Anthropology a global perspective 8th

Edition Raymond Scupin Ph.D.

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/anthropology-a-global-perspective-8th-edition-raymon
d-scupin-ph-d/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Anthropology: A Global Perspective 9th Edition Raymond

Scupin

https://textbookfull.com/product/anthropology-a-global-
perspective-9th-edition-raymond-scupin/

Nester's Microbiology: A Human Perspective 8th Edition

Anderson

https://textbookfull.com/product/nesters-microbiology-a-human-
perspective-8th-edition-anderson/

Punk Crisis: The Global Punk Rock Revolution Raymond A

Patton

https://textbookfull.com/product/punk-crisis-the-global-punk-
rock-revolution-raymond-a-patton/

Police misconduct : a global perspective Roberson

https://textbookfull.com/product/police-misconduct-a-global-
perspective-roberson/
Cultural Anthropology An Applied Perspective Gary
Ferraro

https://textbookfull.com/product/cultural-anthropology-an-
applied-perspective-gary-ferraro/

Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit for a Global Age

Kenneth J. Guest

https://textbookfull.com/product/cultural-anthropology-a-toolkit-
for-a-global-age-kenneth-j-guest/

Flood forecasting : a global perspective 1st Edition

Adams

https://textbookfull.com/product/flood-forecasting-a-global-
perspective-1st-edition-adams/

Transportation: a global supply chain perspective Coyle

https://textbookfull.com/product/transportation-a-global-supply-
chain-perspective-coyle/

Forensic Justice: A Global Perspective 1st Edition

Beulah Shekhar

https://textbookfull.com/product/forensic-justice-a-global-
perspective-1st-edition-beulah-shekhar/
Anthropology
A Global Perspective
Eighth Edition
This page intentionally left blank
 Anthropology
A Global Perspective
Eighth Edition

Raymond Scupin
Lindenwood University

Christopher R. DeCorse
Syracuse University

Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Amsterdam

Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
Editorial Director: Dickson Musslewhite
Publisher: Charlyce Jones-Owen
Editorial Assistant: Maureen Diana
Program Manager: Rob DeGeorge
Project Manager: Richard DeLorenzo
Procurement Specialist: Mary Ann Gloriande
Permissions Specialist: Brooks Hill-Whilton
Image Permissions Specialist: Jen Simmons/Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Cover Art Director: Maria Lange
Cover image: Shutterstock
Director, Digital Studio: Sacha Laustein
Media Product Manager: David Alick
Media Project Manager: Amanda Smith
Full-Service Project Management and Composition: Tracy Duff/Lumina Datamatics, Inc.

Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced with permission appear in the
appropriate Credits sections at the end of the book.

Copyright © 2016 by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. This digital publication is
protected by copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited repro-
duction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise except as authorized for use under the product subscription through
which this digital application is accessed. For information regarding permissions, request forms and the
appropriate contacts within the Pearson Education Global Rights & Permissions department, please visit
www.pearsoned.com/permissions/.

PEARSON, ALWAYS LEARNING, and REVEL are exclusive trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries
owned by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, any third-party trademarks that may appear in this work are the property of
their respective owners and any references to third-party trademarks, logos or other trade dress are for demon-
strative or descriptive purposes only. Such references are not intended to imply any sponsorship, endorsement,
authorization, or promotion of Pearson’s products by the owners of such marks, or any relationship between
the owner and Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates, authors, licensees or distributors.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Scupin, Raymond.
   Anthropology : a global perspective / Raymond Scupin, Christopher R. DeCorse. — Eighth edition.
  pages cm
   Includes bibliographical references and index.
   ISBN 978-0-13-400486-0—ISBN 0-13-400486-8
1. Anthropology. I. DeCorse, Christopher R. II. Title.
  GN25.S39 2016
  301—dc23

2014044490
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Student Edition
ISBN-10: 0-13-400486-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-400486-0
Instructor’s Review Copy:
ISBN-10: 0-13-400500-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-400500-3
Á La Carte
ISBN-10: 0-13-400512-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-400512-6
Contents
Preface xiii Inheritance and Molecular Genetics 52
About the Authors xvii Cells and Genes 52
The Role of DNA 53
1 Introduction to Anthropology 1 Mitosis and Meiosis 53
Anthropology: The Four Subfields 2 Polygenic Inheritance 53
Biological Anthropology 2 Epigenetic Factors 54
Archaeology 5 Population Genetics and Evolution 54
Linguistic Anthropology 6 Mutations 54
Cultural Anthropology 8 Gene Flow 55
Applied Anthropology 9 Genetic Drift 55
Holistic Anthropology, Interdisciplinary Research, Natural Selection 55
and the Global Perspective 12 Cultural, Behavioral, and Epigenetic Factors 55
Anthropological Explanations 13 How Do New Species Originate? 56
The Scientific Method 13 Measuring Evolutionary Change 56
Humanistic Interpretive Approaches in Anthropology 14 Speciation 57
Why Study Anthropology? 16 Adaptive Radiation 58
Critical Thinking and Global Awareness 16 The Evolution of Life 59
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 17 Analogy and Homology 59
Blood Chemistry and DNA 60
Key Terms 18
Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift 60
2 The Record of the Past 19 The Paleontological Record 61
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 64
Answering Questions 20
Key Terms 66
Paleoanthropological Study 22
Fossils and Fossil Localities 23 4 The Primates 67
Archaeological Research 25
Primate Characteristics 68
The Archaeological Record 27
Movement and Locomotion 68
Locating Sites and Fossil Localities 29
Dentition, Eyesight, and Brain Size 68
Subsurface Archaeological Testing and Survey 30
Reproduction and Maturation 70
Remote Sensing 30
Classification of Primates 70
Archaeological Excavation 32
Primate Subdivisions 72
Dating Methods 32 Classification of Fossil Primates 72
Numerical or Absolute Dating 37
Evolution of the Primate Order 72
Interpretations About the Past 40 Prosimians 73
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 40 Evolution of the Anthropoids 75
Key Terms 41 Emergence of the Hominoids 78
Modern Apes 81
3 Evolution 42 Primate Behavior 84
Cosmologies and Human Origins 43 The Human Primate 87
Western Traditions of Origins 43 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 88
The Scientific Revolution 44 Key Terms 89
Catastrophism versus Uniformitarianism 45
Theory of Evolution 45
5 Hominin Evolution 90
Darwin, Wallace, and Natural Selection 46 Trends in Hominin Evolution 91
Examples of Natural Selection 47 Bipedalism 91
Principles of Inheritance 49 Reduction of the Face, Teeth, and Jaws 94
Mendel and Modern Genetics 49 Increase in Cranial Capacity 95
v
vi Contents

Fossil Evidence for Hominin Evolution 95 Current Approaches to Human Variation 139
The Oldest Hominins 95 Clinal Distribution 139
Australopithecus anamensis: Early Hominins Multivariate Analysis 140
from Lake Turkana 97 Current Perspectives 140
Australopithecus afarensis 97 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 140
The Laetoli Footprints 99 Key Terms 142
Australopithecus africanus 100
The Robust Australopithecines: Branches on 7 The Paleolithic 143
the Family Tree 100
The Origins of Genus Homo 103 Lifestyles of the Earliest Hominins 144
Homo erectus 103 Primate Models of Early Hominin Behavior 144
The Archaeological Record 146
Interpreting the Fossil Record 105
Oldowan Sites and Early Hominin Behavior 147
Changing Views 106
Current Perspectives 108 The Life and Times of Genus Homo 149
Genetic Differences and Hominin Evolution 109 The Archaeological Record and the Acheulean
Industry 151
From Homo erectus to Homo sapiens 110
The Middle Paleolithic 156
Transitional Forms 110
Changes in Technology and Subsistence 156
The Evolution of Homo sapiens 111
The Neandertals 157
Genetic Data and Modern Human Origins 113
Modern Homo sapiens and Their Cultures 158
Mitochondrial Eve 113
The Material Record of Homo sapiens 159
Paternal Genetic Ancestry 114
Ethnicity and Social Organization 160
Archaic and Anatomically Modern
Upper Paleolithic Art 161
Homo sapiens 114
The Migration of Upper Paleolithic Humans 163
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis 115
Upper Paleolithic Hunters in the Americas 163
Denisovans or the Denisova hominins 117
Homo sapiens in Asia, Australia, and Oceania 166
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 117
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 167
Key Terms 119
Key Terms 169
6 Human Variation 120 8 The Origins of Domestication
Sources of Human Variation 121 and Settled Life 170
Genetics and Evolution 121
The End of the Paleolithic: Changes in Climate
The Physical Environment 122
and Culture 171
Culture 122
Epipaleolithic, Mesolithic, and Archaic Technology 171
Evaluating Reasons for Variation 122
The Neolithic: Origins of Food Production 176
Adaptive Aspects of Human Variation 123
Evidence for Domestication 176
Body Hair and Sweat Glands 123
Why Did Domestication Occur? 179
Skin Color 123
The Oasis Theory 179
Body Build 125
The Readiness Hypothesis 180
Cranial and Facial Features 126
A Push Toward Domestication? The Environment,
Biochemical Characteristics 126 Population Growth, and Demographic Stress 180
Sickle-Cell Anemia 127 Coevolution 181
Lactase Deficiency 128 Agricultural Origins in Perspective 181
Effects of the Physical Environment 129 Domestication in Different Regions of the World 182
High-Altitude Adaptations 129 Southwest Asia 182
Cultural Factors in Human Evolution 130 Europe 183
The Impact of Modern Urban Life 131 East Asia 185
The Concept of Race 132 South Asia 186
Ancient Classification Systems 132 Africa 187
Early “Scientific” Studies of Race 134 The Origins of Domestication in the Americas 189
Limitations of Early Classification Systems 135 South America 190
Geographical Races 135 North America 192
Heredity and Intelligence 136 Consequences of Domestication 193
Problems in Measuring Intelligence 136 Human Settlement and Population Growth 193
 Contents vii

Health and Nutrition 193 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 241
Increasing Material Complexity 195 Key Terms 242
Sociopolitical Organization 195
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 195 11 The Process of Enculturation:
Key Terms 197 Psychological and Cognitive
Anthropology 243
9 The Rise of the State and Biology versus Culture 244
Complex Society 198 Instincts and Human Nature 245
The State and Civilization 199 Human Beings as Animals 245
Types of Political Systems 199 Instincts in Animals 245
Agricultural States 200 Instincts and Learned Behaviors 246
Studying Complex Societies 201 Do Humans Possess Instincts? 246
Settlement Patterns and Organization 201 Drives 247
Monumental Architecture 202 Culture versus Instinct 247
Specialization 203 Enculturation: Culture and Personality 247
Status and Social Ranking 204 Early Studies of Enculturation 248
Trade and Exchange 205 Childhood Acquisition of Cultural Knowledge 251
The Archaeology of Religion 206 Psychoanalytic Approaches in Anthropology 252
Written Language 206 Sigmund Freud’s Influence 252
Theories about State Formation 208 Understanding Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboo 253
Integrationist or Voluntaristic Perspectives 208 Biological Explanations of Incest Avoidance 253
Conflict or Coercive Theories 209 Marital Alliance and the Incest Taboo 254
Multicausal (or Multivariant) Theories of Childhood Familiarity Hypothesis 254
State Formation 210 Incest Avoidance: Biocultural or Interactionist
Conclusions about Early State Formation 211 Perspectives 255
States in Different World Areas 213 Enculturation and the Sex Drive 257
Civilizations in Southwest Asia 213 Codes of Sexual Behavior 257
Early Asian Civilizations 215 Sexuality and Culture 257
South Asia: The Indus Valley 216 Enculturation and Cognition 258
Agricultural Civilizations in Africa 216 Structuralism 258
Empires of the Americas 220 Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky 259
Andean Civilizations 221 Cognitive Anthropology 260
The Collapse of State Societies 223 Evolutionary Psychology 262
Reasons for Collapse 223 Enculturation and Emotions 263
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 224 Neuroanthropology 264
Key Terms 225 The Limits of Enculturation 265
Unique Biological Tendencies 265
10 Culture 226 Individual Variation and Agency 265
The Characteristics of Culture 227 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 266
Culture is Learned 227 Key Terms 268
Symbols and Symbolic Learning 228
Culture is Shared 230
12 Language 269
Aspects of Culture 230 Nonhuman Communication 270
Values 231 Teaching Apes to Sign 270
Beliefs 232 Ape Sign Language Reexamined 271
Norms 233 Ethological Research on Ape Communication 272
Ideal versus Real Culture 234 Animal Communication and Human Language 273
Cultural Diversity 234 Productivity 273
Food and Diversity 235 Displacement 273
Dress Codes and Symbolism 238 Arbitrariness 273
Ethnicity 239 Combining Sounds to Produce Meanings 274
Cultural Universals 240 The Evolution of Language 274
viii Contents

The Structure of Language 275 Feminist Anthropology 306

Phonology 275 Criticisms of Feminist Anthropology 307
Morphology 276 Postmodernism and Anthropology 307
Syntax 276 Postmodernists and Contemporary Research 308
Semantics 277 Shifts in Anthropological Explanations 308
Language Acquisition 278 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 309
Chomsky on Language Acquisition 278 Key Terms 310
Sign Language in Nicaragua: A Case for the
Innateness of Language 280 14 Analyzing Sociocultural Systems 311
Language, Thought, and Culture 280
Ethnographic Fieldwork 312
The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis 282
Ethnographic Research and Strategies 312
Weak Linguistic Relativity 283
Ethics in Anthropological Research 315
Historical Linguistics 284
Analysis of Ethnographic Data 316
The Family-Tree Model 284
Universals and Variables Studied by Cultural
Assessing Language Change 285
Anthropologists 316
Sociolinguistics 286
Sociocultural Evolution: A Contemporary Model 317
Dialectal Differences in Spoken Language 286
Types of Sociocultural Systems 317
Honorifics in Language 287
Foragers, Band, or Hunter-Gatherer Societies 317
Greeting Behaviors 288
The Concept of Tribe in Anthropology 319
Nonverbal Communication 290
The Concept of the Chiefdom 320
Kinesics 290
Agricultural States 321
Proxemics 291
Industrial and Postindustrial States 321
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 291
Cross-Cultural Research 323
Key Terms 292
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 324
Key Terms 325
13 Anthropological Explanations 293
Nineteenth-Century Evolutionism 295
15 Environment, Subsistence, and
Unilineal Evolution: Tylor 295 Demography 326
Unilineal Evolution: Morgan 295 Subsistence and the Physical Environment 327
Unilineal Evolution: A Critique 296 Modern Cultural Ecology 327
Diffusionism 297 Biomes 327
British Diffusionism 297 Subsistence Patterns and Environments 328
German Diffusionism 297 Demography 329
The Limitations and Strengths of Diffusionism 298 Fertility, Mortality, and Migration 329
Historical Particularism 298 Population and Environment 330
Boas versus the Unilineal Evolutionists 298 Population and Culture 330
Functionalism 299 Modern Foraging Environments and Subsistence 330
Structural Functionalism: Radcliffe-Brown 299 Deserts 330
Psychological Functionalism: Malinowski 300 Tropical Rain Forests 332
The Limitations of Functionalism 300 Arctic Regions 332
Twentieth-Century Evolutionism 300 Mobility and Subsistence 333
Steward and Cultural Ecology 301 Demographic Conditions for Foragers 333
The Strengths of Neoevolutionism 302 Fissioning 334
Criticisms of Cultural Ecology 302 Infanticide and Geronticide 334
Cultural Materialism 302 Fertility Rates for Foragers 334
Criticisms of Cultural Materialism 304 Environment and Subsistence for Horticulturalists
Marxist Anthropology 304 and Pastoralists 335
Evaluation of Marxist Anthropology 304 Amazon Horticulturalists: The Yanomamö 335
Symbolic Anthropology: A Humanistic Method New Guinea Horticulturalists: The Tsembaga 336
of Inquiry 305 Horticulturalists in Woodland Forest Areas:
Criticisms of Symbolic Anthropology 305 The Iroquois 336
Materialism versus Culturalism 306 Environment and Subsistence for Pastoralists 337
East African Cattle Complex 337
 Contents ix

Demographics and Settlement 338 Economic Exchange 364

Environment, Subsistence, and Demography for Perspectives on Market Economies 365
Chiefdoms 338 The Evolution of Economic Organizations 367
Pacific Island Chiefdoms 338 Capitalist Consumer Societies 368
African Chiefdoms 339 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 368
Native American Chiefdoms 339 Key Terms 370
Demography 341
Environment and Demography in Agricultural States 341 17 Social Structure, the Family,
Environment and Energy Use in Industrial and Gender, and Age 371
Postindustrial Societies 342
Demographic Change 344 Social Structure 372
The Demographic Transition 344 Components of Social Structure 372
Urbanization 344 The Family 373
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 345 Marriage 373
Gender 373
Key Terms 346
Age 374

16 Technology and Economies 347

Social Structure in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Marriage and Kinship
375
375
Anthropological Explanations of Technology 348 Gender 377
Anthropology and Economics 349 Age 378
The Formalist Approach 349 Social Organization in Tribes 380
The Substantivist Approach 349 Families 380
Contemporary Economic Anthropology 349 Descent Groups 380
Technology in Foraging Societies 350 Unilineal Descent Groups 380
Economics in Foraging Societies 351 Functions of Descent Groups 382
Reciprocity 351 Marriage 382
Collective Ownership of Property 352 Gender 385
The Original Affluent Society? 353 Age 388
The Affluence Hypothesis Challenged 353 Social Structure in Chiefdoms 389
Technology among Horticulturalists and Pastoralists 354 Rank and Sumptuary Rules 389
Horticulturalist Technology 354 Marriage 389
Pastoralist Technology 354 General Social Principles in Chiefdoms 391
Economics in Horticulturalist and Pastoralist Societies 355 Gender 391
Money 355 Age 391
Property Ownership 355 Slavery 392
Technology in Chiefdoms 356 Social Structure in Agricultural States 392
Housing in Chiefdoms 356 Kinship and Status 392
Economy in Chiefdoms 356 Marriage 393
Food Storage 356 Social Stratification in Agricultural States 397
Property Ownership 357 The Caste System 397
Economic Exchange in Chiefdoms 357 Social Structure in Industrial and Postindustrial States 398
Technology in Agricultural States 359 Kinship 398
Agricultural Innovations 359 Family 398
The Diffusion of Technology 360 Marriage 399
Economy in Agricultural States 360 Gender 402
Property Rights 360 Age 405
The Command Economy versus the Entrepreneur 361 Social Stratification in Industrial and Postindustrial
The Peasantry 361 Societies 405
Trade and Monetary Exchange 362 The British Class System 406
Technology and Economic Change in Industrial and Class in the United States 406
Postindustrial Societies 362 Class in Japan and the Former Soviet Union 407
Technology and Work 363 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 408
The Division of Labor 363 Key Terms 410
x Contents

18 Politics, Warfare, and Law 411 Art and Music in Tribal Societies
Musical Traditions
443
444
Politics, Warfare, and Law 412 Religion in Chiefdoms 444
Decision Making in a Political System 412 Shamanism in Chiefdoms 445
Warfare and Feuds 413 Human Sacrifice 445
Law and Social Control 413 Art, Architecture, and Music 445
Political Organization in Foraging societies 414 Music 446
Characteristics of Leadership 414 Religion in Agricultural States 446
Warfare and Violence in Foraging Societies 415 Ecclesiastical Religions 447
Conflict Resolution 415 Divine Rulers, Priests, and Religious Texts 447
Political Organization in Horticultural and Universalistic Religions 448
Pastoralist Tribes 416 Hinduism 448
Sodalities 416 Buddhism 449
How Leaders are Chosen 416 Judaism 450
Pastoralist Tribal Politics 417 Christianity 451
Explaining Tribal Warfare 418 Protestantism 451
Law and Conflict Resolution among Tribes 421 Islam 452
Political Authority in Chiefdoms 422 Art, Architecture, and Music 454
The Evolution of Chiefdoms 423 Religion and Secularization in Industrial and
Law in Chiefdoms 424 Postindustrial Societies 455
Politics in Agricultural States 424 Religion in Socialist States 455
Law in Agricultural States 425 Religion in Japan 455
Mediation and Self-Help 425 Art and Music 456
Political Organization in Industrial and Music 456
Postindustrial States 426 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 458
Political Organization in Socialist States 428 Key Terms 460
Industrialism and State Bureaucracy 428
Law 428 20 Globalization, Culture, and
Japanese Law 428 Indigenous Societies 461
Warfare and Industrial Technology in Industrial Globalization: A Contested Term 462
and Postindustrial States 429 Globalization: Technological and Economic Trends 463
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 430 Globalization: General Theoretical Approaches 464
Key Terms 431 Modernization Theory 464
Dependency Theory 467
19 Religion and Aesthetics 432 World-Systems Theory 468
Religion 433 Anthropological Analysis and Globalization 470
Myth and Ritual 434 Globalization, Politics, and Culture 471
Rituals 434 Globalization and Indigenous Peoples 472
Rites of Passage 434 Vanishing Foragers 472
Religious Specialists 436 Tribes in Transition 475
Religious Movements 436 Chiefdoms in Transition 478
Cognition and Religion 436 Forms of Resistance among Indigenous Peoples 480
Revitalization among Native Americans 480
Aesthetics: Art and Music 438
Melanesia and New Guinea: The Cargo Cults 482
Religion among Foragers 439
A Hawaiian Religious Renaissance 483
The Dreamtime 439
A Lost Opportunity? 484
Inuit Religion 439
Native American Knowledge 484
Art, Music, and Religion 441
Preserving Indigenous Societies 485
Religion Among Horticulturalists
Pro- and Anti-globalization: An Anthropological
and Pastoralists 442
Contribution 485
Animism and Shamanism in South America 442
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 488
Witchcraft and Sorcery 442
Key Terms 489
Totemism 443
 Contents xi

21 Globalization in Latin America, Ethnic Tensions

China and Ethnic Minorities
536
536
Africa, and the Caribbean 490
Islamic Revitalization 539
Globalization and Colonialism 491 Islamic Revolution in Iran 540
Latin America 491 Islamic Revitalization in Afghanistan 541
Africa 493 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 545
The Caribbean 494 Key Terms 546
Consequences of Globalization and Colonialism 495
Demographic Change 495 23 Ethnicity 547
Economic Change 495
Religious Change 497 Race, Racism, and Culture 548
Critiques of Scientific Racism 548
Political Changes: Independence and Nationalist
Movements 499 The Cultural and Social Significance of Race 549
Explaining Revolution 501 Ethnicity 549
Uneven Economic Development 501 Anthropological Perspectives on Ethnicity 550
Peripheral Societies 501 The Primordialist Model 550
Semiperipheral Societies 502 Patterns of Ethnic Relations 552
South Africa: An Economy in Transition 503 Pluralism 552
Ethnographic Studies 504 Assimilation 553
African Peasants: A Unique Phenomenon? 505 Ethnic Violence 554
Social Structure 506 Racial and Ethnic Stratification 554
Latin American Social Relationships 506 Ethnic Relations in the United States 555
African Social Relationships 507 WASP Dominance 555
Patterns of Ethnicity 509 New Ethnic Challenges for U.S. Society 556
Ethnicity in Latin America 509 German and Irish Americans 556
Ethnicity in Africa 511 Italian and Polish Americans 557
Ethnicity in the Caribbean 513 The Melting Pot: Assimilation or Pluralism? 558
Urban Anthropology 513 African-Americans 559
Hispanic Americans 560
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 515
Asian and Arab Americans 563
Key Terms 517
Cultural Pluralism 564
22 Globalization in the Middle Multiculturalism in the United States 565
East and Asia 518 Ethnonationalism 566
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 567
Anthropology Following 9/11 519
Key Terms 568
Early Colonialism and Globalization 520
The Middle East
Consequences of Colonialism
520
523
24 Contemporary Global Trends 569
Demographic Change 523 Pessimists versus Optimists on Globalization Issues 570
Economic Change 523 The Doomsday Model 570
Religious Change 525 The Optimists: The Logic-of-Growth Model 570
Political Change: Independence and Nationalism 525 The Pessimists and the Optimists: An
Anthropological Assessment 570
A Nationalist and Independence Movement in India 525
Revolutionary Movements in Asia 526 Technological Trends 571
Energy Consumption Patterns 571
Uneven Economic Development 527
Oil and the Middle East 527 Environmental Trends 572
Withdrawal from the Global Economy 528 Mechanized Agriculture and Pollution 572
Air Pollution 573
Ethnographic Studies 529
A Middle Eastern Village and Globalization  529 Population Trends 573
The Demographic-Transition Model Applied 574
Middle Eastern Family, Marriage, and Gender 530
Loss of Biodiversity 576
Social Structure, Family, and Gender in India
and South Asia 533 A Global Solution for Global Problems 578
Family and Gender in China 535 The Sustainability Model 581
xii Contents

Economic Trends 581 Preserving the Past 604

Multinational Corporations 581 The Study of Garbage 608
Emerging Global Economic Trends 583 Who Owns the Past? 609
Political, Ethnic, and Religious Trends 588 Native American Graves Protection and
Ethnic Trends 588 Repatriation Act 611
Religion and Secularization 589 Applied Cultural Anthropology 612
The Role of Anthropology 590 Planning Change 612
Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 591 Applied Anthropology and Human Rights 614
Key Terms 592 Cultural Relativism and Human Rights 614
The Problem of Intervention 617
25 Applied Anthropology 593 Universal Human Rights 618
The Roles of the Applied Anthropologist 594 Summary and Review of Learning Objectives 622
Biological Anthropology 595 Key Terms 624
Forensic Anthropology 595
Medical Anthropology 598 Glossary625
Ethnomedicine 598
References633
Medical Anthropology and Mental Illness 601
Cultural Resource Management: Applied Credits677
Archaeology 603 Index679

Boxes
Anthropologists at Work
John Hawks: Physical (or Biological) Anthropologist
Kelley Hays-Gilpin: Archaeologist
Bonnie Urciuoli: Linguistic Anthropologist
Scott Atran: Cultural Anthropologist
A. Peter Castro: Applied Anthropologist
Scott Madry: Google Earth and Armchair Archaeology
George Fletcher Bass: Underwater Archaeologist
Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey: Primatologists in the Field
Donald Johanson: Paleoanthropologist
Grahame Clark and the Mesolithic
Nancy Rosenberg: Gender, Food, Globalization and
Culture
Russell Bernard: Saving Languages
Gabriella Coleman: The Ethnography of Hackers and Geeks
Eric Wolf: A Global Anthropologist
Susan Brownell: Ethnography in China
Akbar Ahmed: Globalization and the Islamic World
Clyde Collins Snow: Forensic Anthropologist
John McCreery: Applying Anthropology in Japan

Critical Perspectives
Engendering Archaeology: The Role of Women in Aztec The Origins of Maize
Mexico War before Civilization?
Historical Archaeology Contacts between Two Worlds?
Underwater Archaeology The Downfall of the Moche
Planetary-Level Extinctions Key National Symbols
Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution The Anthropology of the “Self”
What’s in a Name? Primate Classification and Taxonomy Human Aggression: Biological or Cultural?
Interpreting the Fayum Fossils Were There Matriarchal States?
The Piltdown Fraud Graduation: A Rite of Passage in U.S. Society
Race and Genetics: The Human Genome Project Globalization and McDonald’s
Joseph Arthur de Gobineau and the Aryan Master Race The Elgin Marbles
Could Early Hominins Speak? The Evolution of Language Ethical Controversies in El Dorado
Preface
Educational Goals and
Orientation of This Text
The world has become a small place. Global communica-
tions, international trade, geopolitical events, and ease of
travel have brought people from different cultures into
more intimate contact than ever before, forcing this gen-
eration of students to become more knowledgeable about
societies other than their own. This textbook is grounded
in the belief that enhanced global awareness is essential
for people preparing to take their place in the intercon-
nected world of the twenty-first century. Anthropology is
ideally suited to introduce students to this global perspec-
tive. Through exploring the range of human diversity, the
subfields of anthropology help liberate students from nar-
row, parochial views and enable them to appreciate the full
sweep of the human condition.
The anthropological perspective, which stresses criti-
cal thinking, the evaluation of competing hypotheses, and
the skills to generalize from specific data, is fundamental
to a well-rounded education. This text engages readers
in anthropology by delving into both classic and current
research. It reflects a commitment to anthropology’s holis-
tic and integrative approach, demonstrating how the four
basic subfields of anthropology—biological anthropol-
ogy, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology—
together yield a comprehensive understanding of humanity.
Insights from each of the subfields are woven together to
reveal how anthropologists unlock the working of a partic-
ular society or discover the threads that unite human soci-
eties in the past and present. In examining anthropological
research, this text often draws on research from other dis-
ciplines, including an array of findings from biology, pale-
ontology, history, psychology, sociology, political science,
religious studies, and research in other areas that shed light
on anthropological inquiry. Exploring interactions between
anthropology and other fields further underscores anthro-
pology’s unique, holistic perspective that sparks the critical
imagination that brings the learning process to life.
The comparative approach, another cornerstone of
anthropology, is also highlighted throughout the text.
When anthropologists assess fossil evidence, artifacts,
languages, or cultural beliefs, they weigh the evidence
from a comparative perspective, even as they acknowl-
edge the unique elements of each case, society, or culture.
Anthropologists draw on examples from across both time
and space. The text consequently casts an inquiring eye on
materials from numerous geographical regions and his-
torical eras to enrich student understanding. In evaluating
human evolution, prehistoric events, language divergence,
or developments in social structure, anthropologists must
rely on a diachronic approach, and draw on models that
accommodate change through time.
Three Unifying Themes
of This Text
In the previous edition of this textbook, we emphasized
three unifying themes that structured the material pre-
sented. These have been retained and expanded in this
eighth edition. The first two themes we introduce students
to are the diversity of human societies and cultural patterns
the world over and the similarities that make all humans fun-
damentally alike. To achieve these two objectives, we pay as
much attention to universal human characteristics as we
do to local cultural contexts and conditions. We emphasize
the growing interconnectedness of humanity and both the
positive and negative consequences of this reality. We draw
on anthropological studies to discover how people are
responding to the process of globalization.
The third theme, which we emphasize more promi-
nently in this edition, focuses on the interconnections
between the sciences and humanities within anthropol-
ogy. We call this the synthetic-complementary approach, which
views the scientific method and the methods in the human-
ities as complementary and suggests that one is incomplete
without the other. This theme had been mentioned in previ-
ous editions, but we make it much more of a centerpiece
in this one. This third important theme dovetails with the
two other themes, demonstrating how human behavior is
unique to a specific culture, and yet is also universal. This
point resonates with an observation made by the late Eric
Wolf. In another anthropology textbook published decades
ago, Wolf emphasized that anthropology has always had
one foot in the sciences and the other foot in the humani-
ties. This observation is even truer today. Wolf said,
“Anthropology is both the most scientific of the humanities
and the most humanistic of the sciences” (1964, 88). Wolf
was kind enough to give us suggestions in developing this
textbook, and we would like to carry on the tradition that
he emphasized in his work.
Some anthropologists have argued that the scientific
approach is not suitable for assessing and interpreting
xiii
xiv Preface
human behavior and culture, whereas others believe that
the humanistic approach is not appropriate for develop-
ing general cross-cultural and causal explanations about
human behavior and culture. This has led to textbooks
that focus on either one approach or the other. In this
book, we highlight how the interpretive-humanistic
perspective is complementary to the scientific method,
which seeks general cross-cultural and causal explana-
tions for human behavior and culture. The interpretive-
humanistic perspective provides insight into the specifics
of human behavior within different cultures, whereas the
scientific approach offers a method to test causal expla-
nations that allow for insight into universal aspects of
human behavior.
What’s New to This Edition
• Learning objectives and summaries added to all
­chapters.
• New discussion of obsidian hydration and revised
discussion of archaeological and paleoanthropological
methods.
• Substantially revised presentation of primate and hom-
inin classification integrating genetic data.
• Updated information on new fossil and archaeologi-
cal evidence on early hominin origins, including the
Denisovans.
• Revised and expanded discussion of the genetic evi-
dence and evolutionary models for the emergence of
Homo sapiens with new illustrations.
• New Critical Perspectives box in the Human Variation
chapter called “Joseph Arthur de Gobineau and the
Aryan Master Race” that explores the use of Nazi pseu-
doscience to meet political ends.
• Revised and expanded discussion of modern human
variation, including epigenetic and cultural factors.
• Updated discussion of the new evidence for the FOX2P
gene in Neandertals in the Critical Perspectives box
“Could Early Hominins Speak? The Evolution of
Language.”
• New and expanded discussions of domestication and
early agriculture in different world areas.
• New and expanded discussions of the theories of state
formation and the origins of civilizations in different
world areas.
• New Anthropologist at Work boxes illustrating cur-
rent research directions of a linguistic anthropologist
who explores race and ethnicity issues and corporate
culture and a cultural anthropologist who is examin-
ing the world of hackers and geeks dealing with the
Internet.
• New discussions of Pierre Bourdieu on agency and
forms of economic, social, and cultural capital.
• New discussion of the ethics of anthropological
research in war zones and its controversies.
• New reorganization of chapters 14–19 to highlight the
different environments, subsistence and demographic
conditions, technology, economics, social structures
including family, gender, and age, politics, warfare,
law, religion, art, and music found in different forms of
societies throughout the world.
• New discussion of the research on human cooperation
and the development of prosocial norms in economics
and religious traditions.
• New discussion of polyandry based on recent cross-
cultural research.
• New discussion of universalistic religious traditions
including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Catholicism,
Protestantism, and Islam.
• New discussions of art and music as studied by anthro-
pologists and ethnomusicologists in different societies,
including agricultural, industrial, and postindustrial
states.
• New discussions of the recent research on the
­burakumin people of Japan.
• New discussion of John Hartigan’s research on the
Mexican genome reflecting a different concept of race
compared to the U.S. folk model.
• New Anthropologists at Work box on Akbar Ahmed
and his research on globalization and the Islamic
World.
• New discussion of John Bowen’s research on secular-
ization and Islam in France.
• New discussions of “Engaged Anthropology” within
the context of Applied Anthropology.
• New discussions of cardiac disease in India and acu-
puncture in the United States as research topics in
medical anthropology.
Features of This Text
Boxes
Critical Perspectives boxes highlight specific anthropo-
logical questions, focusing on how information is col-
lected and evaluated. Students are placed in the role of
an anthropologist and engaged in the analysis of particu-
lar problems and their interpretation. A popular feature
since the first edition, Critical Perspectives boxes push
students to critically evaluate evidence when considering
scientific and philosophical questions that have no easy
answers. We have added a new Critical Perspectives box

for this eighth edition. By probing beneath the surface of
various assumptions and hypotheses, students discover
both the excitement and challenge of anthropological
investigation.
Anthropologists at Work boxes, profiling prominent
anthropologists, humanize many of the issues covered in
the chapters. These boxes—another carryover from the
first edition—go behind the scenes to trace the personal
and professional development of some of today’s leading
anthropologists. We have added three new boxes in this
area focusing on Bonnie Urciuoli’s work as a linguistic
anthropologist, Gabriella Coleman’s fascinating ethno-
graphic research on hackers and geeks on the Internet,
and Akbar Ahmed’s research on globalization and the
Islamic world.
Pedagogical Aids
For sound pedagogical reasons, we have retained some
features in this eighth edition of Anthropology: A Global
Perspective. Each chapter opens with a Chapter Outline
and Learning Objectives that will help guide students to
the most important issues addressed in that chapter. And
each chapter ends with Summary and Learning Objectives
that address issues covered in it; students can use these
to help comprehend the material they have read. In addi-
tion, each chapter ends with a list of Key Terms that will
help students focus on important concepts introduced in
the chapter.
Support for Instructors and
Students
Instructor’s Manual: For each chapter in the text, this valu-
able resource provides a detailed Chapter Outline, Learning
Objectives from the text, Lecture and Discussion Topics,
Classroom Activities, and Research and Writing Topics.
For easy access, this manual is available for download at
www.pearsonhighered.com/irc
Text Bank: Test questions in multiple-choice, true/
false, and essay formats are available for each chapter.
For easy access, this test bank is available for download at
www.pearsonhighered.com/irc
MyTest: This computerized software allows instructors
to create their own personalized exams, edit any or all of
the existing test questions, and add new questions. Other
special features of the program include random generation
of test questions, creation of alternate versions of the same
test, scrambling question sequence, and test preview before
printing. For easy access, this software is available at www.
pearsonhighered.com/irc.
PowerPoint Presentation Slides for Anthropology:
These PowerPoint slides combine text and graphics for
Preface xv
each chapter to help instructors convey anthropology
­principles in a clear and engaging way. For easy access,
they are available for download at www.pearsonhighered.
com/irc.
Acknowledgments
A textbook like this one requires the enormous effort of
many people. First, we would like to offer thanks to our
colleague Christina Dames, who is a recent graduate of the
University of Missouri, Columbia anthropology program
and a faculty member at Lindenwood University. She pro-
vided in-depth research assistance on the production of this
textbook, helping to update the materials in many areas.
We would also like to thank the following reviewers for
their valuable comments on the various editions of this text-
book: Susan Abbott-Jamieson, University of Kentucky; Kelly
D. Alley, Auburn University; Barbara Gallatin Anderson,
Southern Methodist University; Robert Bee, University of
Connecticut; Harumi Befu, Stanford University; John E.
Blank, Cleveland State University; Barry Bogin, University
of Michigan—Dearborn; Donald E. Brown, University
of California—Santa Barbara; Tom Brutsaert, Syracuse
University; Robert Carmack, State University of New
York—Albany; A. H. Peter Castro, Syracuse University;
Miriam S. Chaiken, New Mexico State University; Gail W.
Cromack, Onondaga Community College; James Duvall,
Contra Costa College; Allen S. Ehrlich, Eastern Michigan
University; Michele Ruth Gamburd, Portland State
University; Josef Gamper, Monterey Peninsula College; Alan
Goodman, Hampshire College; Leonard Greenfield, Temple
University; Joan Gross, Oregon State University; Raymond
Hames, University of Nebraska; W. Penn Handwerker,
Humboldt State University; Richard D. Harris, University
of Portland; Robert W. Hefner, Boston University; Robert
Hitchcock, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque;
Benita J. Howell, University of Tennessee—Knoxville;
Arian Ishaya, DeAnza Community College; Howard Kress,
University of Connecticut; Norris Johnson, University of
North Carolina—Chapel Hill; Rita S. Kipp, Kenyon College;
Nancy B. Leis, Central Michigan University; William Leons,
University of Toledo; James Lett, Indian River Community
College; Kenneth E. Lewis, Michigan State University; Scott
Madry, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill; Ester
Maring, Southern Illinois University—Carbondale; Ann P.
McElroy, State University of New York—Buffalo; Robert R.
McIrvin, University of North Carolina—Greensboro; Nancy
P. McKee, Washington State University; Barry H. Michie,
Kansas State University; David Minderhout, Bloomsburg
University; Katherine Moore, Bentley College; Robert
Moorman, Miami-Dade Community College—North; James
Myers, California State University—Chico; Tim O’Meara,
World Bank Pacific Islands; Thomas O’Toole, St. Cloud
xvi Preface
State University; John W. Page, Kirkland, Washington;
Curt Peterson, Elgin Community College; Leonard
Plotnicov, University of Pittsburgh; D. Tab Rasmussen,
Washington University—St. Louis; James L. Ross,
University of Akron; Susan D. Russell, Northern Illinois
University; L. Schell, State University of New York—
Albany; Edwin S. Segal, University of Louisville; David H.
Spain, University of Washington; John Townsend, Syracuse
University; Robert B. Townsend, College of Lake County;
Trudy Turner, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; Stephen
A. Tyler, Rice University; Virginia J. Vitzthum, University of
California—Riverside; Alaka Wali, University of Maryland;
Dustin Wax, University of Nevada, Los Vegas, William
Wedenoja, Southwest Missouri State University; Melford
S. Weiss, California State University–Sacramento; Ronald
K. Wetherington, Southern Methodist University; Aubrey
Williams, University of Maryland; Pamela Willoughby,
University of Alberta; and Larry Zimmerman, University of
South Dakota.
In particular for this eighth edition, we would like
to thank Anna Bellisari, Wright State University;
Andrew Kramer, University of Tennessee; Bruce P.
Wheatley, University of Alabama–Birmingham; Daniel
J. Wescott, University of Missouri; Robert R. Paine, Texas
Tech University. We would like to thank John Hawks at
the University of Wisconsin at Madison for his evaluation
REVELTM
Educational technology designed for
the way today’s students read, think,
and learn
When students are engaged deeply, they learn more ef-
fectively and perform better in their courses. This simple
fact inspired the creation of REVEL: an immersive learn-
ing experience designed for the way today’s students read,
think, and learn. Built in collaboration with educators and
of the hominin evolution chapter. His expertise in the most
current hypotheses within paleoanthropology and genetics
was extremely helpful.
We also extend thanks to all colleagues who sent us
photos and information for use in the biography boxes.
We are grateful for the unwavering support given to
this project by Pearson. Without the moral support and
encouragement of our acquisition editor Charlyce Owens-
Jones, Richard DeLorenzo Project Manager, Permissions
editor Brooks Hill-Whilton at Pearson and Senior Project
Manager at Lumina Datamatics Tracy Duff, Jen Simmons
Photo researcher at Lumina Datamatics, and Carol Ann
Ellis this project would have been much harder to complete.
Our warmest appreciation goes to our families, whose
emotional support and patience throughout the publica-
tion of the eight editions of this text truly made this book
possible.
Anyone with comments, suggestions, or recommen-
dations regarding this text is welcome to send e-mail mes-
sages to the following addresses: rscupin@lindenwood.edu or
crdecors@maxwell.syr.edu.
Raymond Scupin
Christopher R. DeCorse
students nationwide, REVEL is the newest, fully digital
way to deliver respected pearson content.
REVEL enlivens course content with media interactives
and assessments—integrated directly within the authors’
narrative—that provide opportunities for students to read
about and practice course material in tandem. This immer-
sive educational technology boosts student engagement,
which leads to better understanding of concepts and im-
proved performance throughout the course.
Learn more about REVEL: www.pearsonhighered
.com/REVEL
About the Authors
Raymond Scupin is Professor of Anthropology and
International Studies at Lindenwood University. He is
currently the Director at the Center for International
and Global Studies at Lindenwood. He received his B.A.
degree in history and Asian studies, and anthropology,
from the University of California—Los Angeles. He com-
pleted his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology at the
University of California—Santa Barbara. Dr. Scupin is
truly a four-field anthropologist. During graduate school,
he did archaeological and ethnohistorical research on
Native Americans in the Santa Barbara region. He did
extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Thailand with a
focus on understanding the ethnic and religious move-
ments among the Muslim minority. In addition, Dr. Scupin
taught linguistics and conducted linguistic research while
based at a Thai university.
Dr. Scupin has been teaching undergraduate and
graduate courses in anthropology for more than 30 years
at a variety of academic institutions, including community
colleges, research universities, and a four-year liberal arts
university. Thus, he has taught a very broad spectrum of
undergraduate students. Through his teaching experience,
Dr. Scupin was prompted to write this textbook, which
would allow a wide range of undergraduate students to
understand the holistic and global perspectives of the
four-field approach in anthropology. In 1999, he received
the Missouri Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
In 2007, Dr. Scupin received the Distinguished Scholars
Award at Lindenwood University.
Dr. Scupin has published many studies based on
his ethnographic research in Thailand. He returned to
Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia to update
his ethnographic data on Islamic trends in that area, an
increasingly important topic in the post-9/11 world. He
is a member of many professional associations, includ-
ing the American Anthropological Association, the Asian
Studies Association, and the Council of Thai Studies.
Dr. Scupin has recently authored Religion and Culture: An
Anthropological Focus, Race and Ethnicity: The United States
and the World, and Peoples and Cultures of Asia, all pub-
lished by Pearson Prentice Hall.
Christopher R. DeCorse received his B.A. in anthro-
pology with a minor in history from the University of
New Hampshire, before completing his M.A. and Ph.D.
degrees in archaeology at the University of California—Los
Angeles. His theoretical interests include the interpretation
of ethnicity and culture change in the archaeological record,
archaeology and popular culture, and general anthropol-
ogy. Dr. DeCorse has excavated a variety of prehistoric and
historic period sites in the United States, the Caribbean,
and Africa, but his primary area of research has been in
the archaeology, history, and ethnography of West Africa.
Dr. DeCorse has taught archaeology and general anthro-
pology in undergraduate and graduate programs at the
University of Ghana, Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
and Syracuse University, where he is currently professor
and past chair of the Department of Anthropology. His
academic honors and awards include: the Daniel Patrick
Moynihan Award for Outstanding Teaching, Research and
Service; the William Wasserstrom Award for Excellence in
Graduate Teaching; and the Syracuse University Excellence
in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award.
Dr. DeCorse is particularly interested in making
archaeology more accessible to general audiences. In addi-
tion to the single-authored physical anthropology and
archaeology textbook The Record of the Past: An Introduction
to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, he coauthored
with Brian Fagan, the eleventh edition of In the Beginning:
An Introduction to Archaeology, both published by Prentice
Hall. Dr. DeCorse’s academic publications include more
than 60 articles, book chapters, and research notes in a
variety of publications, including The African Archaeological
Review, Historical New Hampshire, Historical Archaeology, the
Journal of African Archaeology, and Slavery and Abolition. A
volume on his work in Ghana, An Archaeology of Elmina:
Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast 1400–1900, and an
edited volume, West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade:
Archaeological Perspectives, were published in 2001. His
most recent book (2008), Small Worlds: Method, Meaning,
and Narrative in Microhistory, coedited with James F. Brooks
and John Walton, deals with the interpretation of the past
through the lense of microhistory.
xvii
This page intentionally left blank
Chapter 1
Introduction to Anthropology

Chapter Outline
Anthropology: The Four
Subfields 2
Holistic Anthropology,
Interdisciplinary
Research, and the Global
Perspective 12
Anthropological
Explanations 13
Humanistic Interpretive
Approaches in
Anthropology 14
Why Study Anthropology? 16

Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to:
1.1 Compare and contrast the four major 1.4 Discuss how the field of anthropology
subfields of anthropology. bridges both the sciences and the
humanities.
1.2 Describe how the field of anthropology is
holistic, interdisciplinary, and global. 1.5 Describe why any student should study
anthropology.
1.3 Explain how the scientific method is used
in anthropological explanations.

1
2 Chapter 1
First contact. To science-fiction writers, first contact
refers to the first meeting between humans and extrater-
restrial beings. To anthropologists, the phrase refers to the
initial encounters between peoples of different societies.
For thousands of years, peoples throughout the world have
had first contacts with each other. Today, “first contacts”
are happening at every moment—through e-mail, smart-
phones, and the Web, as well as by the ease of international
travel. What do we observe at these “first contacts”? How
do we understand diverse peoples of the world? How can
we explain human behaviors? In a globalized world, these
questions are growing more and more important. As we
shall see in this chapter, anthropology incorporates four
major subfields that seek to understand different aspects of
humanity in much the same way that future space travel-
ers might investigate extraterrestrials.
Anthropologists use a variety of field methods, tech-
niques, and theoretical approaches to conduct their inves-
tigations, which have two major goals: to understand the
uniqueness and diversity of human behavior and human so-
cieties around the world and to discover the ­fundamental
similarities that connect human beings throughout the
world in both the past and the present. To accomplish
these goals, anthropologists undertake systematic case
studies of human populations across the globe.
These studies have broadened our understanding of
humanity, from the beginning of human societies to the
present. This chapter introduces the distinctive approaches
used in anthropology to achieve these goals.
Anthropology:
The Four Subfields
1.1 Compare and contrast the four major subfields of
anthropology.
The word anthropology is derived from the Greek words
­anthropo, meaning “human beings” or “humankind,” and
­logia, translated as “knowledge of” or “the study of.” Thus,
we can define anthropology as the study of humankind. This
definition in itself, however, does not distinguish anthropol-
ogy from other disciplines. After all, historians, psycholo-
gists, economists, sociologists, and scholars in many other
fields systematically study humankind in one way or an-
other. Anthropology stands apart because it combines four
subfields that bridge the natural sciences, the social sciences,
and the humanities. These four subfields—biological anthro-
pology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural
­anthropology—constitute a broad approach to the study of
humanity the world over, both past and present. Figure 1.1
shows these subfields and the various specializations that
make up each one. A discussion of these subfields and some
of the key specializations in each follows.
The subfields of anthropology initially emerged in
Western society in an attempt to understand non-Western
peoples. When Europeans began exploring and colonizing
the world in the fifteenth century, they encountered native
peoples in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
European travelers, missionaries, and government officials
described these non-Western cultures, providing a record
of their physical appearances, customs, and beliefs. By the
nineteenth century, anthropology had developed into the
primary discipline for understanding these non-­Western
societies and cultures. The major questions that these
nineteenth-century anthropologists sought to answer dealt
with the basic differences and similarities of human societ-
ies and cultures and with the physical variation found in
peoples throughout the world. Today, anthropologists do
not solely focus their attention on non-Western cultures:
They are just as likely to examine cultural practices in an
urban setting in the United States as to conduct fieldwork
in some far-off place. However, anthropologists continue
to grapple with the basic questions of human diversity and
similarities through systematic research within the four
subfields described below.
Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology, (also referred to as physical
anthropology) is the branch of anthropology concerned
with humans as a biological species. As such, it is the
subfield most closely related to the natural sciences. Bio-
logical a­ nthropologists conduct research in two major
­a reas: human evolution and modern human variation.
The ­investigation of human evolution presents one of the
most tantalizing areas of anthropological study. Research
has now traced the African origins
of humanity back over six million
years, while fieldwork in other
world areas has traced the
expansion of early hu-
man ancestors through-
out the world. Much
of the evidence for hu-
man origins consists
of ­f ossils, the frag-
mentary remains
of bones and living
m a t e r i a l s p re s e r v e d
from earlier periods.
The study of human
evolution through
analysis of fossils
is called paleoan-
thropology (the
prefix paleo from Excavation of a human skull from an
t h e G r e e k w o r d ­ancient burial
 Introduction to Anthropology 3

Figure 1.1 The four core subfields of anthropology and applied anthropology.

Physical Anthropology Prehistoric Archaeology

Forensic Anthropology Historical Archaeology
Paleoanthropology Classical Archaeology
Human Anatomy Demographic Archaeology
Human Taxonomy Biblical Archaeology
Paleopathology Maritime Archaeology
Primatology Underwater Archaeology
Ethology BIOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Urban Archaeology
Population Genetics ANTHROPOLOGY Ethnoarchaeology
Human Ecology Industrial Archaeology
Bioarchaeology Cognitive Archaeology
Anthropometry Cultural Resource Management

CULTURAL
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY
ETHNOLOGY

Structural Linguistics Ecological Anthropology

Historical Linguistics Demographic Anthropology
Phonology Economic Anthropology
Morphology Social Anthropology
Comparative Syntax Political Anthropology
Ethnosemantics Legal Anthropology
Cognitive Linguistics APPLIED Anthropology of Religion
Pragmatics ANTHROPOLOGY Psychological Anthropology
Sociolinguistics Medical Anthropology
Forensic Anthropology Urban Anthropology
Cultural Resource Management Applied Anthropology
Applied Cultural Anthropology Ethnomusicology
Anthropology of Art
Ethnopoetics

palaios means “old” or “ancient”). Paleoanthropologists
use a variety of scientific techniques to date, classify, and
compare fossilized bones to determine the links between
modern humans and their biological ancestors. These pa-
leoanthropologists may work closely with archaeologists
when studying ancient tools and activity a­ reas to learn
about the behavior of early human ancestors.
Other biological anthropologists explore human
evolution through primatology, the study of primates.
Primates are a diverse order of mammals that share an
evolutionary history with humans and, therefore, have
many physical characteristics in common with us. Many
primatologists observe primates such as chimpanzees,
gorillas, gibbons, and orangutans in their natural habitats
to ascertain the similarities and differences between these
other primates and humans. These observations of living
primates provide insight into the behaviors of early hu-
man ancestors.
Another group of biological anthropologists focuses
their research on the range of physical variation within
and among different modern human populations. These
anthropologists study human variation by measuring
physical characteristics—such as body size, variation in
blood types, or differences in skin color—or various ge-
netic traits. Their research aims at explaining why such
variation occurs, as well as documenting the differences
in human populations.
Skeletal structure is also the focus of anthropologi-
cal research. Human osteology is the particular area of
specialization within biological anthropology dealing
with the study of the human skeleton. Such studies
have wide-ranging applications, from the identification
of murder victims from fragmentary skeletal remains
to the design of ergonomic airplane cockpits. Biological
anthropologists are also interested in evaluating how
disparate physical characteristics reflect evolutionary
adaptations to different environmental conditions, thus
shedding light on why human populations vary.
An increasingly important area of research within bio-
logical anthropology is genetics, the study of the biological
4 Chapter 1

“blueprints” that dictate the inheritance of physical char-
acteristics. Genetics research examines a wide variety of
questions. It has, for example, been important in identify-
ing the genetic sources of some diseases, such as sickle-
cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease. Recent
genetics research has also focused on how human popu-
lations living in the Himalayan Mountains are adapting
to new environmental conditions and low oxygen levels
found at the altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level. Re-
search revealed that the gene or genes that determine high-
oxygen blood count for women gave survival and adaptive
capacities in this high mountain altitude, demonstrating
a case of natural selection and human evolution within a
particular localized environment (Beall, Song, Elston, and
Goldstein 2004).
Genetics has also provided important clues into hu-
man origins. Through the study of the genetic makeup
of modern humans, biological anthropologists have cal-
culated the genetic distance among modern humans,
thus providing a means of inferring rates of evolution
and the evolutionary relationships within the species.
The Genographic Project is gathering samples of DNA
from populations throughout the world to trace human
evolution. Labs analyzing DNA have been established in
different regions of the world by the Genographic Proj-
ect. As DNA is transmitted from parents to offspring,
most of the genetic material is recombined and mutated.
However, some mutated DNA remains fairly stable over
the course of generations. This stable mutated DNA can
serve as “genetic markers” that are passed on to each
generation and create populations with distinctive sets
of DNA. These genetic markers distinguish ancient lin-
eages of DNA. By following the pathways of these ge-
netic markers, genetic paleoanthropologists can blend

Anthropologists at Work
John Hawks,
Biological Anthropologist
John Hawks is a biological anthropolo-
gist who works on the border between
paleoanthropology and genetics. He got
his start teaching evolution in his home
state of Kansas, followed by doctoral
training and teaching in Michigan, Utah,
and his current home, the University of
Wisconsin. He studies the relationships
between the genes of living and ancient
people, to discover the ways that natu-
ral selection has affected them. In 2007,
Hawks and his co-workers scanned
the genome, finding evidence for wide-
spread selection on new, advantageous
mutations during the last 40,000 years
(Hawks et al. 2007). The breadth of this
selection across the genome indicated
that human evolution actually acceler-
ated as larger populations and new ag-
ricultural subsistence exerted strong
pressures on ancient people. Far from
slowing down our evolution, culture had
created new opportunities for adaptive
change in the human population.
Hawks made substantial contribu-
tions examining the Neandertal genome.
The availability of genetic evidence from
ancient bones has transformed the way we
study these ancient people. By ­comparing
Neandertal genes with humans and chim-
panzees, it will become possible to ex-
pand our knowledge of evolution beyond
the skeletal record, finding signs from the
immune system, digestion, and pigmen-
tation, to traits like hearing and ultimately,
the brain itself.
Hawks is probably most widely
known for his blog, which is visited by
several thousand readers every day. De-
scribing new research from an expert’s
perspective, he has shown the power of
public outreach as an element of the sci-
entific process. This element of his work
has made him a leader in the “open sci-
ence” movement, trying to expand pub-
lic accessibility to scientific research and John Hawks
open access to scientific data.
Hawks says that a biological an- environment gives biological anthropol-
thropologist has to use evidence from ogists a way to i­nterpret ancient fossils
the fossil record and has to be trained and place them in their ­environmental
in human anatomy—especially bone context. However, Hawks’ scientific
anatomy, or osteology. B ­ iological work hasn’t been ­limited to genetics and
­a nthropologists have to know the fossils. He has become more and more
­a natomical comparisons between interested in the problems of cultural
­h umans and other primates, and the transmission and information theory.
way these anatomies relate to habitual Hawks welcomes everyone who is
­b ehaviors. The social and ecological interested in human evolution based on
behaviors of primates vary extensively a scientific approach to go to his blog
in response to their unique ecologi- at http://johnhawks.net/weblog/hawks/
cal circumstances. Understanding the hawks.html.
­relationship of anatomy, behavior, and

ing ­archaeological data, a host of new t­ echniques are avail-
able to help ­archaeologists locate and study ­archaeological
sites. One innovative a­ pproach increasingly used in
­archaeology e­ mploys the GIS (­ Geographic I­ nformation
Children of different nationalities and cultures
archaeology, prehistoric, and linguistic data with pa-
leoanthropological data to trace human evolution. The
Genographic Project traces both mitochondrial DNA
(passed from mother to offspring in long lineages of
maternal descent) and the Y chromosome (passed from
father to son). These data have helped provide indepen-
dent evidence for the African origins of the modern hu-
man species and human ancestors. This evidence will be
discussed in later chapters on the evolution of modern
humans. Individuals can join the project and submit
samples of their own DNA to trace their genetic linkage
to ancient populations at https://genographic.national-
geographic.com.
Archaeology
Archaeology, the branch of anthropology that examines
the material traces of past societies informs us about the
culture of those societies—the shared way of life of a group
of people that includes their values, beliefs, and norms.
­Artifacts, the material products of former societies, pro-
vide clues to the past. Some archaeological sites reveal
spectacular jewelry like that found by the film character
Indiana Jones or in the treasures of a pharaoh’s tomb. Most
artifacts, however, are not so spectacular. Despite the popu-
lar image of archaeology as an adventurous, even romantic
pursuit, it usually consists of methodical, time-consuming,
and—sometimes—somewhat tedious research. Archaeolo-
gists often spend hours sorting through ancient trash piles,
or middens, to discover how members of past societies ate
their meals, what tools they used in their households and
Introduction to Anthropology 5
in their work, and what beliefs gave meaning to their lives.
They collect and carefully analyze the broken f­ ragments
of pottery, stone, glass, and other materials. It may take
them months or even years to fully complete the study
of an excavation. Unlike fictional ­a rchaeologists, who
­experience glorified adventures, real-world ­archaeologists
thrive on the intellectually challenging adventure of
­s ystematic, scientific r­ esearch that e­ nlarges our under-
standing of the past. While excavation, or “scientific
­digging,” and f­ ieldwork remains the key means of gather-
Systems), a tool that is also increasingly used by environ-
mental scientists and g ­ eologists, as well as geographers.
Archaeologists can use the GIS linked to satellites to plot
the locations of ancient s­ ettlements, transportation routes,
and even the d ­ istribution of individual objects, allowing
them to study the patterns and changes represented
­(Tripcevich and Wenke 2010).
Archaeologists have examined sites the world over,
from campsites of the earliest humans to modern land-
fills. Some archaeologists investigate past societies whose
history is primarily told by the archaeological record.
Known as prehistoric archaeologists, they study the artifacts
of groups such as the ancient inhabitants of Europe and
the first humans to arrive in the Americas. Because these
researchers have no written documents or oral traditions
to help interpret the sites they examine and the artifacts
they recover, the archaeological record provides the pri-
mary source of information for their interpretations of
the past. Historical archaeologists, on the other hand, work
with historians in investigating the societies of the more
recent past. For e­ xample, some historical archaeologists
have probed the remains of plantations in the southern
United States to gain an understanding of the lifestyles of
enslaved Africans and slave owners during the nineteenth
century. Other archaeologists, called classical archaeologists,
conduct research on ancient civilizations such as in Egypt,
Greece, and Rome.
There are many more areas of specialization within ar-
chaeology that reflect the geographic area, topic, or time
period on which the archaeologist works (see Figure 1.1).
Examples of these specializations include industrial ar-
chaeology, biblical archaeology, medieval and postmedi-
eval archaeology, and Islamic archaeology. Underwater
archaeologists are unique in being distinguished from
other archaeologists by the distinctive equipment, meth-
ods, and procedures needed to excavate under water. They
investigate a wide range of time periods and sites through-
out the world, ranging from sunken cities to shipwrecks.
Another field of archaeology is called ethnoarchaeology.
6 Chapter 1
Archaeologists excavating the site of Elmina in coastal Ghana.
Ethnoarchaeology is the study of artifacts and material
record of modern peoples to understand the use and sym-
bolic meaning of those artifacts.
In another novel approach, still other archaeologists
have turned their attention to the very recent past. For ex-
ample, in 1972, William L. Rathje began a study of modern
garbage as an assignment for the students in his introduc-
tory anthropology class. Even he was surprised at the num-
ber of people who took an interest in the findings. A careful
study of garbage provides insights about modern society
that cannot be ferreted out in any other way. Whereas ques-
tionnaires and interviews depend upon the cooperation
and interpretation of respondents, garbage provides an un-
biased physical record of human activity. Rathje’s pioneer-
ing “garbology project” is still in progress and, combined
with information from respondents, offers a unique look at
patterns of waste management, consumption, and alcohol
use in contemporary U.S. society (Rathje 1992).
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistics, the study of language, has a long history that
dovetails with the discipline of philosophy, but is also
one of the integral subfields of anthropology. ­Linguistic
­a nthropology focuses on the relationship between
language and culture, how language is used within soci-
ety, and how the human brain acquires and uses language.
Linguistic anthropologists seek to discover the ways in
which languages are different from one another, as well as
how they are similar. Two wide-ranging areas of research
in linguistic anthropology are structural linguistics and
historical linguistics.
Structural linguistics explores how language works.
Structural linguists compare grammatical patterns or other
linguistic elements to learn how contemporary languages
mirror and differ from one another. Structural linguistics
has also uncovered some intriguing relationships between
language and thought patterns among different groups of
people. Do people who speak different languages with dis-
tinct grammatical structures think and perceive the world
differently from each other? Do native Chinese speakers
think or view the world and life experiences differently
from native English speakers? Structural linguists are at-
tempting to answer this type of question.
Linguistic anthropologists also examine the connec-
tions between language and social behavior in different
cultures. This specialty is called sociolinguistics. Sociolin­
guists are interested both in how language is used to define
social groups and in how belonging to a particular group
leads to specialized kinds of language use. In Thailand, for

Anthropologists at Work
Kelley Hays-Gilpin,
Archaeologist
Conservation of the past, the decipher-
ing of gender in the archaeological re-
cord, and the meaning of rock art are
just a few of the intriguing topics that
Kelley Hays-Gilpin has addressed in
more than two decades of research.
Hays-Gilpin is an archaeologist with
a research focus on the prehistoric
American Southwest, particularly the
history and archaeology of the Pueblo
peoples. Like many modern archaeolo-
gists, her career has included work in
both cultural resource management
and university teaching (see Chapter
25). Her doctoral work focused on early
decorated ceramics in the Four Corners
region in the Southwest, and she be-
gan her career with the Navajo Nation
Archaeology Department in Flagstaff,
Arizona. Hays-Gilpin worked on col-
lections salvaged from archaeological
sites destroyed by development proj-
ects or threatened by construction.
Currently, she teaches archaeology,
ceramic analysis, and rock art courses
at Northern Arizona University in Flag-
staff, located just hours from the Petri-
fied Forest National Park and significant
rock art sites.
Although concerned with the inter-
pretation of past technology and adept
at ceramic classification, Hays-Gilpin
has consistently sought to push the in-
terpretation of archaeological data to
extract deeper meaning than archae-
ologists usually propose. Beginning with
her doctoral work, she became increas-
ingly interested in the study of ideology,
symbols, and gender in the archaeo-
logical record. Through the compara-
tive study of pottery, textiles, and rock
art, she used ancient art as a means of
understanding cultural continuity and
change. This research furthered her un-
derstanding of modern Native American
perceptions of, and concerns about, the
past. For Hays-Gilpin, the significance
of ancient objects to contemporary in-
digenous people—having conversations
about ancestors and making connec-
tions between the past and present—is
of crucial importance. It is about being
able to glean messages from the past
that help us live better lives in the pres-
ent, including such matters as how to
grow food in the desert and how to help
others understand and appreciate their
heritage.
Hays-Gilpin co-authored an inter-
disciplinary study of Prehistoric San-
dals from Northeastern Arizona: The
Earl H. Morris and Ann Axtell Morris
Research, published in 1998. It draws
on the research of three generations of
women engaged in the study of essen-
tially the same group of archaeologi-
cal materials from sites in northeastern
Arizona. While it provides a detailed
examination of a particular collec-
tion, the study also affords insight into
changing perceptions of archaeological
interpretation. Also published in 1998
was Hays-Gilpin’s co-edited volume,
Reader in Gender Archaeology, which
helped establish the legitimacy of gen-
dered approaches to the study of the
archaeological record.
For archaeologists, rock art—
paintings and engravings—provides a
unique source of information, offering
clues to prehistoric subsistence, ideol-
ogy, and religion. Yet the interpretation
of these prehistoric creations is chal-
lenging, and they have often received
less attention than they deserve. Hays-
Gilpin’s Ambiguous Images: Gender
and Rock Art (2004), which won the
Society for American Archaeology’s
2005 book prize, provides a significant
contribution to the relatively unexplored
field of gender in rock art. Hays-Gilpin
demonstrates that rock art is one of
the best lines of evidence available to
understand the ritual practices, gender
roles, and ideological constructs of pre-
historic peoples.
In addition to her current aca-
demic position, Hays-Gilpin holds the
Edward Bridge Danson Chair of An-
thropology at the Museum of Northern
Arizona, where she is director of the
Hopi Iconography Project. This proj-
ect, a collaborative effort between the
Introduction to Anthropology 7
Kelley Hays-Gilpin
museum and the Hopi Tribe’s cultural
preservation office, explores Hopi cul-
tural continuity over centuries, if not
millennia, through pottery, rock art,
mural p ­ ainting, baskets, and textiles.
More important, the project is explor-
ing ways in which Hopi traditions can
help shape a sustainable future for
Hopi communities through subsistence
farming, craft production, public health
programs, and cultural revitalization.
For Hays-Gilpin, the study of ar-
chaeology must emphasize teamwork
and reward team players. She feels that
archaeologists are not in competition
with one another, but rather in compe-
tition with the forces that are destroy-
ing the archaeological record faster
than it can be studied. Her research
and career epitomize this approach to
archaeology. Hays-Gilpin advocates
monitoring and reporting on sites that
have been threatened with destruc-
tion, and she continues work on many
collections that have resided in mu-
seums for as much as a century. Her
work has led her to collaborate with a
network of archaeologists, cultural an-
thropologists, art historians, linguistic
anthropologists, and Hopi artists. Her
interdisciplinary approach to the past
exemplifies modern archaeology’s ho-
listic and inclusive requirements—quite
a contrast to its more narrowly special-
ized traditions. With this new approach,
Hays-Gilpin has helped to redefine the
discipline of archaeology.
8 Chapter 1
Anthropologist Christina Dames doing linguistic research in West
Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia
example, there are 13 forms of the pronoun I. One form is
used with equals, other forms come into play with people
of higher status, and some forms are used when males ad-
dress females (Scupin 1988).
Anthropologists at Work
Bonnie Urciuoli,
Linguistic Anthropologist
Bonnie Urciuoli completed her B.A. in
English at Syracuse University. She
completed her M.A. and Ph.D. at the
University of Chicago. Her doctorate
combined the study of both anthropol-
ogy and linguistics. She has done re-
search in New York City as a linguistic
consultant on a Columbia University-
sponsored project with Puerto Rican
and African-American teenagers; with
grants from the Ford Foundation and the
Spencer Foundation. In this project she
studied Puerto Rican families in Manhat-
tan and the Bronx, examining patterns of
Spanish-English bilinguals and related
language ideologies. She has taught
linguistics and anthropology at Indiana
University and, since 1988, at Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York. Based on
her research on Puerto Rican bilingual-
ism in New York City, Urciuoli began
examining the intersection of race, class
and linguistic identity, which resulted
in several articles and a 1996 book re-
cently re-issued and entitled Exposing
Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences
of Language, Race, and Class. In this
Another area of research that has interested linguistic
anthropologists is historical linguistics. Historical ­linguistics
concentrates on the comparison and classification of different
languages to discern the historical links among them. By ex-
amining and analyzing grammatical structures and sounds
of languages, researchers are able to discover rules for how
languages change over time, as well as which languages are
related to one another historically. This type of historical lin-
guistic research is particularly useful in tracing the migration
routes of various societies through time by offering multiple
lines of evidence—archaeological, paleoanthropological,
and linguistic. For example, through historical linguistic re-
search, anthropologists have corroborated the Asian origins
of the Native American populations.
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology is the subfield of anthropology that
examines contemporary societies and cultures throughout
the world. Cultural anthropologists do research in all over
the world, from the tropical rainforests of the Democratic
book Urciuoli describes how Puerto Ri-
can migrants struggle to adjust to the
mainly English-speaking majority. She
discusses the history and relationship
of the United States and Puerto Rico,
in which Puerto Rico has often been
referred to as a “backward” and “unde-
veloped” society. These negative char-
acterizations have consequences for the
Puerto Rican migrants who come to the
United States and find themselves as
a discriminated racial underclass. With
Urciuoli’s focus on language, she notes
how Puerto Rican English is often de-
scribed as “broken” or “ungrammatical”
and how prejudice connects to language Bonnie Urciuoli
and influences discrimination in obtain-
ing jobs and achievements in education. prevalent in the United States and have
The Puerto Rican migrants are urged to a definite influence on how ethnic minor-
get rid of their accent in order to suc- ities are treated.
ceed in business and in education. Urciuoli’s current research began
When Puerto Rican migrants do speak when she met Latino students from
English with teachers, employers, and working-class backgrounds at the rural
others, their experience is often fraught and the largely white affluent student
with fear and anxiety. Urciuoli studies population at Hamilton College in up-
how “accents,” “pronunciation,” “tone,” state New York. These Latino students
and “word choice’” are perceived by were very similar to the Puerto Rican
people of various ethnic backgrounds, teenagers she encountered in New
including the Puerto Ricans. Her book York City, who were the topic of her
indicates that language prejudices are book Exposing Prejudice. Urciuoli has
 Introduction to Anthropology 9

been publishing articles about how col-
leges market multiculturalism and diver-
sity as part of their image, while Latino
students and those of other minority
groups who provide that diversity often
experience social and academic strug-
gles. At times, these Latino students
are categorized and diagnosed as hav-
ing “language interference,” or “learning
disorders” (Urciuoli 2003). Currently, Ur-
ciuoli is conducting in-depth interviews
with these Latino students about their
educational experiences, which will be-
come her new book on this topic.
Urciuoli has also contributed some
unique linguistic anthropological re-
search of the Internet. In an essay en-
titled “Skills and Selves in the New
Workplace” published in the American
Ethnologist, Urciuoli analyzes the lan-
guage of Internet corporate Web sites
that market skills-related services. She
investigates the language that the cor-
porate world uses in which students or
workers have to position themselves
when seeking and performing their jobs.
Corporations include key terms such as
skills, communication, team, and leader-
ship in their advertisements, workshops,
and literature on the Internet. Urciuoli
seeks to understand how students and
workers are supposed to manage their
“selves” in the corporate environment.
The corporate world presents “skills” as
quantifiable, testable, and subject to rat-
ings. In the early days of the industrial
revolution, “skills” were related to the
tasks that were needed to perform in the
factory. However, currently, the corpo-
rate language used tends to construct di-
verse “soft skills” as easily assessed and
unproblematic for evaluating the mar-
ket value of one’s own self in relation to
leadership, teamwork, or other manage-
ment performance criteria. Educational
institutions in the United States have
been influenced by what the corporate
world deems important for skill devel-
opment. Students and workers have to
market themselves as having a “bundle
of skills” in order to become success-
ful. Corporate Web sites and workshops
emphasize how students and workers
are responsible for developing these
“soft skills.” However, in reality these di-
verse skills are not as easily tested and
assessed as presented in these corpo-
rate advertisements and literature. It is
important to realize that this essay was
published in 2008, just as the American
economy was entering a devastating re-
cession. Since that time, many students
have been striving to market themselves
for the American economy by developing
and presenting these “bundles of skills”
for success. Bonnie Urciuoli has con-
tributed toward an understanding of this
process with her linguistic anthropologi-
cal analysis of the Internet.

Republic of the Congo and Brazil to the Arctic regions of
Canada, from the deserts of the Middle East to the urban
areas of China. The first professional cultural anthro-
pologists conducted research on non-Western or remote
­cultures in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America,
and the Pacific Islands and on the Native American popu-
lations in the United States. Today, however, many cultural
anthropologists have turned to research on their own cul-
tures in order to gain a better understanding of their insti-
tutions and cultural values.
Cultural anthropologists (sometimes the terms sociocul-
tural anthropologist and ethnographer are used interchangeably
with cultural anthropologist) use a unique research strategy in
conducting their fieldwork in different settings. This research
strategy is referred to as participant ­observation because
cultural anthropologists learn the language and culture of
the group being studied by participating in the group’s daily
activities. Through this intensive participation, they become
deeply familiar with the group and can understand and ex-
plain the society and culture of the group as insiders. We dis-
cuss the methods and techniques of cultural anthropologists
at greater length in Chapter 14.
The results of the fieldwork of the cultural anthro-
pologist are written up as an ethnography, a description
of a society. A typical ethnography reports on the envi-
ronmental setting, economic patterns, social organiza-
tion, ­political system, and religious rituals and beliefs of
the society under study. This description is based on what
anthropologists call ethnographic data. The gathering of
ethnographic data in a systematic manner is the specific
research goal of the cultural anthropologist. Technically,
ethnology refers to anthropologists who focus on the
cross-cultural aspects of the various ethnographic studies
done by the cultural anthropologists. Ethnologists analyze
the data that are produced by the individual ethnographic
studies to produce cross-cultural generalizations about
­humanity and cultures. Many cultural anthropologists use
ethnological methods to compare their research from their
own ethnographic fieldwork with the research findings
from other societies throughout the world.
Applied Anthropology
The four subfields of anthropology (biological anthropol-
ogy, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural an-
thropology) are well established. However, anthropologists
also recognize a fifth subfield. Applied anthropology is the
use of anthropological data from the other subfields to ad-
dress modern problems and concerns. These problems may
be environmental, technological, economic, social, political,
or cultural. Anthropologists have played an increasing role
in the development of government policies and legislation,
the planning of development projects, and the implementa-
tion of marketing strategies. Although anthropologists are
typically trained in one of the major subfields, an increas-
ing number are finding employment outside of universities
10 Chapter 1
Anthropologists at Work
Scott Atran,
Cultural Anthropologist
Born in 1952 in New York City, Scott
Atran went to Columbia University as
a Westinghouse mathematics scholar.
At a student demonstration against the
Vietnam War in 1970, he met the fa-
mous anthropologist Margaret Mead,
and she invited him to work as her as-
sistant at the American Museum of
National History. In 1970, Atran also
traveled to the Middle East for the first
time, conducting fieldwork in Palestin-
ian villages. As a graduate student in
1974, Atran organized a famous debate
at the Abbaye de Royaumont in France
on the nature of universals in human
thought and society, with the participa-
tion of some well-known scholars such
as the linguist Noam Chomsky, the psy-
chologist Jean Piaget, the anthropolo-
gists Claude Lévi-Strauss and Gregory
Bateson, and the biologists François Ja-
cob and Jacques Monod, a conference
which many consider a milestone in the
development of the field known as cog-
nitive science.
Atran continued observing societ-
ies as he traveled overland from Por-
tugal to China, via Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Landing again in the Middle
East, he conducted ethnographic re-
search on kinship and social ties, land
tenure, and political economy among
the Druze, a religious group in Israel
and Lebanon. Later, Atran became a
pioneer in the study of the founda-
tions of biological thinking in Western
science and other Native American
Indian groups such as the Itzá Maya
in Mexico. This research became the
basis of his well-known books Cogni-
tive Foundations of Natural History: To-
wards an Anthropology of Science, The
Native Mind and the Cultural Construc-
tion of Nature, and Plants of the Petén
Itzá Maya, which illustrate how people
throughout the world classified bio-
logical species of plants and animals in
very similar ways.
Later, Atran began an investiga-
tion of the cognitive and evolutionary
foundations of religion, which resulted
in his widely acclaimed book In Gods
We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape
of Religion In this book Atran explores
the psychological foundations of reli-
gion and how it has become a universal
feature of all human societies. He has
also contributed toward an understand-
ing of the characteristics associated
with suicide bombers and political and
religious terrorism in different areas of
the world. Atran has been funded by
the National Science Foundation and
other agencies to study the phenom-
ena of terrorism; this has included
fieldwork and interviews with al-Qaeda
associates and other militant groups,
as well as with political leaders in con-
flict zones in Europe, the Middle East,
Central and Southeast Asia, and North
Africa. His recent book Talking to the
Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood and the (Un)
Making of Terrorists is based on this
long-term research. In March, 2010,
Atran testified before the Senate Armed
Services Subcommittee on Emerg-
ing Threats and Capabilities today on
“Pathways to and from Violent Extrem-
ism: The Case for Science-Based Field
Research.”
Atran has taught at Cambridge Uni-
versity, Hebrew University in Jerusalem,
and the École des hautes études en sci-
ences sociales (School for the Advanced
Studies of the Social Sciences) in Paris.
He is currently a research director in an-
thropology at the Centre national de la
recherche scientifique (The Center for
Scientific Research, CNRS) based in
Paris and is a member of the Jean Nicod
Institute at the École normale supérieure.
He is also visiting professor of psychol-
ogy and public policy at the University of
Michigan, presidential scholar in sociol-
ogy at the John Jay College of Criminal
Justice in New York City, and co-founder
of ARTIS Research and Risk Modeling.
Most recently Atran has become senior
fellow and co-founder of the Centre for
the Resolution of Intractable Conflicts, at
Harris Manchester College and the De-
partment of Social Anthropology, Oxford
University.
Atran’s broadly interdisciplinary
scientific studies on human reasoning
Scott Atran
processes and cultural management of
the environment, and on religion and
terrorism, have been featured around
the world in science publications, such
as Science, Nature, Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences USA,
and Brain and Behavioral Sciences,
as well as the popular press, includ-
ing features stories with BBC television
and radio, National Public Radio, The
Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek.
He has been the subject of a cover
story in The New York Times Maga-
zine (“Darwin’s God,” 2007) and has
written numerous op-eds for the New
York Times and the magazine Foreign
Policy.
Atran has teamed up with psychol-
ogists and political scientists, including
Douglas Medin and Robert Axelrod, to
experiment extensively on the ways sci-
entists and lay people categorize and
reason about nature, on the cognitive
and evolutionary psychology of religion,
and on the role of sacred values in po-
litical and cultural conflict. Based on
recent fieldwork, he has testified before
the U.S. Congress and has repeatedly
briefed National Security Council staff
at the White House on paths to vio-
lent extremism among youth in South-
east and South Asia, the Middle East,
North Africa, and Europe. Atran has
utilized his knowledge and research
as a cultural anthropologist to help un-
derstand some of the basic questions
of human life and also to contribute to
solving some of our current problems
with globally sponsored political and
religious terrorism.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Fig. 32.—The demon of the South-West Wind.
Louvre. Actual size.
Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
Nothing could be clearer than the governing idea of this
conception. The artist has wished to unite in a single being the
highest powers of life and nature—the bull, the lion, the eagle: these
are types of physical force differently applied. Patient and tenacious
in the bull, who drags the plough and transports the heaviest
burdens; violent and impetuous in the lion, while in the king of birds
the formidable strength of beak and talons add to the fear inspired by
his lightning flight. Finally, the head and countenance are those of a
man, the impersonation of intelligent force, of will governed by
reflection, before which every living thing has to bow.
The root of this conception is the same as that by which the
Egyptian sphinx was suggested. The chief differences lie in the
greater complexity of the winged bull and in its less quiescent
attitude. The sphinx combines but two elements, the man and the
lion; its pose is easier and perhaps more natural than that of the
Assyrian animal. It is extended on the ground, its paws stretched idly
before it, an attitude that could be preserved without fatigue for an
indefinite time, and therefore in complete accordance with its
governing idea, and with the function it had to fill at the gates of a
palace or temple. That idea, for the bull as well as the sphinx, was
force in repose. But the bull stands upright, and, when looked at from
one side, seems to walk. We feel that if he did complete his stride he
would bring the structure that stands on his loins down about our
ears.
Here, as in most cases where comparison is possible, the
advantage remains with Egypt. But yet the Assyrian type is by no
means without a certain nobility and beauty of its own. In spite of
their colossal dimensions, in spite of the supernatural vigour of their
limbs and the exaggerated energy and salience of their muscles,
there is a kind of robust grace in the leading lines and proportions of
these figures to which we cannot be indifferent, and their effect is
increased by the wings that lie along their backs and furnish so
happily the upper part of the huge alabaster slabs, above which
nothing rises but the horned tiara. Finally, the face with its strongly
marked features, with its frame of closely curled hair and beard
arranged in the strictest symmetry, is still more remarkable than all
the rest (Fig. 33). The expression is grave and proud, and
sometimes almost smiling. It is in fine harmony with the general idea
that led the Chaldæans to create these mysterious but kindly beings,
and to endow them with their mighty frames of stone.[101]
 Fig. 33.—Head of a winged bull of
Assurbanipal. British Museum. Height 38
inches.
Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
These bulls have only been actually found in Assyria, but
numerous and precise texts have been deciphered by which their
existence at the gateways of Chaldæan temples and palaces has
been proved.[102] They are not now to be met with in the country of
their origin, because their material was too rare in the lower part of
the great basin to escape the attacks of spoilers. Soft or hard,
volcanic or calcareous, stone was there precious and difficult to find.
Sooner or later such objects as these would be dragged from their
ancient sites and broken up to be used anew. If chance had not so
willed that the Assyrian palaces were preserved for us by
entombment in their own ruins, we should now have known nothing
of a type that played a great part in the decoration of Mesopotamian
buildings, and, by its originality, made a great impression upon
neighbouring peoples; or at least we should only know it by
reproductions on a very small scale, like those we meet with on the
cylinders, or by imitations vastly inferior to the originals, like those of
the palaces at Persepolis.

Fig. 34.—Cone of chalcedony. In the National

Library at Paris. Actual size.
Instead of a human head on the body of a beast, we sometimes
find the process reversed, but always with an amount of taste and
reserve to which we are compelled to render due praise. We may, of
course, quote instances in which the head of an eagle is put upon a
human body (Vol. I. Fig. 8), or the shoulders of a man concealed
under a fish’s scales (Vol. I. Fig. 9, and above, Fig. 34); but even
then the sculptor has succeeded in giving to the characteristic lines
and attitudes of the human figure the predominance that belongs to
them, and, as it were, has made them cast an air of nobility over the
whole composition.
 Fig. 35.—Izdubar and lion. Double the actual size. From a
cylinder in the British Museum.
It is thus with a curious type to which our reader’s attention
should be drawn; we mean that of the personage called Izdubar by
some Assyriologists, and Hea-bani by others. Whichever name we
may choose, the person in question was “a mighty hunter,” like the
Nimrod of Genesis, a hero distinguished for his valour and for the
difficulties he overcame. So that he might be free in his movements
and ready for every work of activity and vigour, he is naked. Even
under the dry method of the Chaldæan gem engraver we can
appreciate the amplitude of his form and the power of his muscles.
He is also distinguished by the size of his face, which is always fully
seen, and seems to be the result of a compromise between the
features of a man and those of a lion. This deliberately exaggerated
head is enframed in long shaggy hair. Upon some cylinders we see
Izdubar in a state of repose, behind the throne of a god to whom he
acts as acolyte or guard of honour (Vol. I., Fig. 17), elsewhere he is
seen in the exercise of his functions, if we may call them so,
accomplishing some such task as those that made the fame of the
Greek Hercules, whose ancestor he may perhaps have been. We
find him on a cylinder in the British Museum carrying off a slain lion
on his shoulders (Fig. 35).

Fig. 36.—Winged genius. Louvre. Height 10 feet.

Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
 We again find the human form predominant in those great winged
genii for which Chaldæan art had so strong a predilection (Figs. 4
and 29). The two pairs of wings are very happily allied to the body,
and both Greek and modern art has had recourse to the type thus
created, the former for the figures of certain minor divinities,
especially for that of Victory, and Christian art for its angels. In both
these instances, however, we find but a single pair of wings. The
artists of Assyria, especially in their rare attempts to treat the figure
from a front view, have used the two pairs of wings with great felicity
to furnish the background, against which the human form stands out
in all the vigour of its robust muscularity. Our readers may judge of
this from our reproduction of one of the reliefs brought to the Louvre
from Khorsabad (Fig. 36).
These winged men serve as a kind of transition between the
complex beings noticed above, and the sculptures in which the
human form is treated without any supernatural additions. So far as
we can guess in our present uncertainty as to the ranks of the
celestial hierarchy of Chaldæa, it would appear that the forms and
features of men and women were alone thought worthy to represent
the greatest of their divinities. Take the statue of Nebo, figured on
page 81 of our last volume, take the gods introduced into the
ceremonies we have already figured (Vol. I., Figs. 13 and 14), after
reliefs from Nimroud and Kouyundjik (Fig. 37).[103] In this last-named
work the god, Raman or Marduk, holds a flower. At Nimroud there is
a god with horned forehead who grasps an axe in one hand and a
thunderbolt in the other. In the female figure, twice repeated with
slightly different attributes, that precedes the god, Istar has been
recognized. See also the statue of Istar in Vol. I., Fig. 16, and the
image of that Chaldæan Venus so often repeated on the cylinders
(Figs. 38 and 39). In form Istar is but a woman, and the artist would
have made her beautiful if he had known how. She is shown naked,
against the general custom of an art that everywhere else hid the
human body under ample draperies. This nudity must have been
intended to suggest those feminine charms by which desire is
awakened and life preserved on the world.
Fig. 37.—Carrying the gods. From the palace of Sennacherib; from Layard.

Fig. 38.—Istar and the sacrificing priest.

 Fig. 39.—Istar between two personages.
Hague Museum.
The supreme gods, the Bels or Lords, were treated in the same
way when all the majesty of their station had to be suggested. Each
of these had his domicile in one of the principal sanctuaries of
Chaldæa and Syria. At Sippara it was Samas, or the sun personified
(Vol. I., Fig. 71); upon the seal of Ourkam (Vol. I., Fig. 3), upon
another cylinder on which there are many curious and inexplicable
details (Fig. 17), and upon a last monument of the same kind which
dates from the early centuries of Chaldæan civilization (Fig. 40), it is
a Bel whose name escapes us;[104] but in all the theme is the same,
and the type almost exactly similar. We can hardly be mistaken in
recognizing a god in the personage seated on a richly decorated
throne, towards whom two or three figures, sometimes of smaller
size than himself, advance in an attitude of respectful homage. He is
crowned with a lofty tiara, a long beard flows over his breast, a robe
of fine plaited stuff enwraps his whole body and falls to his feet. He is
a man in the prime of life; his air and costume must have been taken
from those of the king. May we not look upon him as the first sketch
for the Greek Zeus, the Zeus of Homer and Phidias?
 This type is never disfigured by any of those attempts, of which
the Chaldæans were so fond, to add to the significance of the human
figure by endowing it with features borrowed from various lower
animals. It should be noticed, however, that on one of the cylinders
we have figured (Vol. I., Fig. 17) there is a personage with two faces,
like the Roman Janus. But this is not the seated god. It is not the
great deity before whom the other actors in the scene stand erect, it
is one of the secondary personages, one of the inferior divinities who
bring offerings or receive instructions, in short, one of those genii
whose numerous and complex attributes first suggested these
fantastic combinations.

Fig. 40.—Lapis-lazuli cylinder. In the French National Library.

We find then that when the Chaldæans set themselves to search
for the most suitable way of figuring their gods, they ended by
thoroughly appreciating the excellence of the human form; with a few
exceptions, they abandoned the idea of correcting and perfecting it;
they were content to copy it sincerely and unaffectedly, to render the
characteristic features of the maid and the mother, the youth and the
man of mature age to whom years have lent dignity without taking
away vitality. These forms they covered as a rule with ample drapery,
but for certain types, those, for instance, of the goddess of love and
fecundity, and the demi-god whom we have compared to the Greek
Hercules, they had recourse to all the frankness of nudity. How was
it that under such conditions they never succeeded in endowing their
goddesses with grace, or their gods with nobility of form? Can it be
denied that the few nude figures they have left us are far inferior, not
only to those the Greeks were afterwards to design with so sure a
hand, but even to the hundreds and thousands of human forms with
which the Egyptians had already peopled their bas-reliefs and
funerary pictures?

Figs. 41, 42.—Fragments of an ivory statuette.

British Museum. Actual size.
Their first fault lay in an exaggerated striving after fidelity. They
insisted blindly on certain details which are elsewhere suppressed or
dissimulated, in obedience to a compromise which has been so
generally accepted that it must surely be founded on reason. We
may judge of this by two ivory fragments chosen from among those
that were found in such numbers at Nimroud. They are, in all
probability, statuettes of Istar (Figs. 41 and 42). The sculptor had
noticed that the female pelvis was larger than the male, but he
exaggerates its size and that of the bosom. The deep folds of the
abdomen indicate an exhausted vitality, that of a woman who has
been many times a mother, and other details of this region are
rendered with a clumsy insistance.[105]
There is no evidence in Chaldæan art of the feeling for proportion
which distinguishes Egyptian sculpture. Its renderings of the human
figure are nearly always too short and thickset; even those works
which by their general facility and justness of movement most
strongly attract our admiration, are not free from this fault. Its effects
may be estimated very clearly from the stele representing Marduk-
idin-akhi, a king of Babylon (Fig. 43), whose date is placed in about
the twelfth century b.c. It is true that the defect in question is more
conspicuous in this relief than, perhaps, in any other work of the
school to which we can point; but in all it is more or less perceptible.
In Assyria, under the later Sargonids, sculptors made an effort to
correct it, but even their comparatively slender figures have a certain
heaviness. Assyrian sculpture has many good points, but it is never
elegant. The Assyrian and Chaldæan sculptors were discouraged
from acquiring a complete knowledge of the human form by the fact
that it was not demanded by their patrons. The public who judged
their works did not perceive their shortcomings in that respect. There
was nothing in their daily life, or in the requirements they laboured to
fulfil, which either assisted them to make good their deficiencies, or
compelled them to do it for themselves. They seldom beheld the
nude form, still more seldom did they have to introduce it into their
works. The Greek writers speak of it as a peculiarity of “the
barbarians,” whether Syrians or Chaldæans, Lydians or Persians,
that they were ashamed to be seen naked, the men as much as the
women. Such a scruple, especially in the male, would seem hardly
comprehensible to the Greek accustomed to the nudity of the
gymnasium.[106]
The origin of such a notion is to be sought, perhaps, so far as
Mesopotamia is concerned, in a wise hygiene and in the rapid
changes of an uncertain climate. The difference between the
extremes of summer and winter temperature is far greater than in
Egypt or on the Ionian coasts, and precautions had to be taken at
one time against a scorching sun, at another against the cold of the
nights. However this may have been, it is certain that these people,
although they lived in a hot country, went about in a costume that
covered their bodies as completely as that of modern Europe. It
consisted of a long tunic, a tunica talaria (?) as the Romans would
call it, and a mantle. The tunic left nothing exposed but the head and
neck, the forearms, and the feet and ankles. It must have been of
linen or hempen cloth;[107] when worn by a rich man it was
embroidered and decorated about the foot with a sort of gimp fringe.
The tunics of the poor were short and plain, often coming hardly
lower than the knee. They were also looser and better fitted to work
in; but they are never wanting altogether, even to the men of the
corvée, the slaves and prisoners of war whom we see employed in
the construction of the royal buildings (Vol. I. Figs. 151 and 152).
Women were dressed in chemises coming down to their feet (Vol. I.
Fig. 30), resembling the long robe of coarse blue cotton which still
forms the only garment of the peasant women of Egypt and Syria.
Sometimes we find a sort of cape thrown over the tunic (Vol. I. Fig.
31, and below, Fig. 44).
 Fig. 43.—Merodach or Marduk-idin-akhi. From a basalt stele in the
British Museum. Height 24 inches. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
As for the mantle, it was a fringed shawl, and, like the Greek
peplos or the Roman toga, could be arranged in many different
ways. In the painting at Beni-Hassan which shows us the arrival in
Egypt of a band of Asiatic emigrants,[108] it leaves one shoulder and
both arms uncovered, and forms a kind of frock round the body,
which it entirely conceals. In the old Chaldæan statues from Sirtella
the arrangement is more graceful (see Plate VI.); the piece of cloth is
folded double and carried obliquely round the body so as to cover
the left arm and shoulder and leave the right bare. The end is simply
passed under the first fold, by which it is tightly held.[109] There is no
trace of a tunic. In Assyria the mantle was variously arranged. It
always left one shoulder free, which was covered, however, by the
tunic. As a rule it reached to the feet (Vol. I. Fig. 22), but sometimes
it was so contrived as to leave one leg exposed from the knee
downwards. The robes of Sargon praying before the sacred tree are
thus arranged (Fig. 45).

Fig. 44.—Captives on the march. From the palace of Sennacherib.

As for the women’s dress, it was still more impenetrable than that
of the men. In the Assyrian bas-reliefs there are very few figures of
women on any considerable scale. We can hardly point to an
instance, except in the slab where Assurbanipal and his queen are
shown feasting in a garden (Vol. I. Fig. 28). In this carved picture the
queen is robed in a tunic and mantle, over which the embroiderers
needle has thrown a profusion of those rosettes that are so popular
in Mesopotamia!! art. We are allowed to glean no hint of the personal
charms of the favoured sultana, who must have been young and
beautiful. They are entirely masked by the envelope in which she is
wrapped.
In all this we are far enough from the semi-nudity of the Egyptian
sculptures, to say nothing of the frank display of the Greeks. On the
banks of the Nile, where the climate had no violent changes and the
air was deliciously dry and limpid, both poor and rich, both the king
and his subjects, were contented with the white drawers, which were
carefully plaited and knotted about the hips. On great occasions,
when, as we should say, they wished to dress themselves, they put
on long, bright-coloured, and elegantly embroidered robes; but those
robes were of a fine linen tissue, every contour of the body could be
easily followed through them, the age and character of every form
could be distinctly appreciated.
The artist, even when he had to represent the wives and
daughters of Pharaoh or the most august of the female deities,
showed under their draperies the contours of their breasts, their hips,
and the insertions of their limbs.[110] Still more transparent were the
robes in which the dancing and singing women who occur so often in
the tomb pictures were draped.[111] The calculated indiscretions of
this sort of coa vestis invited the painter and sculptor to do justice to
the elegance of the female form.
How different and how much less favourable were the conditions
under which the Assyrian sculptor exercised his art! For him the
contours of the body and the attachments of the limbs were hidden
behind heavy tunics covered with embroidery, and shawls often
folded double. If by chance he caught a passing glimpse of the forms
beneath, to what use could he put it? Two or three at the most of the
divine types upon which his skill was most frequently employed
involved a very partial nudity; most of the gods, and nearly all the
men, were draped. In a few very rare instances we find an Assyrian
stripped of his clothes and crossing a river by means of an inflated
skin.[112] But these figures, though fairly well drawn, are very small in
scale, and occupy but a subordinate place in the bas-relief where
they occur.[113]
 Fig. 45.—Sargon before the sacred tree. Louvre. Drawn by
Saint-Elme Gautier.
Corpses stripped naked by the victor on the battle-field are of
more frequent occurrence; but these, being the bodies of despised
and hated enemies, are treated in very summary fashion.[114] We
may say the same of the prisoners whom they behead and flay alive.
[115] The mutilated statue of a nude female, rather less than life,
which bears a votive inscription of Assurbilkala, the son of Tiglath-
Pileser, and is now in the British Museum, is a great rarity. It is
believed to represent Istar. The execution is careful, but the forms
are clumsy and the proportions bad; the bust is a great deal too
short.[116]
By his failure to appreciate living form for its own sake, for its
beauty of line and harmony of proportion, the Mesopotamian sculptor
put a voluntary limit to his ambition. He renounced, in advance, the
only means within his reach of borrowing from the human figure the
elements for a representation of the deity which should preserve a
character of indefinite existence, of natural and sovereign
excellence. But this abstention, or, if you like, this impotence, did not
prevent Assyrian artists from fulfilling, in the most brilliant fashion,
the other part of the task to which they were called by the habits and
requirements of the society for which they laboured. The sculptors
were mainly employed by the king; their chief business was to
multiply his images; they were charged to commemorate the
sovereign in every act of his life, in every one of the many parts
involved by his indefatigable activity as builder, chief-justice, hunter,
commander-in-chief, and supreme pontiff. From the king himself to
the last of his soldiers or prisoners, every one who had his own
marked place in a picture was draped; the sculptor could reproduce
every episode of the royal life in the truest and most animated
fashion, without ever having learnt to draw the nude. In fact, he was
not called upon, like the Greek artist, to procure for the æsthetic
sense the pure joys that are given by the sight of noble forms or
movements well rendered; his duty was to commemorate by a series
of clear and lively images those events that were celebrated in words
in the text inscribed upon the very alabaster slabs beneath his hand.
Assyrian sculpture had this documentary character in the very
highest degree; its creations, in the intention of those by whom they
were commissioned, were less works of art than records.[117] The
long inscriptions and the endless series of pictures with which the
palace walls were covered were no more than an illustrated book.
And in what class of literature should that book be placed? It has
been called an epic illustrated by sculptors—a description that
seems hardly just. For in every epic worthy of the name the
marvellous occupies an important place, while in these reliefs it
scarcely has a place at all. With few exceptions the belief in a
superior and divine world makes itself felt in Assyrian art only in
those effigies of gods and demons we have already described. And
such images have their places rigidly fixed by tradition; they stand at
the palace gates, but are scarcely ever found within its saloons, and
are entirely absent from the marches, battles, and sieges. Here and
there among such pictures, but at long intervals, we find some
feature that reminds us of the aid that Assur and the other national
gods afforded their worshippers; now it is an eagle floating over the
king’s chariot;[118] now the god himself, surrounded by a winged
circle, draws his bow and launches his formidable shafts against the
enemies of his people.[119] He is thus represented mounted on a
galloping bull in the ring by which the standards of the Assyrian
legions were surmounted.

Fig. 46.—Assyrian standard; from

Layard.
All these details were small in scale and unobtrusive. The rôle
played by the architect was similar to that of the draughtsmen and
photographers who sometimes accompany princes and generals on
a modern campaign. The programme placed before him was as
narrow as it could well be; he was required to be faithful and precise,
not to give proof of inventive power.
The sculptor was, in a way, the editor of the military bulletins; his
work was the newspaper of the day, explaining the political events of
his time to those who could understand no other writing. There is
complete coherence between his figures and the inscribed texts they
accompany. Look, for instance, at the series of slabs from the Palace
of Sennacherib, in which his Jewish campaign is retraced.[120] The
final scene is thus described in words within a cartouche above the
heads of the figures: “Sennacherib, king of Assyria, seated upon his
throne of state, causes the prisoners taken in the town of Lachish to
pass before him,”[121] In order to show the details of the magnificent
chair upon which the king is seated we have reproduced only the two
principal actors, in the sovereign and his grand vizier (Fig. 47). If we
had been able to place the whole composition before our readers
they would have seen how thoroughly the inscription describes it.
Behind the general who is presenting the vanquished to the king,
appear the prisoners, some prostrate, others kneeling or standing
upright, but all turned towards their conqueror with gestures of
supplication.
The spaces to be covered were vast, but the warlike kings of
Assyria cut out enough work for their sculptors to keep them always
busy. Every campaign, and every battle, every siege or passage of a
river, seemed to them worthy of commemoration by the chisel.
Those to whom the work was given were forced therefore to multiply
figures; the task was complicated and yet had to be finished with
extreme rapidity. The sovereign was in a hurry to enjoy the spectacle
he had promised himself, he wished to inhabit for as many years as
possible the dwelling whose walls, like so many magic mirrors, would
reflect his own prowess and glory. And so the sculptor had to
produce much and produce fast; we can therefore understand how it
was that his creations never lost a certain look of improvisation. They
had the good qualities of such a mode of work; namely, force, vitality,
and abandon, but combined with all its defects, inequality,
incoherence, and frequent repetition.
In order to cover the surface abandoned to the sculptor as quickly
as possible, the work had to be divided; every one who was thought
to be capable of wielding a chisel had to be pressed into the service.
Sculptors of established fame who had already helped to decorate
more than one palace, mediocre artists with more age and
experience than talent, young apprentices entering the workshops
for the first time, all were enlisted, and each received his share of the