores how Homo sapiens interacted with other forms of early human, and what this tells us about humans today. It also looks at the behavioural and physical traits that humans continue to share with other primates, such as chimpanzees and bonobos. The study of human origins and of the adaptations that make our species unique defines the field of evolutionary anthropology. This field overlaps with paleontology, which is the study of life on earth, drawing on information provided by fossil remains. This field overlaps with archaeology, which is the study of early human objects, or artefacts, that tell us what early human life was like.

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primate A mammal of the order Primates, characterized, for example, by refined development of the hands and feet and a large brain

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paleontology The study of life on earth, often drawing on information provided by fossils

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One of the first evolutionary anthropologists was Charles Darwin, creator of the theory of evolution. Evolutionary anthropology has since grown into a multifaceted discipline investigating the origins of humanity through fossils and, more recently, ancient DNA, and genetic analyses. This is supported by an ever-clearer picture of what make humans unique. Among the many features that distinguish us from other species – perhaps the fundamental difference – is the fact that humans have a highly developed culture. Simply put, culture is every aspect of life that goes beyond biology.

Although there is evidence of culture in some other species, nowhere is it more complex, rich and evolved than within human societies. So, how did the specific physical evolution of Homo sapiens lead to the development of a complex culture while that of other species did not? What is the relationship between biological evolution and cultural evolution? If all humans share the same biology, to what extent do they share the same culture? Are there such things as cultural universals?

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cultural evolution The ways in which humans have evolved beyond their biology

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The final section of this chapter explores the extent of biological variations between humans, making a clear distinction between biological differences and socially constructed ideas about race (which are widely criticized).

How Did Humans Evolve?

• How are human origins explained?
• How do different groups explain the existence of dinosaurs and other extinct animals?

Explanations of human evolution

There have been a number of attempts to explain the origins of the human species. These explanations are of interest in themselves as they reflect the dominant ideas of the times from which they originate. They have also been highly contentious and continue to provoke a strong response that goes much further than anthropology, to religion, politics and economics.

Creationism and evolution

Until the eighteenth century, religion shaped the dominant explanations for the origins of human life. In Europe, these came largely from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. This explanation, known as creationism, was based upon the idea that God had created all life in six days, and that the characteristics of plants and animals were fixed and unchangeable.

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creationism The belief that all life was created by the actions of God

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That is not to say there was no interest in the great diversity of animal and plant life. Early scientists showed a strong desire to organize different species and locate human beings within classification systems. For example, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–78) was among the first to develop a scientific classification of animals and plants, or taxonomy. Linnaeus accepted the biblical explanation of creation, and his classification system is still influential today. This system is based on similarities and differences between species, which Linnaeus argued were part of God’s plan.

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taxonomy The classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates natural relationships

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Creationist ideas are not limited to Christianity. Muslim creationists, for example, base their thinking on similar arguments and on passages such as this in the Qur’an: ‘God has created every animal from water. Of them there are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs and some that walk on four. God creates what he wills for verily God has power over all things’ (Sura 24:45). However, fossil discoveries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries challenged the ideas central to creationism by proving that different types of life had existed in the past. Creationists responded to these findings by arguing that various forms of catastrophe had occurred...