Basic Anthropology

1. Made by:- Dr. Ratna Priya
M.D.S first year
Public Health Dentistry
ANTHROPOLOGY
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2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Definition
 Nature and Scope
 Rules or Laws Governing Evolutionary Biology
 Relationship with other disciplines
 Main Branches of Anthropology
 Biological Factors in Human Evolution
 Summary
 Reference
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3. INTRODUCTION
 The word "anthropology" derived from the Greek terms "anthropos"
(human being) and "logos" (study) and can be translated as "study of
human beings".
 Anthropology tries to answer enormous variety of questions about
humans such as:
a) When, where and why humans appeared on the earth and why they
have changed since then
b) How and why modern human populations vary in physical features
c) How and why societies on the past and present have varied in their
customary ideas and practices.
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4. DEFINITION
There are various definitions given by eminent anthropologists like:
 Krober defines it as "the science of groups of men and their behavior
and production".
 Herskovitz defines it as" the study of man and his actions ".
 Oxford dictionary gives it as “Study of mankind especially of its
societies and customs; study of structure and evolution of man as an
animal".
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5. NATURE AND SCOPE
 Anthropology's special role is to deal with humanity lying in its unique
combination of holistic, historical and comparative methods.
 The basic proposition underlying holism in anthropology . The Holistic
method involves the study of human beings or groups in terms of entire
pattern of their lives, in a combination of biology, social relations,
economics, art, etc
 Historical method involves an attempt to describe the entire course of
biological and cultural evolution and attempt to place each way of life
in a historical perspective.
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6.  Comparative methods are used as a means of explaining the
similarities and differences among various people of the earth. It
attempts to isolate and define the laws and principles that account for
development and perpetuation of such differences and similarities.
 In addition to these methods various approaches and themes make
anthropological research and approach unique. Those themes and
approaches are:
a) Systems and process theme
b) Case study method
c) Emics and Etics Theme.
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7. RULES OR LAWS GOVERNING
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
 Dollo's rule,
 Cope's rule,
 Gause's rule
1. Dollo’s Rule
- Proposed by Louis Dollo, a Belgian paleontologist, the rule says
“Evolution is irreversible and irrevocable. A structure that changes its
form in evolution doesn't revert to its earlier form".
- It implies, once an animal lineage has passed through a number of
different stages, a reversion, stage by stage to the original ancestral
condition does not occur.
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8. - Examples:
a) In dentition, once a tooth of particular series is lost, it does not recur
again in the same series in the same form.
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9. b) After extinction of flying reptiles, the combination of wings and
reptile living did not come together.
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10. 2) Cope's rule:
- Edward D.Cope, an American paleontologist proposed two laws in
evolutionary biology:
a) Population lineages tend to increase body size over geological time.
b) Animals which seem to be less specialized are found for a much longer
time in the fossil record.
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11. Examples:
-Ancestors of modern horse were about the size of a dog.
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12. - Camel, stands as an example to Cope's rule
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13. 3) Gause's rule
- If two species occur at same level in an ecosystem, they are likely to
compete with each other for food. The competition may result in:
a) Adaptive radiation of one or both species restricting them to separate
function and minimizing competition.
b) Within the same or overlapping functions, equilibrium situation may be
reached where one of the competitors declines in numbers to the point
of extinction. This phenomenon called "Competitive Exclusion"
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14. - Examples:
1) Adaptive radiation is seen in finches in Galápagos Islands, which have
undergone great diversification in their feeding habits.
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15. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES
A. Anthropology and social science
B. Anthropology and behavioral science
A. Anthropology and social science
Social science includes history, sociology, economy and political science:
1. History (H): it studies particular civilization and culture on the basis
of time period
Both history and anthropology study describe human past and give
importance to ancient aspects of man
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17. 2. Sociology(S): study of societies.
Sociology has borrowed ideas such as culture field, culture apparatus, and
interdependent tools. Culture lag, basic personality etc. has helped
societies disapproving ideas of racism
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18. 3. Economic: it deals with production, distribution and consumption in
modern societies. It deals commodities and their prices, values and so
on.
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19. 4. Political science: deals with philosophical ideals of Plato and
Aristotle and studies contemporary modern institutions of world.
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20. B. Anthropology and behavioral science
1. Psychology studies human behavior in relation to environment.
2. Anthropology is a comparative and analytical study of human behavior
and experience.
3. The influence of psychology on Anthropology and vice versa led to
development of culture personality school.
4. Social psychology studies individual behavior under social
environment and cultural anthropology studies institutions, human
societies as a group.
5. Psychology helps in understanding root causes of human behavior in
different societies.
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21. MAIN BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
 Social cultural anthropology
 Biological or Physical Anthropology
 Archaeological anthropology
 Linguistic Anthropology
 Applied Anthropology
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22. I. Social/cultural anthropology
 Charles Winick defines social anthropology as the study of social
behavior, especially the systematic comparative study of social forms
and institutions.
 Social anthropology studies culture, civilization, institutions like
family, kinship, political organizations, understanding of customs,
traditions, religious beliefs etc based on systematic observation.
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23. Effect of cultural factors on oral health
Cultural factors have immense influence on oral health. Some of the most
common oral diseases may have cultural factors as their underlying
etiology. Most common oral diseases are:
 Dental Caries
 Periodontal Disease
 Malocclusion
 Oral Cancers
 Mutilation of Teeth
 Instrument used to carry out Avulsion and the method
 Complication following the Teeth Avulsion
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24.  Traditional tooth bud gouging/removal
 Decorative dental Inlays and crown
 Soft tissue mutilation
1. Dental Caries
 Dental caries remain as an important oral problem in many communities
especially among underprivileged groups in developed and developing
countries.
 The various cultural factors and beliefs influencing the occurrence and
the treatment of dental caries are:
a) Concept of etiology and cure based cultural beliefs
1. The legend of Worm: The earliest reference to tooth decay and
toothache came from the ancient Sumerian text known as the “Legend of
the worm”. The text refers to the creation of the Heavens, the Earth, the
Marshes and the latter created the Worm.
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25. 2. Humoral Theory: The legend of the worm faded over the early
centuries. Hippocrates, the 'Father of Medicine', while favoring the
concept of humoral pathology also referred to the accumulated debris
around teeth and to their corroding action. He also, stated that
stagnation of juices in the teeth was the cause of toothache.
3. Vital Theory: A vital theory of tooth decay was advanced, towards the
end of the 18th century, which postulated that tooth decay originated,
like bone gangrene, from within the tooth itself.
a) Religion, race and ethnicity
These Cultural influences competing pressures and perceptions of
hereditary influences oral health knowledge are the main factors affecting
oral health knowledge and beliefs.
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26. b) Dietary Habits
Tribal and primitive populations have diet patterns which are coarse and
fibrous in nature and free from refined carbohydrates, reducing the risk
for dental caries. The western diet on the other hand consists of refined
foods which increase the risk for caries.
c) Oral Hygiene Practices
Neem and Banyan twigs are commonly used in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu,
coconut twigs in the rural areas of Kerala and Datun is used in North India
improving oral hygiene. In African countries, twigs from Salvadora Persica are
used for cleaning the teeth. The twigs offer mechanical cleaning action and some
twigs may have antimicrobial properties. The salvadora persicca twig has high
concentration of fluoride, which offers anticaries benefit.
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27. d) Geographic location
Geographic factors like greater exposure to decay-inducing agents and
varied access to dental care.
e) Familial/Parental influence
Depending on socio-cultural contexts, parents or guardians differ in their
roles, attitudes, beliefs, values and so on in bringing up children. This
gender related differences between parents or guardians influence the
health status of children including oral health.
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28. 2. Periodontal disease
Cultural factors which can increase the risk for periodontal diseases are:
a) Socioeconomic status: Gingivitis and poor oral hygiene are clearly
related to lower socioeconomic status.
b) Racial/Ethnic differences: The association of periodontal disease with
race/ethnicity is significantly attenuated when certain effects such as
cigarette smoking and income are accounted for.
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29. 3. Malocclusion
The term malocclusion is defined as a condition in which there is a
deflection from the normal relation of the teeth to other teeth in the
same arch and/or to teeth in the opposing arch.
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31. 4. Oral cancers
Cancer is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality today.
Oral cancer most commonly involves the tongue. It may also occur on
the floor of the mouth, cheek lining, gingiva (gums), lips, or palate (roof
of the mouth).
Cultural factor which may act as risk factors for the development of oral
cancers like:
 Chewing tobacco
 Chewing pan
 Cola chewing
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32. 5. Mutilation of teeth
A deliberate modification of the shape of the human teeth is called tooth
mutilation. It has been practiced since prehistoric times in ethnically
and geographically diverse range of people.
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33. 6. Instrument used for carrying out avulsion and the method
In various cultures the teeth were generally knocked out rather extracted.
The instruments comprise of
- Stone
- Piece of rock
- Back of an axe -pointed stick
- Sharp end of a spear
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34. 7. Complications following tooth avulsion
Dentoalveolar complications include alveolar fractures, damage to mucosal
tissue and fracture of tooth crown leaving the tooth roots. Complications
arising also include wound sepsis and in the longer term, periapical
granuloma, abscess formation consequent to trauma, pulp necrosis, and
bacterial infestation of the root canal. Troublesome post operative
hemorrhage undoubtedly occurs in some cases.
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35. 8. Traditional tooth bud gouging/removal
This is a cultural practice of removal of tooth bud, before it can come out
of the gums.
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36. 9. Decorative dental Inlays and crown
The use of dental inlays and crowns is to signify wealth or some event.
The inlay materials used are:
 Hematite (also called Blood stone)
 Jade
 Turquoise
 Obsidian
 Quartz
 Serpentine
 Cinnabar (ore from which mercury is extracted)
 Gold
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37. 10. Soft tissue mutilation
It is a form of body modification. It is one of the oldest and most interesting
forms of body modification. The reasons for piecing body are as diverse
as the cultures they come from.
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38. II. Biological or Physical Anthropology
Physical anthropology is the oldest branch of anthropology. It is primarily
concerned with human evolution within the context of culture. Biological
sciences have made huge contributions to Physical anthropology.
There are three mains branches of Physical Anthropology:
Paleontology- it studies extinct primates and concerns itself with evolution
of man.
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39. Neontology - It studies living primates and examines comparative
anatomy, physiology, human variation in terms of population genetics
Ethology – It is the scientific study of animal behavior such as that of free
ranging to confined monkey etc.
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40.  The studies of Physical Anthropology can be broadly divided into two
streams, Classical and New physical Anthropology.
a) Classical Anthropology is characterized with obtaining
anthropometric measurements, computing indices and other statistics.
It focuses heavily on data collection and tabulation.
b) New Physical Anthropology on other hand focuses on
comprehending and interpreting the data collected.
 Physical anthropology has been always concerned with man’s physical
characters, their origin, evolution and present stage of development.
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41. III. Archaeological anthropology
Deals with retrieval and analysis, cultural and non cultural remains left
behind by extinct humans, reconstructing the environment, culture,
society and identify the socio-cultural revolution.
Aim- to reconstruct pre- historic past and early historic setting of
human kind
Scope-
A. Text free archaeological anthropology - on the basis of evidence
provided by environmental factors and exposure of sites by natural
processes. It has two sub branches namely old world and new world
archaeology.
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42. B. Text aided archaeological anthropology - on the basis of written sources
C. Applied archaeological anthropology - includes salvage archaeology,
war, industrial archeology and museology.
One of the major achievements of nineteenth-century archaeologists were
the creation of the Three-Age system: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age,
and the Iron Age
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43. IV. Linguistic Anthropology
1. Study of speech and language as a socio-cultural phenomenon across
space and time.
2. Linguistic anthropology deals with history, structure, variation and
meaning of language in the social and cultural contexts they occur.
3. Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology is considered to be both
descriptive and analytical. It has 5 sub branches.
 Structural Linguistics: Construction of Language. Deals with
Phonemic, syntactic and morphemic structures.
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44.  Historical or comparative Linguistics: study of emergence, divergence
and dynamics of language over time in cultural context.
 Socio-Linguistics: study of speech in social and situational contexts.
Covers regional dialects, secret languages, magic languages, folktales.
 Ehnosemantics: to understand culture from the point of view of people.
Studies the meanings of the words carried for a cultural group for a
particular situation.
 Psycho Linguistics: studies processes underlying the acquisition, use,
transmission of language.
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45. V. Applied Anthropology
 Applied anthropology, the application of anthropological knowledge,
methods and approaches to the solving of human problems, is often now
seen as a fifth major branch of anthropology, although it is not well-
established as the traditionally known four fields.
 It involves the use of data gathered in other subfields of anthropology in
an endeavor to tackle contemporary societal problems.
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46. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN HUMAN
EVOLUTION
Hominization process is the evolutionary transformation of hominoids
into hominidae. It includes all those aspects of structural and
behavioral changes that occurred in the hominid line finally leading to
the evolution of modern man.
hominoids
hominidae
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47. The biological factors are:
 Erect Posture and Bipedal Locomotion: The most obvious thing about
human beings that differentiates them from all other animals is upright
posture and bipedal locomotion.
Some of the changes are :
a) A sharp backward curving of spine in lumbar region providing a solid
platform to transfer the weight of body onto pelvis
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48. b) The human foot is redesigned into a platform to support entire body
weight rather than a grasping structure, toes got reduced and two
arches developed to support weight.
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49.  Remodeling of face due to expansion of Brain: The major trend of
human evolutionary development was dramatic increase in the size of
brain.
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50. SUMMARY
 Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists
take a broad approach to understanding the many different aspects of
the human experience, which we call holism. They consider the past,
through archaeology, to see how human groups lived hundreds or
thousands of years ago and what was important to them.
 Humans are biocultural organisms. Biology and culture are
interdependent
 "Human biology makes culture possible- human culture makes human
biological survival possible.
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51. REFERENCES
 Anthropology Notes - Analog IAS Institute
 Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology - The Carter Center
 Archaeological Anthropology - School of Social Sciences Indira
Gandhi National Open University
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