1.
Absolute or chronometric dating: In archaeology and paleoanthropology, dates for archaeological materials based on solar years, centuries, or other units of absolute time
2.
Action Theory: The theory that self-serving actions by forceful leaders play a role in civilization's emergence
3.
Adaptation: A series of beneficial adjustments to the environment
4.
Agriculture: Intensive crop cultivation, employing plows, fertilizers, and/or irrigation
5.
Alleles: Alternate forms of a single gene
6.
Anagenesis: A sustained directional shift in a population's average characteristics
7.
Analogies: In biology, structures possessed by different organisms that are superficially similar due to similar function, without sharing a common developmental pathway or structure
8.
Anthropoids: A subdivision within the primate order that includes New World Monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes (including humans)
9.
Anthropology: The study of humankind in all times and places
10.
Applied anthropology: The use of anthropological knowledge and methods to solve practical problems, often for a specific client
11.
Arboreal: Living in the trees
12.
Archaeology: The study of human cultures through the recovery and analysis of material remains and environmental data
13.
Archaic Cultures: Term used to refer to Mesolithic cultures in the Americas
14.
Artifact: Any object fashioned or altered by humans
15.
Australopithecus: The genus including several species of early bipeds from southern and eastern Africa living between about 1.1 and 4.3 million years ago, one of whom was directly ancestral to humans
16.
Binocular Vision: Vision with increased depth perception from two eyes set next to each other allowing their visual fields to overlap
17.
Bioarchaeology: The archaeological study of human remains emphasizing the preservation of cultural and social processes in the skeleton
18.
Biocultural: Focusing on the interaction of biology and culture
19.
Bipedalism: A special form of locomotion on two feet found in humans and their ancestors
20.
Brachiation: Using the arms to move from branch to branch, with the body hanging suspended beneath the arms
21.
Bronze Age: In the Old World, the period marked by the production of tools and ornaments of bronze; began about 5,000 years ago in China and Southwest Asia and about 500 years earlier in Southeast Asia
22.
Chromatid: One half of the "X" shape of chromosomes visible once replication is complete. Sister chromatids are exact copies of each other
23.
Chromosomes: In the cell nucleus, the structures visible during cellular division containing long strands of DNA combined with a protein
24.
Civilization: In anthropology a type of society marked by the presence of cities, social classes, and the state
25.
Cladogenesis: Speciation through a branching mechanism whereby an ancestral population gives rise to two or more descendant populations
26.
Clines: Gradual changes in the frequency of an allele or trait over space
27.
Community: A unit of primate social organization composed of fifty or more individuals who inhabit a large geographical area together
28.
Continental drift: According to the theory of plate tectonics, the movement of continents embedded in underlying plates on the earth's surface in relation to one another over the history of life on earth
29.
Cultural anthropology: Also known as social or sociocultural anthropology. The study of customary patterns in human behavior, thought, and feelings. It focuses on humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures
30.
Cultural resource management: A branch of archaeology concerned with survey and/or excavation of archaeological and historical remains threatened by construction or development and policy surrounding protection of cultural resources
31.
Culture: A society's shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior
32.
Culture-bound: Theories about the world and reality based on the assumptions and values of one's own culture
33.
Datum point: The starting, or reference, point for a grid system
34.
Diffusion: The spread of certain ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another
35.
Discourse: An extended communication on a particular subject
36.
Diurnal: Active during the day and at rest at night
37.
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid. The genetic material consisting of a complex molecule whose base structure directs the synthesis of proteins
38.
Doctrine: An assertion of opinion or belief formally handed down by an authority as true and indisputable
39.
Domestication: An evolutionary process whereby humans modify, either intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of a population of plants or animals, sometimes to the extent that members of the population are unable to survive and/or reproduce without human assistance
40.
Dominance: The ability of one allele for a trait to mask the presence of another allele
41.
Dominance Hierarchies: An observed ranking system in primate societies ordering individuals from high (alpha) to low standing corresponding to predictable behavioral interactions including domination
42.
Eliciting devices: Activities and objects used to draw out individuals and encourage them to recall and share information
43.
Empirical: Based on observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith
44.
Ethnocentrism: The belief that the ways of one's own culture are the only proper ones
45.
Ethnography: A detailed description of a particular culture primarily based on fieldwork
46.
Ethnology: The study and analysis of different cultures from a comparative or historical point of view, utilizing ethnographic accounts and developing anthropological theories that help explain why certain important differences or similarities occur among groups
47.
Evolution: Changes in allele frequencies in populations. Also known as microevolution
48.
Fieldwork: The term anthropologists use for on-location research
49.
Forensic anthropology: Subfield of applied physical anthropology that specializes in the identification of human skeletal remains for legal purposes
50.
Formal interview: A structured question-answer session, carefully notated as it occurs and based on prepared questions
51.
Fossil: The preserved remains of plants and animals that lived in the past
52.
Founder effects: A particular form of genetic drift deriving from a small founding population not possessing all the alleles present in the original population
53.
Gene flow: The introduction of alleles from the gene pool of one population into that of another
54.
Gene pool: All the genetic variants possessed by members of a population
55.
Genes: Portions of DNA molecules that direct the synthesis of specific proteins
56.
Genetic drift: Chance fluctuations of allele frequencies in the gene pool of a population
57.
Genome: The complete structure sequence of DNA for a species
58.
Genotype: The alleles possessed for a particular trait
59.
Genus, genera (pl.): In the system of plant and animal classification, a group of like species
60.
Globalization: Worldwide interconnectedness, evidenced in global movements of natural resources, trade goods, human labor, finance capital, information, and infectious diseases
61.
Gracile australopithecines: Members of the genus Australopithecus possessing a more lightly built chewing apparatus; likely had a diet that included more meat than that of the robust australopithecines
62.
Grave goods: Items such as utensils, figurines, and personal possessions, symbolically placed in the grave for the deceased person's use in the afterlife
63.
Grid system: A system for recording data in three dimensions from an archaeological excavation
64.
Grooming: The ritual cleaning of another animal's coat to remove parasites and other matter
65.
Haplorhines: A subdivision within the primate order based on shared genetic characteristics; includes tarsiers, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes (including humans)
66.
Hemoglobin: The protein that carries oxygen in the red blood cells
67.
Heterozygous: Refers to a chromosome pair that bears different alleles for a single gene
68.
Holistic perspective: A fundamental principle of anthropology, that the various parts of human culture and biology must be viewed in the broadest possible context in order to understand their interconnections and interdependence
69.
Homo erectus: "Upright man." A species within the genus Homo first appearing just after 2 million years ago in Africa and ultimately spreading throughout the Old World
70.
Homo habilis: "Handy man." The first fossil members of the genus Homo appearing 2.5 million years ago, with larger brains and smaller faces than australopithecines
71.
Homologies: In biology, structures possessed by two different organisms that arise in similar fashion and pass through similar stages during embryonic development, though they may possess different functions
72.
Homozygous: Refers to a chromosome pair that bears identical alleles for a single gene
73.
Horticulture: Cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes
74.
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF): A vast collection of cross-indexed ethnographic, biocultural, and archaeological data catalogued by cultural characteristics and geographic location. Archived in about 300 libraries (on microfiche or online)
75.
Hydraulic theory: The theory that explains civilization's emergence as the result of the construction of elaborate irrigation systems, the functioning of which required full-time managers whose control blossomed into the first governing body and elite social class
76.
Hypothesis: A tentative explanation of the relation between certain phenomena
77.
Informal interview: An unstructured, open-ended conversation in everyday life
78.
Informed consent: Formal recorded agreement to participate in the research. Federally mandated for all research in the United States and Europe
79.
Innovation: Any new idea, method, or device that gains widespread acceptance in society
80.
Key consultants: Members of the society being studied who provide information that helps the researchers understand the meaning of what they observe. Early anthropologists referred to such individuals as informants
81.
Law of independent assortment: The Mendelian principle that genes controlling different traits are inherited independently of one another
82.
Law of segregation: The Mendelian principle that variants of genes for a particular trait retain their separate identities through the generations
83.
Linguistic anthropology: The study of human languages
84.
Lower Paleolithic: Old Stone Age beginning with the earliest Oldowan tools spanning from about 200,000 or 250,000 to 2.6 million years ago
85.
Macroevolution: Evolution above the species level
86.
Mammals: The class of vertebrate animals distinguished by bodies covered with fur, self-regulating temperature, and in females milk-producing mammary glands
87.
Material culture: The durable aspects of culture such as tools, structures, and art
88.
Medical anthropology: A specialization in anthropology that brings theoretical and applied approaches from cultural and biological anthropology to the study of human health and disease
89.
Meiosis: A kind of cell division that produces the sex cells, each of which has half the number of chromosomes found in other cells of the organism
90.
Mesoamerica: The region encompassing southern Mexico and northern Central America
91.
Mesolithic: The Middle Stone Age of Europe, Asia, and Africa beginning about 12,000 years ago
92.
Microlith: A small blade of flint or similar stone, several of which were hafted together in wooden handles to make tools; widespread in the Mesolithic
93.
Middens: A refuse or garbage disposal area in an archaeological site
94.
Mitosis: A kind of cell division that produces new cells having exactly the same number of chromosome pairs, and hence copies of genes, as the parent cell
95.
Molecular anthropology: A branch of biological anthropology that uses genetic and biochemical techniques to test hypotheses about human evolution, adaptation, and variation
96.
Mousterian: The tool industry of the Neandertals and their contemporaries of Europe, Southwest Asia, and northern Africa from 40,000 to 125,000 years ago
97.
Multiregional hypothesis: The hypothesis that modern humans originated through a process of simultaneous local transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens throughout the inhabited world
98.
Mutation: Chance alteration of genetic material that produces new variation
99.
Natufian Culture: A Mesolithic culture living in the lands that are now Israel, Lebanon, and western Syria, between about 10,200 and 12,500 years ago
100.
Natural selection: The evolutionary process through which factors in the environment exert pressure, favoring some individuals over others to produce the next generation
101.
Neandertals: A distinct group within the genus Homo inhabiting Europe and Southwest Asia from approximately 30,000 to 125,000 years ago
102.
Neolithic: The New Stone Age; prehistoric period beginning about 10,000 years ago in which peoples possessed stone-based technologies and depended on domesticated crops and/or animals
103.
Neolithic Revolution: The profound culture change beginning about 10,000 years ago associated with the early domestication of plants and animals and settlement in permanent villages; sometimes referred to as the Neolithic transition
104.
Nocturnal: Active at night and at rest during the day
105.
Oldowan: The first stone tool industry, beginning between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago
106.
Opposable: Able to bring the thumb or big toe in contact with the tips of the other digits on the same hand or foot in order to grasp objects
107.
Ovulation: Moment when an egg released from the ovaries into the womb is receptive for fertilization
108.
Paleoanthropology: The study of the origins and predecessors of the present human species
109.
Participant observation: In ethnography, the technique of learning a people's culture through social participation and personal observation within the community being studied, as well as interviews and discussion with individual members of the group over an extended period of time
110.
Pastoralism: Breeding and managing migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, or camels
111.
Phenotype: The observable or testable appearance of an organism that may or may not reflect a particular genotype due to the variable expression of dominant and recessive alleles
112.
Phenotypic inheritance: Two or more genes contribute to the phenotypic expression of a single characteristic
113.
Physical anthropology: Also known as biological anthropology. The systematic study of humans as biological organisms
114.
Polygenetic inheritance: Two or more genes contribute to the phenotypic expression of a single characteristic
115.
Population: In biology, a group of similar individuals that can and do interbreed
116.
Prehensile: Having the ability to grasp
117.
Prehistory: A conventional term used to refer to the period of time before the appearance of written records. Does not deny the existence of history, merely of written history
118.
Primary Innovation: The creation, invention, or chance discovery of a completely new idea, method, or device
119.
Primates: The group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans
120.
Primatology: The study of living and fossil primates
121.
Prosimians: A subdivision within the primate order that includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers
122.
Punctuated equilibria: A model of macroevolutionary change that suggests evolution occurs via long periods of stability or stasis punctuated by periods of rapid change
123.
Recent African origins hypothesis: The hypothesis that all modern people are derived from one single population of archaic H. sapiens from Africa who migrated out of Africa after 100,000 years ago, eplacing all other archaic forms due to their superior cultural capabilities. Also called the Eve or out of Africa hypothesis
124.
Recessive: An allele for a trait whose expression is masked by the presence of a dominant allele
125.
Relative dating: In archaeology and paleoanthropology, designating an event, object, or fossil as being older or younger than another
126.
Robust australopithecines: Several species within the genus Australopithecus, who lived from 1.1 to 2.5 million years ago in eastern and southern Africa; known for the rugged nature of their chewing apparatus (large back teeth, large chewing muscles, and a bony ridge on their skull tops for the insertion of these large muscles)
127.
Secondary Innovation: A new and deliberate application or modification of an existing idea, method, or device
128.
Sickle-cell anemia: An inherited form of anemia caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin protein that causes the red blood cells to assume a sickle shape
129.
Soil marks: Stains that show up on the surface of recently plowed fields that reveal an archaeological site
130.
Speciation: The process of forming new species
131.
Species: The smallest working unit in the system of classification. Among living organisms, species are populations or groups of populations capable of interbreeding and producing fertile viable offspring
132.
Stereoscopic Vision: Complete three-dimensional vision (or depth perception) from binocular vision and nerve connections that run from each eye to both sides of the brain allowing nerve cells to integrate the images derived from each eye
133.
Strepsirhines: A subdivision within the primate order based on shared genetic characteristics; includes lemurs and lorises
134.
Taxonomy: The science of classification
135.
Theory: In science, an explanation of natural phenomena, supported by a reliable body of data.
136.
Tool: An object used to facilitate some task or activity
137.
Upper Paleolithic: The last part (10,000 to 40,000 years ago) of the Old Stone Age, featuring tool industries characterized by long slim blades and an explosion of creative symbolic forms
138.
Vegeculture: The cultivation of domesticated root crops, such as yams and taro
