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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: anthropology

anthropology stories: 19 news summaries

 Anthropologist 
 Levi-Strauss 
 Dead at 100 

French ethnologist introduced structuralist theory

Nov 3, 09 1:11 PM CST
(AP) - Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. He was 100. The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing structuralism—concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths,... More »

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Nicolas Sarkozy • France • obituary • anthropology • academics • anthropologist • Claude Levi-Strauss • ethnology • structuralism

 Anthropologist: 
 Modern Male 
 Is 'Worst' 
 Man Ever 

We're not as robust, Aussie argues in new book

Oct 14, 09 5:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is such a girly man by Neanderthal standards that some caveman's wife could have kicked his ass in arm wrestling, an Australian anthropologist argues in his new book. In fact, Peter McAllister calls modern males the "worst" men in history, at least when it comes... More »

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men • Arnold Schwarzenegger • modern man • anthropology • Neanderthals • cavemen • muscle strength • Aboriginal • anthropologist • Peter McAllister

 Were Dogs 
 Domesticated 
 as Dinner? 

A look into the origins of the human-canine connection

Sep 8, 09 11:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Today, they’re man’s best friend, but dogs may have originally come to humans as their best bet for dinner. Researchers in Sweden examined the DNA of dogs around the world and found that they all seemed to be of the same lineage, pointing to “a single domestication... More »

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food • meat • domestication • anthropology • dog meat • ancient history • dogs

INTERVIEW

Cooking: What Separates Men From Apes (and Women)

And anthropologically speaking, women are always the cooks

Jul 29, 09 1:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cooking—not just eating—meat is what prompted human evolution, Richard Wrangham argues in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, and he discusses his beliefs—including an opposition to the trend of raw diets—with Salon. “Raw foodists argue quite strongly that it is our... More »

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evolution • cooking • human evolution • human • anthropology • book • raw food • Richard Wrangham

 How Did Neanderthals Die? 
 We Ate Them 

New study suggests cannibalism by modern humans

May 17, 09 4:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Anthropologists may have solved the mystery of how the Neanderthals died out. A new study suggests they were hunted and eaten by modern human beings, reports the Guardian. The controversial theory argues that a Neanderthal jaw bone shows signs of butchering similar to the techniques humans used on deer in... More »

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research articles • competition • anthropology • Neanderthals • cannibalism • early humans

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a 47 million-year-old primate fossil that they believe represents the common ancestor of all later monkeys, apes, and humans, reports the Wall Street Journal. The find supports a theory that humans' ancient ape-like ancestor was an adapid, which is also believed to be linked to lemurs. The... More »

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paleontology • fossil • anthropology • skeleton • Neanderthals • prehistoric • Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology • primates

Anthropology Book By Obama's Mom to Hit Shelves

Study of Indonesian craftsmen will hit shelves 14 years after her death

May 5, 09 5:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama's mother died before she finished revising her Ph.D dissertation for publication, but two of her fellow anthropologists have now completed the job, reports the Chicago Tribune. Stanley Ann Dunham's Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia—the study of blacksmiths and other rural craftsmen she completed... More »

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Barack Obama • Indonesia • Duke University • anthropology • book • Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro

 Meet 
 the First 
 European 


Forensic artist reconstructs face of first modern human found in Europe

May 5, 09 3:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - Meet the first modern European. His face—or hers, as researchers have been unable to determine the sex—was reconstructed by a forensic artist based on a partial skull and jawbone discovered in a Romanian cave. The facial features linked to the 35,000-year-old bones recall the continent's immediate African... More »

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evolution • BBC • fossil • homo sapien • bone • anthropology • Homo habilis • Homo erectus • Neanderthals • Romania • caves • cavemen • ice age

Ancient Footprints
Reveal Path to Humanity

Tracks in Kenya are 1.5 million years old

Feb 28, 09 3:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have unearthed ancient footprints that reveal humanity's ancestors walked with a modern stride as long as 1.5 million years ago, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Researchers believe the tracks—left beside a muddy river bank in Kenya and preserved when the river changed course—belong to human ancestor Homo ... More »

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Kenya • archaeology • fossil • anthropology • Homo erectus • prehistoric

Solution to 11th-Century Mystery: Hot Chocolate

Hershey's helps anthropologist solve mystery of old vessels

Feb 4, 09 10:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Patricia Crown, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico, spent years puzzling over the round clay jars decorated with intricate zigzagging shapes, dating from the 11th century, found in Pueblo ruins in Chaco Canyon. But a scientific study led her to a surprising conclusion: they weren't drums or holders... More »

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Hershey • anthropology • chocolate • cacao

In Remote Amazon, Complex Towns Once Flourished

Archaeologists see advanced civilization in areas since overtaken by rain forest

Aug 29, 08 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Researchers have unearthed remains of densely populated, complex urban towns in a remote region of the Amazon River Basin, the BBC reports. In an area of western Brazil thought to be virgin forest, researchers found extensive and advanced human activity, including roads, farming, wetland management, and what appear to be... More »

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archaeology • Brazil • rainforest • anthropology • ancient cities • Amazon rainforest

Save a Food From Extinction: Eat It for Dinner

'Food coalitions' aim to keep ingredients, recipes key to US heritage in circulation

May 1, 08 7:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Vanishing culinary breeds are getting a new lease on life, thanks to the efforts of an ethnobotanist with an interest in America's foodie past, the New York Times reports. While Makah ozette potato sounds like a "Final Jeopardy" answer, the once-endangered vegetable is one of the many culinary artifacts... More »

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food • endangered species • agriculture • gourmet dining • crops • anthropology • Makah tribe • chickens • potato • American cusine

Peru Dig Yields 4000-Year Old Gold Necklace

Oldest bling in the Americas shows primitives liked prestige

Mar 31, 08 8:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - Researchers have dug up the oldest piece of crafted gold in the Americas, a 4,000-year old gold necklace, LiveScience reports. Found at a pre-Inca burial site in Peru, the bling proves that primitive societies sought displays of wealth. It signals "the social process towards some kind of inequality,... More »

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archaeology • Peru • anthropology • gold • jewelry • discovery

 New Fossil Rocks Human History

Indicates man settled in Europe far earlier than thought

Mar 27, 08 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - An incredibly old jawbone discovered in a Spanish cave could rewrite human history, scientists say. The bone with teeth is 1.2 million years old and belongs to a long-extinct human ancestor called Homo antecessor. It's at least 300,000 years older than any other human fossil found in... More »

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archaeology • Europe • origins of humanity • Homo antecessor • fossil • jawbone • anthropology • Neanderthals

Not So Bad for Dirt-Eaters to Dig In: Study

Research finds
unusual diet may
rid body of toxins

Dec 30, 07 9:23 AM CST
(Newser) - New research is giving new meaning to the term Mother Earth: Scientists say loam in the soil may provide vital protection against poisonous agents in the body. People around the world, especially pregnant women, have eaten dirt for hundreds of years. Now researchers have found that earth not only provides... More »

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Africa • nutrients • anthropology • geophagy • dirt • loam • Pemba • Sera Young • Alexander von Humboldt • Ottomacs

Army Deploys Anthropologists on Front Lines

Uncle Sam enlists social scientists; colleagues object

Dec 13, 07 11:53 AM CST
(Newser) - The US military has been employing anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan to help troops work more effectively with locals. The results have been so promising they've just launched a $40 million program to embed social scientists with all 26 combat brigades. But the response back home has been ugly, with... More »

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Iraq • Afghanistan • US Army • anthropology

American Languages Nearly Extinct

Hundreds of tongues are down to their last few speakers

Dec 2, 07 1:44 PM CST
(Newser) - Johnny Hill Jr., a 53-year-old Arizonan, talks to himself in Chemehuevi, a language once spoken by many Southwestern Native Americans. He does that because there's rarely anyone for him to speak Chemehuevi with; Hill tried to teach the language to his stepson without success. There is every chance that the... More »

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language • anthropology • Native American • Chemehuevi

'Hobbits' Were, Indeed, a Different Kind
of Human

Wrist-bone analysis shows link to apes

Sep 21, 07 1:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new study of three wrist bones from an 18,000-year-old fossil shows that the so-called hobbits of Indonesia were, indeed, a separate human species. When the bones were discovered in 2003, scientists trumpeted the find as evidence of a smaller species, Homo floresiensis. But skeptics argued that the... More »

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Indonesia • archaeology • fossil • homo sapien • human evolution • anthropology • Homo erectus • skeleton • primitive • hobbits

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human
Family Tree

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

Aug 9, 07 8:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens, as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner... More »

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Africa • Kenya • evolution • archaeology • origins of humanity • fossil • human evolution • homo sapiens • hominids • anthropology • Homo habilis • Homo erectus

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