Showing papers on "Biological anthropology published in 1984"

Multivariate Statistical Methods in Physical Anthropology

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Dental Anthropology of South Asian Populations: A Review

Abstract: Morphological and metrical variations of the human dentition have not been utilized to their full potential by anthropologists concerned with patterns of human biological variation in South Asia. While dental anthropology has contributed major insights into the evolution and migration of many of the world’s populations, physical anthropology in South Asia consists primarily of traditional descriptions of the anthropometric, dermatoglyphic, and immunogenetic characteristics of the subcontinent’s diverse populations.

Biomedical anthropology: An emerging synthesis in anthropology

Abstract: Biomedical anthropology is a newly emerging focus within anthropology, combining concepts of physical anthropology and medical anthropology in the study of disease and health among human populations. It grows out of the tradition in anthropology of holism and related attempts to develop biocultural approaches to anthropological issues. While these issues have been studied by physical and cultural anthropologists working independently of each other, the synthesis of the two areas can provide a clearer understanding of the role of disease and responses to it among human groups.

Biological Anthropology of Bronze Age Harappans: New Perspectives

Abstract: The Indian subcontinent occupies the major landmass of South Asia. Considering its vastness, varied physiography, and mosaic of ecological conditions suitable for adaptive radiation, the scores of early hominoid fossils are not very illuminating. The situation is an unimpressive one when compared to that of the other fossil-bearing countries. But whatever hominoid primate fossil records are available in the subcontinent, the sole credit goes to the Siwaliks.

Agriculture, Metallurgy, and State Formation in Mainland Southeast Asia

Abstract: Coming into a department with a long history of orientation to cultural anthropology dominated by Kroeber, Lowie, and Gifford, McCown as a young assistant professor had to create an environment for training students in his field as well as to define the goals and scope of physical anthropology. Those who have experienced the challenge of "pioneering" physical anthropology in academic departments in which cultural anthropology courses have been the traditional offerings and comrades of similar backgrounds and persuasions are few or absent can appreciate this situation in which students are not the only people on campus who need to be educated. For 20 years McCown was the single physical anthropologist at Berkeley. However, he did not allow this to isolate him from the discipline of anthropology as a whole, and he never lost sight of the fact that cultural behavior has been humankind's most important adaptation. This holistic approach is expressed in an article on the teaching of physical anthropology (McCown 1952:314):

The emergence of biomedical anthropology and its implications for the future

Abstract: Primarily during the past 15 years a distinct new area within physical anthropology has emerged, biomedical anthropology. Physical anthropologists have become heavily involved in studying problems of relevance to the health and illness patterns of living humans. There has been a proportionate increase in biomedically focused papers published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, in biomedically focused papers presented at annual meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, and in physical anthropology doctoral dissertations oriented toward modern biomedical phenomena. Proportionately more physical anthropologists are now employed in medical schools and there has been recent growth in the proportion of physical anthropologists in anthropology departments who claim some aspect of biomedical anthropology as a research interest. Increasingly, physical anthropologists are focusing their research on cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America. These distinct trends are partially a result of the nature of physical anthropology and its unique biocultural perspective. However the growth of applied anthropology, the present academic marketplace, and the availability of research funds are probably also contributing factors. The emergency of biomedical anthropology holds promise for the future of physical anthropology and for its current employment crisis. Careers with academic and nonacademic organizations engaged in biomedical research appear to be a viable alternative to careers in departments of anthropology, for biomedical anthropologists. This will entail some reorientation of graduate training for physical anthropologists. More emphasis will have to be placed on substantive biomedical subjects, research methods, and data management and analysis.

Theodore D. McCown: A Perspective on a Physical Anthropologist

Abstract: by KENNETH A. R. KENNEDY and SHEILAGH T. BROOKS Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 14853/Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nev. 89154, U.S.A. 15 vii 83 On August 17, 1969, anthropology lost a scholar who holds a unique place in the history of the discipline. The obituary announcements about Theodore Doney McCown (1908-69), who died of a heart attack, make, it clear that he was a colleague who contributed significantly to physical anthropology, prehistoric archaeology, and forensic anthropology. With the passing of some years since his death, those who knew him are in a better position to evaluate McCown's place in the history of science and higher education as teacher, administrator, and theoretician. When McCown began teaching physical anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938, there were few places in the United States where students could receive graduate training in this subject. Ales Hrdlicka, though a major force in the professionalization of physical anthropology in this country and the founder of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and its journal, did not formally train students during his period of tenure at the National Museum of Natural History, which began in 1903. Earnest A. Hooton was responsible for the resuscitation of the program in physical anthropology initiated at Harvard by Frederick Ward Putnam and developed by William C. Farabee, one of its graduates. After Farabee's resignation in 1912, Hooton became the key figure in the training of many American physical anthropologists from the mid-1920s to the late 1940s. The University of Pennsylvania had produced only two doctorates in physical anthropology by that time. Its program was organized under Wilton M. Krogman, who had received his training from T. Wingate Todd at (Case) Western Reserve University and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Spencer (1981:362) has noted that, until recently, besides Krogman there was only one other source of U.S.-trained Ph.D.'s in physical anthropology unconnected with Hooton. That source was Theodore D. McCown.

Anthropology as Science and the Anthropology of Science and of Anthropology or Understanding and Explanation in the Social Sciences, Part II

Abstract: Anthropology, the science of human culture, includes in its scope the anthropology of scientific cultures. Anthropological accounts of these scientific cultures -- which also happen to be the cultures to which most anthropologists belong -- are scarcely adequate. All too often science is assimilated to the practices and thought systems of non-scientific cultures; some anthropologists espousing the anti-scientific methods of symbol analysis and relativism. Arguments of M. Douglas, C. Geertz and F. Hanson are used as critical illustrations.

Physical Anthropology Literature: Online Access

Abstract: Online bibliographic databases are currently available for a wide range of disciplines. At the present time, however, there is no online database devoted specifically to anthropological literature. The field of anthropology is generally divided into four sub‐fields: social and cultural anthropology; archeology; anthropological linguistics; and physical anthropology, or bioanthropology. Anthropologists in these four subfields represent a very wide range of subject interests, and the field as a whole places strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research. As a result, it is sometimes possible to perform satisfactory computerized literature searches using databases which cover the literature of related disciplines.