The science of studying man with regard to place in the animal kingdom as well as human origins, development, social habits, cultural development and related topics.
Questions tagged [anthropology]
33 questions
11
votes
1 answer
Were early hunter-gatherers monogamous?
In an article, reporting on research by Mark Dyble, anthropologist, pre-agricultural human societies are described as predominantly monogamous:
Only when more resources became available, did sexual inequality
emerge according to their hypothesis…
BKE
- 1,520
- 1
- 12
- 20
11
votes
0 answers
Is there scientific evidence to support a distinction between "Ask" and "Guess" cultures?
This MetaFilter post from 2007 includes the following:
In some families, you grow up with the expectation that it's OK to ask for anything at all, but you gotta realize you might get no for an answer. This is Ask Culture.
In Guess Culture, you…
Kevin
- 418
- 3
- 14
11
votes
2 answers
Did the Dogon tribes discover "Trans-Pluto"?
The performance artist Marina Abramović has said the following in a forum at the New York Public Library:
In Africa you have Dogon tribes who worship Trans-Pluto, which is you know a small satellite around Pluto, which had been developed only maybe…
denten
- 10,781
- 4
- 55
- 77
11
votes
1 answer
Is the hominid skull discovered in Petralona 700,000 years old?
Aris Poulianos, a Greek anthropologist, claims that the hominid remains (a skull) discovered in the Petralona Cave are 700,000 years old and belong to a distinct species, which he named Archanthropus europeaus petraloniensis (commonly: Archanthropus…
yannis
- 1,029
- 1
- 11
- 30
10
votes
1 answer
Did Cargo Cults involving the imitation of western society exist?
Richard Feynman created the concept of cargo cult science, which are activities that look scientific but aren't. He based it metaphorically on cargo cults in the Pacific:
In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they
saw…
Andrew Grimm
- 38,859
- 36
- 141
- 342
8
votes
2 answers
Can people castrate reindeer by biting off the testicles?
This Youtube video depicts a Sami woman castrating a reindeer by biting off the testicles (although the moment suprême is not shown explicitly): Laplander Reindeer Castration (warning: video depicts animal suffering, and could be not safe for work…
gerrit
- 17,636
- 17
- 84
- 137
8
votes
0 answers
Were giant human bones discovered in Castelnau?
French anthropologist Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854 - 1936) reported in 1890 the discovery of "the Giant of Castelnau" - giant bones in neolithic tombs, in southern France. According to Mr. de Lapouge, these human bones were those of normal humans…
Yves
- 327
- 3
- 8
7
votes
2 answers
Are high temperatures the cause of nudity being not unusual amongst the Daasanach?
From the second page of I Photographed Women In 60 Countries To Change The Way We See Beauty:
Her tribe is called the Daasanach. With the high temperatures here,
nudity is not unusual.
Amongst the Daasanach, is nudity not unusual, and are high…
Andrew Grimm
- 38,859
- 36
- 141
- 342
6
votes
1 answer
Are the books from Carlos Castaneda real or fiction?
I have read all the Carlos Castaneda's books, I practiced some of their exercises, some have been helpful but I've always been in doubt about whether Don Juan ever existed, or if the events in the books from Carlos Castaneda never happened.
About…
user4983
6
votes
0 answers
Were there Hungarian speaking Indians in South America?
The following story is a translation from Hungarian, with a lot of discussion in the blog's comments:
http://www.cakravartin.com/archives/south-american-natives-speak-ancient-european-language
The story in a nutshell:
In the 1960s, a guy called…
marczellm
- 267
- 1
- 6
5
votes
0 answers
Does the mass of human made objects exceed the entire biomass on the planet?
An article in Nature, "Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass" in 2020 has recently gained some attention on social media (see this Twitter thread) possibly because of a striking visualisation of the data.
The claim, if true, is…
matt_black
- 56,186
- 16
- 175
- 373
5
votes
1 answer
Could the Australian Aborigines have Descended from Three People?
My anthropology professor claimed that certain genetic simulations showed that the Australian Aborigines could have descended from a population of only one man and two women. Those three people and their offspring could have sustained a genetically…
Publius
- 3,443
- 2
- 23
- 26
4
votes
0 answers
Is wisdom tooth impaction causally linked to soft, processed foods?
In a book by an anthropologist at Ohio State, it is claimed that (1) third molar impactions dectupled after the Industrial Revolution, and (2) this was due to a new abundance of soft, processed food.
Is (1) accurate (and not a matter of increased…
Feryll
- 229
- 2
- 5
4
votes
0 answers
How correct are some dramatized documentaries about proto-humans?
There are some documentaries, e.g. by David Attenborough, that dramatize the life of proto-humans (e.g. Neanderthals, etc..)
Some of these documentaries show/dramatize the proto-humans communicating in a proto-language.
The question is if this…
Nikos M.
- 141
- 6
3
votes
0 answers
Were the people in "Inis Beag" the most sexually repressed and the people in "Mangaia" the most sexually liberated in the world?
In the 1960s, a rather obscure anthropologist by the name of John Cowan Messenger discovered an isolated and very small community in a place called "Inis Beag" in Ireland. This was apparently a false name and the place is in reality called…
Kalis
- 131
- 3