PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 101

The Axial Skeleton

"I've come for the bones, the precious bones, the jade bones.  Can I have them in order to populate the earth?" - Quetzalcoatl

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Welcome to my Physical Anthropology 101 student page. Physical anthropology deals with the examination of the human species beginning with the exploration of our earliest hominid ancestors, which date to some six/seven/eight million years ago. This was a time when we evidently split into a fully bipedal species (walking on two legs). Our work proceeds alongside models provided by the great ape species (gibbons, bonobos, gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans). We are interested in how the human body has adapted and changed in the wake of natural occurring forces, such as genetic drift, migration, mutation, and natural selection. This is what physical anthropologists call an evolutionary approach to understanding the human body. The approach aids our understanding of the human biological context, past, present, and future.

As physical anthropologists, we follow a behavioral ecological model that integrates plants, animals, and the environment alongside the evolution of the human body. Being aware of these inter-related biological processes helps us better engage food and the environment, in order to promote positive health and well-being of the long-term type. We are interested in the examination of race and ethnicity from a human skeletal and genetic base, to best promote racial relationships among populations, in all places of the world. Because our efforts stem from an understanding of anthropological theory and method, the scope of our work is truly holistic, bridging cultural, archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidences into vast paradigms. Our methodologies encompass excavation, analysis, and re-construction, to simulate the past, present, and future. Most of our work spans across the field, the laboratory, and in the classroom, delivering knowledge's, posing questions, and building dynamic models to live by.

One of the major resolves of this site is to bring back that awareness of the human body that has been lost. Knowledge of the human body has been overwhelmingly blinded by demanding work and school schedules, media outlets, and advances in technology that do little to emphasize the body’s health, and wellness, and its developments. Little do we know that our bodies are constantly evolving, reacting to the material and natural environment, and asking for our care, do we care? The biggest questions of the Anthropocene (see Steffen et al. 2011), ask that we re-evaluate how we heal, grow, and positively interact, with other humans. It is important that we understand not only the basic body plan (cells, tissues, and organs) but also the dominant phenotypes that power our ethnic, gendered, and sexual orientations. How we as a human species can halt the destruction of our bodies and plant? That process begins with physical anthropology, the study of the human body and all its relationships.

In the following sections, you will find a series of blogged visuals (pictures), texts, and lecture notes relevant to physical anthropology. The material comes directly from my classroom and laboratory experiences in teaching cultural and physical anthropology at the college level. The material I present in a sequential order comprised of 10 basic lesson plans for your learning. The site, like all of my work, is constantly "evolving," so please check back randomly for new postings.

Attention Cerritos College students, I am currently mentoring students by way of independent study. Students enrolled in the Honors Program, and in my physical anthropology theory course, may request an advanced-learning track, with the approval of a project by the Honors coordinator.

Steffen, Will, Jacques Grunewald, and Paul Crutzen

2011    The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspective Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 369: 843

Measurement of the nasal breadth and height