ANT 3302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Matilda Coxe Stevenson, John Wesley Powell, Forensic Anthropology
Document Summary
Founder of ethnology: matilda coxe stevenson. What do anthropologists do: study humans as biological organisms, trace the evolutionary development of humans. Not only physical but the evolution of culture as well. How do anthropologists work: formulate hypotheses to develop theories supported by data, do field work to become familiar with situations and recognize patterns in the data. 1/3 of less of anthropologists- more popular of the fields. Focuses on humans as biological organisms, evolution, and human variation (looking at how people have adapted) Analyze fossils (paleo-anthropology) and observe living primates (primatology) to reconstruct the ancestry of the human species: archaeology. Pre-historical archaeology- looking at artifacts where written records do not exist. Historic archaeology- looking at artifacts where written records do exist. Identification of human skeletal remains for legal purposes and research. Identify murder victims, missing persons, victims of disasters. Many crime scene investigators have background in forensic anthropology. Studies material remains in order to describe and explain human behavior.
