Anthropology 101, 6th Period

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel's actually at the front of the class today. He's sitting at his desk, head down, but still! He's in the room.

"Sorry for missing Monday's class. In light of this, I'm having to rethink the syllabus. It's also going to mean that you'll need to do a bit more work independantly, although I will be around in office hours if you need me.

Okay. First up... we've got fifteen minutes to discuss the work you did last week on Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection.

Next, primates."

Daniel got up, slightly unsteadily and pulled down the board. On it, was written:

Primates (general overview)

Location: live in tropical and semi-tropical environments, in forests
Body size: moderate size compared to other mammals (e.g., rodents - whales)
Locomotion: arboreal quadrupedalism / terrestrial quadrupedalism / vertical clinging and leaping (VCL) / forelimb suspension and brachiation / bipedalism
Diet: insects / fruit / leaves (some meat - chimps)
Social structure: mainly gregarious / social, but some are solitary (e.g., Aye Aye)
Activity timing: mostly diurnal and social, some nocturnal and solitary (e.g., some Malagasy lemurs)

"Now, I understand that there are a lot of odd words and things that you might not understand there, so now is the time to ask questions.

Homework... there was homework from the 16th, on major physical anthropologists, so if you could hand that in it would be great.

Today, I'd like you to look at the semi-orders of primates. Jack and Kiki, I want you to look at the characteristics of Strepsirhine and Blair and Han, the characteristics of Haplorhini. I want the basic characteristics like the ones listed on the board, but also, they both have other primitive or derived characterists, which help identify which semi-order they belong too. In for next lesson, please."

Comments

Homework

[the-ascended.livejournal.com]

There's a nice little tray on Daniel's desk marked "Anth HWK". It makes him look all organized.

Looks can be so deceiving.

Re: Homework

[kikidelivers.livejournal.com]

Mary Nicol Leakey (February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996) was a British physical anthropologist, who, along with others, discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island and to this day only three of these apes are known. Their next discovery, in 1959, was a 1.75 million-year-old Australopithecus boisei skull. For much of her career she worked with her husband Louis Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines. From 1978 to 1981 Mary and her staff worked to uncover the Laetoli hominid footprint trail which was left in volcanic ashes some 3.6 million years ago.

Re: Homework

[lovechildblair.livejournal.com]

Pierre Paul Broca was a pioneer in the study of physical anthropology. He founded the Anthopological Society in 1859, the Revue d'Anthropologie in 1872, and the School of Anthropology in Paris in 1876. He advanced the science of cranial anthropometry by developing many new types of measuring instruments (craniometers) and numerical indices. The uses that racist ideologues, and even reputable scientists, made of Broca's measurements and conclusions have been analyzed by Stephen Jay Gould in The Mismeasure of Man (1981). Broca's work is also featured in Carl Sagan's book Broca's Brain.