¡.

l'ú‘ I’n‘lm ('

attention in standard texts. Articles in‘ | should like to mention here With mty; m
any,
in the present edi ion have been se» gratitude the generosny that my momia .ll‘ l
cluded
lected not only for relevance but for the in» colleagues have shown in allowrng mv tw m
Contmls
terest they may have in broader terms for the freely on their profes5ional writings. My PM.
undergraduate, cial thanks go to the several tinOliyntol ‘, ri
Editorial changes have involved deletion of viewers whose candid adVIce gunded mo in ll it
some passages and the elimination of expliCIt final selection of the articles lnCiUdPti l' ,
bibliographic citations. The author being as istance has made possible a reader “huy
quotedi of course, is indicated as he is in can support and supplement any of the Strum!
the original, but source citations have been ard introductory texts in anthropology
removed, Other deletions involve references And with appreciation, Imention the m,
to figures that are not reproduced. Footnotes sistance of Caralee Price who efficiently took
are also removed. care of voluminous cor espondence needed in
vii
Because Professor Smith had passed away securing permissions, checked COpyvlgilts I’n'fm‘t’
and Professor Hoebel was commit ed to other and did other chores. To my Wife. Jane (j
work. Iundertook this revision alone. The se~ Jennings, who assembled the manuscript. re l’ar! l Ánlhrupnlngt‘. '“lf Study of Him
lections include some of the many l have viewed my editing and assisted With all other
1 / Jlargurrl "ru/Í

01qu
Anthropology and an Education f0r the Future
found interesting. readable, and helpful over phases of the job, Ioffer my special thanks
2 The World into Which Darwin Led US / (ii’nrgr ()(nlnri Vinifniiri
the years.
3 /Cmrgr l’. Min-dink

>—4>—-
Universals of Culture
Although each author's permission to use JESSE D. JENNINGS
his material is appropriately acknowledged, ' 4 Ethnological Field Techniques /'(Ínrm‘1ilu Otgrmtl
I’a rl ‘2 Prehistory
Radiocarbon Dating / Robert F. Ilm'zr 21

9&9“wa
New World Prehistory /Gordon R. Wil y)" 23
Microenvironments and Mesoamerican Prehistory / "ir/¡url I). ('nu / Km! It Flimmyi 37
Early Ciwlizations, Subsistence, and Environment / Rnlwi JI. Mmm 44
The Legacy Of Sumer / Sunnu'l Ninth Kramrr 57
Human Society before the Urban Revolution / Itnlml Rullnlil 62

-mm—fl~
Pur! .‘5 I’liy. i'rri ti il ‘tlt li tlgt
11 The New PhySIcal Anthropology / Slimmwl I.. H'm/il urn 75
12 Custom and Range of Human Response / Jn/m l’. (Jil iu 81
13 Adaptive Changes in the Human Body / (vn-(plan Si ('mvn / Slimlm JL (.‘mn /
low/III U. Birth?” 88
14 Early Man in East Africa /l’lul xp I'. ‘l‘otnm 92
15 Somatic Paths to Culture /J. .\'. Spuliln 104
16 A Physical Anthropologist's View of the Peop ng of the New World /‘l, I). Shu/n! 109
17 The Study of Race /x I.. H'm/i [in 1'" 115
Par! 4 I’i ni iti' [iv/mt im
18 Japan's Contribution to Modern Anthropology /Juhn Priuh. 8‘ J 121
19 Social Deprivation in Monkeys /llum ." . mill Murgi ri'l ixurmn Ilmlnr ' 129
20 Comparison of the Ecology and BehaVIor of Monkeys and Apes il Iii i n IL Im. 137
21 Baboon Ecology and Human Evolution /Im u l). lm imil \L 1.. ¡tm/(I'ma 147
I’m! 5 I’i ni li 'r ‘I u ÍHMÍULH
22 The Making of Stone Implements l It. “ml/1 I’i (Ju/Ju 159
23 The First Tlpl / liltl' “(Him/I 162
24 How the Bemba Make Their lwing / \Iu.\ (J’ 41mm; 167
I’m‘l (i Primi inr Swirl-y
I/i/,______
The Mu) Pl'yisical
From Transactions of the
New York Academy of
Sciences, Series II, Vol. 13,
Na. 7, 1951, pp. 298—304.
By permission of the
author and (he publisher.
selection. 11
Auf/7,712110 logy
Sherwood L. Washburn
Recently, evolutionary studies have been re-
vitalized and revolutionized by an infusion of
genetics into paleontology and systematics.
The change is fundamentally one of point of
view, which is made possible by an under-
standing of the way the genetic constitution
of populations changes. The new systematics
is concerned primarily with process and with
the mechanism of evolutionary change.
whereas the older point of view was chiefly
concerned with sorting the results of evolu-
tion. Physical anthropology is now undergoing
the same sort of change. Population genetics
presents the anthropologist with a clearly
formulated, experimentally verified, conceptual
scheme. The application of this theory to the
primates is the immediate task of physical
anthropology.
In the past, physical anthropology has been
considered primarily as a technique. Training
consisted in learning to take carefully defined
measurements and in computing indices and
statistics. The methods of observation, meas-
urement, and comparison were essentially the
same, whether the object of the study was the
description of evolution, races. growth. crimi~
nals, constitutional types. or army personnel
Measurements were adjusted for various pur-
poses, but measurement of the outSide of the
body, classification, and correlation remained
the anthropologists‘ primary tools. The tech
niques of physical anthropology were applied
to a limited group of problems, and any
definition or statement of traditional anthro-
pology must include both the metrical methods
and the problems for which the methods were
used. Further, anthropology was characterized
by theories, or rather by a group of attitudes
and assumptions.
 76 Í’hixii ul .lnl/uufmlugy ‘1'IN .Vi'n' I’li i iul li l/irnfmlugy
\
There has been almost no development of selection did not become fully effective There-
theory in physical anthropology itself. but the fore, some pre-evolutionary ideas continued
dominant attitude may be described as static. in full force. More Linnaean species were
With emphasis on clas if cation based on described from types after Darwin than be-
types. Any sum characterization is over fore. The idea of evolution created interest in
simplified. and is intended only to give an species. but the species were described in
indication of the dominant techniques, inter- pre volutionary terms. Further, it is possible
ests. and attitudes of the physical anthro- for people to hold a variety of theories in
pologist. Except for emphasis on particular place of. or in addition to. Darwin's. For ex-
animals, physical anthropology shared much ample, Lamarckian ideas have continued
right
with the zoology of the times when it de- down to today. Orthogenesis has
widely been
veloped. Much of the method was developed believed and ir eversibil ty has been regarded
before the acceptance of the idea of evolu« as a law.
tion. and all of it before the science of It has been claimed that evolution should
genetics. be described in terms of non-adaptive traits,
i‘hysical anthropology should change, just yet this is impossible if evolution is largely
.¡s systematic zoology has changed. The dif- due to selection. The first great achievement
ficulties which accompany the neces ary modi- of the synthesis of genetics. paleontology. and
fications can be greatly reduced if their systematics is in clearing away a mass of
nature is clearly understo d. Natural y, in a antiquated theories and attitudes which per-
time of rapid flux there wi be numerous meate the writings of the older students of
doubts and disagre ments as to what should evolution. Further. the new evolutionary theory
be done This is natural, and what I have to shows which aspects of past work are worth
offer is a tentative outline to indicate how using. extending, and strengthening. This is
parts of the new physical anthropology may possible because much of the mechanism of
differ from the old. evolutionary change is now understood, clearly
The old physical anthropology was primarily formulated. and experimentan}! verified. The
a technique. The common core of the science logic of Darwin's great theory could only be-
was measurement of external form with cali- come fully effective when techniques had been
pers. The new physical anthropology is pri< developed to prove that selection was right
marily an area of interest, the desire to and that other ideas of evolution were wrong.
understand the process of primate evolution A change in theory, no matter how popular, is
and human variation by the most efficient not enough. The new ideas must be imple-
techniques available. mented by effective techniques.
The process of evolution, as understo d by If a new physical anthropology is to differ
the geneticist, is the same for all mammals. effectively from the old, it must be more than
Tre genetic composition of a population may the adoption of a little genetic terminology. It
be described in terms of gene frequencies. must change its ways of doing things to con-
The modif cation of these frequencies results form with the implications of modern evolu-
in evolution. which is caused by trim-lion. tionary theory. For example, races must be
mutations. drift, and migrations. Mutations based on the study of populations. There is
and migrations introduce new genetic ele- no way to justify the division of a breeding
ments into the population But selection on population into a series of racial types. It is
the phenotype, adapting animals to their en- not enough to state that races should be
vironment. is the primary cause of alteration based on genetic traits; races which can not culture have vastly confused the genetic pic- cold by selection or by change in their way
in gene frequencies. be reconciled with genetics should be re- ture. Before selection can be investigated, it of life completely alters the interpreti tion or’
This is essential y a return to Darwinism, moved from consideration. lf we consider the is necessary to know how long a people has the distribution of physit l traits This
but with this important dif erence: Darwin causes of changes in gene frequency as out- been In an area and under what conditions been Widely recognized by
wrote in a pregenetic era. Therefore. he did Iined above, and if we are concerned with the they have been ' ing. For example, the spread and the solution of this dif iculty
not understand the mechanism which makes process of evolution, the task of the anthro- of European people. of Bantu speakers or of active col aboration of
possible the production of variation and the pologist becomes clear. He has nothing to Eskimo, all have changed the distribution of nologists.
possibility of selection. Since Darwin's ideas offer on mutation. but can make contributions the blood groups The interpretation of the cal man.
:ould not be proved in detail by the tech- with regard to migration, drift, and selection genetic situation demands an understanding Drift Is related to population Size, and this
niques available in his time, the concept of The migrations of man made possible by of history. Whether people became adapted to depends on the way of life
78 Physiral Anthropology The New Physical Anthropology
case of migration, the situation in which the positions of viscera are associated with
drift may have taken place cannot be specified the shorter trunk. We share this complex
by the physical anthropologist alone, but re— with the living gibbons and apes. The bipedal
quires the acH-"e col aboration of many spe- complex was the next to develop and seems
cia ists. The adoption of modern evolutionary to have been fundamental y human in the
theory w Iforce a far closer and more realistic South African man-apes. The major changes
col aboration between the branches of anthro- are in the i um and in the gluteal muscles.
pology than ever before. Just as in the arm, the change is in a
Although much of the present distribution bone-muscle complex, which makes a dif-
of races may be explained by migration and ferent way of life possible. The head seems
although drift probably accounts for some to have attained essential y its present form
dif erences, selection must be the explana- during the fourth glacial advance, perhaps
tion of long term evolutionary trends and of 50,000 years ago. The brain continued to
many patterned variations as well. Anthro- enlarge until the end of the last interglacial
pologists have always stressed the importance period, and the face decreased in size for
of adaptation in accounting for the dif erences some time after that. The great increase in
between apes and men, and sometimes have the size of the brain and decrease in the
used the idea in interpreting racial diver— face was after the use of tools.
gencies. But suggestions of adaptations are Evolution, in a sense, has dissected the
not enough. lt is easy to guess that a form body for us, and has shown that great changes
is adaptive, but the real problem is to de- may occur in arms and trunk, pelvis and Iegs.
termine the precise nature of a particular and brain case, or face, accompanied by little
adaptation. . . . | would like to take this op- change in the rest of the body. The first two
portunity to present an outline, a beginning, complexes to change are related to brachia- men would not be expected to have such a tionally important muscle. The dependence of
of an analysis of the human body into com- tion and bipedal locomotion. The final changes shelf. The dental characters neces ary to the angular process on the internal pterygoid
plexes which may vary independently. in the head may well be related to changed bring out the expression of the shelf are and the exact function of the internal pterygoid
In this work, the guiding principle has been selection after the use of tools. absent in all except the Piltdown jaw. It can need to be experimental y ver ied.
that the major force in evolution is selection To carry the analysis further, it is neces- The
be argued that we have the potential for a only point to be stressed now is that
of functional complexes. A variety of methods sary to deal with one of the areas suggested simian shelf but that we do not have the the theory that such a process is of adaptive
has been used to demonstrate the adaptive by this preliminary di ' ing of the body. Let necessary tooth and jaw size to make it evi- significance, and that it is maintained by
complexes. The four major methods for fac- us consider the face, and especial y the lower which selection,
dent. Trying to understand the process leads one to look for a functional
toring complexes out of the body are: (1) jaw. The figure [see page 79] shows a lower produces a trait leads us to very dif erent complex. If such a process is regarded simply
comparison and evolution: (2) development; jaw divided into regions which can be shown evaluations than does a listing of presence as a taxonomic aid, or as nonfunctional, .no
(3) variabi 'ty; and (4) experiment. All these to vary independently by all the methods of guide is available
or absence. for research or future un-
have been used by numerous investigators, analysis suggested before. The coronoid In the light of this sort of information, let derstanding.
but to the best of my knowledge, they have process varies with the temporal muscle. The us look at the skull of an Eocene lemur, The post-orbital bar of this same Iemur
not been combined into a working system. All angle of the jaw varies with the masseter and again il ustrates
Nollmr lux. The jaw i long, in conformity with the advantage of assuming,
must be used to gain an understanding of the internal pterygoid muscle. The to th-support- the length of the teeth. lt is low, and there until it is proved otherwise, that a part is
human body. ing area varies with the teeth. The main core is a large angular This region region. has been functionally important. Originally,
the com-
The figure [see page 77] shows the body of the jaw is affected by hormones which do plete
described as lemuroid. If this angle has re- bony ring around the orbit have may
divided into the major regions, which seem to not affect the other parts, as shown in acro- mained there for 50 mil ion years, however. been for protection or for some other unknown
have had remarkable independence in recent megaly. Alizarin dye, which stains the grow- over countless generations of lemurs, it must function. Once the ring is established, how-
evolutionary history. The complex to attain its ing bone, reveals the pattern of growth. The haile more of a function than to mark the jaw ever, the skeletal framework for radical modi-
present pattern first is that of the arms and split-line technique (Benninghoff) shows the as primitive or to help us in identifying lemur fication of the skull is present. The change
thorax. This complex is associated with arm mechanical arrangement. jaws. lf the mandible of a remarkably similar from the lemur skull, with a wide interorbital
swinging in the trees, the way of life called After making an analysis of this kind, com- modern lemur (genus Lr’mur) is examined, it region, to the monkey skull, with reduced
"brachiation." lt is association with a reduc- parisons of a dif erent sort are possible. The is found that the internal pterygoid muscle in- olfactory mechanism and reduced interorbital
tion in the deep back muscles and in the simple statement, that a trait is or is not because pres-
serts at the end of the angle, but that the space, is mechanically possible
number of lumbar vertebrae and consequent there, is replaced by the attempt to under- masseter muscle inserts only on the lateral sure, tension, and buttressing of the sides of
shortening of the trunk and elongation of all stand under what conditions it might be pres- side of the ascending ramus, leaving the angle the face are provided by the complete ring of
parts of the upper extremity, adaptation of ent. For example, if the simian shelf is bare of muscle. An internal pterygoid muscle bone around the orbits. Structures which
the joints and muscles to greater pronation, developed in monkeys and apes when the jaws inserting in this position is a protruder of the probably developed as part of a protective
supination in the forearm, and flexion and are long and the anterior teeth large, then were pre-adaptive
jaw. The function of the angle of the lemur mechanism for a reorganiza-
abduction at the shoulder. Many changes in the South African man-apes and other fossil jaw is to provide insertion for a large, func- tion of the face.

lo-
l
h———u.