Anthropology.net

I try to keep politics from interfering with this site, but David Rohde’s excellent coverage in the New York Times on the Pentagon’s new experimental program, the Human Terrain Team, which enlists the help of cultural anthropologists to help tackle the tricky cultural nuances the military is confronting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is something I can’t not post about.

The article, “Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones,” is excellently written, it not only covers the good things that have come about from recruiting anthropology into the fold, such as reducing armed conflicts by 60%, but also the critiques from the anthropological community. There’s also a informative video, which if I could, I’d embed here for you to see.

There’s so much to comment on the piece that I could honestly quote the whole article. Rather than do that, I recommend you jump on over and read the piece. Having academics, like anthropologists consult and assist in the war effort, is something I advocated many years ago, as it seemed like the military had no cultural sensitivity when the wars were starting. I remember I got chastised by Lorenz of antropologi.info but I still stand by my opinion that anthropology can help the war effort. I’m glad the head honchos have considered experimenting with social science to deal with problems that would never be solved by gunfights and military might.

KNM-WT 15000 was found by Kamoya Kimeu in 1984 at the Nariokotome site near Lake Turkana in Kenya. It the most complete specimen of Homo erectus to date. All that’s missing from this 12 year old boy are the hands, feet, and left humerus. Its completeness and its 1.6 million years old age undoubtedly makes it an important specimen to anthropology and the study of human evolution

So to read from Ann Gibbons of Science that Turkana boy has been shipped to The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois to be exhibited rings all sorts of alarm bells that rang when I read about Lucy’s trip to the west.

What if he gets damaged? Why doesn’t a really well done cast suffice?

I doubt that he will get damaged, it is a possibility, but people are really careful when packaging and handling priceless fossils like this. And about the cast, I must confess that I would personally be awestruck to see one of the most complete specimens of early Homo in person… especially because Turkana boy packs a lot of human like traits at 5′ 3″ tall. But what’s going on here? Why all of a sudden have two important hominid fossils been sent off to the US?

Any ideas?

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