Anthropometry

Journal


Every Bone Tells a
Story





Laura Bohannan
is an Anthropologist.
An anthropologist is a
person who studies
bones. The Tiv
people live is West
Africa. She wanted to
learn about the
ceremonies that they
celebrate. Hamlet is
connected to being an
anthropologist
because
anthropologists study
bones after people
have died, and in
Hamlet, everyone
dies. Shakespeare
was understood, but
they had very
different thoughts
than Americans do. I
learned that many
other people think
different about things
in a way that we
would never think of.



Anthropometry in Literature

If the King were to die the
Kings brother should not
take the throne, instead
the kings son would take
the throne.
We believe that a widow
should not remarry until
she has mourned for 2
years
The King only has one
wife
We know that ghosts dont
exist but that they are in
stories
We know that some people
will kill themselves
We know that water can
kill you
They think that the Kings
brother should take the
throne rather than the
Kings son
They think that 2 years is
too much to wait to be
remarried.
They think that the King
should have more than one
wife
They dont believe that
ghosts can be in stories
They dont think that
anyone has a reason to kill
themselves
They think that water is for
bathing and drinking only.
They do not think that you
can die from water.
Anthropometry in Global Studies
Everyone needs protein to have a healthy bone
structure, but some people in our world do not have access
to food, therefore they are malnourished. When someone
does not have enough
food to live, it is called
malnutrition.
Malnutrition effects how
much your bones grow;
therefore, many children
are going to be stunted
for the rest of their lives.
Many children suffer from malnutrition because their
mother's did
not have
enough
protein, so they
were born
malnourished.
Since Africa is
a poor country,
many of their people are malnourished; many babies there
who are malnourished die before the age of one. A group of
doctors has come up with a solution for malnutrition; it is
called Plumpy Nut. The problem with Plumpy Nut is that if
your child is over a year old and suffering from malnutrition,
it is too late. In America, we do not have to worry about
malnutrition. The majorities of Americans live a healthy
lifestyle and do not have to worry about not having enough
food for dinner. We should take this for granted, and think
about the people in our world who do not have those
benefits.


Anthropometry in Science
First, we measured ourselves with our partner
Then, we measured the masks to determine who they
were
Next, we guessed who the masks were. My group
guessed Rory for mask one, Kennedy for mask two,
Victoria for mask three, and Eli for mask four.
Then, we drew ourselves on graph paper according to
our measurements.
Lastly, we found out whom the mystery masks
belonged to!



How well were you able to identify the masks by using
the measurements?
It was hard to identify the masks because we did not
know if we had measured wrong or the other person
might have measured wrong, therefore it made it hard
to identify the masks.
How does each cast compare to the models actual face?
I think that some masks were more obvious who they
were than others. You have so many options to choose
from that it makes it hard.
Are the measurements the same, close, or very different?
I think that our measurements were not very close. I
think that is why we did not get any of the masks right.
What might have caused the difference?
I think that we should have taken more time to
measure and measured more carefully.



Anthropometry in Math


In math class, we were asked
to measure our partners and
ourselves. Then, we made a
graph of all the people in the
class and their measurements.
We measured our height and
radius the first day, and
then, the third day we
measured our tibia and
humerus. On our graphs, you
put a dot for each person.
The y-axis is the height in
inches, and the x-axis is the
radius in inches. You would
put a dot where the person's
radius and height met each
other on the graph. Then, we
repeated this for all the
students in the class. Next,
we made a line from the right
corner of the graph, through
the middle of the dots, and up
to the top of the graph. I
learned how to use information
in a different way than I
thought. I have done so much
with a little bit of
information, and I am sure
that I will use some of these
methods in the future.


1.
How close were your results to the actual heights?

On most of the problems, I was two inches or less off from the actual
heights.

2.
Does one formula predict heights better than others do? Explain.

I think that the humerus formula works best for both men and
women.

3.
What advice would you give to a forensic scientist or archeologist
about predicting heights from bone length?
My advice to a forensic scientist or an archeologist is that you
should measure at least two times to make sure that you have the
correct measurement. If the two measurements are different, you
should measure another time. Then, I would take my time
multiplying because you do not want to get it wrong!


Anthropometry Final Reflection

In the past week, we have been working on an
interdisciplinary anthropometry unit in science, literature,
math, and global studies; anthropometry is the study of the
human bones. In science, we measured some mystery
masks and ourselves; then, we tried to guess whom the
masks belonged too. When the masks were revealed, I
found out that none of my guesses were correct. First, in
literature, Mr. Gehrer read us the story of Hamlet; then, we
were asked to make a summary paragraph of how
anthropometry relates with Hamlet. Next, we had to make
a chart of the way that the Tiv people understand the
story, and how we understand the story. Then, in global
studies, we learned about malnutrition; next, we had to
write a summary paragraph about malnutrition and how it
affects our world. Finally, in
math, we measured our tibia,
humerus, and our radius;
then, we made a graph of
everyone's tibias and actual
heights. We used formulas
to predict our heights using
the measurements of our
tibias, humerus, and radius.
Global studies was the easiest class for me to do,
because all you had to do was take good notes, and then
put them into a paragraph. I thought that measuring in
science and math was the hardest thing to do, because if
your measurements were wrong, it would mess up
everything. Learning about malnutrition was the most
meaningful thing to me, because I could really understand
how others live, and how we are so lucky to have food and
water every day. Anthropometry is used to find out whom
someone is, to make houses, to make desks and chairs,
to find out how tall someone is, and many other things.
There will become a time in everyones lives where they
will have to use anthropometry, and now that I know how
to use it, I am sure that I will be able to use it!