Anthropology Terms

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When an organism has physical traits and behaviors that allow it to survive in a particular environment

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Adapted

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Variants of a gene that code for different expressions of a trait

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Alleles

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The chief components of proteins

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Amino acids

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Specialized sweat glands that secrete an odorous substance thought to be sexually stimulating

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Apocrine glands

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Adapted to life in the trees

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Arboreal

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A specialist in the subfield of anthropology who studies the human cultural past and the reconstruction of past cultural systems

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Archaeologist

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Any object that has been consciously manufactured

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Artifact

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Selection for reproductive success in plants and animals that is directed by humans (also see selective breeding)

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Artificial selection

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Reproducing without sex, by fissioning or budding

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Asexually

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Ideas that are taken on faith and cannot be scientifically tested

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Belief systems

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A specialist in the subfield of anthropology who studies humans as a biological species

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Biological Anthropologist

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Walking on two legs

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Bipedal

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Moving using arm-over-arm swinging

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Brachiating

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A classification system based on order of evolutionary branching rather than on present similarities and differences

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Cladistics

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When both alleles of a pair are expressed in the phenotype

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Codominant

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A specialist in the subfield of anthropology who focuses on human cultural behavior and cultural systems and the variation in cultural expression among human groups

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Cultural Anthropologist

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Studying another culture from its point of view without imposing our own cultural values

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Cultural relativity

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Ideas and behaviors that are learned and transmitted. Nongenetic means of adaptation. The extra-somatic adaptive process used by hominidae. Total way of life of a group of people.

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Culture

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The molecule that carries the genetic code

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

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Here, the period after birth during which offspring require the care of adults to survive

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Dependency

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An old term for what we now call biological evolution

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Descent with Modification

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Active during the day

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Diurnal

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Individual differences in power, influence, and access to resources and mating

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Dominance hierarchy

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The allele that is expressed in a pair of unlike alleles

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Dominant

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The science that studies the network of relationships within environmental systems

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Ecology

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A specific set of environmental relationships. A unit of study within ecology

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Ecosystem

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In nonhuman mammals, the period of female fertility or the signals indicating this condition

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Estrus

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In biology, the idea that species change over time and have a common ancestry

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Evolution

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Here, the splitting up of a population to form new populations

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Fission

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A system of classification based on the relationships among cultural categories for important items and ideas

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Folk taxonomy

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Remains of life-forms of the past

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Fossils

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Genetic differences between populations produced by the fact that genetically different individuals established (founded) the populations

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Founder Effect

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The genetic change caused when genes are passed to new generations in frequencies unlike those of the parental generations

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Gamete sampling

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The cells of reproduction, which contain only half the chromosomes of a normal cell

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Gametes

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The cultural categories and characteristics of men and women

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Gender

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The exchange of genes among populations through interbreeding

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Gene flow

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All the genes in a population

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Gene pool

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Technically, those portions of the DNA molecules that code for the production of specific proteins

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Genes

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Genetic change based on random changes within a species’ gene pool; includes fission and the founder effect, and gamete sampling

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Genetic drift

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The alleles possessed by an organism

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Genotypes

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Massive sheets of ice that expand and move

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Glaciers

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Cleaning the fur of another animal, which promotes social cohesion

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Grooming

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The place occupied by a species; the species’ “address”

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Habitat

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To attach a handle or shaft

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Haft

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Having two different alleles in a gene pair

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Heterozygous

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Assuming an interrelationship among the parts of a subject

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Holistic

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Modern human beings and our ancestors, defined as the primates who walk erect

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Hominids

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Having two of the same allele

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Homozygous

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A cultural rule that prohibits sexual intercourse or marriage between persons defined as being too closely related

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Incest taboo

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Native; refers to a group of people with a long history in a particular area

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Indigenous

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The incorrect idea that traits acquired during an organism’s lifetime can be passed on to its offspring

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Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

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A specialist in the subfield of anthropology who describes the characteristics of human language and studies the relationships between languages and the cultures that speak them

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Linguistic Anthropologist

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A mutation with extensive and important physical results

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Macromutation

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A set of cultural rules for bringing men and women together to create a family unit and for defining their behavior toward one another, their children, and society

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Marriage

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Any spontaneous change in the genetic code

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Mutation

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Evolutionary change based on the differential reproductive success of individuals within a species

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Natural selection

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The environment of an organism and its adaptive response to that environment

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Niche

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Active at night

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Nocturnal

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The family unit made up of parents and their children

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Nuclear family

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Referring to the sense of smell

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Olfactory

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The ability to touch the thumb to the tips of the other fingers on the same hand

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Opposability

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The period when an egg cell matures and is capable of being fertilized

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Ovulation

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The study of past life-forms using fossil remains and their geological contexts

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Paleontology

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The chemical or physical results of the genetic code

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Phenotype

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A chemical substance secreted by an animal that conveys information and stimulates behavior responses

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Pheromones

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The traditional name for biological anthropologist

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Physical Anthropologist

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The geological period from 1.6 millions to 10,000 years ago characterized by a series of glacial advances and retreats

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Pleistocene

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Referring to a society in which a man may have multiple wives

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Polygynous

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Having the ability to grasp

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Prehensile

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Molecules that make cells and carry out cellular functions

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Proteins

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Scientifically testable ideas that are taken on faith, even if tested and shown to be false

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Pseudoscience

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Walking on all fours

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Quadrapedal

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An allele that is only expressed if present in a like pair

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Recessive

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The molecule that, in two forms, translates and transcribes the genetic code into proteins

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Ribonucleic acid (RNA)

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Physical differences between the sexes of a species not related to reproductive functions

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Sexual dimorphism

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The evolution of a new species

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Speciation

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A group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring among themselves but not with members of other groups

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Species

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Three-dimensional vision; depth perception

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Stereoscopic

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Layers; Here, the layers of rock and soil under the surface of the earth

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Strata

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The study of the earth’s strata

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Stratigraphy

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A classification using nested sets of categories

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Taxonomy

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A general idea that explains a large set of factual patterns

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Theory

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The method of inquiry that requires the generation, testing, and acceptance or rejection of hypotheses

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Science

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The process of conducting scientific inquiry

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Scientific Method

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Proposed explanations for natural phenomena

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Hypotheses

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The process of developing a general explanation from specific observations

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Induction

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Suggesting specific data that would be found if a hypothesis were true

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Deduction

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Strands of DNA in the nucleus of a cell

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Chromosome

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The holistic, scientific study of humankind

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Anthropology

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When a new form of adaptive strategy emerges in evolutionary process it often leads to a geologically sudden increase in the number of species evolving from the original form into new and separate species with that new strategy. When this is seen in the phylogeny, it is called…

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Adaptive radiation

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A theory based on Biblical information that held that natural disasters were responsible for the many extinct life forms found in the geological record

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Catastrophism

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Suggesting specific data that would be found if a hypothesis were true

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Deduction

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The term which describes the attitude held by a person or a group of people that his/her/their own culture is superior to all others

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Ethnocentrism

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The notion that evolution is leading onward and upward to some higher and more perfect form

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Evolutionary progressionism

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Proposed explanations for natural phenomena

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Hypothesis

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The process of developing a general explanation from specific observations

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Induction

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In the medieval period, the system by which scholars classified the living animals by ranking them from the simplest at the bottom to the most complex at the top.

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Ladder of life (Chain of being)

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A way to explain natural or cultural phenomena in a culture’s context

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Myth

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Evolutionary change relatively quickly between stable periods

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Punctuated equilibrium

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The method of inquiry that requires the generation, testing, and acceptance or rejection of hypotheses

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Science

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The process of conducting scientific inquiry

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Scientific method

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When bisexual animals mate, it can be observed that members of a given species may show marked tendencies to favor certain traits in the opposite sex; when this preference shapes the evolving species’ genotype and in turn phenotype, we call this process…

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Sexual selection

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A group of people who are organized to live productively together by sharing a common culture

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Society

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Goal oriented; Evolution is not this

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Teleological

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The contemporary of Darwin who formulated a theory of evolution much the same as his

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Alfred Russell Wallace

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The man who, using the genealogies of the Bible, calculated that the earth was created in the year 4004 B.C.

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Archbishop Usher of Armagh

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The father of modern geology

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Charles Lyle

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The monk who sorted out the process of genetic inheritance, determining such processes as dominance, recessiveness, etc.

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Gregor Mendel

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The man who developed a theory that stated that any organism would pass on to its offspring any characteristics acquired by it during it efforts in life

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Jean Baptiste de Lamarck

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The man who developed a population growth model for world populations that predicted serious crisis level of growth and food shortages, and whose work helped Darwin envision his theory of evolution

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Thomas Malthus

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Swedish botanist who is the father of modern taxonomy

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Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus)