Anthropology Commons^™

Homosexuals In The Periphery: Gay And Lesbian Rights In Developing Africa, Brett Kennedy

Nebraska Anthropologist

Slowly but surely American and Western European culture is being eased into an approximate acceptance of homosexuality and other non-heterosexual orientations. Great leaps have been taken in the past four decades to improve the quality of life for non-heterosexuals in almost all parts of the developed world However, in those countries which lie on the outside of this small core group of economic power, the issue of gay rights is often not even considered In this analysis, I will be looking at the attitudes and treatment of homosexuals in developing Africa. Primarily, the focus will rest on South Africa and …

Concept-Demand Theory And The Evolution Of Human Language, Rory M. Larson

Nebraska Anthropologist

A model of language and its evolution is proposed, based on the theory of concept and demand as essential features of human language. A continuous and plausible series of evolutionary stages from the origins of communication to modern human languages is suggested. It is argued that the differentiation of concept from demand is the crucial step which bridges the gap between animal communication systems and human language.

Transboundary Protected Areas As A Solution To Border Issues, Catherine Pool

Nebraska Anthropologist

Transboundary Protected areas (TBP As) and peace parks are possible solutions to conflict and environmental problems that can occur along the borders separating countries. Though there are many possible benefits to the parks creation, they can cause problems for those that live along the borders. A series of case studies are examined to determine what factors can help or hinder the success of the parks. Without communication at all levels, from government to locals, the parks are unsuccessful. If the people at the border are not part of the decisions made regarding the parks they are much more likely to …

Foraging Behaviors Of Alouatta Palliata, Mantled Howling Monkeys, Jeffrey A. Baum

Nebraska Anthropologist

Research was conducted at the EI Zota biological field station to determine the amount and type of food processing exhibited by mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) prior to consumption. Mantled howling monkeys have been labeled as behavioral folivores with limited morphological adaptations for foliage digestion. The purpose of this study was to determine if A. palliata displayed any food manipulations and how food was selected by the species. Breakdown of the data was done to evaluate differences based on sex for these feeding and foraging behaviors. Results showed no behaviors that could be classified as manipulating food items …

Women And Warfare: How Human Evolution Excluded Women, Brett Kennedy

Nebraska Anthropologist

In 1983, David B. Adams published "Why are there so few Women Warriors? " This important paper brought to light the traditional coriflict between marriage and war. Going against the classical "men are more aggressive" theory, Adams presented the conflict of interest a wife might experience in a patrilocal, exogamous society that would necessitate her removal from the warfare complex. However, even in those societies that there is no coriflict of interest, the woman warrior is almost unheard of Furthermore, even within those societies that allow women to participate in war, they are always the rarest exception. To answer this …

Female And Male Perceptions Of Attractiveness: What Is Attractive And Why?, Ryan Schacht

Nebraska Anthropologist

The goal of mate selection is to choose a partner that will contribute to one's reproductive success. This contribution can be found in two possible ways: either through genetic quality or parental investment. These qualities are generally visible by the expressed phenotype of an individual and found to be more or less attractive based on their value to reproduction. Those features found to be attractive between the sexes are generally the same although, their proportions may vary. Indicators of attractiveness include waist-hip ratio, body mass index, facial and bodily symmetry, as well as other physical attributes. These phenotypic markers indicate …

Romantic Love And Marriage: An Analysis Of The Concept And Functionality Of Romantic Love As A Marital Stabilizing Agent, Emily Sorrell

Nebraska Anthropologist

When identifying the central components that constitute general social structures, one cannot overlook the integral role that marriage, in its many manifestations, plays in the make-up of human societies. Marriage, or the ultimate extension of pair bonding, developed largely as a cultural adaptation to the reproduction of slowly developing human offspring and hence can be viewed as a method of maximizing reproductive fitness. If this assumption is correct, then one may presume that it would be beneficial to humans and their reproductive success to engage in marriages of relative stability. Hence, it would be reasonable to assume that there must …

Analysis Of Quartz In Northern Wisconsin: Deficiencies, Misconceptions And Goals, Elizabeth Spott

Nebraska Anthropologist

Quartz is a common mineral found in archaeological lithic assemblages from sites around the globe, however, little analysis and interpretation of these assemblages has been conducted Quartz debitage can make up nearly the entire lithic assemblage and can total hundreds to thousands of pieces. Valuable information can be attained by studying the debitage in these assemblages, such as the type of reduction technique, stage of reduction, and the relative distance to different lithic sources. Archaeologists have avoided quartz assemblages due to some misconceptions: it is impossible to analyze quartz reduction sequences, it is difficult to work and control and it …

Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 20: 2005 Table Of Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

Women and Warfare: How Human Evolution Excluded Women (Brett Kennedy)

Romantic Love and Marriage: An Analysis of the Concept and Functionality of Romantic Love as a Marital Stabilizing Agent (Emily Sorrell)

Bone Dispersion, Weathering, and Scavenging of Cattle Bones (Melinda Potmesil)

Omaha Metals, Coinage, and Syntax: Outside Influence? (Rory Larson)

Native Americans in Prison: The Struggle for Religious Freedom (Stephanie Beran)

Punitive Behavior in eBay Auctions (Kyle Gibson)

Female and Male Perceptions of Attractiveness: What is Attractive and Why? (Ryan Schacht)

Theory of Mind in Chimpanzees: A Rationalist Approach (Benjamin Grant Purzycki)

Postpartum Depression: An Evolutionary Perspective (Mark Tracy)

Analysis …

Postpartum Depression: An Evolutionary Perspective, Mark Tracy

Nebraska Anthropologist

There is no common consensus among theorists regarding the nature and purpose of postpartum depression. Evolutionary theorists have proposed that the onset of postpartum depression is an adaptive function that signals a potential fitness cost to the mother i. e. the investment in the child will be cost more than the evolutionary benefits to be gained from rearing this child Many studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between postpartum depression and lack of paternal or social support indicating that when these two variables are absent the mother is more likely to experience postpartum depression. In this paper …

Native Americans In Prison: The Struggle For Religious Freedom, Stephanie Beran

Nebraska Anthropologist

Native peoples account for a disproportionate number of inmates in the current American prison population. Due to differences in the character of practice between Native and Judeo-Christian religions, it has been suggested that Native inmates face challenges that other prisoners do not because their religious needs are poorly understood. In the course of this paper I will discuss the disparities in the religious accommodation of Native inmates, explore how the religious rights of imprisoned Natives have been violated, and present arguments concerning the validity of spirituality as a means of inmate therapy and rehabilitation.

Omaha Metals, Coinage, And Syntax: Outside Influence?, Rory Larson

Nebraska Anthropologist

A study of acculturation terms for metals and money in Omaha and some of the neighboring native languages related to it sheds light upon the historical circumstances in which these terms were coined

Punitive Behavior In Ebay Auctions, Kyle Gibson M.A.

Nebraska Anthropologist

EBay employs a system known as "feedback" to assure trust between those buying and selling items using its service. Feedback information on past auctions is available for all to see; a positive reputation is likely to increase a seller's business just as a negative reputation can harm it. The importance of a good eBay reputation (i.e., highfeedback score) may lead members of the eBay community to react harshly if they receive neutral or negative feedback. Here, the hypothesis that negative feedback is reciprocated/punished with negative feedback is supported The feedback system eBay uses does not serve the best interests of …

Bone Dispersion, Weathering, And Scavenging Of Cattle Bones, Melinda Potmesil

Nebraska Anthropologist

In this research project, the goal was to study the pattern of disbursement of cattle bones from the site of death, observe any signs of scavenger marks and categorize the degree of weathering on the bones. In order to have a comparative data set, three sites with different characteristics were chosen. The three sites were chosen because of the ability to date the death of each cow, the length of time between each death, and the different locations, which each animal died The oldest site was a one-year-old yearling heifer which died in May of 1992. The next site was …

Theory Of Mind In Chimpanzees: A Rationalist Approach, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nebraska Anthropologist

The question of whether or not chimpanzees possess the ability to mentally represent others' mental states has been a popular question since Premack and Woodruff (1978) originally asked the question. It is well established that humans have a theory of mind (ToM), but extending this psychological faculty to our evolutionary cousins has created a massive amount of literature and research attempting to resolve this issue. Such a resolution is arguably not possible given the nature of the debate. An Either/Or approach to chimpanzee theory of mind both ignores the essential components of ToM as well as foreclosing on the possibility …

A Tri-Cultural Look At Legitimacy And Illegitimacy Using An Evolutionary Model, Mara D. Giles

Nebraska Anthropologist

The rules for legitimacy and illegitimacy are not universal, yet every culture classifies its children into valid and invalid A review of the literature, including Teichman, Hendrix, and Davis, has indicated that legitimacy is a status of marriage. This status is determined by several factors including race, class, inheritance patterns, lineage systems, the role of fathers, and the position of women. European and subSaharan African cultures use these factors differently to validate the boundaries separating the legitimate from the illegitimate. Until as recently as thirty years ago, English culture asserted that a man had to be proven to be the …

Comparison Of The Traditional And Contemporary Extended Family Units Of The Hopi And Lakota (Sioux): A Study Of The Deterioration Of Kinship Structures And Functions, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nebraska Anthropologist

Drawing on a body of classical and contemporary ethnographic resources, one finds a number of coriflicting conclusions and assumptions in not only the evolutionary role of the extended family and its functions, but also-in a post-colonial context-how these units as well as their roles and functions change. When comparing a number of sources, we find that extended families are explained in diametrically opposed terms (e.g. some say extended families result from hunter-gatherer societies while others attribute it to agricultural groups), creating conflicting theory obviously not considered together as often enoughhence the necessity of comparative study between traditionally agricultural Hopi and …

Extrinsic Factors That Effect The Preservation Of Bone, Kyle Baxter

Nebraska Anthropologist

This article provides an overview of bone composition and the taphonomic processes that affect the representation of skeletal elements in archaeological deposits. Soil chemistry and composition, bone size, and other variables affect these processes.

Evolutionary Theory In Anthropology: Providing Ultimate Explanations For Human Behavior, Kyle Gibson

Nebraska Anthropologist

This short essay will elucidate one of the main benefits of using an evolutionary approach when studying human behavior; the ability to answer questions ultimately.

Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 19: 2003-2004 Table Of Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

ARTICLES

1 Evolutionary Theory in Anthropology: Providing Ultimate Explanations for Human Behavior (Kyle Gibson)

4 A Tri-Cultural Look at Legitimacy and Illegitimacy Using an Evolutionary Model (Mara Giles)

16 Comparison of the Traditional and Contemporary Extended Family Units of the Hopi and Lakota (Sioux): A Study ofthe Deterioration of Kinship Structures and
Functions (Benjamin Grant Purzycki)

32 Native American Survival in a Colonial United States (Charles Marr)

38 Extrinsic Factors That Effect The Preservation of Bone (Kyle Baxter)

46 Systemic Nesting Among the Anasazi: AD 900-1140 (Carl G. Drexler)

Systemic Nesting Among The Anasazi: Ad 900-1140, Carl G. Drexler

Nebraska Anthropologist

Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have proposed a number of models and hypotheses to explain the growth andfluorescence of the Anasazi system based in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. This paper gives an overview of some of those models, then explores how World System Theory (WSJ) might be used to understand the social and economic processes at work during the pinnacle of settlement in Chaco Canyon.

Native American Survival In A Colonial United States, Charles Marr

Nebraska Anthropologist

The persecution of Native Americans in the United States has not yet come to an end. There are many policies still in place that lead to the reduction of the unique culture of the Native Americans. This can have disastrous impacts for their own survival and well being. These policies reduce their language, culture, selfdetermination, their knowledge of the environment, and increases their poverty. The United States government can help to solve these problems by eliminating the Bureau of Indian Affairs and forming a think-tank that would be composed of Tribal leaders, lawyers who specialize in Native American Law, and …

Nebraska Anthropologist Volume 17: 2001-2002 Table Of Contents

Nebraska Anthropologist

1 Battlefield Oddities: Explaining Two Minie Balls from Pea Ridge National Military
Park (156) (DonArp, Jr.)

7 Reliability Assessment of Surface Archaeological Survey Results from Western
Rough Cilicia, Turkey (Melissa Kruse)

18 An Exploration of Possible Causes of High Dropout Rates in Native American
Reservation Schools (Mary Cornelius)

24 Analyzing Anthropogenic Landscapes with GIS and Remote Sensing: A Literature Review (Andi O. Kraft)

29 The Nazis' Archeology (Megan Young)

36 Qumran: Archaeology and Theories of Identification (Ann Putz)

47 A Study of Sign Language in Chimpanzees (Kelli Bacon)

57 The Mythological Role of Gender Ideologies: A Cross-Cultural Sample of
Traditional …

A Study Of Sign Language In Clump Anzees, Kelli Bacon

Nebraska Anthropologist

One of the hot topics in anthropology concerns the debate over chimpanzee communicative and lingual abilities. This paper will offer evidence gatheredfrom studies by Allen and Beatrice Gardner, Roger Fouts, Maury and Jane Temerlin, Herbert S. Terrace, T G. Bever, and Sheri Roush who all used American Sign Language (Ameslan) to teach their students Washoe, Lucy, Bruno, Booee, Cindy, Thelma, Nim, Moja, Pili, Tatu, Dar, Loulis, and Ally. Each of the studies lfas tailored differently, but many of the results were the same. This, in itself, might be evidence for some level of lingual ability, but some scholars such as …

An Exploration Of Possible Causes Of High Dropout Rates In Native American Reservation Schools, Mary Cornelius

Nebraska Anthropologist

Native American reservation schools have significantly higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates than the national average. Significant problems behind high dropout rates on Native American reservations in the United States include poverty, lack of support from elders and differing expectations and ways of communicating between teachers and students in the classroom. The history of Native American education includes many efforts at assimilation and the destruction of native cultural practices and languages. This still impedes today 's youth in that many elders still see schooling as a tool of assimilation and do not encourage or support success in what they …

Analyzing Anthropogenic Landscapes With Gis And Remote Sensing: A Literature Review, Andi O. Kraft

Nebraska Anthropologist

Anthropogenic landscapes are those that have been modified, to varying degrees, by human. Their development is affected by the over-use of natural landscapes in the past such as overgrazing, frequent fires, or excessive depletion of forests. Anthropologists analyzing land-use intensification are now realizing the promise of geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensingfor their research. A literature review of case studies done on varying anthropogenic landscapes will highlight how GIS can give practical integration of geographic spatial structures (habitation, soils, river drainage) to past and current relationships between the environment and human systems when combined with local-level knowledge. Research of …

Battlefield Oddities: Explaining Two Minié Balls From Pea Ridge National Military Park, Don Arp Jr.

Nebraska Anthropologist

Two minié ball bullets, each with a different caliber and similar longitudinal lines were recovered at Pea Ridge National Military Park during the fieldwork conducted there in March 2001. Thefunction of these lines was unknown. Several hypotheses were advanced to explain the Irfarkings. However, through detailed mathematic and microscope analysis, it has been determined that the lines were made by the same process and machine and may have served as a point of attachment for an experimental cartridge made of either metal, cloth, or paper. The bullets may have been part of a pre-Civil War experiment and found action in …

The Nazis' Archeology, Megan Young

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Nazi Party found that archeology is a very useful tool in propaganda. The Nazis used it to justify their nationalistic interests, from the conquest of Europe to create the Third Reich to genocidal racial cleansing. They glorified their past to unite the German people and gain their support. However, the people could not have been misled without the cooperation or apathy of German archeologists in general.

Qumran: Archaeology And Theories Of Identification, Ann Putz

Nebraska Anthropologist

Research at Qumran has lead many archaeologists, religious figures, and other academics into disagreements about what the site really was during the time of the Romans in the Holy Land. Qumran was first excavated in the 1950 's after scrolls were found in the caves surrounding the site. The site has some very unique features not found anywhere else in Israel or Jordan, leaving the researchers somewhat confused. Qumran has had several occupations and has also been rebuilt many times due to earthquakes. This only adds to the confusing in determining what the site of Qumran really was.

The Mythological Role Of Gender Ideologies: A Cross-Cultural Sample Of Traditional Cultures, Richard Owens

Nebraska Anthropologist

Hunting and gathering along with horticultural societies provide a basis for understanding contemporary ideologies. Such groups are generally labeled as egalitarian societies from their status and treatment of females. A survey of traditional hunters-gatherers and horticultural societies compared their mythological charters on gender ideologies to the dally interactions of gender roles in order to determine their level of influence on the culture. Traditional societies are thought to be a basis to observe gender stratification among all known societies. The division of labor is in all cultures, as a means to limit control economic resources, often favoring men. In this paper …