Paleoanthropology

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Paleoanthropology is a branch of anthropology that focuses on the study of human evolution from the pre-human primates to modern humans that incorporates paleontology and various other forms of the anthropological sciences. Paleoanthropology unites diverse disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, with the primary focus being on the study of ancient fossil hominins. These fossils include human skeletal remains, preserved animal bones and plant matter, and tools. The goal of paleoanthropologists is to determine how prehistoric primates lived and evolved into modern humans. The purpose of this paper is to examine scholarly articles with the intention of unequivocally determining paleoanthropology as a science in its own right, wherein …show more content…

Science, as defined by the Webster Dictionary, is “… systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.” (CITATION). I found that Tattersall and Schwartz exemplify the best description of what science is to me within their article Is Paleoanthropology Science? Naming New Fossils and Control of Access to Them, “The practice of science is a dynamic, self- correcting process, constantly testing (and discarding) ideas, rather than seeking to engrave them in stone” (Citation). In other words science is an expression of new ideas that coincide with new data as it is identified, establishes hypotheses to answer questions, uses repeatable experimentation, and allows for a eloquent result to either prove said hypotheses correct or …show more content…

Such methodologies include though not limited to mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome examination or comparison, genetic dissimilarity between species, chemical dating, biochronology, osteological and ontological comparison or examination, and molecular clock dating. The examination and comparison of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes between species further exemplifies science by expressing genetic similarity as a measure of evolutionary kinship between species ( Relethford book, 30 ,31-32). Genetic dissimilarity can explain the genetic divergence within species and attribute to isolating the most recent common ancestor between differing species (relethford). Chemical dating types include potassium-argon, carbon-14, and uranium dating. These methods are chemical analyses that are used by paleoanthropologists to measure the amount of radioactive decay, which occurs in a consistent manner over a given time period (Smithsonian citation). Biochronology is the correlation between times during biological events that occur to identify an otherwise unidentifiable period using fauna fossils. These fossils can be used to date a site by comparing the fauna to previously dated sites. Biochronoolgy is usually used when no chemical dating is available nor is there any

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