Anthropology is said to be composed of four different fields, those being: cultural, linguistic, archaeological, and biological. While these topics cover a wide variety of topics, there are often many similarities among the different fields. Anthropology is looked at holistically and is meant to encompass all of the subsections. The subfield of biological anthropology that I will look into is forensic anthropology. I will examine the details of a forensics article and how it is interconnected with the other branches of anthropology.
The article I read was titled, “State of the art forensic techniques reveal evidence of interpersonal violence ca. 30,000 years ago” and featured an analysis of an ancient human skull. The skull was discovered in a mine in South Transylvania along with other stone tools. The skull was examined by forensic professionals and they used their present day practices to infer information about the ancient skull. They were able to determine that the skull belonged to a male who was native to the region and that he suffered two small trauma wounds to the skull which healed on their own, and one fatal wound which fractured the skull on the right parietal bone. The forensic scientists recreated models to simulate blunt force trauma and after running several trials were able to infer that the fatal wound suffered by the skull was from a stone tool, common to the Paleolithic Era. From the complete forensic analysis, forensic anthropologists made the assumption that there existed interpersonal violence among the inhabitants of Europe approximately 30,000 years ago. This information can be very useful for the other branches of anthropology.
The information gained from the forensic analysis can help cultural and archaeological anthropologists infer a lot about what everyday life was like 30,000 years ago. The fact that interpersonal violence existed during this time poses many questions about the cause of the violence. Cultural and archaeological anthropologists would focus on potential causes for these violences such as territorial disputes or food shortages. Cultural anthropologists could use the information that archaeological anthropologists discover to determine how the society that existed 30,000 years ago was similar and different to cultures they have studied in present time. Archaeological anthropologists would also take particular interest in the tools that were found with the skull. These tools could be used to determine much about the society and the thought processes of the individuals living during this time. Whether the tools were used for agriculture, building, or defense says a lot about the culture and what was seen as valuable to that society.
This article related to forensics shows how interconnected the branches of anthropology are. This study encompassed information useful to three of the four branches of anthropology (linguistics being the one left out). Anthropology truly is a holistic field where one must observe all branches to maximize the knowledge to be gained. Important information could have been left out had all branches of anthropology not been involved in the study. This is why I am excited to further my studies in archaeology and learn how it is connected to my other fields of interest.
Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216718
Your post really did a wonderful job showing how interconnected the subfields of Anthropology truly are. One thing I really appreciated about your post is the description you used in reference to Forensic Anthropology and the role it plays in uncovering the past. I think sometimes people will think of Forensic Anthropology in a more modern context when it can play a pivotal role in uncovering the past. I love how you included the description of not only what the Forensic Anthropologists discovered about how the man died those 30,000 years ago but also what was revealed through the joint effort of many Anthropologists working together in what that meant for the culture and biology during that time as well. Your post was very informative and I enjoyed coming away from reading it having learned something new!
Hey Sean! Your blog really got me thinking of how incredible it is to have the technology we do during our time and what great things it has done for our education and knowledge about our ancestors. It also gives me a new appreciation to think about the new discoveries made everyday by hardworking scientists in each field all around the globe. With anthropology specifically, one subfield really cannot truly succeed without the others, so I really like the clear connection you made with forensics to other subfields and how they were impacted in a progressive way through the topic of this article you found. I would have hoped to find a specific organization mentioned in this blog post so that I could search for other intriguing findings made by forensic professionals and how else their field helps the anthropology community.