Phew! First week, I was blown away that there is another subfield besides the five main groups. I will be honest it was difficult to find a page because this subfield of physical anthropology is very new to me. Originally, I went online to find a website regarding Human variation or Morphometric because I thought it be easier for some reason. I ended up searching for paleoanthropology instead, which is one of the four subfields of biological anthropology or also known as physical anthropology.
Before I begin, I think it is important to understand the Biological anthropology goal is to understand the patterns of adaption and evolution that has shaped and characterized today’s species. So, Paleoanthropology is the study of humans but in a broader perspective, which range from observing fossil remains to the interaction of population (just to give you an idea).
With that in mind I started to find several websites, Thank God! However, I thought about organization that represented the subfields of biological anthropology outside of the US, like Europe or Mexico. I came across I.D.E.A. (The institute of Evolution in Africa) located in Madrid, Spain. This relates to Paleoanthropology because IDEA “ focuses on the investigation of the origin of humans in the African continent”. Their studies contribute to the broader themes of anthropology because IDEA conducts their work in Tanzania where it happens to be the most important archaeological site in regards to the origin of humankind. Not to mention they are the headquarters of The Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP), and contain the most important neotaphonomic macromammal experimental collection in the world.
Besides the project, they have made an impact with the community by providing education information like Regional Archaeological Museum and even courses by partnering up with University of Alcalá de Henares, and the University of North Carolina. Which I think is very impressive and it shows how much they have truly contributed even educationally. I do not think there are that many professional organizations that can also provide courses like IDEA does!!
I looked further into their courses just to see what types of courses are offered, what type of work do they do, and how long the program runs. Interesting enough they have a wide range from their courses and their partnership the university as well. Some examples are“The History of Paleoanthropology in Africa”, “Applied Techniques and Data Science”, Multivariate and Analytical Data Statistics for Archaeology, and Biolog and Ecology.
Besides this organization, their researchers have also made impacts individually as well that contribute to their current work. For example: Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, who is the co-director of IDEA, has participated in projects like Gona (Ethiopia) and Swartkrans (South Africa). He currently has had 8 books and more than 200 impact articles published! Another example: Javier Trueba is a photographer and a producer. He has published several reports through magazine and newspapers like Discovery Archaeology. Trueba has even produced documentaries. This goes to show that they have conducted a wide range of work.
Hello this is a great, well written blog post full of new information all about paleoanthropology. I decided to write my blog post on forensic anthropology so most of your information was new to me. I really appreciate you detail definition of paleoanthropology prior to starting the majority of your post. This was a great introduction and describing paleoanthropology as the study of humans in a broader sense including fossil remains and interactions of populations helps set the table for the rest of the post. IDEA seems like an incredibly accomplished organization that investigates the origin of humans in the African continent. The courses that were offered seem like they would be incredibly valuable coming from professional organization like you said. Overall, really enjoyed your post and I think you found a great organization to discuss.
Hello,
Your blog post was very well written and did a great job providing information about how anthropology is a field of study with many branching subfields. Paleoanthropology is a great field because it deals so much with the past of humans. This is information that many people tend to forget. IDEA sounds like a great organization with a passion for education. I agree that not many organizations place a large influence on educating the community and I feel that many focus mostly on research. It is good to see an organization centered where the origin of mankind is located, conducting research and educating many. I am sure there is much more to be discovered in this area regarding our origin. I enjoyed reading through your post and thought IDEA was a great organization to discuss.
Hi Silvia! First of all, I really enjoyed your writing style in how you can be so relatable and down to earth through technology. Having this course not being related to my major, I also did not know where to start in finding an organization. Paleoanthropology was the first subfield I started with, and turns out it was the better field to find information on for those who are beginning this sort of learning content. The information you gathered to summarize IDEA was compelling, and it’s interesting to also find similarities between our two organizations. The organization I researched also emphasizes awareness and education through offering information to meeting events and connections to classes, which can be super beneficial to undergraduate or graduate students seeking a career in this subfield of Anthropology. They also have a publication for members that is updated every year with new current information. It’s great to see these organizations being so reachable and updated to not only professionals, but to students as well.