Hacker News with Generative AI: Anthropology

Only elites used hallucinogens in ancient Andes society (arstechnica.com)
In 2022, we told you about a study reporting evidence that an ancient Peruvian people called the Wari laced the beer served at their feasts with hallucinogens—particularly a substance derived from the seeds of the vilca tree, which was common in the region during the Middle Horizon period (circa 850 CE) when the Wari empire thrived. This may have helped the Wari forge political alliances and expand their empire.
Ancient History, Archaeology, Anthropology, South America, History
5 points by PaulHoule 16 days ago | 0 comments
Linguists find proof of sweeping language pattern once deemed a 'hoax' (scientificamerican.com)
In 1884 the anthropologist Franz Boas returned from Baffin Island with a discovery that would kick off decades of linguistic wrangling: by his count, the local Inuit language had four words for snow, suggesting a link between language and physical environment.
Linguistics, Language, Culture, Anthropology, Science
132 points by bryanrasmussen 20 days ago | 138 comments
Linguists Find Proof of Sweeping Language Pattern Once Deemed a 'Hoax' (scientificamerican.com)
In 1884 the anthropologist Franz Boas returned from Baffin Island with a discovery that would kick off decades of linguistic wrangling: by his count, the local Inuit language had four words for snow, suggesting a link between language and physical environment.
Linguistics, Language, Anthropology, Science
10 points by pseudolus 24 days ago | 2 comments
Germania: The Origins and Migrations of the Germanic Peoples (nemets.substack.com)
The people of Germany appear to me indigenous, and free from intermixture with foreigners, either as settlers or casual visitants. For the emigrants of former ages performed their expeditions not by land, but by water; and that immense, and, if I may so call it, hostile ocean, is rarely navigated by ships from our world.
History, Germany, Anthropology
8 points by alserio 28 days ago | 2 comments
Linguists Find Proof of Sweeping Language Pattern Once Deemed a 'Hoax' (scientificamerican.com)
In 1884 the anthropologist Franz Boas returned from Baffin Island with a discovery that would kick off decades of linguistic wrangling: by his count, the local Inuit language had four words for snow, suggesting a link between language and physical environment.
Linguistics, Science, Language, Anthropology
11 points by Anon84 29 days ago | 7 comments
"Fragile, impermanent things": Joseph Tainter on what makes civilizations fall (thebulletin.org)
In the introduction to his seminal 1988 book, The Collapse of Complex Societies, anthropologist and historian Joseph Tainter explained that lost civilizations have a vise-like hold on the human imagination because of the implications their histories hold for our own, modern civilization.
History, Civilization, Anthropology, Sociology
17 points by pseudolus 44 days ago | 0 comments
Modern humans descended from at least 2 ancestral populations (cam.ac.uk)
Modern humans descended from not one, but at least 2 ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the globe.
Human Evolution, Genetics, Anthropology, Archaeology
6 points by geox 78 days ago | 0 comments
Mapping Blurred Spaces – Maps in multiple dimensions (visionscarto.net)
Going into our fieldwork in Marikina City, I had the preconceived notion that spaces of home and work should be separate. However, this perspective was challenged by the realities I encountered in the field.
Mapping, Urban Planning, Anthropology, Philippines
3 points by StromFLIX 78 days ago | 0 comments
East Asian personality may stem from Ice Age Siberia 20000 yrs ago (davidsun.substack.com)
I have never thought I’d be involved in science. I assumed you needed a lab coat and years of certification. My strange and accidental journey into science began on a hike in the Andean mountains of Peru when I was 17.
Genetics, Anthropology, History, Asia
48 points by kvee 85 days ago | 45 comments
Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plastic bags, cheap clothes (theguardian.com)
As an eternal testament of humanity, plastic bags, cheap clothes and chicken bones are not a glorious legacy. But two scientists exploring which items from our technological civilisation are most likely to survive for many millions of years as fossils have reached an ironic but instructive conclusion: fast food and fast fashion will be our everlasting geological signature.
Archaeology, Anthropology, Environmentalism, Plastic Pollution, Fashion
61 points by pseudolus 104 days ago | 29 comments
Is Ops a Bullshit Job? (danslimmon.com)
I recently had the pleasure of reading anthropologist David Graeber’s 2018 book, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Graeber defines a bullshit job as,
Jobs, Anthropology, Opinion
22 points by donutshop 110 days ago | 10 comments
Man from uncontacted tribe emerges in Amazon, villagers demonstrate a lighter (apnews.com)
In a rare encounter, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe approached a riverine community in Brazil’s Amazon, the country’s Indigenous affairs agency and local witnesses said Thursday.
Indigenous Peoples, Brazil, Amazon Rainforest, Anthropology, Culture
47 points by geox 111 days ago | 53 comments
The persistence of "high trust" in Europe west of the Hajnal Line (wordpress.com)
What is the West? What is the source of Western success? How are Western people different from others (“the Rest”)? What is unique about the West?
Europe, Culture, History, Sociology, Anthropology
7 points by lopespm 126 days ago | 0 comments
Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation (2017) (plos.org)
The evolutionary reasons for variation in nose shape across human populations have been subject to continuing debate.
Human Evolution, Climate Adaptation, Anthropology, Biology
139 points by thunderbong 128 days ago | 86 comments
Puzzling fossils unearthed in China may rewrite the human story (rnz.co.nz)
A cache of human-like fossils from China has perplexed scientists for decades, defying explanation or categorization.
Paleontology, Archaeology, Anthropology, Human Evolution
6 points by LopRabbit 129 days ago | 0 comments
Calling Strangers Uncle and Auntie (solmaz.io)
Cultures can be categorized across many axes, and one of them is whether you can call an older male stranger uncle or female stranger auntie.
Culture, Social Norms, Anthropology
16 points by hosolmaz 138 days ago | 19 comments
New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis? (livescience.com)
Paleoanthropology, Human Evolution, Archaeology, Anthropology
3 points by zfg 146 days ago | 0 comments
Drawing Animals with Margaret Mead (psychologytoday.com)
On Saturday, April 13, 1963, the great baseball player Pete Rose, later disgraced for betting on his own team, hit the first of his record 4,256 hits; the USSR launched its Kosmos satellite from Kapustin Yar near Volgograd; the wreckage of the Dutch ship Vergulde Draeck, sunk in 1656, was discovered; chess champion Garry Kasparov was born; and I was 10 years old, drawing animals on napkins with the most famous public intellectual in America.
Art, History, Childhood, Anthropology
13 points by prismatic 152 days ago | 7 comments
Inside the hands-on lab of an experimental archaeologist (arstechnica.com)
Back in 2019, we told you about an intriguing experiment to test a famous anthropological legend about an elderly Inuit man in the 1950s who fashioned a knife out of his own frozen feces. He used it to kill and skin a dog, using its rib cage as a makeshift sled to venture off into the Arctic.
Archaeology, Anthropology, Experiments, Science, History
13 points by bookofjoe 155 days ago | 3 comments
'Barbarians' May Have Been Inspired by Opium When Attacking Rome, Study Suggests (haaretz.com)
The Romans thought the barbarian monsters on their borders should settle for alcohol, but the drug spoons the Germanic warriors carried into battle suggest they didn't agree
History, Ancient Rome, Drugs, Anthropology
10 points by wslh 158 days ago | 0 comments
How did human butts evolve to look that way? (massivesci.com)
What makes humans different from other animals? Ask any ten people and you're likely to get ten different answers, ranging from our relatively large brains, to our incredible use of language and symbols, to our ability to dramatically modify the world around us.
Human Evolution, Biology, Anthropology
88 points by thunderbong 165 days ago | 54 comments
Neanderthals cold-adapted? Ribcage reconstruction may hold the answer (phys.org)
Researchers at the Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid report that analysis of a Neanderthal ribcage from a cave in Iraq exhibits a "bell-shaped" thorax configuration typical of Neanderthals elsewhere, differing from that of modern humans.
Neanderthals, Paleontology, Anthropology, Human Evolution, Archaeology
54 points by wglb 166 days ago | 49 comments
Ancient texts reveal how Mesopotamians experienced emotions in their bodies (phys.org)
From feeling heavy-hearted to having butterflies in your stomach, it seems inherent to the human condition that we feel emotions in our bodies, not just in our brains. But have we always felt––or at least expressed––these feelings in the same way?
Ancient History, Anthropology, Psychology, Emotions
16 points by arto 185 days ago | 0 comments
Why do we kiss? 'I am not sure we have anything close to an explanation' (theguardian.com)
We do it sitting in a tree, under the mistletoe, at midnight to ring in the new year. In fairytales, the act transforms frogs into princes and awakens heroines from enchanted slumber. We make up with it, seal with it, and – in Romeo Montague’s case at least – die with it.
Human Behavior, Social Norms, Cultural Practices, Anthropology
7 points by n1b0m 189 days ago | 1 comments
A skeleton made from the bones of at least eight people thousands of years apart (smithsonianmag.com)
Found in a cremation cemetery in Belgium, the skeleton includes bones dating to the Neolithic period and a Roman-era skull, according to a new study
Archaeology, History, Belgium, Anthropology, Human Remains
111 points by mhb 210 days ago | 43 comments
The survival skills of Helena Valero (woodfromeden.substack.com)
One of the most important anthropologists of the 20th century was a dirt-poor mestizo woman called Helena Valero. After having read the one and only book in English about her, I'm convinced of that. Her insights into a primitive society is worth more than that of the vast majority of anthropologists, for one simple reason: Helena was there for real, as a member of those societies. She didn't only study stone age life. She lived it.
Anthropology, History, Substack, Biography
91 points by paulpauper 244 days ago | 34 comments
Franklin expedition captain who died in 1848 was cannibalized by survivors (arstechnica.com)
Scientists at the University of Waterloo have identified one of the doomed crew members of Captain Sir John S. Franklin's 1846 Arctic expedition to cross the Northwest Passage.
History, Arctic Exploration, Anthropology, Archaeology, Science
16 points by paulcapewell 249 days ago | 8 comments
The Dogma of Otherness (1986) (davidbrin.com)
Anthropologists tell us that every culture has its core of central, commonly shared assumptions — some call them zeitgeists, others call them dogmas. These are beliefs that each individual in the tribe or community will maintain vigorously, almost like a reflex.
Anthropology, Culture, Sociology, Beliefs
116 points by m463 251 days ago | 89 comments
Flesh and Blood (2021) (theanarchistlibrary.org)
In the mid-twentieth century, a British anthropologist named A. M. Hocart proposed that monarchs and institutions of government were originally derived from rituals designed to channel powers of life from the cosmos into human society.
Anthropology, History, Sociology
53 points by wahnfrieden 257 days ago | 28 comments
Wisdom of Kandiaronk–Indigenous Critique, Myth of Progress and Birth of the Left (theanarchistlibrary.org)
Anthropologist David Graeber has been working for seven years, with archaeologist David Wengrow, on a work devoted to a history of inequality. A first excerpt from this work was published online in 2018.
Anthropology, History, Inequality, Indigenous Cultures
4 points by wahnfrieden 271 days ago | 0 comments