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.

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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.

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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

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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