What the **** does an anthropologist?

What does an Anthropologist do? That´s the question. Knowing what an an anthropologist does is very easy, you just need a computer with internet and probably it appears with more detail and accuracy than what we can tell you.

The Oxford dictionary defines Anthropology as the study of humankind, easy isn’t it? However not so many people is able to give a proper definition of it, even at university. We wanted to know what people knew about anthropology, so we made a simple question. What does an anthropologist do? And these were the answers we received.

- A student of dentistry said: The anthropology is the science of the human being, something like their measurements and their relationship, Da´vinci and the man of vitruvio style, isn’t it?

- A student of Teaching said: Who study the people, or the history of people or the evolution of the people or something like, and he does some research.

- A student of Medicine said:  Something related to insects? Yes, the study of insects. ( After saying that maybe that was entomology... ) Rest of humans, bones,  or something like that.

- A student of Engineer said: I think is who study the stars and investigate the universe. ( After saying that was astronomy..)  is about the human body? ( close - I said- ) it’s about the bones?

- A student of economy said: The study of the human being’s evolution and the role it has played throughout history.

- A student of journalism said: I think is something about the human body. Study the different types?

- A student of Arts said : Work with bones. The anthropologist should know to identify them and know who the bone belongs to (man, woman, animals…)

Well, as we can see, it’s hard to define something as complex as anthropology. So we went to an anthropology lab in order to get some thoughts of real anthropologist. We ask three anthropologist about what an anthropologist does actually. They answered:

I ask to three fellows in the department of anthropology.

¿What really do an anthropologist?

Anthropologists study the human being, their evolution and their diversity.They use the study of fossil, genetics and the nowadays human to research.

These researchs may be on current issues like the obesity or evolutionary studies like adaptation.

To sum up, anthropology is not just digging up some bones and classify them. Nowadays these fossils can give us some ideas about our evolution and our lives thanks to other branches of sciences like genetics, and in the end that can improve our lives.

So long live anthropology!!!!

Lucy in the ground with bones

I have just come across a great Youtube video while I was trying to clarify the story of Lucy, the famous Australopithecus afarensis who has 3,2 million years old. It is a BBC documentary of 1 hour long and when I saw that I said: "Nah, I quit, is too long". Well, I pressed the play button and I didn't quit until 1 hour later.

In the video, Lucy is nearly completely unmasked, bringing us lots of information of the discovery. A lot of experts appears, speaking with clarity in every moment. During the video, there is a very interesting continuous Human-"Lucy"-Chimpancee comparison.

I tried to make a list of points that appear in the video, so here there are:

• The discovery of Australopithecus afarensis footprints in Tanzania and the comparison of them and the human ones.
• The transition of hominins to the ground from the trees.
• The different use of hands and each finger.
• Bipedality in the A. afarensis. Bones comparisons.
• The interesting topic of the birth canal.
• The process of reconstruction of all Lucy's skeleton. (She is so tiny!)
• The discovery of "Lucy's child" and the important fact that he had not stopped developing his brain at 3 years old.
• The sign languaje in hominids.

Enjoy, it is worthwhile! Here you have:

(Video) Ötzi The Ice Man

Weeks ago we posted a new involving Ötzi, the ice man. Our interest on this discovery made 12 years ago increased and we found a nice video where all details are exposed, like the tools he was found with and the cause of his death, discovered years later.

For more information, we always recommend Wikipedia: link

In Focus: Ötzi The Ice Man: