Bloomsburg State College Bloomsburg Pennsylvania Department of Philosophy/Anthropology Anthropology Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 2 October 1979 Mysteries of Physical Anthropology and Prehistory (Part I): BIG FOOT by Bob Reeder Anthropology, as a science of recent vintage, has compiled a remarkably voluminous record of the general history and evolution of humans in the relatively short period of its existence, However, there remain some conflicting and perplexing sets of evidence for which anthropology has only tentative answers and for which final judgements await tomorrow's research. Consider just one anthropological mystery: BIG FOOT. Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, the subject of novels, TV specials, and films, remains a mystery to science--but not to "his" defenders. Possibly the North American version of the Tibetan Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot is known primarily by the presence of huge "footprints" in mud and snow presumably left behind by the creatures. Tales of huge, hairy, hominid-like animals have enjoyed a recent popularity in Somerset County, PA. Cults of believers stretch from Georgia to Western Canada. In addition to the evidence of footprints, defenders of Big Foot identify other characteristics of the creature: (1) it has attacked farm animals (usually chickens); (2) its habits are usually nocturnal, including occasionally peering into windows of isolated farms and cabins; (3) it exudes a prodigiously offensive stink; (4) it makes horrifying cries which can be heard for miles on a clear night. Does it exist? Will it be verified? Anthropology says firmly: "No!". The reason for this certainty is that in order to sustain a population, the animals would have to number some minimum of perhaps 500 individuals constantly in North America. Assuming behaviors which allow crossing great distances for mating (and escaping verifiable observation) this Big Foot conununity would be required to reproduce 2,000 individuals each century. Since human-like animals have existed for about 4 million years, this would mean a realistic potential fossil and skeletal inventory of approximately 80,000,000, But not one of these 80 million skeletons have been found. Explanation: because they do not exist. Next Month: Did our ancestors once live in the sea? Update on M.A.N. trip to New York State According to Mr. Solenberger, this trip, reported on in the September Newsletter, will definitely be on October 19, 20, and 21, leaving that Friday from Centennial Gym Parking Lot at 2 or 3 PM at the latest. We are still even-up on cars and space in them. We shall be camping outdoors on the Allegheny Seneca Reservation (not the nearby state park) at High Banks Campground near Steamburg, NY. Both canoes ($2/hour) and cabins ($15/night) are available for rent there by advance reservation. Please notify Mr. Solenberger (Bakeless 218 mailbox or 389-2500/2326) if you plan these rentals. Also, please notify Mr. Solenberger or David Kowalewski (Box 3110) about how early you could leave on the 19th and please attend the final planning meeting at 7 PM, October 17th in the Blue Room, KUB. 2 SEPTA Buses: A Wealth of Social Interaction by Marj Witmer During the past three months I have had the dubious distinction of riding on Philadelphia's public transportation system, i.e., your basic SEPTA bus. On first consideration this means of transportation offers minimal problems and numerous benefits. The buses stop at each corner and are quite handy. There always seem to be routes that can take you where you want to go, and prices, considering gasoline, are reasonable. The few obvious problems are that you can't always trust the bus to deliver you on time, and if you travel at peak hours (7-10 AM and 3:30-6:30 PM) seating is not always available. This last situation deserves some further investigation. It is generally assumed that once the available seats are filled that all other passengers will stand until a vacancy occurs. This system seems diplomatic, and also seems to work well, at least on the surface. However, any amount of observation reveals several underlying problems. The most obvious of these conflicts is that which occurs when a younger person has secured a seat, while an elderly person is left standing. As we all know, our society is such that we have been trained to show respect to elders, such as offering seating when it is scarce. If this situation was strictly a matter of age, and the rule was always followed, there would be no choice but to get up and allow the senior citizen to sit. But complications don't always allow such a simple resolution. Society has also suggested that men offer their seats to women, although in recent times this rule is being rejected by both sexes. At the same time peer pressure says "stay seated, don't get up for anybody." What is to be done when a young female has a seat and an elderly man is standing at her side? Should she remain seated as a youth and a woman, or offer it to him as a reflection of his age? This dilennna is often resolved by realizing that verifying one's social position is only necessary if you expect further interaction. While you may see this older man again, you will have no further relationship. But what woman would turn down an opportunity to reinforce her femaleness, and at the same time assert that she will follow her peers with whom she has a definite social position? Because of Philadelphia's racial make-up there is one more complication that seems to present itself. Tense situations can result when many young blacks are seated, and an elderly white person boards the bus; the reverse situation with young whites and an elderly black is also interesting. Within the young group, peer pressure is very strong to stay seated, but it's difficult to ignore an aged person attempting to maintain balance on the lurching and bouncing bus. (Even young athletic men find it nearly impossible to hang on!) Generally the decision of leaving your seat is settled within three blocks of its start when a vacancy arises due to people leaving. If, however, it doesn't appear that such a break is going to occur, one of the youths will eventually and without ceremony stand up and offer their seats to the elderly of either sex or race, young black women are least likely, with black men, and white women in between, respectively. If someone is not interested in giving up their valuable seat, but are too embarrassed to remain seated comfortably, several techniques may be applied. Reading and looking out the window are both used extensively. Eye to eye contact with the standing person is avoided at all costs, even to the point of quickly looking away if accidental contact is made. So far I have found only one real compromise concerning seating. It you expect to get off the bus within a few blocks , you can get up and move toward the door. This avoids the peer scrutiny while relieving your mind that you've done your good deed for the day. 3 My own tried and fairly successful method is to avoid taking any seat in the front of the bus. By moving to the rear you have decreased the possibility of an elderly person boarding the bus and looking at you longingly for a chance to sit. Since the individual can usually "win" a seat before they get to the rear you have managed to avert the situation before it actually occurs. When I first began to use the bus, it never occurred to me that so many interactions were taking place between strangers. But as the weeks passed I was finally familiar enough with the route that I could turn my attention to my surroundings. Now the travel time can be spent observing the whole scheme of things of which I am an integral part. How boring it must be for so many of the riders to have all these interactions happening to them and not being able to recognize the system which ties you to all the others around you. (Marj graduated in 1979 with a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology.) Sociobiology Conference. Reeder and Minderhout, plus several interested students, recently attended a one-day conference (Oct. 13) on Sociobiology sponsored by the Biology Department of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Napoleon Chagnon of Penn State's Anthropology program spoke on natural selection theory and the evaluation of human kinship and reproduction while two IUP professors presented papers on the relationship of "selfish genes" to ethics and of the sociobiological concept of altruism to political theory. Several discussion sessions were included in the conference, and the film, "The Hwnan Animal", was available for viewing. Book Review: Children Through the Ages: A History of Childhood by Barbara Kaye Greenleaf (Barnes & Noble 1978) is of interest to anthropologists because it records the shifts in cultural attitudes towards children in Western Civilization. Beginning with sources from Swner and Egypt, Greenleaf shows how children have been exploited, abandoned, sacrificed, and occasionally romanticized and enjoyed. When people thought enough of children to write about them, they viewed them as miniature adults or as peculiar, unformed animals. She documents the shift from the child as the father's possession to the modern view of the child as a person with rights, among them to be happy and free from anxiety. Along the way, many interesting ideas emerge. For instance, the phrase "familiarity" breeds contempt" supposedly has its origins in a belief that parents and children should not have much to do with each other, since the children would not respect their parents as they should; thus children were given to other relatives or friends to raise. There are, however, serious weaknesses with the book. For one, interesting ideas of the type just cited are seldom referenced; one wonders from whence they came. Secondly, the opening chapter on "early man" provides no anthropological insights into early man's attitudes towards children. Greenleaf's ideas are either purely speculative or based on the simplistic notion that modern hunters and gatherers are just like early man. Finally, Greenleaf firmly believes in truth, justice, and the American way, and this strongly influences her positions: urban life is bad, rural life is good, school is good, child labor is bad, the nuclear family is good, etc. The book provides rapid, interesting reading, but you probably wouldn't want to quote it. Ethnographic Facts by Lesly Barr. With the rising costs of meat, fish, cheese and milk products, the question arises whether the conswnption of great amounts of animal protein is a necessity for the animal called man. Recently anthropology has attempted to explain certain important cultural phenomena as adaptive responses to the quest for protein. For example, the Amazon Basin's low population density per square mile is considered an adaptation to the level of conswnption that can be sustained without seriously damaging the forest's 4 limited faunal resources. In addition, it has been hypothesized that the intense warfare between many of the peoples of aboriginal Amazon villages created land preserves for game by decreasing population. Probably the most controversial proposal is that of Michael Harner stating that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice, and the devouring of the flesh of enemy soldiers, to counteract the depletion of wild animal protein sources. Domesticated herbivores were not part of the subsistence of pre-Columbian Mexico. These theories have been severely criticized by emphasizing the ethnocentrism involved in the American-European view that a diet requires protein from animal sources. One could argue that nutritionally the best source of protein for human beings is human flesh because it consists of exactly that required for proper bodily functioning. The Aztecs, however, could have satiated their nutritional requirements by a combination of their domesticated corn, beans, chia, and amaranth, providing an acceptable balance of the eight essential amino acids. In reality any specific animal food contains more of the essential amino acids and in a better balanced fashion than plant foods. Nutritionists contend that excess amounts of protein are necessary for revival from stressful situations, making it difficult to establish a minimal limit for protein consumption. Transculturally, for populations subject to war, epidemics, common diseases, and other natural disasters, there is no"safe" ration. Therefore, by insisting upon animal products, cultures increase the probability that their protein intake will satisfactorily cope with the particular and inevitable stresses of their existence. It appears that we do not instinctively crave meat and the preference for meat is not just a taste priority, but rather is a biocultural adaptation that can be surrendered but at a potential risk to the population concerned. (For further references see Marvin Harris' article on this topic in the August-September 1979 issue of Natural History.) Graduate School? If you are interested in graduate school, this is an ideal time to be obtaining catalogs and admissions materials from your prospective choices. Feel free to consult the department's copy of the AAA Guide to Departments of Anthropology for information about admissions, special programs, and faculty. You should also make arrangements to take the Graduate Record Examination and to receive a copy of the departments graduate school admissions guide. Office Hours: Dr. Minderhout (219 BCH) 1 MTWT, 10 TTH Mr. Reeder (219 BCH) 10 MW, 11 or 2 TTH, 5:30 PM W Mr. Solenberger (Boyer Garage) 4 M, 11 W, 10 TH, 10-12 T