Anthropology.net

So you probably just saw the new post, the one announcing an upcoming linguistic conference on a possible link between the Yeniseic and Na-Dene language families. Well, I, Kambiz Kamrani, did not publish that post. It was actually authored by Alex Greengaard, who’s a new blogger here at Anthropology.net. Usually, I introduce new contributors to Anthropology.net prior to their first post, but I’ve been really sick and been out of commission for the last 5 days. That’s why I haven’t posted until today. I extend my apologies to you all and Alex for dropping the ball.

I’m sure you wanna know more about Alex. He’s a recent graduate of the University of Arizona, and specialized in Linguistic Anthropology. He’s got close ties to Jane Hill and Lyle Campbell. He now teaches social sciences at La Paloma Academy in Tuscon, Arizona. His anthropological interests shouldn’t be surprising, given that he did focus on linguistic anthropology. Nonetheless, here’s some of them:

• The linguistic varieties of English
• Sound change in Polynesian languages
• Language and astronomy in Africa
• Assimilation codeswitching and obsolescence in music
• Dialects in theatre

He’s also a musician, a swimmer, a cycler, a illustrator and actor.

I welcome Alex to our blog, I really appreciate that he’s made the effort to contact me, show interest in volunteering, and following through by posting his first post regardless of my absentminded neglect to introduce him. Again, I’m sorry. I’m sure you all will appreciate him too, until now, the anthropology blogosphere did not really have an active front in linguistics.

Following up on recent discussion of the peopling of the Americas, The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is hosting a conference about the possible link between Siberian (Yeniseic) and Na-Dene language families. The conference, titled Dene-Yeniseic Symposium, will be held on February 26, 27 and 29, 2008, and will feature a lecture from Edward Vajda, Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Director for the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University. Vajda will be discussing several linguistic parameters connecting the Siberian and Na-Dene families and providing new insights to the question of the origin of human presence in the Americas.

All known Yeniseic languages seem to be related at a time depth of about 2,500 years. The large number of cognates between them permits the reconstruction of much basic vocabulary, suggesting a proto-language spoken by mobile bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers in the boreal forests of northern Inner Asia.

The reconstruction of proto-languages by way of the comparative method has always been an excellent support to migration theories. Comparison with recent biological and archaeological studies should turn some interesting conversation. When Vajda publishes, it should stir up some controversy in the anthropology community as a whole.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science just wrapped up its annual meeting yesterday and the press is releasing a lot of summaries on what was presented. Of interest to anthropology are these four postulates, presented by Marc Hauser, the factors that differentiate human cognition.

Before I jump into this, I wanna review that in the past we thought episodic memory, non-linguistic mathematical ability,  the capacity to navigate using landmarks, and our ability to make and use tools were all unique human traits. But they’ve all been documented behaviors in other animals.
That being said, Marc Hauser present what he considers four unique human traits,

1. The ability to combine and recombine different types of information and knowledge in order to gain new understanding.
2. Apply the same “rule” or solution to one problem to a different and new situation.
3. To create and easily understand symbolic representations of computation and sensory input.
4. To detach modes of thought from raw sensory and perceptual input.

Hauser comments that these four unique cognitive traits,

“may have opened up other avenues of evolution that other animals have not exploited, and this evolution of the brain is the foundation upon which cultural evolution has been built.”

Unfortunately, the press release doesn’t indicate that Hauser presented his hypothesis with any data, and I believe that’s why they’re being labeled as postulates, assumptions without proof as a basis for reasoning. Given that we’ve debunked other behaviors once thought to be unique human traits, how do you feel about Hauser’s four? For example, have you ever seen other animals recombine other information to solve new problems, or understand symbolism?

The Neolithic revolution is a really important transition in human prehistory, one that is identified by an increase in technology. During this time people became skilled agriculturalists, adopted more sedentary lifestyles that revolved around more complex, structured city-state societies.

Not every area of the world experienced the Neolithic at the same time. It is believed that the Neolithic revolution began about 12,000 years ago in Levant, a region of the world we know now as the area occupied by Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. As the Neolithic lifestyle radiated, we see it emerge in large settlements like, Çatalhöyük in Anatolia (modern day Turkey), by 10,000 years ago. After this moment, the Neolithic rapidly spread into Europe and Asia.

But, for some odd reason, the Neolithic isn’t seen in Africa until much later, about 4,500 years ago. It really doesn’t make sense that we haven’t seen the Neolithic earlier in Africa, given the fact that the Neolithic originated in the Near East which is in close proximity to Africa. Furthermore, the Neolithic is also seen to begin in the Americas at about 4,500 years ago!

A new discovery in Sudan, “the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Africa,” pushes back the date of the Neolithic in Africa to at least 5,500 years ago,

“The tomb of a 5,500-year-old man surrounded by three sacrificed humans, two dogs and exquisite ceramics were exhumed north of Khartoum by Neolithic expert Jacques Reinhold and his 66-year-old Austrian wife.

“This is the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Sudan, in Egypt, in Africa,” Reinhold told reporters next to the remains in El Kadada village, a three-hour drive north of the Sudanese capital.

“I don’t know of another example in Africa at this level… We don’t have anything as strong in other excavations in other countries,” said Reinhold.”

Reinhold also reported on finding “urns, materials used to grind wheat into flour, beeds and bracelets” at the El Kadada site. Tim, of Remote Central, also covered this news too.