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Homo erectus pekinensis

1/31/2016

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       Or more wildly known as Peking Man. This hominid was found in Zhoukoudian (which is a cave system), Beijing, China. The primary excavation and discovery of the majority of bones found was in 1929 – 1937. This discovery was the largest collection of Homo erectus ever found with 45 individuals; mostly remains of women and children. The bones that were found were six complete or nearly complete skulls, 14 cranial fragments, six facial fragments, 15 jawbones, 157 teeth, one clavicle, three humeri, carpal bones, seven femurs, and one tibia. Now even thought I said the primary excavation was in the early 1900's, in 1966 two cranial fragments were found that fit two other which were found in 1934 and 1936; this gave us the sixth skull. This collection of bones is what is referred to as “Peking Man.” (It once was the largest collection found at one site, that is until Homo naledi. http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-first-week-and-a-physical-anthropological-surprise, but it still is the largest collection of Homo erectus ever found) At first the age of the bones was put as between 200, 000 and 300, 000 but now, after dating has been done on sediments in which they were found, it is believed that they are 400, 000 and 670, 000 years old.
       Stone tools, of course, were also found. It is actually the finding of quartz deposits that were not native to the area that had them looking for who was responsible for bringing them to the cave. Just like the large number of bones that were found, there were also a large number of stone tools. There was “evidence” of a controlled fire and it was thought that Peking man was cannibalistic because of how the bones had been torn to get to the brains and bone marrow. But now, even though there were many stone tools found, many archaeologists and anthropologists believe that they did not reside in the cave where they were found, they were eaten in the cave they were found, and not by other Homo erectus.
       
After seeing how the bones were broken into to get to the meat, it was suggested that if they were cannibalistic it would have been done more precise. Part of a femur had surface etching from stomach acid, which means whatever ate them, regurgitate it. Not only were bones of Homo erectus found, but also those of giant hyenas (Pachycrocuta), which gave the anthropologists the idea to observe how modern hyenas would do with bones. Just like how the long bones of the Homo erectus were broken is how the hyenas would break into long bones to get to the bone marrow. Also, because of the thickness of the actual cranium it is thought the Pachycrocuta chewed through the face “gaining a purchase on the bone surrounding the foramen magnum (the opening in the cranium where the spinal cord enters).” They would then just scrape and chew until the bone cracked open or made an opening large enough to expose the brain. This is why some anthropologists believe the skull bases were destroyed.
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       In 1937 the excavating had to come to an end because of the Japanese invasion and the start of World War II. To make sure the bones that had been excavated were kept safe, seeing how in days before the invasion they had expressed interest in them, Franz Weidenreich, who was studying the Peking Man fossils, planned to send them to the United States to the Museum of Natural History. “...each fossil was wrapped in white tissue paper, cushioned with cotton and gauze, and then wrapped again in stouter paper. These packages were placed in a small wooden box, which was in turn padded and placed with other boxes inside large wooden crates.” They got to the U.S. Embassy, and when there they were entrusted to Colonel William Ashurst who was to claim them as his personal belongings. A party of nine marines were to guard these boxes on a train the next morning that was to take them to a ship which was waiting. But the train never made it to the ship as it was intercepted by Japanese troops. “The marines were sent to prison camps, their ammunition and military equipment was seized, and the fossils were never seen again.”
       Luckily, before the bones were even packed up Weidenreich had casts made of them. The search for the original fossils is still in effect. In the 1970's a woman claimed to have them, and sent a photo, but none looked like those which were missing. There was a cranium in the top right corner of the photograph that could have been one of the missing. She demanded a $500,000 for their return, but she disappeared soon after without claiming the money. To this day, no one knows where these bones are. They could be in someones private collection, or buried under some faraway highway. But either way, it is saddening that these pieces of our past are still missing.

​       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
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Instruments of Death

1/24/2016

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       Music is one the vital parts of our everyday life. Whether it be background music of a program to make us feel certain emotions, listening to your own preferred genre, or just humming a tune, music has been a huge part of our lives. Music is seen as an art, a form of expression, or entertainment, and being human we love to express ourselves and to be entertained. In the caves of France we have seen prehistoric art, but what of prehistoric music? In the following blog I will discuss prehistoric instruments, what they were made of and where they were found.
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Given that in prehistoric times they did not have steel or special gears we have for modern instruments, they made due with what they had. The earliest instrument that has been found is that of a flute some made of bird bone or mammoth ivory (image below). These were also found in cave, but instead of France it was found in southern Germany. Using carbon dating these flutes date back to between 42,000 and 43,000 years old. You could argue that the holes of the flute were made by the teeth of an animal, but that would not explain the ivory flutes. Bone is hollow to allow room for bone marrow (the marrow makes red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets), but ivory is not. For prehistoric man (they were made by Homo sapiens), to make an ivory flute took time and intent. The finger holes vary between 3, 5, and 8. Compared to the 6, 8, and 11 finger holes modern flutes have, you would think the “music” that these prehistoric flutes made was just noise, but “the 18.7-centimetre-long flute, which is carved from mammoth ivory, has three finger holes and would have been capable of playing relatively complex melodies.” 
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       After the invention of the flute, prehistoric man was very proud of it. What I mean by this is on cave paintings, carvings, or statues, the figure is playing a flute. In the image below you cannot see anyone playing a flute, but it appears that they are dancing; and dancing is usually paired with music. The most famous prehistoric flute player is probably the Kokopelli (image below). This figure dates back over 3,000 years ago, and is most likely older than the ancient Egyptian civilization. It is a fertility deity that is shown with a humpback and a flute in their hands. Kokopelli can be “found throughout the mountains, deserts, and high plains of the southwestern United States,” seeing that it was mostly used by the native American cultures. 
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       Even though using bones as instruments sounds barbaric, we still use them to this day. It is not as well known as a flute, but it is thought to have roots in Egypt or China. The instrument is called Bones, or when using spoons, Spoons. The image below from the mid 1800's shows a man, William Sidney Mount, playing it. That might be a record from many decades ago, but there are still avid Bones users (video below). It is so strange to think something we know have awards for, something we sing to children, something we use to calm or entertain us, can be dated almost as far back as our origins. It seems as if our music has evolved with us and some believe it may have helped us evolve...and survive. 
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Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
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Marfan Syndrome: Now and Then

1/17/2016

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       We, who live in the United States, all know of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. We know of what he did, how he died, who killed him, but that is where they cut off who he was when teaching his life in schools. But there may have been a huge part of his life that is never addressed in the classroom, and to learn of it you would have to know what to look for. This part of his life was called Marfan syndrome, and that is what this blog will speak of.
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First, what is Marfan syndrome? Marfan syndrome is defined as “a hereditary disorder of connective tissue, resulting in abnormally long and thin digits and also frequently in optical and cardiovascular defects.” In layman's terms it means to have “greater than average height, long arms and legs, eye problems, and enlargement of the aorta.” The actual definition is what the symptoms of Marfan syndrome consist of. Since Lincoln was a president and as such, was not open about his personal problems, it is possible he has Marfan Syndrome, which is why I said “there may have been” earlier. But many scientists agree that it is more than likely he had Marfan syndrome. 
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       As I said before, Marfan syndrome is a disorder that is inherited. But even though a parent has to have the disorder, 25 percent of those who have Marfan syndrome have it because of a new mutation that spontaneously develops. It also affects male and female of any ethnicity equally, but it is more dangerous in females. Reason being is if she gives birth. A part of Marfan syndrome has to do with the heart, the aortic valve to be precise. When a female with this disorder is giving birth she risks her aorta rupturing. The rupture of the aorta is a common cause of death in those with Mafan syndrome.
​       Now Marfan syndrome is by no means a new disorder. We actually have evidence that dates back to Egypt's New Kingdom; 1352 – 1334 BCE to be exact. During this time ruled a very controversial, at least in his time, pharaoh under the name of Akhenaten. He is most famous for changing the religion of Egypt from many to one, and for who he was married to; Nefertiti. Early in his rule, we can see a uniformity of the length of his face with the pharaohs that came before him, but that quickly changed as he became settled as pharaoh. From the statues to the art on the walls we could see his long limbs and face. Probably the most famous wall art is him and Nefertiti playing with their children (image below). But Nefertiti is also shown to having long limbs, so these can not be seen as trust worthy, right? 

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       Even though in this artwork all who are shown have his disorder, but in others that are actual statues, you can clearly see it in his face; and one has him sitting across Nefertiti, with him having an elongated face while her face is not (image below). There is no evidence that Nefertiti had Marfan syndrome, but perhaps the representation of his children were as true as they could be, because they most likely inherited it. At first it was suggested that he had Froehlich's Syndrome because he had feminine features, but that is all that fit in with that theory (other signs of Froehlich's Syndrome was short stature and retardation of which Akhenaten did not show), and Marfan syndrome fits him to a T.
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       It is so interesting to know that some disorders we have nowadays, existed so far in the past. I do not see an end to the disorder that is Marfan syndrome. Even if those with it were to stop reproducing, there is always the risk of the spontaneous mutation. Seeing how the earliest sign of Marfan syndrome was 3,368 years ago, there is not even a point of origin we can refer to.
​       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.

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Human Genome Project

1/10/2016

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       The Human Genome Project was something that was decades in the making, beginning in 1985, and completed in 2003. It was all over the news and every scientist and scientific journal were speaking of it, but, just what was the Human Genome Project? The purpose of the Human Genome Project was, and is, to identify all the genes in human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, DNA Forensics, and risk assessment. That said, what is “risk assessment?”
​       Risk assessment is a term used when looking at a list of risks someone has to contract a disease. The Human Genome Project looked at inherited genes. For example, Tay-Sachs disease. This is a disease that slowly destroys the brain of an infant. This happens when there is an increase of fatty acid in the nerves of the brain. The reason for this is because there is one bad letter in their genetic make-up. Both parents, meaning that both must have it, is how Tay-Sachs is inherited. (example below) A practice named gene therapy, “Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease” has been proposed, but has been proved to need much work. Reason being is because of our immune systems response to the therapeutic DNA.Since it is not found in the body of the host, the immune system immediately attacks it. The immune system also has a form of memory, so if the therapeutic DNA is reintroduced into the body, the immune system will know immediately what to do.
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       That said, there is another project that works with the information the Human Genome is gathering under the name “Iceland Genetic Database” project. The Iceland Genetic Database project is about working with information about the human genes that cause common diseases. The purpose of the project is to produce better drugs and to look for cures for diseases using the information they obtain about human genes. They plan to go about doing this by using the family trees of certain people in Iceland. Because of extensive backgrounds on all of the inhabitants of Iceland they can look to see who in an individuals family would have contributed to a certain disease. Thus coming closer to finding out how to create a cure. A company named deCODE Genetics, are also doing extensive research in Iceland; mainly about symptoms of heart disease and osteoarthritis.
       This project has several positive aspects. One major one that will most likely come in the near future, possibility sooner rather than later seeing how fast technology is progressing, is that new parents will be able to build the child they want; from hair colour to skin colour. But that is what makes it dangerous. What I mean by dangerous is, everything that makes us as individuals will now be on paper, and that will just make discrimination easier, and easier for those type of people to say “See?! We ARE different inside!” Personally, I think some things should stay mysteries and unknown to the human mind. I leave you with a clip of a movie “Gattaca,” in which the parents are paying a visit to a geneticist.

​       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
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Methods and Medicine 

1/3/2016

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       When we think of medicine nowadays a pill or a liquid to be measured out comes to mind. But what would come to the minds of prehistoric humans? In the following blog I will address a method we still use and a recent finding of who also used medical plants.
       I am sure you have heard of Shamans, now they are seen as crazy, full of unnecessary knowledge and superstition. That may be how we see them, but in the time before modern doctors, they were the person to run to if you or a family member had something as small as a headache. A method, that began in the Neolithic period, is a method we still use today, albeit not as frequently as we did 100 years ago. This method is named trepanation, which consists of cutting a hole in the skull (there is evidence of this practice from all over the world). Seeing how we as a species have always been violent, the head was a section that has been targeted in battle throughout the centuries, and this was no different for the prehistoric humans. The removing of shattered skull or to remove blood that had seeped into the skull was one of the first suggested reasons they would go through the pain of trepanation, which was then seen as an emergency surgery (they had no such thing as anesthesia). With the lack of modern cutting implements, they had to use stone tools. Most likely using the same ones they would use for skinning an animal, probably made of flit of obsidian (a good number of modern surgeons actually prefer obsidian surgical tools mostly because no rust and feel they are more exact with the obsidian blade).

       It is ironic how in prehistoric times, they had good reason to go through that pain, but as the ages and humans progressed, the practice of trepanation became an almost everyday operation, especially in the Middle Ages. In this time period, most everything they felt rooted from problems with the brain, they would open the skull to fix it. These problems varied from seizures to releasing a ghost from in the skull. Now, having a hole cut into the skull sounds like eventual death from the operation, but in fact we have evidence of those who were able to heal after and some, whose problems were not all gone, had several
trepanation operations. There were of course casualties, but if this operation meant imminent death, I am sure they would have stopped centuries ago. This healing of the skull is also evident when we just started in the Neolithic period. In modern times, we still use trepanation, but it is nowhere as frequent as it was years ago (examples below; on the left is an example of one who died in or around surgery, on the right is a healed skull).
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       But what of those who were not human, did they have something as outlandish as trepanation? I am pleased to say, there is no evidence of it before the Neolithic period. In fact, the concern of what was happening under the skin and looking for ways to make it better is not reserved for Homo sapiens. Recently, in the 2012, there was a study of the diet of Neanderthal's by scraping their teeth. What was found, was not expected. The scraping, of course, show an abundance of meats and proteins, but also plants; medical plants. They ate several plants for the taste, but there were a few that have no nutritional value, Not only did some of plants they ate have no nutritional value, but several Neanderthals would have found them bitter. “One case was particularly intriguing: The scrapings from an individual known as Adult 4 contained chemicals known as azulenes and coumarins. Those are the sorts of chemicals that are found in yarrow and chamomile, two types of herbal remedies. Yarrow is an astringent that's long been used to cleanse wounds when used externally, or counter internal bleeding when ingested.” And chamomile is best know in tea form for calming headaches and colds.
       
In the previous blog I posted (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-primatology), I mentioned chimpanzees eating medical plants to calm stomach aches. Who would have thought that hundreds of years ago, Neanderthals were eating those types of plants as well. What is more, who would have thought hundreds of years ago, our ancestors went through excruciating pain just to feel better. Now we have so many medications at our fingertips. We maybe the most medicated generation, but look on the bright side, we are not the generation with the most trepanations.
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Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.


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    A recently made anthropologist who has been set loose to study the humans of the then, today, what's to come, and beyond. 

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