There was a time, back in the early 1960s, when I was tempted to abandon physics for paleoanthropology — the study of early humans.
Anthropology
Louis and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge • Smithsonian Institution (CC0)
Yanomami woman and child • Photo by Cmacauley (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The loving side of a violent people
The saga of the Yanomami continues. If the story were filmed by Hollywood, we would now be into the sequel to the sequel, “Yanomami III: The Romance.” But before we get to the love story, let’s back up to the original film.
Inverse image of the Hopewell hand • Field Museum of Natural History (CC BY-NC)
Through the ages, a sign of peace
Smart bombs. Night vision. Laser targeting. Pilots used to fly by the seat of their pants; now they fly by computer screens, and place bombs with pinpoint accuracy down air shafts and smoke stacks.
Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash
Fireside tales
From Swartkrans cave in the Transvaal region of South Africa comes news of the earliest known use of fire. In a [Dec. 1988] issue of Nature, archeologists C. K. Brain and A. Sillent, of the Transvaal Museum and University of Cape Town, report the discovery of charred bones more than 1 million years old.
Detail from “The Intervention of the Sabine Women” by Jacques-Louis David, 1799
Social behavior and genes
Here are two stories I read within an hour of each other — one an attitudinal survey of teenagers in Rhode Island, the other an anthropological study of the Yanomamo tribe of the jungles of Brazil and Venezuela. Is there a connection? You decide.
Street art in Glasgow, UK • Photo by Crawford Jolly on Unsplash
Neanderthals — not-so-grisly folk
Pity the poor Neanderthals, who had the misfortune to be discovered at about the time Darwin was evoking the outrage of his contemporaries by suggesting that humans, apes, and gorillas have a common ancestry.
Inis Mór, Aran Islands, Ireland • Photo by Sonse (CC BY 2.0)
Briton’s maps reflect love for the landscape
A map is an invitation into a landscape. The maps of British cartographer Tim Robinson are irresistible invitations.
Reproduction of the cave at Altamira • Photo by Matthias Kabel ((CC BY 2.5)
Ice Age artistry
It was the view of cultural critic Lewis Mumford that “modern man has formed a curiously distorted picture of himself, by interpreting his early history in terms of his present interests in making machines and conquering nature.”
Saint Brendan and his monks set sail for the west (Public Domain)
Ireland’s contender in race for America
Was Columbus was the first European to set foot on American soil, in 1492? You may agree if you are an American of Italian descent. But if you are Norwegian, or Portuguese, or Irish, or almost any other nationality, you will probably have your own candidate for the first European to reach these shores. There is no dearth of entries in the “Discover America” sweepstakes.