Every building – from the Parthenon to the Great Mosque of Damascus to a typical Georgian house – was influenced by the energy available to its architects. This talk offers a historical perspective on a topic of great relevance today, the linkage of architecture and energy. It provides a useful complement to the non-urban perspective on ecology offered by the talk on “The indigenous architecture of Australia.” Architecture has been shaped in every era by our access to energy, from fire to farmin...
Oct 25, 2024•21 min
Human "place-making" began over a million years ago when early humans made the hearth the center of social life. By 450,000 years ago, they were using caves in southwest Asia and sometimes buried their dead beneath the floor, linking memory-making with place-making. Hunter-gatherers started settling seasonally around 24,000 years ago, with permanent stone settlements by 13,000 BCE. Large, co-resident communities became common in the Holocene. The Neolithic (9600-6000 BCE) saw major social, econo...
Oct 20, 2024•21 min
Lucy is one of the most famous fossils of all time. The discovery of this species had a major impact on the science of human origins and evolution. Why? What was that impact? The symposium speakers—each a prominent scientist in their field—will address this question and specifically discuss the discovery’s impact through time, starting with the first few years after the discovery, the lasting impact, and the state of the art in that research area today. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of ...
Oct 13, 2024•1 hr 19 min
The discovery of a 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton named Lucy revolutionized human evolutionary studies. Her Linnean classification as Australopithecus afarensis sparked debates on taxonomy, highlighting the complexity of interpreting fossil evidence and shaping our understanding of hominin evolution. Lucy's systematics provide insights into the challenges of classifying early hominins, emphasizing how interpretations evolve with new evidence and knowledge. Comparing fossils with living ap...
Oct 11, 2024•21 min
Lucy, discovered in 1974, revolutionized paleoanthropology, sparking interest in Africa's fossil-rich regions. This led to significant discoveries, pushing human origins records beyond six million years. Lucy's find prompted the establishment of research facilities in Africa, aiding local scholars' training. As we mark her 50th anniversary, we celebrate scientific progress and African research infrastructure while recognizing the need for further support to advance paleosciences in Africa. Serie...
Oct 04, 2024•24 min
Lucy's 50-year legacy as a superstar in human evolution is undeniable. Yet, with newer, older fossils and a growing understanding of her ancient world, her status as our ancestor is questioned. This talk delves into how these discoveries reshape Lucy's narrative and our understanding of human evolution, likening her to a middle-aged celebrity facing new challengers. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 39827]
Sep 27, 2024•21 min
Since Lucy's 1974 discovery, African heritage management and paleoscientific research have evolved significantly. Partnerships with international organizations have supported these efforts, leading to flourishing research and collaborations. However, foreign researchers' access restrictions have hindered efficiency, innovation, collaboration, and diversity. Balancing access restrictions with scientific openness and responsible stewardship is crucial. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research...
Sep 13, 2024•20 min
Humans are a spectacular outlier among the millions of species of life on planet earth, with incredibly unique biological success. Slowly, scientists have begun to understand the traits that interacted to make us unique, such as cumulative culture, unique scales of cooperation, cognitive abilities, language, and a unique life history and mating system. However, the sequence of evolutionary events that led to our unique species was very much a mystery until the discovery of early bipedal hominins...
Sep 05, 2024•21 min
The connection between paleoanthropology and primatology began with Darwin's theory of human origins. Lucy's discovery challenged existing ideas, coinciding with observations of wild primates. This sparked a surge of research on primate behavior, enriching our understanding of human evolution. Despite behavior not fossilizing, studying living primates has deepened insights into ancestral lifestyles. By examining their social and ecological dynamics, researchers unravel the origins of complex beh...
Aug 31, 2024•20 min
Lucy's 1974 discovery reshaped our understanding of early hominins. Geological studies dated her to 3.21 million years ago. Questions arose about her life and death, leading to investigations into her burial site and skeletal preservation. Found scattered on the surface, less than 40% of her skeleton was preserved. Some parts were articulated, indicating rapid burial, possibly by a river. Missing elements suggest scavenging and erosion. Debate surrounds her cause of death, with theories includin...
Aug 23, 2024•21 min
Lucy's discovery in eastern Africa reshaped human origins research, highlighting our ancestors' diverse habitats. Initially thought vegetarians like chimpanzees, Lucy's group were adaptable omnivores. Recent findings suggest they used tools and hunted, challenging notions of early human development. This raises questions about when humanity's defining traits emerged. Did Lucy's dietary flexibility pave the way for our intelligence and tool use? Ongoing research aims to unravel these mysteries, u...
Aug 16, 2024•20 min
Lucy is one of the most famous fossils of all time. The discovery of this species had a major impact on the science of human origins and evolution. Why? What was that impact? The symposium speakers—each a prominent scientist in their field—will address this question and specifically discuss the discovery’s impact through time, starting with the first few years after the discovery, the lasting impact, and the state of the art in that research area today. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of ...
Aug 10, 2024•4 min
The discovery of Lucy in 1974 gave insight into early hominin body form but lacked hand bones. Subsequent findings revealed Australopithecus afarensis hand morphology. New discoveries and research since then, including associated hand skeletons and archaeological evidence, have enhanced our understanding of hominin hand evolution and tool use. These advancements inform us about Lucy's tool-related abilities and dexterity, reshaping our interpretation of early human behavior. Series: "CARTA - Cen...
Aug 10, 2024•20 min
Paleoanthropology is booming with discoveries, reshaping our understanding of human evolution. Lucy's 1974 find stands as a milestone, providing crucial insights into early hominins. Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, remains a key reference, revealing bipedalism and dietary adaptations. Recent findings suggest bipedality evolved from arboreal upright apes, not chimpanzee-like ancestors. Earlier australopiths show bipedality predates dietary changes, indicating walking aided dietary shifts...
Aug 01, 2024•20 min
The savanna hypothesis suggests that early human ancestors evolved in open grasslands. Raymond Dart's 1925 discovery of Australopithecus africanus at Taung supported this idea. Lucy's 1974 discovery confirmed bipedalism in Australopithecus species but raised questions about their tree-dwelling habits. Studies since then have refined our understanding of ancient habitats and climates, showing that human evolution involved interactions with various environments, not just savannas. This requires a ...
Jul 26, 2024•16 min
In 1974, understanding early human evolution was limited. Lucy's discovery provided insights into one early hominin, while her species, Australopithecus afarensis, revealed broader patterns. The abundance and quality of A. afarensis fossils help understand diversity, relationships, and the pace of evolution among hominins. Lucy's ilk sheds light on crucial topics such as taxic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and the tempo of evolution within the hominin clade. They are key to unlocking th...
Jul 22, 2024•20 min
Owing to its morphological and temporal placement, the Lucy species, Australopithecus afarensis, plays a pivotal role in our understanding of the human evolutionary career. Though many more fossil remains were recovered subsequent to Lucy’s discovery, the impact of the latter cannot be overstated not least its role as a trove of scientific data as well as its iconic nature. Research on Lucy and its species and continued fieldwork have inspired many research projects across Africa especially the ...
Jul 18, 2024•22 min
The discovery of Lucy, a fossil from the 1970s, changed paleoanthropology. Before Lucy, scientists saw human ancestors as rough guides, not distinct species. This mindset dominated the interpretation of fossils. Lucy's discovery, representing a new species called Australopithecus afarensis, showed the need to define species clearly. The clash of old and new views was seen in a 1981 debate between Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson. Leakey's refusal to offer an alternative emphasized flaws in tra...
Jul 13, 2024•17 min
Since entering into the field of paleoanthropology in 1970, Donald Johanson has found a more focused and rigorous implementation of an expanded collaborative, multinational, transdisciplinary strategy of inquiry with the application of new theoretical and technical innovations that has resulted in a richer picture of our origins and a deeper understanding of how we became human—not only in Africa, but Eurasia as well. The discovery of Lucy 50 years ago provides an appropriate benchmark by which ...
Jul 02, 2024•12 min
Permanent body modification is a unique and variable practice among humans, not observed in other mammals. Despite being costly and risky, it is regularly performed. Scientific understanding of this phenomenon is nascent, prompting a symposium aiming to assess current research status and prioritize questions for the next decade. The event brings together academics and industry practitioners, exploring historical and contemporary practices like tattooing, piercing, finger amputation, and cranial ...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 23 min
In the literature on lip plates in Southern Ethiopia there has been a strong emphasis on their socio-cultural importance and little information about their biocultural significance. Shauna LaTosky proposes that cultural keystone species theory and cultural keystone place theory could provide a useful frameworks for understanding relationships between the agro-pastoralist Mursi of Southern Ethiopia and the plant species and places that are integral to maintaining their cultural bodily practices. ...
Mar 22, 2024•24 min
Across continents, material evidence of body piercing jewelry abounds in the archeological record. However, the varying procedures and processes of piercing, healing, and stretching these wounds for adornment remains unfamiliar to most archeologists. This talk discusses the early self-experimentations that led to the development of the Euro-American body piercing industry. From the late 19th throughout the 20th centuries shared personal correspondence, illustrations, and photographs document the...
Mar 15, 2024•17 min
Archaeological research in Mexico and Central America reveals insights into cultural practices, focusing on the history of body modification. Examining long-term patterns helps unravel motivations for adoption, change, and abandonment of these practices. The talk emphasizes how body modification histories in this region illuminate shared identities across linguistic, ethnic, and political boundaries, while also highlighting distinctions within regional traditions and individual societies. It sug...
Mar 08, 2024•19 min
This talk offers an overview of the many forms of permanent genital modifications embedded in human cultures, where they occur, the reasons why, the archaeological investigations of origins, and future trends. Included are female clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation, and other practices that affect about five percent of females worldwide; and the male practices that affect one-third of males: circumcision, superincision, and subincision. Why have so many cultures invented and preserved these m...
Mar 01, 2024•19 min
Bioarchaeological studies of Pleistocene populations, examining practices like tooth ablation, facial piercing, and cranial modification, contribute to our understanding of social identities and population dynamics. Recent analyses of Ohalo II H2 in southwestern Asia and Oldupai Hominid 1 in Tanzania reveal dental evidence of intentional body modifications. Ohalo II H2 likely represents the earliest case of intentional incisor ablation in Southwest Asia, a common practice in Iberomaurusian and N...
Feb 28, 2024•19 min
Today, permanent body modification (PBM) is very popular. Studies suggest that well over a billion living people have experienced one or more types of PBM. But what is the history of PBM? When did the different types originate? Were they invented recently, or do they have a long history? Did they appear simultaneously or at different times? This presentation examines evidence in non-human animals and extinct hominins, delving into early archaeological and historical records of seven main PBM typ...
Feb 23, 2024•19 min
Our ability to adapt our bodies to culture has ancient origins. We suggest a timeline for how the culturalization of the human body evolved, starting around 500-300 thousand years ago. This timeline highlights key moments at 140 thousand years, 70 thousand years, and 45 thousand years, followed by a faster pace linked to the rise of production economies. The underlying idea is a gradual growth in the complexity of technologies shaping the body, along with increased time and effort invested in ob...
Feb 19, 2024•16 min
Permanent body modification is a unique and variable practice among humans, not observed in other mammals. Despite being costly and risky, it is regularly performed. Scientific understanding of this phenomenon is nascent, prompting a symposium aiming to assess current research status and prioritize questions for the next decade. The event brings together academics and industry practitioners, exploring historical and contemporary practices like tattooing, piercing, finger amputation, and cranial ...
Feb 17, 2024•11 min
This talk presents a new account of the development of professional tattooing in Britain and America since the late 19th century. Research based exclusively in primary sources reveals that the story of what kickstarted the creation of commercial tattooing, and what sustained it, ultimately becomes intelligible as a small and interconnected network of transnational artists and – crucially – clients. These newly clarified networks problematise both the date and form of the customary notion of a “T...
Feb 17, 2024•20 min
This talk explores the 1000-year practice of "footbinding" in ethnically Han Chinese families, involving modifying young girls' feet by wrapping the toes under the sole, often resulting in broken toes. Two main hypotheses—Labor Market and Evolutionary Social Sciences—are considered for explaining the origins, maintenance, and cessation of footbinding. This talk presents evidence from autopsy results, medical examinations, anthropological records, interviews, and historical texts. It argues that ...
Feb 11, 2024•15 min
