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Evolution of Language

3/27/2016

Day to day we do not take into account the words we use, words we read, or words we hear. All this makes up language. There are roughly 6,500 languages in the world. Humans are the only species with a spoken language. But what of our cousins? In the following blog I will discuss the way non-human primates communicate, how we are able to communicate with them, and what makes the Homo sapiens so special as to have a spoken and written language.
Most non-human primates have a system of communication. To us it only sounds like, well, sounds, but to others in their species, they know exactly what they are saying; or feeling. The sounds chimpanzees make or when a baboon barks are being made to tell others in the group what they are feeling. They have sounds for happy, sad, angry, excited, but that is the extent to their “language,” to help others understand what they are feeling. I would say that was the only thing they can communicate, but we have to remember that most small non-human primates have predators, and as such, need to communicate extensively to keep safe. For example vervent monkeys (image below), they use different vocalizations to warn of different predators. The vocalizations for birds or pray, snakes, or leopards are different. With the snake-warning call they look at the nearby ground, with the birds of pray-warning call they look towards the sky, and with the leopard-warning call they quickly climb the trees. To those who hear them once, they all seem the same, but with attentive ears and hearing them call over and over again, it becomes clear which ones mean which predator. Other non-human primates that have this system include (images below) cottontop tamarins, Goeldi's monkeys, red colobus, and gibbons (there are also birds and non-primate mammals who use specific predator calls).

So if we know how they communicate we should be able to communicate with them, correct? But what if they want to communicate with us? Before I go on any further I wanted to make something clear, the major reason for non-human primates is not because of the lack of intelligence (they are very intelligent), but because of something they lack. “The fact the apes can't speak...with the differences in anatomy of the vocal tract and language-related structures of the brain.” If they could speak, I am sure they would be seen as human as...humans. That said, there is a movement to get chimpanzee's to been seen as human, but I am getting off topic. Many apes throughout the years have found a way to communicate with us humans in ways we can clearly know what they mean. Before it was thought they could not speak of the future or past, only in terms of present events and present peoples. But that all changed with an infant chimpanzee named Washoe. In 1966 the project of teaching her sign language began, and within 3 years her “vocabulary” consisted of 132 signs. “She asked for goods and services, and she also asked questions about the world of objects and events around her.” And years later when they brought a young male chimpanzee named Louis, she deliberately began to teach him when the researchers were not.
In 1967 another chimpanzee, named Sara was “taught to recognize plastic chips as symbols for various objects.” What made this interesting is the chips did not look like the object she would ask for. For example, the chip for apple was not round or red. This was exciting because it showed that she could understand symbols for different objects. Something else happened in the late 1970's that was just as exciting. If you remember in my previous paragraph that non-human apes did not speak of past or future events or refer to those who were not present; but that all changed with a 2yo male orangutan named Chantek. He built up his sign language vocabulary to 140 signs, “which he sometimes used to refer to objects and people not present.” He would also combine signs to make more clear what he was speaking of, he was the first to do this, but not the last. In the early 1970's a gorilla was born, a gorilla the world now knows as Koko. This magnificent gorilla does not have a vocabulary of 140, or 500, not even 1000; her vocabulary is more than 1000, and to add to that, she can also understand more than 2000 words spoken in English. As I said, just like Chantek, she has made very clever signs for things she wants. For example the sign for “scratch” and “comb,” she was asking for a brush (video below), or with the sign for “eye” and “hat” she means “mask.”

With all we have had to do to communicate with non-human primates, why is that we are able to communicate with other humans? Why do we have something called “language?” For the answer to that we have to look at the brain. Some argue that our language capabilities began 10,000 – 30, 000ya, others think it was earlier with the appearance of Homo (2mya). “In most people, language function is located in the left hemisphere...In particular two regions, Broca's area in the left frontal lobe and Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe are directly involved in the production and perception, respectively, of spoken language (image below).” Broca's area is located near the motor cortex, right next to the area that controls the face, lips, larynx, and tongue. The Wernicke's area involved in the perception of sound. If a lesion in Wernicke's area is damaged, it does not impair hearing, but rather the comprehension of language. I have gone one about these two areas of the brain as if only humans have it, but that is not true. In examined chimpanzee, gorilla, and bonobo brains they have a larger Broca's area on their left side. But, that said, it is the same area that harbours the motor aspects of gestural language in humans; “speech production in humans was present, at least in a incipient degree, in the last common ancestor of humans and the African great apes.” In short, the shared cognition abilities of primates (especially apes), lead to some symbolic capabilities, which lead to the increased communication abilities and development of symbolic thinking (which was a huge and important step for both neurological reorganization and anatomical modifications of vocal tract), and all this lead to where we are now, a world full of languages; human languages.
 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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NAGPRA

3/20/2016

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In a previous blog (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/evolution-of-anthropologists) I spoke of how Thomas Jefferson conducted his own excavation of one of the Native American burial mounds in Virginia. Even though he went through it carefully and systematically, if a president tried doing what he did after the 16th of November in 1990, NAGPRA would be all over them. In the following blog I will discuss what NAGPRA is, why it is important, and how this affects both archaeologists and anthropologists alike.
     So what exactly is NAGPRA? It stands for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This is a Federal law that was passed in 1990 that provides systems for museums and Federal agencies to return a number of Native American cultural items. These items are human remains, funerary objects, or objects of cultural patrimony. When obtained, they are then returned to the “lineal descendants, and culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.” Even though a few of the burial mounds were excavated, there are parts of the Native American heritage everywhere. We have to remember how long they were living in the Americas before Europeans came to their shores. Since they were forced out of their home lands, they left a lot behind. So when someone finds a bone the excavating begins. If a funerary object is found or anything that has to do with Native Americans, they will call NAGPRA. That said, even though they are called, then begins the detective work to whose tribe it belongs to.
     Now even though the law was passed in late 1990, during the 1970's and 1980's some Native Americans argued that they were relations to some of the skeletal remains in museum collections. The problem with this is when one tribe claims to be a relation, others chime in in case they are wrong and they are one of theirs. The best example for this is “Kennewick Man (or “Ancient One).” These skeletal remains were found in July of 1996 “below the surface of Lake Wallula, a section of the Columbia River pooled behind McNary Dam in Kennewick, Washington.” When they were found the tribes of Umatilla, Colville, Yakima, and Nez Perce each claimed Kennewick Man was their ancestor. These remains were examined, measured, carbon dated (dated to over 9,000ya), and went through a myriad of tests (from CAT scans to X-rays). At first it was believed Kennewick Man was Caucasian, but when they where given to Native Americans to examine, it turned out he was not European, or Native American, or modern at all. To this day, the matter of who Kennewick Man was is still unresolved.
     As you can imagine the newly formed NAGPRA has affected how archaeologists and anthropologist practice their studies. Native Americans were amoung the first “other worldly” cultures Franz Boas (father of American anthropology) studied. In an instance in 1897 he requested to be brought six Inuit people from Greenland to the Museum of Natural History to "obtain leisurely certain information which will be of the greatest scientific importance" regarding their culture. But in six weeks all six became sick, and as they had been shown in their tribe, they began to perform tribal healing process, and in doing so were mocked by it. In the early stages of anthropology the Native Americans, were seen as a form of “entertainment.” Before the coming of the NAGPRA law, anthropology had grown to respect and see these cultures as people and not as they were seen in the early years. “The promotion of ethical behavior is an important aspect of the society's (Society for American Archaeology) activities.” The following are eight ethical principles of the Society for American Anthropology:

Stewardship. The archaeological record is irreplaceable and it is the responsibility of all archaeologists to practice and promote stewardship of the archaeological record.
Accountability. Responsible archaeological research requires a commitment to consult with affected group(s) to establish a working relationship that can be beneficial to all parties involved.
Commercialization. The buying and selling of objects contributes to the destruction of the archaeological record on the American continents and around the world. Archaeologists should discourage and avoid activities that enhance the commercial value of archaeological objects.
Public Education and Outreach. Archaeologists should work with the public to improve the preservation, protection, and interpretation of the record.
Intellectual Property. A researcher may have primary access to original materials and documents for a limited and reasonable time, after which these materials and documents must be available to others.
Public Reporting and Publication. The knowledge that archaeologists obtain in their investigations must be presented to the public.
Records and Preservation. Archaeologists should work actively for the preservation of archaeological collections, records, and reports.
Training and Resources. Archaeologists must ensure that they have adequate training, experience, facilities, and other support necessary to conduct a program of research.

Out of these eight principles the one that is the most prevalent when excavating in foreign counties is the third one. It is not because of the fault of the archaeologists, but that of looters. Even if it is their past, some could not care less and just want to make quick money. But if they are found to be selling something with a Native American origin they are arrested and questioned. When there is are skeletal remains in the picture, a physical anthropologist is called, and the ethical rules are just as followed by them.
The Native American peoples are not dead, and neither is their culture. Many go about with “Indian” Halloween costumes without really understanding who they are dressing as, the symbolism the headdress, the beads, even the colours signify. Those who live in the United States do not think twice about the rich culture who this soil was robbed from. The least we could do is give the pieces they left behind back to them, not rob it like we did their land. Here is a link to the official NAGPRA website it you are interested in reading more into it: http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/.
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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Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts

3/13/2016

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When we hear the word “bone” we either think of a dead material or what we have inside that just serves as a way to keep us from being a mound of muscle and tissue. What I am saying is we never see bone as “alive.” Sure we see our friends, family, and every human we see as alive, but we do not give much thought into the bones of those we see as alive. In the following blog I will discuss the “living” our bones have been doing since we were conceived.
You have heard parents speaking of their children and saying how fast they are growing. This growing is all thanks to the osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Before I go any further I think it best to clear up what these blasts and clasts are all about. On the cellular level, osteoclasts remove bone tissue and osteoblasts build bone tissue. In short, these two remodel bone. In children, mostly infants, one hundred percent of their skeleton is remodeled, so it is not so far to say they grow fast. Now bone is relatively light weight. This is because of the relationship between the osteoblasts and the osteoclasts. Without the removal of the bone tissue which is the job of the osteoclasts, the osteoblasts would keep making bone tissue, and in doing so make it very thick, and thus, making the bone heavier.
Now the work of the osteoblasts and osteoclasts do not stop during the years after maturity. As I am writing this, my osteoblasts and osteoclasts maybe hard at work. In adults they get to work every 3 months or so. Our bones are constantly changing. Maybe not the extent of younger humans, but the average adult has about ten percent of their bones remodeled every year. But even though these osteoblasts and osteoclasts seem like a well oiled machine, sometimes things go wrong (image below is what is supposed to happen).

The thing that goes wrong is called osteoporosis. This is “a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of tissue.” The tissue they are talking about is the bone tissue, or sometimes called “bone loss.” A cause of this is an imbalance in hormones, which leads to the imbalance of what the osteoblasts and osteoclasts do. Since the bones become fragile, this means the osteoclasts are the only one doing their job. This form of hormonal imbalance osteoporosis is most common in postmenopausal women, but there is another that is age related that can happen in the 20's. “Recent studies indicate that significant trabecular bone loss begins as early as the twenties in men and women—long before any major hormonal changes. In women, however, bone loss accelerates for 5 to 10 years after menopause due to the rapid decline in estrogen levels; after this phase, bone loss continues at approximately the same rate as in elderly males. These observations indicate that there is an element of the aging process in bone, other than an age-associated failure of other organs or tissues, that is a common cause of bone loss in both aging women and men.”
That last paragraph makes osteoblasts and osteoclasts out to be something terrifying; almost like being eaten from the inside out. But these help us in more ways that keeping our bones healthy and strong. For example, when a bone is broken. A broken bone has a few steps to heal, from quickly forming a clot to stabilize the bone, to creating fiber of collagen (“the major protein in bone and connective tissue”). After all this is done, the last step and line of defense are the osteoblasts and osteoclasts. “Osteoclasts and osteoblasts spend months remodeling bone by replacing the bone callus with harder compact bone.” These elements are crucial for our survival. They may go mad in some cases, but, that said, it is thanks to this team of destroy and create that we are able to grow and rebuild.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover. (animation below is an example of what the osteoblasts and osteoclasts do).

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Sexual Dimorphism

3/6/2016

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Sexual dimorphism is a term which means the difference between the male and female of a species. In a previous blog (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/male-or-female) I discussed how the skeleton of male and female differentiate, which is a form of sexual dimorphism, but a very small percentage of it (about 1%). In humans male and female also differ slightly in physical appearance; from amount of hair to amount of musculature. But what of other hominids? In the following blog I will discuss the difference between male and female non-human primates. I first want to speak of those whose sexual dimorphism is evident, then to those with whom it is not so evident.
Our first non-human ape is the orangutan. This is an ape who inhabits Borneo, Malaysia, and Sumatra, Indonesia, and whose method of locomotion is sometimes travel on the ground, but their more common locomotion is brachiation (climbing trees) so both males and females have arms longer than their torsos. Aside from the arms and the colour of their hair (orange), they could not be more different. The male orangutan has body mass more than twice than that of females, and with that they are also larger and heavier. They also have larger canines and first lower premolars (refer to: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-diet-and-teeth). But even though these are all immediately evident that the larger ones are males, but there is one element that removes all doubt. This element are the large cheek pads; only male orangutans have these (image below). Something that helps in this huge difference is when the female hits adulthood, they stop growing, while the male still grows. That said, when orangutans are babies, it is difficult to tell apart the males and females.

With orangutans they do not have an alpha male, unlike the next ape I will address; the gorilla. This ape lives either in a small section of lowlands or of mountains of Africa; the latter being lowland gorillas and former being mountain gorillas. Unlike the orangutans who spend little time on the ground, gorillas spend much time on the ground. That said, their method of locomotion is that of quadrupedal knuckle walkers. In the community of the gorilla, there is one alpha male, known as a silverback, a few females, and their offspring. Their packs consist of about 10 individuals. In contrast to the male orangutans, male gorillas do not have cheek pads, but the sexual dimorphism in them is just as noticeable. Female gorillas generally weigh between 154 lb (70 kg) or 198 lb (90kg), while male gorillas come in at 440 lb (200 kg) (image below for comparison).

We now switch to apes whose sexual dimorphism is not as great as the two I have just addressed. The first I will speak of might as well be a cousin to us humans, which is the chimpanzee. Even though their form of locomotion is quadrupedal knuckle walkers like the gorillas, they also comfortably climb trees. Chimpanzees live in tropical forests and bordering savannas. And unlike the gorillas they do not several female partners, they form monogamous mating bonds in a community numbering from 10 to 50 individuals. Humans and chimpanzees do not differ much, and sexual dimorphism is one of things we have in common with them. I am not saying that we have the same sexual dimorphism but we have small differences between our males and females. The average weight for a male chimpanzee is 88.2 to 132 lb (40 to 60 kg) and for the average female chimpanzee is 70.5 to 104 lb (32 to 47 kg), which is nowhere near the difference between male and female gorillas. As for the size both female and male chimpanzees tend to be about the same height, but the females are less muscular, like humans.

The last ape I will speak of are the gibbons. These apes inhabit southeast Asia. Like the orangutans, gibbons also use brachiation as a form of locomotion, but unlike the orangutans, they are much smaller and slender, so they are able to walk bipedally on top of branches. These apes, like the chimpanzees, are monogamous (this includes forming a nuclear family which is two mated adults with their juvenile offspring). Now, unlike the three apes I have spoken of, which are classified as part of the “great apes,”gibbons fall under the classification of “lesser apes” (or “smaller apes). At the average height for all gibbons, male and female, being at 3 ft, this is understandable. Just like the chimpanzees the sexual dimorphism is not great; if anything it is less than that of the chimpanzees. The average male gibbon weights 12.3 lb (5.6 kg) and the average female weights 12.7 lb (5.8 kg). So both male and female gibbons weight pretty much the same. Now there is a species of gibbons known as siamangs, which hold the biggest male gibbons weighing between 15 lb (7 kg) and 30 lb (13.5 kg).

It is amazing how much apes vary, from human to gorilla. Brachiation is a rare ability for primates (only a few New World monkey species have that as well). As for the quadrupedal knuckle walking, only the chimpanzees and gorillas have shown this skill. But the form of locomotion is probably all the chimpanzees and gorillas share in common; along with the orangutans and gibbons, the only thing they share in common is brachiation. What is more, of the apes I have addressed in this blog, one is the biggest ape species (gorillas), along with the smallest (gibbons). But that said, we are all family, we are all apes.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.
(from left to right: human, gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan, gibbon)

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Evolution of Language

NAGPRA

Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts

Sexual Dimorphism

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