Anthropology DUMmIES

386 Pages·2008·5.33 MB·English

Anthropology
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Cameron M. Smith, PhD
with Evan T. Davies, PhD
Anthropology For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior
written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to
the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone].
Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing,
Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax [phone], or online at http://
www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the
Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade
dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor
mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF
THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH-
OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE
CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES
CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE
UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR
OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF
A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE
AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA-
TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE
OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES
THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT
MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS
WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND
WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care
Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may
not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931633
ISBN: 978-0-470-27966-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Anthropology
FOR
DUMmIES
‰

Anthropology
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Cameron M. Smith, PhD
with Evan T. Davies, PhD
Anthropology For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior
written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to
the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone].
Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing,
Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax [phone], or online at http://
www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the
Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade
dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor
mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF
THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH-
OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE
CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES
CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE
UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR
OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF
A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE
AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA-
TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE
OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES
THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT
MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS
WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND
WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care
Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may
not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931633
ISBN: 978-0-470-27966-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
Cameron M. Smith’s fascination with humanity was sparked on a 1984 trip to
Mexico’s Maya ruins; by 1987, he was a student of both Harvard University’s
early human archaeology field school at Kenya’s Leakey research station and
the University of London’s Institute of Archaeology. He then went to Durham
University in northern England for a Joint Honours BA in Anthropology &
Archaeology, followed by an MA in Anthropology at Portland State University
(in Portland, Oregon) and a PhD from Canada’s Simon Fraser University.
Since 2002, Dr. Smith has taught a wide variety of courses as an Adjunct
Associate Professor at Portland State University’s Department of
Anthropology; he has also taught at Washington State University and Linfield
College.
Dr. Smith’s scientific works have been published in journals such as the
American Journal of Physical Anthropology and the Journal of Field
Archaeology and books published by International Monographs in Prehistory
and Oxford’s British Archaeology Reports. His research has been supported
by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science
Foundation-funded Barrow Arctic Science Consortium.
Reaching out from the academic world, Dr. Smith has written popular-science
articles for Scientific American MIND, Archaeology, Playboy, Spaceflight,
Skeptical Inquirer, South American Explorer, The Next Step, Cultural Survival
Quarterly, The Bulletin of Primitive Technology, and other magazines.
Anthropology For Dummies is Dr. Smith’s second book. His first, written with
Charles Sullivan, was The Top Ten Myths About Evolution (Prometheus, 2006).
Outside his academic pursuits, Dr. Smith enjoys mountaineering, art, and arc-
tic exploration. He is a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow
of The Explorers Club and a member of the Society for Human Performance
in Extreme Environments. His Web site, www.cameronmsmith.com, covers
his recent writing, academic, and expedition activities.
Evan T. Davies received his BA from Cornell University where he began his
studies in anthropology. He earned a PhD in cultural anthropology from Rice
University, and has conducted fieldwork throughout Europe, the South
Pacific, and in many locations throughout sub-Saharan Africa. His doctoral
dissertation reported on the land use patterns of the BaAka foragers of the
central African rainforests whose subsistence and hunting strategies he stud-
ied while living with them through the seasons. He has recently become
involved with the protection of archaeological sites in Iraq.
Dedications
From Cameron: I dedicate this book to all the anthropologists who have
spent careers investigating fundamental questions about humanity, and to
their hosts, the indigenous folk of everywhere from Africa to Australia.
From Evan: To my parents, and every good teacher I ever had.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
From Cameron: I’d like to thank my parents, professors Donald E. and Margit
J. Posluschny Smith, for stimulating my interest in the human species in the
first place and then supporting my education, worldwide, for many years.
I also thank all of my professors, from Britain to Canada and the United
States, from physical anthropologists to cultural anthropologists to linguists
and many, many archaeologists. There are too many to name, though I can
highlight Professors Brian Hayden, Kenneth M. Ames, Anthony Harding,
Anthony Bilsborough, and the late Jack Nance.
Although I wrote the bulk of this book, I turned to my friend Dr. Evan T.
Davies to draft Chapter 12 on how cultural anthropologists do their field-
work. Dr. Davies’ experience runs from field experiences in the Congo to New
Guinea and the Near East, and I thank him for his work on this chapter.
I’ve been privileged to have the friendship of many fascinating people who
have led to many fascinating discussions, all of which simmer for months and
eventually find their way into my overall writing style and content. These
folks include my occasional coauthor Chuck Sullivan, my brothers Mark and
Julian, and my friends John Haslett, W. McRee Anderson, and Todd Olson. I
especially thank Ms. Christine Calfas for her companionship and compassion.
I also thank all the members of the Leora writing group in Portland for their
great advice and good humor on various writing projects.
I also want to thank my agent, Matt Wagner, of Fresh Books literary agency,
for suggesting this project in the first place, as well as Senior Project Editor
Alissa Schwipps, Acquisitions Editor Lindsay Lefevere, Technical Editor
Robert J. Meier, PhD, and the artists at Wiley Publishing for their great work,
support, and patience.
None of these folks are dummies, and neither are my readers; the title of the
book is tongue-in-cheek. So, finally, I thank all of you readers for taking the
time to think about humanity in a new way.
From Evan: I’d like to thank Steven Tyler, professor of anthropology and lin-
guistics at Rice University, for some very helpful guidance during the writing;
the members of the Explorers Club for their continued inspiration to a new
generation of field researchers; and Dr. Cameron M. Smith, colleague and
friend. May we have at least 20 good years of expeditioning left in us.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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