Showing papers in "Annual Review of Anthropology in 1979"

Family and Household: The Analysis of Domestic Groups

Abstract: cts of family lif e in Australia was urgently needed. He claimed that the confusion and contradiction in extant depictions of the Australian family were due to certain theoretical postulates and axioms adopted by some ethnographers. Principal among these was the attribution of Eu­ ropean characteristics to the aboriginal family without adequate investiga­ tion of the details of actual family relationships. As an antidote to such inclinations, Malinowski proposed that we begin the study of the family in societies diff erent from our own by attaching only a vague meaning to the term "individual family." For the essential features of the individual family, as of all other social institutions, depend upon the general structure of a given society and upon the conditions of life therein. A careful and detailed analysis of family life and of different aspects of the family unit in connection with other social phenomena is therefore necessary. Such an analysis enables us to describe the said unit in a complete and exact way (91, p. 6).

The Anthropology of Industrial Work

Abstract: The anthropology of industrial work has had a relatively short although turbulent history. During the last 50 years the study of the shop floor has spawned a number of theories, each asserting its claim to universal validity. In this essay I propose to resolve the differences among these general theories by restoring them to the specific context in which they were ger­ minated-a particular period in capitalist development, a particular sector of the capitalist economy, or a particular capitalist society. By interpreting the multiplicity of general theories as reflecting the diversity of the capitalist labor process we can begin to grasp its underlying unity as well as under­ stand the forms and causes of its variation.

The fifth continent: problems concerning the human colonization of australia

Abstract: The last 15 years have seen a revolution in Australian prehistory. In 1961, the oldest acceptable date for human occupation in Australia was 8700 BP (122, 123), several scholars being convinced that man had only a postPleistocene antiquity here [Abbie in (115, pp. 82-83)], and Grahame Clark in his Olympian review of world prehistory (23, p. 243) could find no convincing evidence for any site older than after "Neothermal times." In 1962, John Mulvaney obtained a 10,000-year-old date from Kenniff Cave in south Queensland, followed soon by a sequence thought in 1964 to extend back to some 16,000 years (the basal date for this site is now established at some 19,000 years ago). By 1968, carbon dates of just over 20,000 years had been obtained from four Australian sites, with six others showing terminal Pleistocene occupation of the highlands of eastern Australia and New Guinea (60). By 1973, there were 26 sites older than 10,000 years (62, 63, 102), and this figure has now been increased to over 35 (Figure 1), even if we restrict whole complexes of sites such as those on the lower Willandra or lower Darling river and lake systems to single entities. Several hundred archaeological sites have now had some scientific investigation mostly with radiocarbon chronologies established. The rapid development of Australian archaeological research since the early 1960s can be followed by reading a series of reviews (15, 24, 29, 30, 39, 40, 55, 59, 60, 85, 88, 89, 94, 96-99, 104, 118, 123) to assessments of the contemporary situation as interpreted by many authors (1, 9-11, 25, 27,

Recent Finds and Interpretations of Miocene Hominoids

Abstract: The Miocene Epoch, which began almost 23 m.y. (million years) ago and lasted until around 5 m.y. ago, was a period of great change (8). It was the time during which the foundations-climatic, geographic, floral, and faunal -of the modem world were laid. At its beginning, the world of the Miocene was an archaic one, both geologically and biologically. But by the dawn of the succeeding Pliocene, animals and habitats had become recognizably modem in aspect. And by 4 m.y. ago, species undoubtedly related to us, but still quite different, had appeared, while the ancestors of the great apes probably lived as their descendants do today. Although much remained to be achieved, by this time most of the major evolutionary changes had occurred for the hominoids. In this review, I will discuss these changes along with recent developments and discoveries that concern the evolution of apes and humans.

Anthropological Genetics of Small Populations

Abstract: Anthropological genetics encompasses a wide spectrum of interests centered on the explanation of genetic variation in human populations. The methods and theories of anthropological genetics are derived from population genetics, one of the most mathematically developed areas of biology. In theory, the behavior of gene frequencies under a variety of conditions can be accounted for. However, basic disagreements persist concerning the interpretation of variation in real populations (55). Controversy stems in part from the very general assumptions required by the mathematical theory. These assumptions often seem to be forgotten and models are applied to empirical situations for which they were never intended (9). Another problem has been the difficulty in measuring in real populations the quantities required by the theories (55). These major problems are unlikely to be solved by an exclusive concern with human populations. Nevertheless, the detailed analysis of human populations can provide perspective on assumptions and allow measurements of variables which would be difficult if not impossible to examine in natural populations of other organisms. Ward (107) has clearly expressed this point of view: "the very general insights into the intimate working of a biological population, gained by the cautious and pragmatic analysis of human data, may do more to advance the theory of population genetics than the uncritical application of the latest mathematical model to populations where the basic assumptions can never be tested." This holistic and empirical approach is often characterized as the study of "population structure." Although the term is somewhat variably defined,

Hominid Evolution in Eastern Africa During the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene

Abstract: Eastern Africa has for several years been an important area for investigations into early hominid evolution. Depositional factors related to the subsiding Rift Valley system have provided favorable situations for fossils to be preserved, and subsequent erosion has caused fossiliferous sediments to become exposed for surface collection and excavation. Intercalations of potassium-rich volcanic ash layers or tuffs have allowed an unprecedented chronological documentation by potassium-argon dating techniques, and in recent years paleomagnetic dating has been a valuable adjunct to these results. Thus, not only have early hominid fossils been preserved and discovered in eastern Africa, but geological circumstances have facilitated their accurate dating. Eastern Africa has also seen the flowering of an empirical paleoanthropology, i.e. one which is supported by data collected in such a way that questions relating to early hominid evolution, paleobiology, and paleoecology can be answered. In addition to the elucidation of hominid phylogenesis, the documentation of early hominid behavior is a primary focus of research. Better dating techniques, paleoecological investigations, and multidisciplinary approaches have all contributed to this research. Some of the major recent advances in early hominid studies in eastern Africa are discussed here. The time period treated extends from approximately 4 to 1 million years before the present (my BP). The multidisciplinary research project has profoundly affected paleoanthropological research in eastern Africa, and has now spread to other areas

Biological and Cultural Differences in Early Child Development

Abstract: Anthropology's interest in early child development was coincident with the efflorescence of psychoanalysis in the 1940s and 1950s. The psychoanalytic causal system relating early experience and personality differences held promise for explaining individual differences within populations as well as "ethological" (from Bateson's "ethos") differences between populations. But, as is evident from the culture and personality literature (5, 39, 72, 75, 83), this early promise has flagged considerably. Only John Whiting's creative use of the HRAF files has served to keep the area active, but even here dissatisfactions are rampant (4, 39, 78). Inherent in practically all the work in "culture and personality" and the "new look" cognitive and perceptual work (e.g. 63) is the premise that all people are born with equal potential and that differing circumstances of rearing and environment produce the perceived differences; this premise has been called the "psychic unity of mankind." While almost all anthropologists have ffirted with the notion of constitutional or genetic differences in temperament, certainly no one in recent years has either given it more than lip service or incorporated it systematically into a theoretical view of cultural differences. As we shall see below, one cannot reasonably turn one's back on what might be half the story and expect one's theory to stand up. This review, which lays no claim to exhaustiveness, will consist of an overview of recent studies showing ethnic differences in newborn behavior in part one, followed by an even more selective review of the enormous 'We acknowledge with thanks the help of Mrs. Jean Hansen in editing and typing the manuscript.

Graph theory as a structural model in cultural anthropology

Abstract: The aims of this review are to indicate the diversity of applications and some of the specific and general advantages of graph theory as a structural model in cultural anthropology. The review also considers some problems of appli­ cation, extensions of the model, and concepts of potential empirical signifi­ cance. For convenience of exposition the format is based on graph theoretic rather than anthropological topics. Graph theory is a branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of structures consisting of points joined by lines. It is related to such fields as matrix theory, set theory, combinatorics, and topology. It has been used as a model in the physical and, much more recently, the social sciences. Anthropological interest stems primarily from social network studies where it has been recommended as a metalanguage for the description of structure (4, 72). There are, however, also applications to such topics as belief systems, semantic and task structures, mythology, and cultural change. An important advantage of graph theory, which largely accounts for its intuitive appeal, is that it contains a means for the depiction of structure ( 17).1 Thus in an early application, Conklin (22) found it helpful to repre­ sent land utilization sequences as a directed graph in order to see ideal and

What is Lower Central American Archaeology

Abstract: The archaeology of Lower Central America is just beginning to emerge from decades of scientific neglect and antiquated research. Large tracts of hinterland between eastern Honduras and eastern Panama still remain unexplored. Much of the literature has been concerned almost exclusively with ceramic sequences, tribal ascriptions, infiuences from nuclear Amer­ ica, and impressionistic site surveys. The assumption that Lower Central America served only as a corridor through which ideas, objects, and even people moved back and forth between Mesoamerica and the Andean region colors much of the writing. So much so that one is justified in asking if Lower Central America will ever constitute a viable study unit. Is it an area with historic depth, where groups sharing common roots underwent similar adaptive processes? Are there important problems to be studied here? By shifting research priorities from the definition of culture areas to the investigation of cultural processes, younger colleagues are just beginning to find affirmative answers to these questions. But this is a very recent develop­ ment. If I am forced by the nature of much of the previous literature to be somewhat critical, it is with the hope of moving the field toward more scientific methodolOgies and broader theoretical considerations. For the new generation I hope this essay provides further encouragement and possi­ bly some new insights.

Mesoamerican Community Studies: The Past Decade

Abstract: For more than 50 years, Mesoamerica! has provided the field for an impres­ sive amount of anthropological research. The overwhelming bulk of the work has been reported in the form of community studies. To date, there are more than 100 published book-length studies of Mexican and Guatema­ lan communities; more than half of these have appeared during the past decade. Our concern in this essay is to review the work published in book form within the decade 1967-1977. The sheer quantity of available material evidences the discipline's continued interest in the peoples of Mesoamerica. In spite of the number of studies cited in this essay, the actual amount of work that has been done over the past 10 years is underrepresented. Only a few studies by European scholars are discussed here; we have ignored almost totally the wealth of journal articles; we have made no attempt to trace the numerous relevant dissertations;2 and we have only touched on the

Recent Developments in South Asian Prehistory and Protohistory

Abstract: Five years ago, the dean of Indian prehistory, H. D. Sankalia, wrote, " . . . in a sense Indian prehistory is where the European was in 1860" (180, p. 13). If that was an excessively critical assessment of the state of the art in 1974, it certainly cannot be applied to Indian prehistory-or protohistory -in 1979. Today there are few world areas of comparable size where knowledge of the ancient past is growing so rapidly and over so broad a geographical and chronological spectrum. Far from being similar to European prehistory of 1860, Indian prehistoric and protohistoric research incorporates some of the latest advances in archaeological science. Questions that until recently could hardly be asked -about absolute chronologies, ancient environments, and human adapta­ tions-are today finding answers. Some of the salient developments within the past few years that are summarized in this paper include: the first excavation of a site in which every major stage of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic are represented (Bhim­ betka, Madhya Pradesh); excavation of open-air habitation sites of the Lower Paleolithic; the emergence of a blade-and-burin complex of Late Pleistocene age with associated bone implements and the earliest art of India; discovery of what may be the first human skull of Pleistocene date known from South Asia; the first excavation of Mesolithic dwellings and an extensive Mesolithic cemetery; evidence for animal domestication dating

Physical Anthropology in Australia Today

Abstract: For more than a century, Aboriginal Australia has provided anthropolo­ gists with a rich field for their inquiries. Isolated, a continent inhabited only by hunter and gatherer peoples at the time of contact with Europeans, it presented a unique kind of laboratory for the testing of evolutionary hy­ potheses. Many of these hypotheses involve the origins of human culture and society, and time has proved most of them to have been poorly formu­ lated. But interest in the Aborigines continues apace professionally, even though in most areas they are now passing to extinction both culturally and biologically. Research on the Aborigines has flourished in the last decade or so as never before. Linguists have comprehensively surveyed the languages spoken in the continent. Prehistorians have pushed the occupancy of man in Australia well back into the Pleistocene, to some 40,000 years ago. Human fossils are being recovered systematically at an increasing rate with support from workers in geomorphology, paleoclimatology, and chrono­ metric dating. Human geneticists have surveyed the remaining Aboriginal population intensively, using an ever-expanding number of genetic markers. The devel­ opment of computer software has revivified interest in the cranial remains which are being reexamined on a multivariate basis. Anthropometric re­ search on the living Aborigine has declined in recent years, owing to the ethnic sensitivity of the subjects and their generally declining numbers.

The Nature and Development of Australian Languages

Abstract: The first Australian word list was taken down in 1770 by Captain James Cook (12) and Sir Joseph Banks (3) during their six weeks on shore in northeast Queensland repairing the Endeavour after it had been damaged on the Great Barrier Reef. The 180 Guugu Yimidhirr words included /karjurru/, transcribed as "kangaroo," the most notable loan word from an Australian language into English. In 1820 Captain P. P. King (43) revisited the Endeavour River and replicated most of Cook's list, except that he obtained menuah for "kangaroo," suggesting perhaps that Cook had made a mistake with his term; in fact, King had been given /minha/, a generic term meaning "edible animal." Roth (53) and Haviland (34) have pointed out that /karjurru/ is a bone fide Guugu Yimidhirr word. When Governor Arthur Phillip brought the first convict party to Sydney Cove in 1788, he was greatly surprised to find that none of the words recorded by Cook were recognized by the local Aborigines. Then, in April 1791, Phillip explored to the Hawkesbury River, 40 miles to the northwest of Sydney, and found a different language spoken there (51); this gave the first clue that there must in fact be many different languages spoken in Australia. The next advance in Australian linguistics was due to the explorer Captain George Grey (28). In 1841 he pointed out the similarities in form and meaning between lexical items, and also pronouns, in languages from different parts of the continent and suggested, in effect, that the many different languages of Australia comprised a single family. Most later workers have implicitly followed Grey in ascribing a genetic unity to the 200 or so distinct languages of Australia. Yet attempts at proof