Anthropology.net

Previously on 4SH…

The Avatar Edition, aka number 83, was published by Eric Michael Johnson, on December 30, 2009, at 8:00 AM. Although I’ve thus far omitted to post something on this edition, I’ll add a brief word here. The first few posts deal with James Cameron’s latest project to hit the cinemas in the guise of Avatar which by all accounts has come in for a pretty mixed reception; I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t offer any insights, but the related posts at 4SH look behind the scenes at some of those who became involved in the film’s creation, which even had a language specifically created for it.

In addition there were a number of other intriguing posts, dealing with more linguistics, archaeology, biological evolution and Applied/Theoretical anthropology, including a post from the excellent Anthropology in Practice blog, which concentrates more on  life in the modern day – although I spend probably too much time patrolling the palaeoanthropology beat, it’s always interesting to read thoughts and observations of anthropologists as they navigate their way through and across the conurbations, in this particular case the New York of today. In any case, be sure to check each and every post of this edition, as you never know what you didn’t know until you suddenly discovered etc etc…

On now to zinjanthropus  at A Primate of Modern Aspect, episode 84, where the following takes place between x AM and y PM:

In this Gratuitous Gelada Edition, as we might expect from the title and host, a number of posts feature our primate relatives – as observation-based research produces ever-growing cascades of data from cultural and behavioural studies, so our close relatives become ever more interesting. As the extent to which our own evolution is entangled with non-human counterparts appears to be more detailed and tightly bound than could have been imagined in previous decades, many notions such as enhanced cognitive abilities through increased brain size amongst H. sapiens sapiens to explain our ‘superiority’ are fast becoming myth, especially when considering how we supposedly came to be uniquely culture-adapted modern humans. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that behaviours such as tool-use are much more widespread across the animal kingdom, as this recent article on stingrays indicates.

Another notable aspect of this edition of Four Stone Hearth is the re-appearance of Julien Riel-Salvatore at A Very Remote Period Indeed – one of the best bloggers out there on palaeoanthropology, and I thoroughly recommend anyone who has not already done so to bookmark the site/ subscribe to the feed, or otherwise initiate your preferred method of keeping abreast of new posts.

In fact, the very next edition of Four Stone Hearth is due to be hosted by Julien on January 27th, so just check the 4SH site for details of how to submit material, as well as further information on how to host your very own action-packed and cliff-hanging edition.

My apologies once again to yet another host of Four Stone Hearth for failing to submit something – in this case, Krystal D’Costa who is running the current edition at her blog, Anthropology in Practice – you’d think that 2 weeks would be plenty long enough to get a submission together, but either the passage of time is accelerating, or my perception of it is rapidly decreasing.

Regardless of that, there are plenty of good posts packed into her edition, in which The Gift by Marcel Mauss gets an early mention  – it’s one of those books I’ve dipped into here and there on many an occasion, and one that makes for excellent reading, especially at this time of year. It even contains a handy Maori proverb, quite apt I suppose, for this or any other time of the year…

Ko Maru kai atu, Ko maru kai mai, ka ngohe ngohe

…which according to Mauss means “Give as much as you take, all shall be very well.”

On which note, please head over to the latest edition of Four Stone Hearth to read the selection of assembled posts – as well as submissions from familar contributors such as Aardvarchaeology and The Primate Diaries, there are two other blogs previously unknown to me, namely Archosaur Musings and An Anthropologist Goes Techno, as well as three posts from the host herself, to whom thanks are due for publishing this edition.

The final 4SH of this year is due out on December 30th, whilst the whole of 2010 is as yet an open opportunity for anyone wishing to host this anthropology blog carnival during that time – details of how to apply can be found here.

image: Marcel Mauss from hilobrow.com

There’s water on the Moon, and even at lower than expected latitudes on Mars, not to mention a monstrous lightning storm on Saturn that has been on the go since mid-January. But none of that concerns us here, as we Earthlings possess a force of nature of our own which is much nearer to home, specifically a fortnightly anthropology blog carnival called Four Stone Hearth, which this time round is hosted over at Afarensis.

This 76th edition is a great mix of recent discoveries that have made the headlines of late, as well as a few contemplative posts, which amongst all else question not only what we see but how we interpret and process different types of information that are presented to us; there’s even a movie to watch, courtesy of the Archaeology Channel, plus a load of free papers from PNAS. None of these articles require expensive multi-spectrum telescopes, robotic space missions or teams of dauntingly bright astrophysicists to enlighten us further, as an ability to read is quite sufficient; so just head on over to Afarensis to check out the latest cluster of posts to have been plucked from their orbital paths around the blogosphere.

The next edition of 4SH is due out on October 7th, but as yet there are no hosts slated, so if you’re keen on embarking on a one-person mission to stage the 77th edition, just head over to the Four Stone Hearth base, where instructions for hosting and submitting await.