How Human Are We? SAPIENS by Nicholas R. Longrich Hand axes crafted by Homo erectus required skills and planning—and likely, generational knowledge. Nick Longrich This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. READER QUESTION: We now know from evolutionary science that humanity has existed in some form or another for around two million years or more. Homo … Read more
How People Actually Use Their Smartphones SAPIENS by Laura Haapio-Kirk and Georgiana Murariu [no-caption] John Cei Douglas In 2022, the smartphone, first introduced by IBM, will celebrate its 30th birthday. Most of us now use a smartphone every day—whether we like it or not. Previously associated with young people, these technologies have become ubiquitous around the world … Read more
Will Bog Archaeology Fade Away? SAPIENS by Nathaniel Scharping / Archaeologists excavate a bog in Hatfield Moors, England, to uncover Late Stone Age structures. Henry Chapman In the southernmost tip of Sweden, just over an hour from neighboring Denmark, is the ancient peat bog of Ageröd. For nearly a century, this waterlogged landscape has been revealing its secrets to … Read more
Archaeologists Should Be Activists Too SAPIENS by Allison Mickel and Kyle Olson Archaeologists are well-suited to help organize protests such as this “Count the Vote” rally in 2020. Jon Irons When Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, paused counting votes for one night during the 2020 presidential election, unfounded conspiracy theories about election security began to fly. Peru’s Incan Rope Bridges … Read more
Six Reasons to Save Archaeology From Funding Cuts SAPIENS by John Schofield / Archaeology offers a detailed look at humanity’s past and important insights into the present and future. Jo Ahmet/Kent County Council This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. Archaeology is in trouble. The U.K. government recently announced plans to cut its subsidy … Read more
We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Read our full statement here: https://t.co/BWxrHgEs6H #SaveSheikhJarrah #FreePalestine — MidEastAnthro (@mes_aaa) May 14, 2021 MES Statement on Palestine We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people against ongoing settler colonialism and condemn Zionist violence against them, including forced evictions and retaliatory violence by Israeli state forces against … Read more
A Great Tree Has Fallen: The Passing of Marshall Sahlins – CounterPunch.org CounterPunch A Great Tree Has Fallen: The Passing of Marshall Sahlins – Marshall D. Sahlins, titan of anthropology, 1930–2021 UChicago News Remembering Marshall Sahlins (1930-2021) | The Chicago Blog UChicago News Remembering Marshall Sahlins (1930-2021) | The Chicago Blog Marshall D. Sahlins, Groundbreaking Anthropologist, Dies … Read more
It is said to see anthropology lost two of its major voices. I remembered the day Rabinow was at the Rice when I was a doctoral student. For those who do not know who Sahlins and Rabinow are.
The Untold Stories of Archaeology’s Women SAPIENS by Brenna Hassett, Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Rebecca Wragg Sykes, and Tori Herridge For Women’s History Month, it has become traditional to rifle through the great names of the past, pluck out a few that strike the imagination and have the appropriate gender marker, and dust them off for a new audience. … Read more
Cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson dies at 81 Today.com Cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson dies at 81 In Europe, more than two thirds of all academic anthropologists are living in precarity antropologi.info (via FocaalBlog) In the general public, academics are often viewed as being part of an elite, who lives comfortable lives. In reality this is only true for … Read more
Anthropology Day Photo Contest FoodAnthropology Festival Oyster Grillers, New Orleans, June 1, 2019, photo by David Beriss If you have food anthropology related photos that you want to be famous, SAFN wants to hear from you! We have decided to hold a food anthropology photography competition for Anthropology Day (2/18) this year. Our goal is to collect … Read more
What Makes Vaccines Social? SAPIENS by Emily Brunson and Monica Schoch-Spana Summary container all summary markers are relative to this container: do not change the id (3) [no-caption] Luis Alvarez/Getty Images Now is a pressing time for vaccinating the U.S. population (and the world) against COVID-19. But there are social hurdles that need to be addressed. … Read more
A Startling Link Between Neanderthals and COVID-19 SAPIENS by Daniel Salas [no-caption] Angus Krieg SAPIENS host Chip Colwell speaks with evolutionary geneticist Hugo Zeberg about his surprising discovery of a connection between Neanderthal DNA and a greater risk for severe COVID-19. Zeberg is also a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary … Read more
Anthropology Image Representation – The Power of Images SAPIENS Anthropology Image Representation – The Power of Images SAPIENS The headlines and powerful prose of the anthropologists and journalists who write for SAPIENS draw our readers in Zeit and again. But, as the art coordinator for the magazine, I also like to think that the images play an important role in … Read more
How to Write an Essay: A Guide for Anthropologists SAPIENS by Nicola Jones [no-caption] FilippoBacci/GettyImages For academics used to the idea of “publish or perish,” writing may seem to be a well-practiced and even perfected skill. But trying out a new writing style for a new audience—from crafting a tweet to penning an essay for the general public—can … Read more