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GENERAL SCOPE AND USES OF PHYSICAL/BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Course name: Introduction to General Anthropology Paper No. & Title: B.A./B.Sc. Honours Paper –I Fundamentals in Physical/Biological Anthropology Topic No. & Title: 1/6 General scope and uses of Physical/Biological Anthropology Objective: This e-Content aims to make the common people and young enthusiasts understand about the origin and variation of our own kind; about various biological phenomena, viz. growth and developments, reproduction and ageing that we all pass through during our lifetime, especially with a message of oneness of humankind. Secondly, it outlines the importance of physical anthropological knowledge in various fields of welfare activities. Content & Script of the Programme Introduction: Physical Anthropology studies human as an organism in time and space. Time refers to different stages of human evolution; space refers to variation among the human beings living in different parts of the globe. As we all know, nothing is static in this dynamic universe. The earth itself is rotating while revolving on its orbit. All the things, living and non living things are changing in different manners, cyclical and non-cyclical, and at different rates, some very slow and imperceptible, and some at faster rates. Evolution, which is defined as gradual transformation of one form or structure to another, is a natural phenomenon and is a never ending process. Humankind did not appear on this earth in the present form all of a sudden. It is a product of gradual transformation through generations that have passed through different stages of geological time period. Physical Anthropology probes into different stages of human evolution and unveils how mankind achieved the present form. It also studies the ongoing microevolutionary changes in human populations. Secondly, there is a great deal of variation among human populations or groups living at present in different habitats of the globe. Some are tall and dark in skin color with curly hair while some are short, fair skin and black hair. Just pick up only the eye, one will find a number of variations in terms of color of iris, eye opening, size, eyelids, etc. It is a huge task to find out every detail of such morphologically observable variations. There are also variations in biochemical properties which are not visible morphologically. That’s not all; there is variation even among the people of similar appearance and of the same habitat, in terms of language, belief and cultural practices. Such cultural and linguistic differences, in turn, constitute biological boundary among human populations. This is the law of nature that no two things should be exactly alike and therefore, variation is a natural phenomenon, which is again the threshold of evolution. Despite these variations mankind belongs to the single species, Homo sapiens (Latin, Homo meaning man; sapiens meaning wise) by virtue of which mating among the physically and culturally different groups all over the world is fertile. Physical Anthropology deals with the study on human variation from biological perspective with a view to understand and explain the reasons of variations. The dictum of Physical Anthropology is ‘know about your origin and difference from your fellow beings to become a better human being for a better world’. Scope: Scope of Physical Anthropology, with its aim and objective of understanding about origin and variation of human kind, can be broadly divided into the following main streams, which are further divisible into different specialized areas. 1) 2) 3) Palaeoanthropology 2. Primatology 3. Ecology and Adaptation, 4. Auxology and Demography 5. Human Genetics. Paleoanthropology: Paleoanthropology (Gr. paleo meaning old) means anthropology of the past. It is the study of fossil remains remains. of human Physical archaeologists, and ancestors and associated anthropologists, geologists, have cultural together with unearthed fossil remains in many parts of the world. With their knowledge of osteology, palaeoanthropologists examine, measure, and reconstruct these remains, often from mere fragments. This has enabled physical anthropologists to propose lines of descent from our ancient ancestors to the present form of Homo sapiens. Primatology: Primatology is the study of nonhuman primates. The Order Primate in the Animal Kingdom is the group to which humans, apes, monkeys and prosimians belong. The anatomy of nonhuman primates, especially monkeys and apes, has been studied to ascertain the similarities and differences between these primates and humans. Study of comparative anatomy helps to trace the evolutionary relationships of human and nonhuman primates. The best example of ancestral commonness of human and nonhuman primates is provided by sole dermatoglyphics. Delicately structured ridge configurations on the palms and soles, in association with opposable thumb and big toe, are functionally meant for effective grasping on the branches for brachiating locomotion. Human’s big toe has been modified for terrestrial bipedal locomotion; it is no longer opposable like that of nonhuman primates. But unlike other terrestrial animals, humans have delicately structured ridges on the soles, which is nothing but the evidence of common brachiating ancestor with non human primates. Because of the remarkable similarities among monkeys, apes and humans, researchers have been able, through laboratory experiments, to learn similarities at protein and physiochemical responses too. It is now established from DNA hybridization that chimpanzee stands closest to human. Because of the similarity in blood types and physiochemical responses of chimpanzee and humans, the space program, in 1961, selected a chimpanzee ,named HAM, to be the passenger in a space capsule launched into suborbital flight with a view to learn physiological responses likely to face by human under the similar condition. Ecology and adaptation: An important aspect of Physical Anthropology is the study of human variation by taking measurements (anthropometry), visual observation (somatoscopy), genetic traits and biochemical examinations for systematic classification and scientific explanation. Study on ecology (environment and its factors) and adaptation plays major role in finding out the causes of human variation. Various agents of echo niches together with cultural factors shape physical or biological characters of human during the course of adaptation. What is unusual in the adaptation of human being is the accumulation of information about the environment and accordingly development of technology, ways and means, to cope with the ecological conditions. The knowledge thus accumulated, and the technologies developed thereon, have been passed from generation to generation as culture. It is by virtue of his creativity, so to say, culture, human being could face the challenges of a new environment at least temporarily. Temporal adaptation through cultural means gradually led to long term adaptation which resulted into modifications of biological characteristics. Dark skin colour due to heavy melanin pigmentation is related to adaptation in hot environment. Heavy pigmentation protects the body from excessive absorption of U.V. ray that may lead to calcification of soft tissues and development of skin cancer. Narrow nostril of the cold environment facilitates the compression of air while breathing so that the air warms up before reaching the lungs. People living in cold environment are fat and stocky while those living in hot environment are generally lean and thin. Because, thickset body has less surface area in relation to body mass and therefore, effective in preservation of heat. On the other hand, lean body structure has larger surface area in relation to body mass which is better for quick dissipation of heat. Sickle cell haemoglobin, despite heterozygous condition its in harmful the effect, is populations of found in malarial endemic environment as the heterozygous genotype has adaptive advantage than the homozygotes of either normal haemoglobin or sickle allele. Physical Anthropology, thus, explains the reasons of variation among human beings with a view to thwart the concept of racial prejudice. Auxology and Demography: Holistic understanding about human as an organism can never be complete without the knowledge of biological process of growth and development, reproduction, life span, etc. One of the main pillars of Physical Anthropology is represented by auxology and demography. Auxology (also auxanology, Gr. auxo meaning growth) is the study on growth and changes throughout different stages of human life. It begins from the moment of fertilization and prenatal periods (ovum, embryo, and fetus) to postnatal growth and changes through different stages such as infant, childhood, adolescent, onset of menarche(among the girls), and adulthood maturity up to senescence (including menopause among the women). Assessment of rates of growth, skeletal age compared with chronological age, and the genetic, endocrinology, nutritional, topography, epidemiology, and socio-economic factors, etc. that affect growth are foci of research by physical anthropologists. Physical anthropologists are also involved in studies of aging, particularly with regard to skeletal changes such as osteoporosis. Side by side, demography studies on human populations about the size, age and sex ratio, age at marriage, fertility performance, birth rate, death rate, longevity, migration and economic activities, etc. which are determinants of stability or instability of populations. Genetics: Physical Anthropology also deals with the study on inherited traits at individual level as well as in the population. The science of heredity, genetics, explains the causes of human variation. In fact, source of variation is genetics and the environment selects the favorable type. A gene is a sentence, composed of words of twenty types of amino acids and the latter in turn by the four alphabets of nucleotides of DNA. The term allele refers to different forms of a gene. Dominant allele expresses in both heterozygous (combination of dissimilar alleles) and homozygous (similar alleles) genotypes while recessive allele is expressed only in homozygous genotype. Modification in the spellings of genetic words, by replacement of nucleotides, is called ‘point mutation.’ Mutated gene, i.e. new allele, may be harmful or environment. harmless, Harmful or may be dominant beneficial alleles are in an usually eliminated from the population as the individuals carrying such alleles cannot survive, while the harmless and beneficial alleles are retained. Mutations at micro level introducing harmless or beneficial or even deleterious recessive alleles in the population gradually modify the genetic characters of the gene pool. Population genetics deals with the study on changes in the gene frequencies of a population’s gene pool, which is known as microevolution or genetic basis of evolution. Initially blood groups constituted the bulk of data, but now many other molecular traits, particularly DNA sequences, have been analyzed. At the turn of the 21st century, geographic populations were described in terms of Mendelian populations and gene frequencies, which were in turn used to model the history of population movements. This information, combined with linguistic and archaeological evidence, helps to resolve puzzles on the people of continents and archipelagoes. Traits that were once used for racial classifications, e.g. racial criteria, do not group neatly in patterns that would allow boundaries to be drawn among geographic populations. And there is no human population that has never mixed up with any other, so all humans are mongrels. The concept of biological races (subspecies) of Homo sapiens is, therefore, biologically meaningful racial types are nonexistent. invalid; USES (Applications of Physical Anthropology) The message of Physical Anthropology is “we are one beneath the skin”. Once the skin is removed everything is same. Because, we are of the same origin and we belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Variation among human different people is not even 1 % of the total genome. Classification of human into races is arbitrary and racism is a myth, no race is inferior to any other. The Knowledge of Physical Anthropology, the techniques and methods employed by anthropologists are of immense applied value. Anthropometry in Ergonomics and essential articles: Ergonomics (Gr. ergon, meaning “work,” and nomos, meaning “law.”) or human engineering, deals with designing of machines, work methods, and environments to take into account the safety, comfort, and productiveness of human users and operators. Anthropometry is the science of measurement of the human body, which is divisible into static measurements and dynamic measurements. Static measurements are useful to determine the space to fit persons and necessary clearance around the body. While working different parts of the body move and accordingly the objects to be used are designed for which dynamic measurements are important. The body size and limb proportions vary from population to population. Age and sex are two other factors that should be taken into account. Physical Anthropology provides necessary information on these different aspects, which are useful in designing machines, weapons, furniture, garments and footwear, etc. Health and Medicine: Health is the most precious wealth. Physical Anthropologists have roles to play for healthy existence mankind. Examination of clinical symptoms and anthropometry are important methods for assessment of health and nutritional status. Indices like BMI (Body Mass Index), Weight for age, Height for age, etc. are some of the common methods used by anthropologists in the assessment of growth and nutritional status, especially among the children of different populations. Anthropometric characters of individuals are also indicative of certain diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular problem, tuberculosis and malarial infection, etc. Knowledge of prevalence of certain defective genes in the populations, such as G-6-PD deficiency will be of great help to the physicians while treating malarial patients. Because such persons cannot be given malarial drugs, it is fatal to them. Anthropological knowledge about the merits and demerits of inbreeding, blood group compatibility of the couples, and genetic diseases will be of immense value for the common people in making decision about choosing life partners. Recent trend of molecular anthropology probes into human origin and dispersion at DNA level which entails identification of genetic codes that determine susceptibility and resistivity to diseases and subsequently determinants of adaptation, which are likely to discover in different human populations of different echo niches. This kind of knowledge will be of invaluable help in the advancement of genetic medicine. Kinanthropology: Kinanthropology (Gr. kineein meaning to move) is the anthropology of sports. It is, in fact, the application of anthropological knowledge in the selection of suitable sportspersons for different events to achieve maximum performance. Individuals are of different body structures and temperament. Some are stocky and sluggish while some are lean and agile; some have proportionately longer limbs and shorter trunk while some have just the reverse. They somatotypes, can such be as categorized ectomorphic, into different mesomorphic and endomorphic. Some are taste sensitive to PTC (phenyl-thiocarbamide) and some are taste blind, so on. People from different continents and countries are of different body structures, such as height, weight, muscular structure and limb proportions, etc. Kinanthropologists deal with sorting of jargon of such data on human variation, so that exploitation of sports talents by mistaken selection and unnecessary training can be avoided. Kinanthropologists take anthropometric measurements of the sports talents and the latter are also subjected to physiological and biochemical tests along with various motor performance tests. By doing so, young and grooming sports talents can be sorted in accordance with their suitable events so as to achieve maximum human performance in different fields of sports. Forensic Anthropology: Physical anthropological knowledge about mechanism of inheritance of various genetically determined traits and about their frequencies in different populations is useful in the settlements of medico-legal cases, such as disputed paternity or maternity, identification of biological relatives, etc. Forensic anthropology is that branch of physical anthropology which deals, for forensic purposes with the identification of persons with the help of these biological remains. Via expert knowledge of the human skeleton, (dermatoglyphics), sequencing, and anthropologists dentition, saliva and hairs, blood archaeological provide invaluable fingerprints genetics, DNA methods, physical assistance in the identification of victims and perpetrators of crimes and casualties of accidents and wars. Because of the wide spectrum of problems, methods, and practical applications, physical anthropologists specialize in one or a few subareas. Conclusion: To end up, it may be recapitulated that mankind was not created all of a sudden; we are a product of biological evolution. Variation is a natural phenomenon; no things are exactly alike. Even the children of the same parents are not similar. Mankind living in different parts of the globe, in Africa, Europe, Asia, America, Australia or any where else, may speak different languages, and have different tradition and culture. But cutting across all these variations we belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Our mitochondrial DNA points out that we originated from the same mother. No one is superior, so no one is inferior. Underneath the skin we are one. This is the message of Physical Anthropology. FAQ’s Q.1. What is Physical anthropology? Anthropology is the holistic science of man and his activities. It is broadly divisible into Social/Cultural anthropology and Physical anthropology. Physical anthropology studies the biological aspect of human science. Physical anthropologists study the physical features of modern humans, including their shape, size, and anatomy. They find similarities and differences among people in geographic regions. They also study the remains of prehistoric humans to learn about human origins and human evolution. Q.2. What is anthropometry? Anthropometry is the science of measurement of human body. It is divisible into cephalometry and somatometry, and craniometry and osteometry. Cephalometry and somatometry are measurements on head and body parts of living body Q.3. What is dermatoglyphics? The study of ridged skin is called dermatoglyphics. Until 1926 there was no term to cover the study of Dermal ridges on fingers, toes, palms and soles, excepting a few terms such as dactyloscopy, dactylomancy, etc. which are related to the study of finger prints only. In that year Cummins and Midlo proposed the word dermatoglyphics (derived from derma, skin, and glyphe, carve), and it is now in general use among biological workers in this field. The term is also used as a collective name for all the features of ridged skin. The ventral surfaces of the hands and feet are etched by distinct alternating ridges and grooves that together constitute dermatoglyphics. Q.4. What is microevolution? Change in allele frequencies of a population’s gene pool from one generation to another is, more appropriately, defined as ‘microevolution’ Q.5. What is forensic science? The science that deals with the application of medical knowledge to legal questions. Q.6. What is gene? Gene is a unit of hereditary information that occupies a fixed position (locus) on a chromosome. Q. 7. What is senescense? The deterioration of bodily functions that accompanies aging in a living organism. In addition to the process of ageing, the term senescence denotes the state or condition of old age. Q.8. What is menarche? The first menstruation, or menarche, usually occurs between 11 and 13 years of age, but in a few otherwise normal children menstruation may begin sooner or may be delayed. Q.9. What is primate? The Order Primate in the Animal Kingdom is the group to which humans, apes, monkeys and prosimians belong. Summary: Physical Anthropology basically studies man in two main aspects of origin and variation. Methodologically, it embodies human paleontology, primatology, human ecology and adaptation, auxology and demography and genetics with a view to understand the phenomenon of evolution as well as to study the ongoing trend of microevolution. The tools of physical anthropology, viz. anthropometry, biochemical tests, physiological and genetic traits, etc. are of great applied value in the field of ergonomics and designing of articles for use, sports science (kinanthropology), health and medicine, medio-legal and forensic purposes. Glossary: Amimo acids Small molecules that are building blocks of protein Auxology Study on growth and associated factors Anthropometry The science of measurement of human body and skeleton Dermatoglyphics The science of dermal ridge configurations; finger, palmar and plantar prints,etc. Epidemiology Study on nature of diseases pertaining to environment Forensic Pertaining to crime and courts of law G6PD Glucose-6-Phosphate-Dehydroginase, Red cell enzyme for oxidation-reduction reactions of carbohydrate metabolism, recessive gene carried on X chromosome Kinanathropology Anthropology of sports and physical activities Menarche First menstrual discharge of the girls Melanin The dark biochemical pigment produced by special cells in the basal layers of the epidermis Osteology The study of bones P.T.C. Phenyl-thio-carbamide, a compound bitter in taste but tasteless to some persons Prosimian The suborder of primate which includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers. Racism Prejudiced concept of superiority and inferiority among the groups Senescence Old age period, generally after 60 yrs Quiz: 1. A. B. C. 2. A. Which of the following is the study of man in all his biological aspects? Social and cultural Anthropology Physical Anthropology Prehistoric Archaeology Which of the following is an example of balance polymorphism? Sickle cell anaemia B. C. Colour Blindness Albinism 3. Dark skin colour in Negro is due to high concentration of Melanin Chloroplast Dead cells A. B. C. 4. Man, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Orangutan and gibbon belongs to the order Primates Mammals Anthropoidea A. B. C. References Nelson, H., Jurmain, R. (1985) Introduction to Physical Anthropology (3rd edition) West Publishing Company, New York.