A method of dating fossils in which the actual age of a deposit or specimen is measured. Also known as chronometric dating.
Differences in pronunciation characteristic of a group.
Impermanent physiological changes that people make when they encounter a new environment.
The process of extensive borrowing of aspects of culture in the context of superordinate–subordinate relations between societies; usually occurs as the result of external pressure.
A stone toolmaking tradition dating from 1.5 million years ago. Compared with the Oldowan tradition, Acheulian assemblages have more large tools created according to standardized designs or shapes. One of the most characteristic and prevalent tools in the Acheulian tool kit is the so-called hand axe, which is a teardrop-shaped bifacially flaked tool with a thinned sharp tip. Other large tools might have been cleavers and picks.
Those qualities people acquire during their lifetime.
A type of prosimian with many lemurlike features; appeared in the Early Eocene.
Refers to genetic changes that allow an organism to survive and reproduce in a specific environment.
Cultural traits that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment.
The process by which a third party acting as judge makes a decision that the parties to a dispute have to accept.
An Oligocene anthropoid and probably the best-known propliopithecid.
One’s relatives by marriage.
A category of people who happen to fall within a particular, culturally distinguished age range.
A group of people of similar age and the same sex who move together through some or all of life’s stages.
The practice of raising domesticated crops.
A disease caused by the HIV virus.
One member of a pair of genes.
The rule that protruding body parts (particularly arms and legs) are relatively shorter in the cooler areas of a species’ range than in the warmer areas.
The rule of descent that affiliates individuals with groups of kin related to them through men or women.
Supernatural beings who are the ghosts of dead relatives.
A belief in supernatural forces.
A belief in a dual existence for all things—a physical, visible body, and a psychic, invisible soul.
One of the two suborders of primates; includes monkeys, apes, and humans.
The anthropological study of languages.
A discipline that studies humans, focusing on the study of differences and similarities, both biological and cultural, in human populations. Anthropology is concerned with typical biological and cultural characteristics of human populations in all periods and in all parts of the world.
The branch of anthropology that concerns itself with applying anthropological knowledge to achieve practical goals.
Used in conjunction with potassium-argon dating, this method gets around the problem of needing different rock samples to estimate potassium and argon. A nuclear reactor is used to convert the 39Ar to 39K, on the basis of which the amount of 40K can be estimated. In this way, both argon and potassium can be estimated from the same rock sample.
Adapted to living in trees.
The branch of anthropology that seeks to reconstruct the daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past and to trace and explain cultural changes. Often lacking written records for study, archaeologists must try to reconstruct history from the material remains of human cultures. See also Historical archaeology.
Time period in the New World during which food production first developed.
Perhaps the first hominin, dating to about 4.5 million years ago. Its dentition combines apelike and australopithecine-like features, and its skeleton suggests it was bipedal.
Any object made by a human.
Those qualities that are determined for people at birth.
An organized group not based exclusively on kinship or territory.
A spear propelled off a grooved board; named for the Aztec word for “spear-thrower.”
Members of the genus Australopithecus
Genus of Pliocene and Pleistocene hominins.
A species of Australopithecus that lived 4 million to 3 million years ago in East Africa and was definitely bipedal.
A species of Australopithecus that lived between about 3 million and 2 million years ago.
A species of Australopithecus that lived perhaps 4.2 million years ago.
An early australopithecine, dating to about 3 million years ago, and currently represented by only a single jaw. It is an interesting species because it is found in western Chad, distant from the East African Rift Valley where all other early australopithecines have been found.
An australopithecine, dating to about 2.5 million years ago.
An australopithecine from South Africa that dates to around 2 million years ago and has some Homo-like features.
A pattern of residence in which a married couple settles with or near the husband’s mother’s brother.
Giving with the expectation of a straightforward immediate or limited-time trade.
A type of selection that occurs when a heterozygous combination of alleles is positively favored even though a homozygous combination is disfavored.
A fairly small, usually nomadic local group that is politically autonomous.
The kind of political organization where the local group or band is the largest territorial group in the society that acts as a unit. The local group in band societies is politically autonomous.
Typically tries to understand contemporary human behavior using evolutionary principles. In addition to the principle of individual selection, behavioral ecologists point to the importance of analyzing economic tradeoffs because individuals have limited time and resources.
The rule that smaller-sized subpopulations of a species inhabit the warmer parts of its geographic range and larger-sized subpopulations the cooler areas.
A tool worked or flaked on two sides.
The type of kinship system in which individuals affiliate more or less equally with their mother’s and father’s relatives.
A pattern of residence in which a married couple lives with or near either the husband’s parents or the wife’s parents.
Having four cusps on the molars that form two parallel ridges. This is the common molar pattern of Old World monkeys.
The study of humans as biological organisms, dealing with the emergence and evolution of humans and with contemporary biological variations among human populations.
The dominant medical paradigm in Western societies today.
Locomotion in which an animal walks on its two hind legs.
A thin flake whose length is usually more than twice its width. In the blade technique of toolmaking, a core is prepared by shaping a piece of flint with hammerstones into a pyramidal or cylindrical form. Blades are then struck off until the core is used up.
Animals that move through the trees by swinging hand over hand from branch to branch. They usually have long arms and fingers.
A substantial gift of goods or money given to the bride’s kin by the groom or his kin at or before the marriage. Also called bride wealth.
Work performed by the groom for his bride’s family for a variable length of time either before or after the marriage.
A chisel-like stone tool used for carving and for making such artifacts as bone and antler needles, awls, and projectile points.
The cone-shaped teeth immediately behind the incisors; used by most primates to seize food and in fighting and display.
A mouse-sized arboreal creature living about 56 million years ago; a strong candidate for the common primate ancestor.
A cultivated commodity raised for sale rather than for personal consumption by the cultivator.
A ranked group, often associated with a certain occupation, in which membership is determined at birth and marriage is restricted to members of one’s own caste.
The group of anthropoids with narrow noses and nostrils that face downward. Catarrhines include monkeys of the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe), as well as apes and humans.
Old World monkeys.
The “gray matter” of the brain; the center of speech and other higher mental activities.
A person who exercises authority, usually on behalf of a multicommunity political unit. This role is generally found in rank societies and is usually permanent and often hereditary.
A political unit, with a chief at its head, integrating more than one community but not necessarily the whole society or language group.
Paired rod-shaped structures within a cell nucleus containing the genes that transmit traits from one generation to the next.
See Absolute dating.
Urban society, from the Latin word for “city-state.”
A set of kin whose members believe themselves to be descended from a common ancestor but cannot specify the links back to that founder; often designated by a totem. Also called a sib.
A category of people who have about the same opportunity to obtain economic resources, power, and prestige.
Kinship terms that merge or equate relatives who are genealogically distinct from one another; the same term is used for a number of different kin.
Societies containing social groups that have unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige.
The gradually increasing (or decreasing) frequency of a gene from one end of a region to another.
Using more than one language in the course of conversing.
Formal principles for resolving disputes in heterogeneous and stratified societies.
Words or morphs that belong to different languages but have similar sounds and meanings.
The increasing dependence on buying and selling, with money usually as the medium of exchange.
The occasional uniting of various segments of a segmentary lineage system in opposition to similar segments.
One’s biological relatives; relatives by birth.
The relationships between and among artifacts, ecofacts, fossils, and features.
The movement of the continents over the past 135 million years. In the early Cretaceous (circa 135 million years ago), there were two “supercontinents”: Laurasia, which included North America and Eurasia; and Gondwanaland, which included Africa, South America, India, Australia, and Antarctica. By the beginning of the Paleocene (circa 65 million years ago), Gondwanaland had broken apart, with South America drifting west away from Africa, India drifting east, and Australia and Antarctica drifting south.
Nonspecialist vocabulary.
A system of required labor.
Geological epoch 135 million to 65 million years ago, during which dinosaurs and other reptiles ceased to be the dominant land vertebrates, and mammals and birds began to become important.
Violence not considered legitimate that occurs within a political unit.
Humans who lived in western Europe about 35,000 years ago, they were once thought to be the earliest specimens of modern-looking humans, or Homo sapiens. But it is now known that modern-looking humans appeared earlier outside of Europe; the earliest so far found lived in Africa.
Children of siblings of the opposite sex. One’s cross-cousins are the father’s sisters’ children and mother’s brothers’ children.
An ethnologist who uses ethnographic data about many societies to test possible explanations of cultural variation to discover general patterns about cultural traits—what is universal, what is variable, why traits vary, and what the consequences of the variability might be.
Exchanges of sections of chromosomes from one chromosome to another.
The study of cultural variation and universals in the past and present.
The analysis of the relationship between a culture and its environment.
The attitude that a society’s customs and ideas should be viewed within the context of that society’s problems and opportunities.
The branch of applied anthropology that seeks to recover and preserve the archaeological record before programs of planned change disturb or destroy it.
The set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals that are characteristic of a particular society or other social group.
A history of the cultures that lived in a given area over time. Until the 1950s, building such culture histories was a primary goal of archaeological research.
Wedge-shaped writing invented by the Sumerians around 3000 B.C.
A unique term used for a distinct relative.
The study of how languages are constructed.
One of the main subfields of applied or practicing anthropology, aimed at improving people’s lives, particularly decreasing poverty and hunger.
A variety of a language spoken in a particular area or by a particular social group.
A gap between the canine and first premolar found in apes.
The borrowing by one society of a cultural trait belonging to another society as the result of contact between the two societies.
A type of natural selection that increases the frequency of a trait (the trait is said to be positively favored, or adaptive).
Active during the day.
Getting the supernatural to provide guidance.
Deoxyribonucleic acid; a long, two-stranded molecule in the genes that directs the makeup of an organism according to the instructions in its genetic code.
Modification or adaptation of plants and animals for use by humans. When people plant crops, we refer to the process as cultivation. It is only when the crops cultivated and the animals raised have been modified—are different from wild varieties—that we speak of plant and animal domestication.
The allele of a gene pair that is always phenotypically expressed in the heterozygous form.
A system that affiliates individuals with a group of matrilineal kin for some purposes and with a group of patrilineal kin for other purposes.
A substantial transfer of goods or money from the bride’s family to the bride.
Genus of ape from the later Miocene found primarily in Europe. It had thin tooth enamel and pointed molar cusps very similar to those of the fruit-eating chimpanzees of today.
In contrast to other evolutionary ecological perspectives, this theory gives much more importance to culture as part of the evolutionary process. Dual inheritance refers to both genes and culture playing different, but nonetheless important and interactive roles in transmitting traits to future generations.
Natural items that humans have used; things such as the remains of animals eaten by humans or plant pollens found on archaeological sites are examples of ecofacts.
Things that have value in a culture, including land, tools and other technology, goods, and money.
Societies in which all people of a given age-sex category have equal access to economic resources, power, and prestige.
In the reckoning of kinship, the reference point or focal person.
See Socialization.
The rule specifying marriage to a person within one’s own group (kin, caste, community).
Focuses on issues relating to the interaction of humans with their environments, at the local, regional, and global levels, particularly focusing on how to understand and alleviate the degradation of the environment.
A geological epoch 55 million to 34 million years ago during which the first definite primates appeared.
Time period during which food production first developed in the Near East.
The process of defining ethnicity usually involves a group of people emphasizing common origins and language, shared history, and selected aspects of cultural difference such as a difference in religion. Because different groups are doing the perceiving, ethnic identities often vary with whether one is inside or outside the group.
Refers to judgment of other cultures solely in terms of one’s own culture.
The attitude that other societies’ customs and ideas can be judged in the context of one’s own culture.
Creation of a new culture.
A person who spends some time living with, interviewing, and observing a group of people to describe their customs.
Method of comparative cultural study that extrapolates to the past from recent or current societies.
A description of a society’s customary behaviors and ideas.
An ethnologist who uses historical documents to study how a particular culture has changed over time.
The study of how and why recent cultures differ and are similar.
The health-related beliefs, knowledge, and practices of a cultural group.
A type of evolutionary ecological approach that is particularly interested in universal human psychology. It is argued that human psychology was primarily adapted to the environment that characterized most of human history—the hunting-gathering way of life.
The careful removal of archaeological deposits; the recovery of artifacts, ecofacts, fossils, and features from the soil in which those deposits have been buried.
The rule specifying marriage to a person from outside one’s own group (kin or community).
An answer to a why question. In science, there are two kinds of explanation that researchers try to achieve: associations and theories.
A family consisting of two or more single-parent, monogamous, polygynous, or polyandrous families linked by a blood tie.
A type of horticulture in which the land is worked for short periods and then left to regenerate for some years before being used again. Also called shifting cultivation.
Showing that a theory seems to be wrong by finding that implications or predictions derivable from it are not consistent with objectively collected data.
A social and economic unit consisting minimally of a parent and a child.
Artifacts of human manufacture that cannot be removed from an archaeological site. Hearths, storage pits, and buildings are examples of features.
A state of recurring hostility between families or groups of kin, usually motivated by a desire to avenge an offense against a member of the group.
Firsthand experience with the people being studied and the usual means by which anthropological information is obtained. Regardless of other methods that anthropologists may use (e.g., censuses, surveys), fieldwork usually involves participant-observation for an extended period of time, often a year or more. See Participant-observation.
Includes all the myths, legends, folktales, ballads, riddles, proverbs, and superstitions of a cultural group. Generally, folklore is transmitted orally, but it may also be written.
The form of subsistence technology in which food-getting is dependent on the cultivation and domestication of plants and animals
People who subsist on the collection of naturally occurring plants and animals. Also referred to as hunter-gatherers or food collectors.
May be generally defined as a food-getting strategy that obtains wild plant and animal resources through gathering, hunting, scavenging, or fishing; also known as food collection.
Opening in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes en route to the brain.
The application of anthropology, usually physical anthropology, to help identify human remains and assist in solving crimes.
The hardened remains or impressions of plants and animals that lived in the past.
The marriage of a woman to two or more brothers at the same time.
Differences between females and males that reflect cultural expectations and experiences.
Roles that are culturally assigned to genders.
The degree of unequal access by the different genders to prestige, authority, power, rights, and economic resources.
Chemical unit of heredity.
The process by which genes pass from the gene pool of one population to that of another through mating and reproduction.
Gift giving without any immediate or planned return.
A universally accepted medium of exchange.
The various random processes that affect gene frequencies in small, relatively isolated populations.
The total complement of inherited traits or genes of an organism.
A group of related species; pl., genera.
Supernatural beings who were once human; the souls of dead people.
The ongoing spread of goods, people, information, and capital around the world.
The rule that populations of birds and mammals living in warm, humid climates have more melanin (and therefore darker skin, fur, or feathers) than populations of the same species living in cooler, drier areas.
Supernatural beings of nonhuman origin who are named personalities; often anthropomorphic.
Marriage in which more than one man is married to more than one woman at the same time; not customary in any known human society.
The time it takes for half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to decay into atoms of a different substance.
A teardrop-shaped stone tool characteristic of Acheulian assemblages.
A technique of stone tool manufacture where one stone is used to knock flakes from another stone. Flakes produced through hard hammer percussion are usually large and crude.
A person who holds a powerless but symbolically unifying position in a community within an egalitarian society; may exercise influence but has no power to impose sanctions.
The study of meaning.
Possessing differing genes or alleles in corresponding locations on a pair of chromosomes.
“Picture writing,” as in ancient Egypt and in Mayan sites in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America).
A specialty within archaeology that studies the material remains of recent peoples who left written records.
The study of how languages change over time.
Refers to an approach that studies many aspects of a multifaceted system.
The group of hominoids consisting of humans and their direct ancestors.
The group of catarrhines that includes both apes and humans.
Genus to which modern humans and their ancestors belong.
Refers to a group of hominin fossils found in the Atapuerca region of Spain that appear to be transitional between Neandertals and modern humans. They are closely related to Homo heidelbergensis, and many scholars believe they are the same species.
The first hominin species to be widely distributed in the Old World. The earliest finds are possibly 1.8 million years old. The brain (averaging 895–1,040 cc) was larger than that found in any of the australopithecines or H. habilis but smaller than the average brain of a modern human.
A species closely related to Homo erectus but found only in East Africa. Some scholars do not see enough difference between Homo erectus and Homo ergaster to count them as different species.
A dwarf species of hominin that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until about 12,000 years ago and probably descended from an isolated Homo erectus population.
Dating from about 2 million years ago, an early species belonging to our genus, Homo, with cranial capacities averaging about 630–640 cc, about 50 percent of the brain capacity of modern humans.
A transitional species between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.
The technical name for the Neandertals, a group of robust and otherwise anatomically distinct hominins that are close relatives of modern humans— so close that some believe they should be classified as Homo sapiens neandertalensis.
Early species belonging to our genus, Homo. Similar enough to Homo habilis that some paleoanthropologists make no distinction between the two.
All living people belong to one biological species, Homo sapiens, which means that all human populations on earth can successfully interbreed. The first Homo sapiens may have emerged about 200,000 years ago.
Possessing two identical genes or alleles in corresponding locations on a pair of chromosomes.
Plant cultivation carried out with relatively simple tools and methods; nature is allowed to replace nutrients in the soil, in the absence of permanently cultivated fields.
The study of the emergence of humans and their later physical evolution. Also called paleoanthropology.
The study of how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically.
People who collect food from naturally occurring resources, that is, wild plants, animals, and fish. The term hunter-gatherers minimizes sometimes heavy dependence on fishing. Also referred to as foragers or food collectors.
The creation of a viable offspring from the mating of two different species.
The family of hominoids that includes gibbons and siamangs; often referred to as the lesser apes (as compared with the great apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees).
Predictions, which may be derived from theories, about how variables are related.
A condition of oxygen deficiency that often occurs at high altitudes. The percentage of oxygen in the air is the same as at lower altitudes, but because the barometric pressure is lower, less oxygen is taken in with each breath. Often, breathing becomes more rapid, the heart beats faster, and activity is more difficult.
Prohibition of sexual intercourse or marriage between mother and son, father and daughter, and brother and sister; often extends to other relatives.
A family unit consisting of one monogamous (nuclear) family, or one polygynous or one polyandrous family.
Goods given by the groom’s kin to the bride (or her father, who passes most of them to her) at or before her marriage.
Items that changed relatively rapidly and which, thus, can be used to indicate the relative age of associated items.
A toolmaking technique common in the Upper Paleolithic. After shaping a core into a pyramidal or cylindrical form, the toolmaker can put a punch of antler or wood or another hard material into position and strike it with a hammer. Using a hammer-struck punch enabled toolmakers to strike off consistently shaped blades.
The order or major grouping of mammals, including modern shrews and moles, that is adapted to feeding on insects.
Food production characterized by the permanent cultivation of fields and made possible by the use of the plow, draft animals or machines, fertilizers, irrigation, water-storage techniques, and other complex agricultural techniques.
A nearly complete 3.5 million year old skull found in western Kenya. It is thought by some scholars to be a species of australopithecine (and hence should not be regarded as a separate genus).
An apelike primate from the Middle Miocene found in East Africa. It had very thickly enameled teeth and robust jaws, suggesting a diet of hard, tough foods. Probably somewhat terrestrial.
A bilateral set of close relatives who may be called upon for some purpose.
The study of communication by nonvocal means, including posture, mannerisms, body movement, facial expressions, and signs and gestures.
A locomotor pattern of primates such as the chimpanzee and gorilla in which the weight of the upper part of the body is supported on the thickly padded knuckles of the hands.
Associations or relationships that almost all scientists accept.
A method that allowed flake tools of a predetermined size to be produced from a shaped core. The toolmakers first shaped the core and prepared a “striking platform” at one end. Flakes of predetermined and standard sizes could then be knocked off. Although some Levallois flakes date from as far back as 400,000 years ago, they are found more frequently in Mousterian tool kits.
A custom whereby a man is obliged to marry his deceased brother’s wife.
Vocabulary or lexicon.
The words and morphs, and their meanings, of a language; approximated by a dictionary.
A set of kin whose members trace descent from a common ancestor through known links.
The technical name for tools made from stone.
The period of the Oldowan and Acheulian stone tool traditions.
The performance of certain rituals that are believed to compel the supernatural powers to act in particular ways.
Cultural traits that diminish the chances of survival and reproduction in a particular environment.
A supernatural, impersonal force that inhabits certain objects or people and is believed to confer success and/or strength.
The granting of freedom to a slave.
Transactions in which the “prices” are subject to supply and demand, whether or not the transactions occur in a marketplace.
A socially approved sexual and economic union, usually between a man and a woman, that is presumed, both by the couple and by others, to be more or less permanent, and that subsumes reciprocal rights and obligations between the two spouses and their future children.
The rule of descent that affiliates individuals with kin of both sexes related to them through women only.
A pattern of residence in which a married couple lives with or near the wife’s parents.
To describe how something compares with other things on some scale of variation.
The process by which a third party tries to bring about a settlement in the absence of formal authority to force a settlement.
The anthropological study of health and illness and associated beliefs and practices.
Part-time religious practitioners who are asked to heal and divine while in a trance.
The process by which reproductive cells are formed. In this process of division, the number of chromosomes in the newly formed cells is reduced by half, so that when fertilization occurs the resulting organism has the normal number of chromosomes appropriate to its species, rather than double that number.
The archaeological period in the Old World beginning about 12,000 B.C. Humans were starting to settle down in semipermanent camps and villages, as people began to depend less on big game (which they used to have to follow over long distances) and more on relatively stationary food resources such as fish, shellfish, small game, and wild plants rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and oils.
A type of ribonucleic acid that is used in the cell to copy the DNA code for use in protein synthesis.
A small, razorlike blade fragment that was probably attached in a series to a wooden or bone handle to form a cutting edge.
The time period of the Mousterian stone tool tradition.
The geological epoch from 24 million to 5.2 million years ago.
Cellular reproduction or growth involving the duplication of chromosome pairs.
A unilineal descent group in a society that is divided into two such maximal groups; there may be smaller unilineal descent groups as well.
The large teeth behind the premolars at the back of the jaw; used for chewing and grinding food.
Marriage between only one man and only one woman at a time.
Believing that there is only one high god and that all other supernatural beings are subordinate to, or are alternative manifestations of, this supreme being.
The smallest unit of a language that has a meaning.
One or more morphs with the same meaning.
The study of how sound sequences convey meaning.
Named after the tool assemblage found in a rock shelter at Le Moustier in the Dordogne region of southwestern France. Compared with an Acheulian assemblage, the Middle Paleolithic (40,000–300,000 years ago) Mousterian has a smaller proportion of large core tools such as hand axes and cleavers and a bigger proportion of small flake tools such as scrapers. Flakes were often altered or “retouched” by striking small flakes or chips from one or more edges.
A change in the DNA sequence, producing an altered gene.
A set of people sharing a common territory, history, and a sense of identity.
The co-occurrence of a political state and a nation.
The strong sense of loyalty, attachment, and devotion to a nation (see nation).
The outcome of processes that affect the frequencies of traits in a particular environment. Traits that enhance survival and reproductive success increase in frequency over time.
The common name for the species Homo neandertalensis.
The process by which the parties to a dispute try to resolve it themselves.
Originally meaning “the new stone age,” now meaning the presence of domesticated plants and animals. The earliest evidence of domestication comes from the Near East about 8000 B.C.
A pattern of residence whereby a married couple lives separately, and usually at some distance, from the kin of both spouses.
Active during the night.
Marriage of a woman to two or more men who are not brothers.
Marriage of a man to two or more women who are not sisters.
The type of natural selection that removes harmful genes that arose by mutation.
Standards or rules about what is acceptable behavior.
A family consisting of a married couple and their young children.
The act of calling upon a deity to bear witness to the truth of what one says.
A volcanic glass that can be used to make mirrors or sharp-edged tools.
A ridge of bone running horizontally across the back of the skull in apes and some hominins.
The earliest stone toolmaking tradition, named after the tools found in Bed I at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, from about 2.5 million years ago. The stone artifacts include core tools and sharp-edged flakes made by striking one stone against another. Flake tools predominate. Among the core tools, so-called choppers are common.
The geological epoch 34 million to 24 million years ago during which definite anthropoids emerged.
Eating both meat and vegetation.
A type of prosimian with many tarsierlike features that appeared in the early Eocene.
A description of the procedure that is followed in measuring a variable.
A thumb that can touch the tips of all the other fingers.
The theory that individuals seek to maximize the returns (in calories and nutrients) on their labor in deciding which animals and plants they will go after.
A means of determining guilt or innocence by submitting the accused to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under supernatural control.
An apparently bipedal primate dating to between 5.8 and 6 million years, making it possibly the earliest known hominin.
The geological epoch 65 million to 55 million years ago.
Refers to all the optional vocal features or silences apart from the language itself that communicate meaning.
Children of siblings of the same sex. One’s parallel cousins are the father’s brothers’ children and the mother’s sisters’ children.
Members of the genus Paranthropus.
A genus of early hominins that had very large teeth and jaws. Once thought to be part of the Australopithecus genus, but now considered a separate genus.
An early paranthropoid.
An East African paranthropoid species dating from 2.2 million to 1.3 million years ago with somewhat larger cranial capacity than A. africanus. No longer thought to be larger than australopithecines, it is robust primarily in the skull and jaw, most strikingly in the teeth. Compared with P. robustus, P. boisei has even more features that reflect a huge chewing apparatus.
A paranthropoid species found in South African caves dating from about 1.8 million to 1 million years ago. Not as large in the teeth and jaws as P. boisei.
Small monkeylike Oligocene primates found in the Fayum area of Egypt.
Living among the people being studied—observing, questioning, and (when possible) taking part in the important events of the group. Writing or otherwise recording notes on observations, questions asked and answered, and things to check out later are parts of participant-observation.
A form of subsistence technology in which food-getting is based directly or indirectly on the maintenance of domesticated animals.
The rule of descent that affiliates individuals with kin of both sexes related to them through men only.
A pattern of residence in which a married couple lives with or near the husband’s parents.
Rural people who produce food for their own subsistence but who must also contribute or sell their surpluses to others (in towns and cities) who do not produce their own food.
A toolmaking technique in which one stone is struck with another to remove a flake.
The theory that personality or psychological processes may account for connections between certain aspects of culture.
A Middle Miocene ape that has wrists and vertebrae that would have made it capable of brachiation, but also has relatively short fingers like modern monkeys.
The observable physical appearance of an organism, which may or may not reflect its genotype or total genetic constitution.
A speech sound in a language.
A sound or set of sounds that makes a difference in meaning to the speakers of the language.
The study of the sounds in a language and how they are used.
A unilineal descent group composed of a number of supposedly related clans (sibs).
The group of anthropoids that have broad, flat-bridged noses, with nostrils facing outward; these monkeys are currently found only in the New World (Central and South America).
A geological epoch that started 1.6 million years ago and, according to some, continues into the present. During this period, glaciers have often covered much of the earth’s surface and humans became the dominant life form.
The most well known of the plesiadipiforms, possibly an archaic primate.
The geological epoch 5.2 million to 1.6 million years ago during which the earliest definite hominins appeared.
The study of how external forces, particularly powerful state societies, explain the way a society changes and adapts.
The marriage of one woman to more than one man at a time.
Plural marriage; one individual is married to more than one spouse simultaneously. Polygyny and polyandry are types of polygamy.
The marriage of one man to more than one woman at a time.
Two or more melodies sung simultaneously.
Recognizing many gods, none of whom is believed to be superordinate.
Hominoids whose members include both the living and extinct apes.
A chronometric dating method that uses the rate of decay of a radioactive form of potassium (40K) into argon (40Ar) to date samples from 5,000 years to 3 billion years old. The K-Ar method dates the minerals and rocks in a deposit, not the fossils themselves.
Prohibition of sexual intercourse between a couple for a period of time after the birth of their child.
A feast among Pacific Northwest Native Americans at which great quantities of food and goods are given to the guests in order to gain prestige for the host(s).
The ability to make others do what they do not want to do or influence based on the threat of force.
The branch of anthropology that concerns itself with applying anthropological knowledge to achieve practical goals, usually in the service of an agency outside the traditional academic setting.
Grassland with a high grass cover.
Adapted for grasping objects.
The time before written records.
Toolmaking technique whereby small flakes are struck off by pressing against the core with a bone, antler, or wooden tool.
Being accorded particular respect or honor.
Generally full-time specialists, with very high status, who are thought to be able to relate to superior or high gods beyond the ordinary person’s access or control.
The food-getting activities: gathering, hunting, fishing, herding, and agriculture.
A member of the mammalian order Primates, divided into the two suborders of prosimians and anthropoids.
People who study primates.
The likelihood that an observed result could have occurred by chance.
The best-known genus of proto-apes from the Early Miocene.
A physical feature that is sticking out or pushed forward, such as the faces in apes and some hominid species.
Apelike anthropoids dating from the Early Oligocene, found in the Fayum area of Egypt.
Literally “pre-monkeys,” one of the two suborders of primates; includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers.
A hypothesized ancestral language from which two or more languages seem to have derived.
Animals that walk on all fours.
In biology, race refers to a subpopulation or variety of a species that differs somewhat in gene frequencies from other varieties of the species. Many anthropologists do not think that the concept of race is usefully applied to humans because humans do not fall into geographic populations that can be easily distinguished in terms of different sets of biological or physical traits. Thus, “race” in humans is largely a culturally assigned category.
The seed-bearing part of a plant. In the wild variety of grain, the rachis shatters easily, releasing the seeds. Domesticated grains have a tough rachis, which does not shatter easily.
The belief, without scientific basis, that some “races” are inferior to others.
A dating method uses the decay of carbon-14 to date organic remains. It is reliable for dating once-living matter up to 50,000 years old.
A short-term use of force, generally planned and organized, to realize a limited objective.
A sample in which all cases selected have had an equal chance to be included.
Societies that do not have any unequal access to economic resources or power, but with social groups that have unequal access to status positions and prestige.
An allele phenotypically suppressed in the heterozygous form and expressed only in the homozygous form.
Giving and taking (not politically arranged) without the use of money.
The accumulation of goods (or labor) by a particular person or in a particular place and their subsequent distribution.
A method of dating fossils that determines the age of a specimen or deposit relative to a known specimen or deposit.
Any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power, whether that power rests in forces, gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons.
New religious movements intended to save a culture by infusing it with a new purpose and life.
A usually violent replacement of a society’s rulers.
A structure in the cell used in making proteins.
Repetitive sets of behaviors that occur in essentially the same patterns every time they occur. Religious rituals involve the supernatural in some way.
Rules that connect individuals with particular sets of kin because of known or presumed common ancestry.
A ridge of bone running along the top of the skull in apes and early hominins.
An inverted V-shaped ridge running along the top of the skull in Homo erectus.
A hominoid found in Chad dating to around 7 million years ago.
The list of cases to be sampled from.
Tropical grassland.
Aspects of culture, such as religion, music, art, folklore, and games, which presumably reflect or are projections of the basic, or typical, personality in a society.
Activities that involve the preparation and processing of food either to make it edible or to store it.
Settled life.
A hierarchy of more inclusive lineages; usually functions only in conflict situations.
The random sorting of chromosomes in meiosis.
The typical differences between females and males that are most likely due to biological differences.
A marked difference in size and appearance between males and females of a species.
See Sexually dimorphic.
A religious intermediary, usually part-time, whose primary function is to cure people through sacred songs, pantomime, and other means; sometimes called witch doctor by Westerners.
See Clan.
A person’s brothers and sisters.
A condition in which red blood cells assume a crescent (sickle) shape when deprived of oxygen, instead of the normal (disk) shape. The sickle-shaped red blood cells do not move through the body as readily as normal cells, and thus cause damage to the heart, lungs, brain, and other vital organs.
Locations where the material remains of human activity have been preserved in a way that archaeologists or paleoanthropologists can recover them.
A genus of ape from the later Miocene known for its thickly enameled teeth, suggesting a diet of hard, tough, or gritty items. Found primarily in western and southern Asia and now thought to be ancestral to orangutans.
A form of shifting cultivation in which the natural vegetation is cut down and burned off. The cleared ground is used for a short time and then left to regenerate.
A class of people who do not own their own labor or the products thereof.
A term anthropologists and psychologists use to describe the development, through the direct and indirect influence of parents and others, of children’s patterns of behavior (and attitudes and values) that conform to cultural expectations. Also called enculturation.
A group of people who occupy a particular territory and speak a common language not generally understood by neighboring peoples. By this definition, societies do not necessarily correspond to nations.
Systematic study of the biological causes of human behavior. Compare with behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and dual-inheritance theory.
The study of cultural and subcultural patterns of speaking in different social contexts.
A technique of stone tool manufacture in which a bone or wood hammer is used to strike flakes from a stone.
The use of certain materials to invoke supernatural powers to harm people.
The marriage of a man to two or more sisters at the same time.
A custom whereby a woman is obliged to marry her deceased sister’s husband.
Objects of value for which only some goods and services can be exchanged.
The development of a new species.
A population that consists of organisms able to interbreed and produce viable and fertile offspring.
Unnamed supernatural beings of nonhuman origin who are beneath the gods in prestige and often closer to the people; may be helpful, mischievous, or evil.
An autonomous political unit with centralized decision making over many communities with power to govern by force (e.g., to collect taxes, draft people for work and war, and make and enforce laws). Most states have cities with public buildings; full-time craft and religious specialists; an “official” art style; a hierarchical social structure topped by an elite class; and a governmental monopoly on the legitimate use of force to implement policies.
A society is described as having state organization when it includes one or more states.
A relationship or correlation between two or more variables that is unlikely to be due to chance.
Refers to a result that would occur very rarely by chance. The result (and stronger ones) would occur fewer than 5 times out of 100 by chance.
Grassland with a dry, low grass cover.
An archaeological deposit that contains successive layers or strata.
The study of how different rock formations and fossils are laid down in successive layers or strata. Older layers are generally deeper or lower than more recent layers.
The shared customs of a subgroup within a society.
Economies in which almost all able-bodied adults are largely engaged in getting food for themselves and their families.
Believed to be not human or not subject to the laws of nature.
An arbitrary (not obviously meaningful) gesture, call, word, or sentence that has meaning even when its referent is not present.
The ways in which words are arranged to form phrases and sentences.
A prohibition that, if violated, is believed to bring supernatural punishment.
Having teeth with an enlarged pulp cavity.
Adapted to living on the ground.
The use or threat of violence to create terror in others, usually for political purposes.
Something that cannot be observed or verified directly.
A general attitude about how phenomena are to be explained.
Explanations of associations or laws.
A plant or animal associated with a clan (sib) as a means of group identification; may have other special significance for the group.
The kind of political organization in which local communities mostly act autonomously but there are kin groups (such as clans) or associations (such as age-sets) that can temporarily integrate a number of local groups into a larger unit.
A territorial population in which there are kin or nonkin groups with representatives in a number of local groups. There is no formal integration of the local groups.
A tool worked or flaked on one side only.
Affiliation with a group of kin through descent links of one sex only.
A pattern of residence (patrilocal, matrilocal, or avunculocal) that specifies just one set of relatives that the married couple lives with or near.
An association that restricts its membership to one sex, usually male.
Those ascribed qualities (age, sex) that are found in all societies.
The time period associated with the emergence of modern humans and their spread around the world.
A thing or quantity that varies.
Those ascribed qualities (such as ethnic, religious, or social class differences) that are found only in some societies.
A locomotor pattern characteristic of several primates, including tarsiers and galagos. The animal normally rests by clinging to a branch in a vertical position and uses its hind limbs alone to push off from one vertical position to another.
Socially organized violence between political entities such as communities, districts, or nations.
The practice of attempting to harm people by supernatural means, but through emotions and thought alone, not through the use of tangible objects