From museums, science magazines, television shows, and even films, most of us have had some exposure to archaeology and have become familiar with some of the world’s most famous archaeological discoveries. Perhaps you chose this course because you are interested in Ancient Egypt, Greece, or Stonehenge. However, have you ever met an archaeologist in person? We commonly deal with many professions we see in the media, such as doctors, lawyers, police officers, firefighters, and teachers, but rarely do we have personal contact with archaeologists. As a result, we mostly rely on stereotypes portrayed in the media to understand archaeologists and the work they do. First, archaeology is much more than digging! Archaeology is just one of the sub-disciplines of the larger field of anthropology.
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Father of American Anthropology, Franz Boas. Circa 1915.
Anthropology is the study of humankind. It studies all humans, at all times and in all places. A key distinguishing feature of American Anthropology is that it uses a four-field approach to the study of all things human (Layton & Kaul, 2006). From culture to languages to material remains and human evolution, American anthropologists examine every dimension of humanity. The four-fields approach of American Anthropology are biological anthropology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and archaeology. When talking about American Anthropology, we can not forget the importance of Franz Boas to the development of the discipline as we know it today. Boas promoted the importance of taking a holistic approach to the study of humankind and stressed the importance of the scientific method, fieldwork, and cultural relativism. The sub-disciplines of anthropology are united into one field by a shared interest in humans and use of the scientific method, which is applied in anthropology through fieldwork and a holistic perspective.
Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology studies humans from a biological perspective. This includes biological variation among humans both past and present as well as our closest living relatives, monkeys and apes. Primatology is the study of primates such as lemurs, monkeys, and apes. One of the most well-known anthropologists who studied primates is Jane Goodall. She is responsible for significant discoveries about the similarities between humans and chimpanzees such as tool-use, socializing their young, emotional lives, and strong maternal-infant bonds (Goodall, 1996).
biological anthropology
The study of human origins, evolution, and variation.
Paleoanthropologists are biological anthropologists who focus on the study of ancient humans and related-species. The field of paleontology is constantly changing as new discoveries are made in the fossil record and new dating techniques are developed.
Linguistics
Language is an important characteristic of culture, and linguistic anthropology examines the linguistic aspects of human cultures in greater detail. Linguistics is the study of the relationship between language, thought, and culture. Areas of specialization in the study of language include: structural linguistics, which is the study ofpatterns in sound, structure, and grammar; historical linguistics, the study of how language develops and changes over time; and sociolinguistics, the study of the social aspects of language.
linguistics
The study of the relationship between language, thought, and culture.
structural linguistics
The study of the patterns in structure, sound, and grammar. Also called descriptive linguistics.
historical linguistics
The study of how language develops and changes over time.
sociolinguistics
The study of the social aspects of language.
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology, in contrast, studies humans from a cultural perspective. Culture is the learned behaviors of a group of people and it includes many, many elements—the languages they speak, the foods they eat, how they build their homes, what they believe, their customs, and more. Cultural anthropology observes and documents these practices and compares the cultures of various groups. Cultural anthropologists collect data and study cultures through participant observation, which involves living with, observing, and asking questions of the people they study.
cultural anthropology
The study of similarities and differences among living societies and cultural groups.
culture
A set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing and integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways.
participant observation
A research technique in which the anthropologist observes and participates in the events and activities of the culture being studied.
Archaeology
The field of anthropology, which is the topic of this textbook, archaeology also studies culture. It asks many of the same questions as cultural anthropology but uses different data. Rather than relying on observations of living participants, archaeology studies material culture—items people made, modified, and used in the past to understand the culture of our ancestors. Through the systematic recovery and analysis of material culture, archaeologists attempt to reconstruct, describe, and interpret human behavior and cultural patterns (Kottak, 2011).
archaeology
The study of past human behavior through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains.
material culture
Objects produced or modified by humans such as tools, art, buildings, clothing, etc.
The Fifth Sub-discipline: Applied Anthropology
Applied anthropology is sometimes considered a fifth sub-discipline if anthropology. It involves applying theoretical elements of anthropology to real-world problems. Probably the most famous applied anthropology is forensic anthropology, popularized in television and film. Forensic anthropologists apply the principles and theory of biological anthropology to the identification of human skeletons in the context of crimes. Archaeologists who conduct surveys and excavations in the setting of construction projects, known as Cultural Resource Management (CRM), apply the principles and theory of archaeology to this real-world setting, which is another variety of applied anthropology.
applied anthropology
The application of the anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems (Kottak, 2011, p.12).
REFERENCES
Goodall, J. (1996). My Life with the Chimpanzees. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.
Kottak, C. P. (2011). Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Figure 1.1.1 The Father of American Anthropology, Franz Boas. Circa 1915. Canadian Museum of History under Public Domain.
A derivative work from
"Digging into Archaeology:A Brief OER Introduction to Archaeology with Activities" by Amanda Wolcott Paskey and AnnMarie Beasley Cisneros, Faculty (Anthropology) at Cosumnes River College & American River College, ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI), 2020, under CC BY-NC 4.0.
