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Intro Anthropology Terms

Cultural, biological and archaeological anthropology basics.

92 cardsCollege, Adult#anthropology#college

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  • AnthropologyTerm
    The study of humans, past and present
  • Four-field approachTerm
    Cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic anthropology
  • Cultural anthropologyTerm
    Study of human societies and cultures
  • Biological anthropologyTerm
    Study of human evolution and biological variation
  • ArchaeologyTerm
    Study of past peoples through material remains
  • Linguistic anthropologyTerm
    Study of language in its social and cultural setting
  • EthnographyTerm
    Detailed written study of a culture based on fieldwork
  • EthnologyTerm
    Comparing cultures to find patterns
  • Participant observationTerm
    Living with a community to learn its ways
  • FieldworkTerm
    Research conducted in the community studied
  • InformantTerm
    A community member who provides cultural information
  • Emic perspectiveTerm
    Understanding a culture from the insider's point of view
  • Etic perspectiveTerm
    Analysis from an outside observer's viewpoint
  • Cultural relativismTerm
    Judging a culture by its own standards
  • EthnocentrismTerm
    Judging other cultures by one's own
  • Franz BoasTerm
    Founder of American anthropology; stressed cultural relativism
  • Margaret MeadTerm
    Anthropologist of Samoa who studied childhood and adolescence
  • Bronislaw MalinowskiTerm
    Developed participant observation in the Trobriand Islands
  • EnculturationTerm
    Learning one's own culture
  • AcculturationTerm
    Change from contact between cultures
  • Cultural diffusionTerm
    Spread of cultural traits between societies
  • KinshipTerm
    Social relationships based on descent and marriage
  • Descent groupTerm
    Group tracing ancestry to a common ancestor
  • Patrilineal descentTerm
    Tracing descent through the father's line
  • Matrilineal descentTerm
    Tracing descent through the mother's line
  • Bilateral descentTerm
    Tracing descent through both parents
  • ClanTerm
    A descent group claiming a common ancestor
  • Incest tabooTerm
    Universal rule against marriage or sex between close kin
  • Bride serviceTerm
    Groom works for the bride's family
  • DowryTerm
    Goods the bride's family give at marriage
  • ReciprocityTerm
    Exchange of goods and services among people
  • PotlatchTerm
    A feast among Pacific Northwest peoples redistributing wealth and affirming status
  • Kula ringTerm
    Trobriand exchange network of shell valuables
  • ForagersTerm
    People who live by hunting, gathering and fishing
  • PastoralismTerm
    Livelihood based on herding animals
  • HorticultureTerm
    Small-scale farming using simple tools
  • Intensive agricultureTerm
    Large-scale farming with plows, irrigation and animals
  • BandTerm
    Small, mobile, egalitarian group
  • TribeTerm
    Group of related kin, loosely organized, often with shared language
  • ChiefdomTerm
    Society with hereditary leaders ranked above others
  • StateTerm
    Centralized political system with formal government
  • Rite of passageTerm
    Ritual marking change of status; Arnold van Gennep
  • LiminalityTerm
    The in-between stage in a ritual
  • TotemismTerm
    Link between a group and a natural symbol
  • AnimismTerm
    Belief that spirits inhabit natural things
  • ShamanTerm
    A specialist who mediates with the spirit world
  • MythTerm
    A sacred narrative explaining origins or beliefs
  • RitualTerm
    Formal, repeated symbolic action
  • MagicTerm
    Rituals aimed at controlling events
  • PrimateTerm
    Order of mammals including monkeys, apes and humans
  • HomininTerm
    Humans and their extinct bipedal relatives
  • BipedalismTerm
    Walking on two legs
  • AustralopithecusTerm
    Early bipedal hominin genus of Africa
  • LucyTerm
    A 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton from Ethiopia
  • Homo habilisTerm
    Early toolmaking Homo species
  • Homo erectusTerm
    Long-lived species that used fire and spread beyond Africa
  • NeanderthalsTerm
    Extinct relatives of modern humans in Europe and western Asia
  • Homo sapiensTerm
    Anatomically modern humans, appeared in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago
  • Out of Africa modelTerm
    Modern humans originated in Africa and spread worldwide
  • PaleolithicTerm
    The Old Stone Age
  • MesolithicTerm
    The Middle Stone Age
  • NeolithicTerm
    The New Stone Age, when farming began
  • Neolithic RevolutionTerm
    Shift from foraging to farming around 10,000 years ago
  • DomesticationTerm
    Breeding plants or animals for human use
  • Oldowan toolsTerm
    Earliest simple stone tools
  • Acheulean toolsTerm
    Hand axes linked to Homo erectus
  • StratigraphyTerm
    Studying layers of earth to determine relative age
  • Radiocarbon datingTerm
    Dating organic remains by carbon-14 decay, up to about 50,000 years
  • ArtifactTerm
    A portable object made or used by humans
  • FeatureTerm
    A non-portable sign of human activity, like a hearth
  • MiddenTerm
    An ancient trash heap
  • Cultural resource managementTerm
    Archaeology done to protect sites ahead of development
  • SiteTerm
    A place with evidence of past human activity
  • ExcavationTerm
    Systematic digging and recording of a site
  • ProvenienceTerm
    The exact location where an object was found
  • Material cultureTerm
    Physical objects created by a society
  • Race as social constructTerm
    Human races are not biologically distinct groups
  • Natural selectionTerm
    Traits that aid survival and reproduction become more common
  • AdaptationTerm
    A trait that helps survival in an environment
  • Genetic driftTerm
    Random changes in gene frequency
  • Gene flowTerm
    Exchange of genes between populations
  • MutationTerm
    Change in DNA that is the source of new variation
  • FossilTerm
    Preserved remains or traces of ancient life
  • Language familyTerm
    Languages sharing a common ancestor
  • PhonemeTerm
    A basic sound unit that distinguishes meaning
  • MorphemeTerm
    The smallest meaningful unit of language
  • Sapir-Whorf hypothesisTerm
    Language influences how people think
  • SociolinguisticsTerm
    Study of language and society
  • Code-switchingTerm
    Alternating between languages or dialects
  • Applied anthropologyTerm
    Using anthropological knowledge to solve practical problems
  • GlobalizationTerm
    Growing worldwide interconnection
  • Medical anthropologyTerm
    Study of health, illness and healing across cultures

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