#anth1010

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ANTH 1010: Week 8 Lecture

Week Eight: Tuesday, March 5, 2019

This week’s lecture on subfields of biological anthropology the focus was on forensic anthropology, which is the use of human osteology and archaeology to legal investigation of human remains. A large point of focus was trauma; the different aspects of trauma, the nature of trauma, the importance of the location and pattern of trauma and so forth. We also spoke briefly about forensic entomology or the use of insects and other bug activity in a body to determine time of death.

In relation to the nature of trauma, we talked about the three different time classifications used to describe the time in which an injury or trauma was sustained by the victim. First, there was an antemortem trauma which is an injury that occurred sometime before the victim’s death and therefore an anthropologist would be able to clearly see remodeling on the bone. Second, there was a perimortem trauma which is an injury that occurred right before the death of the victim and could possibly also serve as cause of death. Some characteristics of a perimortem trauma include sharp edges surrounding the injury, hinging, fracture lines, and hematoma staining. The final one was postmortem trauma which is an injury that occurred after the victim had already died, an example of this would be cut marks on the bone of a victim that was dismembered by their killer. Some characteristics of a postmortem trauma include clean edged wounds, no hinging, and very little evidence of fracture lines.

We also talked about the location and pattern of trauma and how it can help a forensic anthropologist determine a great number of different details about the manner of the individual’s death. You could tell from the location and pattern of a trauma whether the wound was self inflicted or not, if it was accidental or done on purpose, and the sequence in which the injuries were sustained which would help establish a sequence of events.

[bioanthropologystudent-blog]

ANTH 1010: Week 7 Lecture

Week Seven: Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Reading week was last week and marked the halfway point of the semester and also a slight change in direction of lecture content. Up until now, lectures have been focused on different things that effect biological anthropology but this second half of the semester has switched over to focus more on the different subfields of biological anthropology.

This week we focused in on the subfield of human osteology and paleopathology, basically the study of the human skeleton. We first talked about the osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and osteocytes that make up bone cells and their roles; osteoblasts making new bone and repairing the old, osteoclasts breaking down of old bone, and osteocytes being inactive osteoblasts that are trapped in the bone matrix. We then went on to talk about what exactly bones do aside from hold humans and animals together, this was separated into three subcategories; mechanical, synthesizing and metabolic. Mechanically bones protect organs and allow for tissue attachment, bones also produce red and white blood cells as well as platelets, and they are also where minerals, calcium, and good fats get stored.

We also talked about diseases that are sometimes displayed on the bone and a few specific bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteitis briefly. There are some diseases that are invisible on the bone for various reasons, these invisible diseases include fast acting diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, and chronic diseases. We then went onto talk about the kind of things that can be found in bones, some things that can be found on the bone include the person’s diet as it would effect their growth. An osteologist or paleopathologist would also be able to tell any nutrient deficiencies they had, what sex the person was, their age, and occupation even.

[bioanthropologystudent-blog]

ANTH 1010: Week 4 Lecture

Week Four: Tuesday, January 29, 2019

This week’s lecture reminded me of the first anthropology class I ever took and reminded me why I wanted to major in anthropology in the first place. This week we talked about human evolution and the connection and differences between humans and one of our closest ancestors according to our genus, the chimp. I also learned during this lecture that humans did not evolve from living apes seeing as we are related most closely to chimps, from whom we diverged from approximately 4.5 million to 6 million years ago.

The main subtopic we focused on in lecture this week was what makes humans different from other primates. Three features that set humans apart from other primates is our habitually bipedal nature, our reduced canines and our large brains. These features set us apart from other primates, like chimps for example, because we are bipedal one hundred percent of the time and don’t need to think about the steps we are taking. Chimps, on the other hand, are not always bipedal but instead alternate from bipedalism to walking on all fours, when they are walking on two legs they also must think about the steps they are taking and overcompensate to account for their naturally high center of gravity.

Also, significantly smaller canine teeth have been found in the remains of our ancient human ancestors because as they evolved from ancient chimp ancestors there was no longer a need for large sharp canines to rip apart meat. It is believed that it human canine teeth started becoming smaller because there was no longer a need for large teeth to tear into tough raw meat as they had learned to cook their meat and other food items, making them softer and easier to consume. The last, and perhaps biggest, feature that differentiates humans from other primates like chimps and apes is our brains which on the average are three times bigger than ape brains. Not only are our brains larger, in terms of structure they are more complex as they are highly folded and asymmetrical. There are many benefits to having a larger brain, one of which is that we are able to better speak and understand language, but there are also drawbacks. Such drawbacks include the need for more energy in order to have our brains work properly and childbirth being more difficult than other primates with smaller brains as the braincase is also larger and harder to get through the birth canal.

[bioanthropologystudent-blog]

ANTH 1010: Week 6 Lecture

Week Six: Tuesday, February 12, 2019

This week’s lecture was actually cancelled due to the crazy amount of snowfall on that day, thankfully however Professor Williams recorded herself going over the lecture just as she would had class not have been cancelled.

This week’s lecture was about pestilence and famine, we talked about three different classifications of infection; endemic’s, epidemic’s and pandemic’s. We also talked about the different stages of the epidemiologic transition and the characteristics of each stage. The first stage of the epidemiologic transition is pestilence and famine and this stage is characterized by wide swings in the number of people dying as there were periods where a whole lot of people were dying and then periods where not that many people were dying. It is also characterized by low but variable life expectancy as it was anywhere from 20 – 40 years old, frequent epidemics and famines, malnutrition, and no sense of environmental sanitation. 

The second stage of the epidemiologic transition is the age of receding pandemics. This stage is characterized by the decline in mortality rates, the increase of life expectancy to 30 – 50 years old, population growth, less frequent epidemics and infectious diseases as well. There was also a slow rise of degenerative diseases, the emergence of new antiseptic practices allowing for surgery, it was also in this stage that the public health act of 1848 came about.

The third and final stage of the epidemiologic transition is the age of man-made and degenerative diseases. This stage is characterized by the rate of sickness overcoming the rate of death and the rise in importance of chronic disease, mental illness and addiction. Infectious disease is rare in this age and health care and organized health services has been perfected, also it is an age characterized by our vast knowledge of medicine and medical practices.

[bioanthropologystudent-blog]

ANTH 1010: Week 5 Lecture

Week Five: Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Week five’s lecture was called We’re going on a trip: migration, movement and biology in the syllabus. I was a little caught off guard during this lecture because the first chunk of content was mostly about what migration was and was opened up to a sort of class discussion about the difference between human and animal movement. We also talked about push and pull factors for human’s to migration from one place to another and watched a TED Talk video about the Great Migration in the United States.

The second half of the lecture was more focused on the biology of migration, one thing that we talked about the really stuck out as being interesting to me was the different ways we can detect movement in the past through genetics and isotopes. We can detect movement in the past through genetics by following the distribution of genes and genetic disease through the generations from one offspring to the next, things such as height and responses to external stimuli like ragweed and pollen allergies. We can also tell through analyzing the isotopes found in human remains and comparing the findings to the surrounding area. As isotopes measure the amount of strontium and oxygen deposited into one’s teeth and bones, you can tell an individual has moved by comparing the findings of the isotopes in the teeth with the isotopes in the same individuals’ bones. If the individual has moved away from the place they were born, as much would show in their teeth and bones because the levels of oxygen and strontium in each body part would be different from each other. This is because teeth develop in utero and therefore would contain isotopes matching that of the area the person was born in and grew up in and bones would contain matching isotope levels with the area the person lived in during, approximately, 10 years before death occurred.

[bioanthropologystudent-blog]

ANTH 1010: Week 3 Lecture

Week Three: Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Week three of classes has begun and I’ve got to say I’m impressed with myself so far. I’ve been able to keep up with all my readings and quizzes so far and have still had left over time for myself, which is what I always worry about when it comes to readings and such. I worry I’ll never have even the smallest amount of time for myself but that has not been the case so far! I’m proud of myself for it and it makes me feel good that I am able to get everything done on time and be able to contribute to my seminars and understand to a degree what’s going on in lecture.

This week’s lecture was called ‘Why mummies are the best: preservation, bias and the unknowable’ in the syllabus. I was super excited for this class because not only is it a super interesting topic but because who better to lecture on it than someone like Dr. Williams who’s research deals a lot with mummies and ancient human remains. It was also really interesting to see her own personal photographs included in the slides and to be able to hear the back story behind said photographs.

A big focus of this week’s lecture was the different subfields of biological anthropology which mainly consist of paleoanthropology (the study of prehistoric human remains), human biology (the study of the human body), skeletal biology/osteology (the study of skeletons), paleopathology (the study of diseases in ancient humans left on their bones), and primatology (the study of non-human primates). The studies of bioarcheology and medical and forensic anthropology are also considered subfields of biological anthropology.

The other focus of this week’s lecture was, obviously, mummies and the preservation of mummies in different regions. We learned about some of the different environmental factors that affect preservation such as the temperature, soil pH and moisture levels among other factors. We learned about the many different things remains that were preserved well can tell an anthropologist, they can even let a researcher know the occupation of the individual and perhaps some of their habits. Something else that was made an important point of was bias in the field and the ethics and considerations that one has to keep in mind when studying human remains.