42
A628
ANTHjnthro o notes
National Museum of Natural History Newsletter for Teachers
vol .5 no . 3 fall 1983
ANGEL BRINGS BONES TO LIFE
Earlier this year local newspapers
carried a story about a gas tank explo-
sion near Front Royal, Virginia^ that left
what were thought to be the charred re-
mains of the truck driver. The bones
were packaged and sent for identification
to Dr. J. Lawrence Angel, physical anthro-
pologist at the Smithsonian Institution.
When Angel opened the package, he knew
immediately that the bones were not human
? a colleague showed that they belonged,
in fact, to a pig.
This request for identification was
not unusual for Angel whose success rate
helping law enforcement agencies has
earned him the nicknames "The Bone Man"
and "Sherlock Bones". Every week Angel
receives skeletal materials, some fresher
than others, of possible missing persons
or murder victims. As a physical anthro-
pologist and leading forensic specialist,
Angel can identify age, sex, ethnic back-
ground and stature by examining certain
parts of the skeleton, particularly the
skull, pelvis, teeth and long bones. For
example, in determining the sex of an in-
dividual, the pelvis and skull are the best
indicators. In females the pubic portion
of the hip bone is larger than in males
producing a greater sub-pubic angle.
The skull is usually more robust and
muscle-marked in males and has more
prominent brow ridges. The skeletal
materials Angel receives from law enforce-
ment agencies or uncovers in his fieldwork
seldom include the whole skeleton of an
individual. He usually has only a portion
of a skeleton, which may consist of frag-
mented bones, or bones partially gnawed
away by animals, The bones' condition
and specific markings can sometimes re-
veal the cause of death or physical
diseases contracted during the per-
son's lifetime. (An excellent refer-
ence and required reading in Angel's
physical anthropology classes is
Human Osteology ; A Laboratory and
Field Manual of the Human Skeleton
by William M. Bass.)
(continued)
Teaching with Evelyn
Angel often uses skeletal materials
from a forensic case in his lectures on
osteology, but he refers to the bone or
bones using the victim's name if known.
As Peggy Angel, his wife of 46 years,
explains: "My husband feels compassion
for crime victims and believes in treat-
ing their skeletons with dignity."
Evelyn is an example.
Evelyn Nasca was a high school stu-
dent in Rockville, Maryland. In January
1973 she was reported missing after she
attended a high school talent show. Two
years later a human skull, minus a jaw,
was found in the vicinity of Evelyn's
disappearance and immediately handed
over to Angel. The skull gave him signi-
ficant information. The third molars
were not fully in; therefore, the person
was not yet an adult. The brow ridge,
though somewhat developed, and the deli-
cate facial contours suggested it was
probably a female while the shape of the
cranium reflected Evelyn's German-Sicilian
background. The decisive bit of evidence
was the resemblance of the two front
teeth on the photograph of Evelyn and on
the skull ? both were slightly out of
line. (Today Evelyn's bones, donated
to the Smithsonian Institution by her
family, are under the curatorial care of
Angel
.)
The challenge of identifying signs
of an individual's occupation and avoca-
tion from bones particularly interests
Angel. Under stress, bone builds extra
layers in areas of the most pressure.
A skeletal study of 18th/19th century
ironworkers of Catoctin Furnace, Maryland,
carried out by Angel and his research
assistant, Jennifer Olsen Kelly, reveals
The editors wish to thank the
National Museum of Natural History
for its support of Anthro ' Notes .
Our new logo, designed by G. Robert
Lewis, incorporates the elephant
symbol of the Museum.
signs of occupational stress appear-
ing as bony crests in the ironworkers
'
forearms. In examining knobby bumps
next to the jaw joint of a Delaware
murder victim, Angel's suspicion was
correct: the victim played a wind
instrument. Horseback riders do not
escape detection: stress marks on
their lower femurs provide clues.
Angel's forensic work for law
enforcement agencies has made him
the subject of numerous articles in
Science Digest
,
Smithsonian magazine,
The Washington Post and recently
People magazine (May 16th issue) where
Angel received a two-page coverage,
the envy of any Hollywood star. Mrs.
Holland, Angel's secretary for many
years, commented: "Dr. Angel some-
times dries bone specimens in a wire
cage on the ledge of his window. He
gets very excited and looks forward to
new material coming in arid devotes all
his time to it until the work is com-
pleted." Besides helping to solve
crimes, Angel's forensic work also en-
ables him to study skeletons of middle
class Americans.
Smithsonian Curator
Forensic work and identification
of missing persons are just two aspects
of Angel's professional interests and
responsibilities as a Smithsonian
physical anthropologist. He also
curates the bone collection in the
Department of Anthropology. The skele-
tal materials consist primarily of pre-
historic North and South American
Indian populations, African, Asian,
Australian, Hawaiian, and Chinese
populations; and European and U.S.
specimens. This latter group includes
the Terry Collection which consists of
over 1650 unclaimed bodies, black and
white, male and female, from the
Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis with known age, sex, eth-
nic background and cause of death.
Angel and Kelly have been studying the
Terry Collection to compare the health
of males and females, blacks and whites
s
over the past 100 years. They have
researched indicators of dietary and
environmental improvement including the
-skull base height, the pelvis inlet
depth (what radiologists call the "Park
Avenue" pelvis ? a deeper pelvis indica-
tive of better nutrition), stature, enamel
growth arrest lines, dental disease and
alveolar bone disease.
attitude of man toward his environment
by contrasting the Navajo (pastoralists)
with the Pueblo (maize growers) . We
had the unique opportunity of observ-
ing the Indians' ceremonies honoring
nature."
Early Interests
One might begin to wonder how Angel
became interested in bones in the first
place and what let him to a career in
physical anthropology. He was born in
England in 1915 , the son of an English
sculptor and an American classics scholar,
whose father had helped to found the
American School of Classical Studies in
Athens. As a small child Angel, like
most children, was frightened of skeletons,
even the one housed in his father's
studio. But, by the age of eight his
fear had turned to fascination during
his frequent visits to the Natural History
Museum in London. A collector of butter-
flies and moths, Angel enjoyed the
museum's exhibit on the moth's adaptation
to London's industrial environment. The
exhibits on human anatomy led him to
think that the "Piltdown man didn't make
much sense" and the displays on evolution
raised fascinating questions: How did it
take place? Why did the dinosaurs become
extinct?
Angel did not recognize his interest
in anthropology until he was a student at
Harvard University studying classics.
Angel explains, "Classics was almost a
boring field. Literature was not enough;
archeology was necessary in order to appre-
ciate and understand classical studies.'*
The turning point in Angel's career was
his decision to turn down his parents'
offer of a European vacation and instead
attend a series of courses led by Clyde
Kluckhohn at the American School of Pre-
historic Research in New Mexico. "Clyde
Kluckhohn, a Rhodes scholar, was exces-
sively dynamic, more or less a universal
man who made a big impact on students.
He presented the field of anthropology as
a unified whole as I never before
}
or
after, heard it. We started with geology
and archeology of the Southwest , then
on to climate, botany, ecology, and the
On to_ Greece
In 1936 Harvard professors Clyde
Kluckhohn and Earnest Hooton strongly
encouraged Angel to pursue his interest
in anthropology. From Hooton, his
physical anthropology teacher, Angel
became interested in the jaw joint
which differs among ethnic groups,
between humans and other primates
and among fossil humans (i.e. Neander-
tal and Homo sapiens sapiens )
.
"Hooton wanted me to do fieldwork in
Greece where very little had been done
since the 1890 's and where few samples
had been retrieved because of the
acid soil which eats away skeletal
material. Having received permission
from both Greece's Director of Anti-
quities and a Greek archeologist , I
worked for over a year taking a com-
plete sample of all the skeletal
material that had been excavated from
the Neolithic onward. The material
was enough for my Ph.D. thesis. I
was also concerned. about the Nazi
interpretations of race espousing the
ancient Greeks as the ideal Nordic."
Angel's research revealed that the
Greeks varied considerably physically
as a result of several waves of mi-
grations into the area. "The Middle
Bronze Age demonstrated the greatest
heterogeneity. Just before 2000 B.C.
the Indo-Europeans moved in and after
the Late Bronze Age the heterogeneity
narrowed." After several expeditions
to Greece over the years, often accom-
panied by his wife who mended bones
and recorded bone measurements, Angel
published his findings in The People
of Lerna (1971) a book he dedicated
to his wife Peggy whom Angel describes
as "a constant source of help, advice
and love.
"
(continued on p. 14)
AAA MEETINGS
The 82nd Annual Meeting of the
American Anthropological Association will
be held at the Chicago Hyatt Regency
Hotel, November 16-20, 1983. This year
Committee 3 of the Council of Anthropology
and Education (a committee dedicated to
the encouragement of Pre-Collegiate
Anthropology) will sponsor four events;
*Friday, Nov. 17, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Business Meeting of Committee 3
(open to all interested persons)
*Saturday, Nov. 18, 12-1:30 p.m.
A Workshop , "New Arenas for Anthro-
pology in Pre-Collegiate Education," will
explore possibilities for including anthro-
pological expertise and knowledge in such
precollegiate or extracollegiate arenas
as museums, libraries, ethnic and inter-
national schools and camps, gifted pro-
grams, as well as in regular classrooms.
The workshop will also consider whether
focusing more attention on the precollegi-
ate level (or extracollegiate) would bene-
fit collegiate anthropology. Organizer /
Chair : Ellen C.K. Johnson. Participants :
Elena Bradunas
>
Edith M. Fleming, Jeanne
M. Fulginiti, Ellen C.K. Johnson, Ruth 0.
Selig, and Joan S. Wider.
*Saturday, Nov. 18, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Council on Anthropology and Educa-
tion no-host cash bar and Roundtable Dis -
cussion . Committee 3 table, "Beyond the
College Classroom: Reaching New Audiences."
Facilitators : Patricia J. Higgins, Ruth 0.
Selig, Ellen C.K. .Johnson, and Joan Wider.
*Sunday, Nov. 19, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
A Symposium on "Archeology &
Education: A Successful Combination for
Pre-Collegiate Students." Organizer t
Karen Ann Holm. Papers by : Stuart Struever.
John K. White, Louana M. Lackey, Barbara
Byche, Karen Ann Holm, and Thomas Genn Cook.
Discussant: Mark Cohen.
We hope Chicago area teachers
will be able to attend these events
as well as anthropologists interested
in the wider dissemination of anthro-
pology beyond the college classroom.
We hope also that Sunday's sym-
posium will be published, perhaps as
a third series of symposia organized
by Committee 3 and produced by the
Anthropology Curriculum Project.
The previous two volumes listed
below are available by writing:
Department of Social Science Education,
107 Dudley Hall, The University of
Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602.
Teaching Anthropology to Students
and Teachers : Reaching <i Wider
Audience
,
edited by Patricia J. Higgins
and Ruth 0. Selig. (Based on a
symposium held at the AAA meetings
in Washington, D.C., December 6, 1980.)
The Anthropology Curriculum Project,
The University of Georgia, 1982. ($3.0(
Anthropology and Multicultural
Education : Classroom Applications
,
edited by Yolanda T. Moses and Patricia
J. Higgins. (Based on a symposium
and workshop held at the AAA meetings
in Los Angeles, December 5, 1981.)
The Anthropology Curriculum Project,
The University of Georgia, 1983. ($5.0(
Patricia J. Higgins
Chair, C.A.E.. Committee
3, "The Teaching of
Anthropology"
Ruth 0. Selig,
Program Chair, C.A.E.
Committee 3
TEACHER'S CORNER: !KUNG INTHE1980'S
The !Kung bushmen or San are among
the best known people in the anthropolo-
gical literature, familiar even to ele-
mentary and secondary school students
through the writings of Elizabeth Mar-
shall Thomas ( The Harmless People ) and
the films of her brother John Marshall
("The Hunters," "Bitter Melons"). Yet
this traditional way of life is rapidly
disappearing.
In 1982 and 1983 I lived for an
extended period at Dobe, a San waterhole
on the Botswana/Namibia border in the
northwest part of the Kalahari Desert.
Since my first visit to Dobe in 1968
and 1969, I had made several extended
trips to the area to carry out archeolo-
gical and ethnographic field research.
Over this period I was able to record
some of the major changes taking place.
Hunters and Gatherers
In the 1950' s, when first contacted
by anthropologists, the Dobe San were
largely isolated from the outside world.
In 1963 when Richard Lee began a long-
term study at Dobe, they were living
almost entirely by hunting and gathering
wild foods. They did not own livestock,
nor did they plant fields. Most of their
simple material needs were supplied by
the natural resources of their local
environment. In the dry season, a large
group of up to 50 people camped at the
Dobe waterhole ? while during the rainy
season, small groups and nuclear
families moved out into the surround-
ing bush, harvesting nuts and other
abundant vegetable and animal foods.
Although this rainy season utiliza-
tion area included a substantial
chunk of what is now Namibia (formerly
South West Africa), no fences or other
barriers impeded San movement across
this unnatural political boundary
along the 21st parallel of longitude.
Archeological evidence suggests that
people living a similar way of life
and possessing a similar material
culture minus the iron elements inha-
bited this general area for over
20,000 years. In addition, the his-
tory of human hunting and gathering
in this area goes back over 200,000
years.
Forces of Change
During the last 15 years, three
major factors have brought the San
peoples into direct contact with 20th
century material culture, a modern
economy and modern political' realities:
1) Botswana's independence and inter-
nal development plans, 2) intensive
study by anthropologists, and 3) en-
croachment on and restriction of San
territory due to political events in
Namibia. While the Botswana govern-
ment has tried to settle and educate
nomadic people and to provide economic
incentives through agricultural train-
ing and the development of a local
crafts industry, anthropologists have
attempted to establish San rights to
their traditional lands by helping dig
wells, register land claims and provide
capital for livestock purchases. At the
same time, the border with Namibia has
become increasingly 'closed' to San group
movement, although individuals continue
to visit on the other side for short
periods and to marry across the boundary.
What are the results of these forces
of change? In June, 1968. when I first
visited Dobe, the residents lived in an
intimate circle of small round grass huts
which blended into the landscape so
thoroughly that at 100 yards distance,
only the cooking fires and the sound of
women cracking mongongo nuts marked the
camp's location. Almost all clothing
was made from animal skins, decorated
with ostrich egg shell beads and a few
glass trade beads. When I looked in
people's three-legged iron cooking pots
and in the ashes of outside fires around
which almost all in-camp activities occur-
red, I saw mongongo nuts, wild tsama
melons, game meat and various wild root
vegetables. At night, when the temperature
dropped below freezing, people huddled
in their thin skin clothing around the
fires and coughed. Since many people
were ill with coughs and flu, curing
dances were held almost nightly. As I
sat around the fire listening to the
chanting and clapping, relishing the
intimacy of the group and its remoteness
from the materialism of my own world, I
often thought, "Take away the metal cook-
ing pots, arrow heads, awls, and knives,
and this could be the Stone Age."
Herders and Farmers
After a further visit in 1969 and a
long field season in 1975-76 and 1977,
I returned to Dobe in August of 1980.
The changes were striking. At the old
waterhole, no one ran up in curiosity
to greet our truck. Large numbers of
cows stared at us from the thorn bushes
while groups of goats scattered at our
approach. Thorn and rail fences were
everywhere, enclosing four separate
"villages", their fields, a communal well
and various outlying households.
At the village, where our main
informants of the 1960 's were still
living, the intimate circle of small
grass huts had been replaced by a
completely cleared area the size of
a football field. Along the north
side of this area stood eight circular
mud houses whose thatched roofs towered
over ten feet high. Split-rail fences
enclosed the house area and separated
it from the circular cattle, goat and
donkey enclosures to the south. When
neighbors, friends and relations had
constituted the principal insurance
against hard times, people's doorways
had faced inward towards other members
of the group. Now each doorway looked
outward to the animals which repre-
sented a new form of capital insurance
and investment.
The Modern World Intrudes
Although there were no large
fireplaces outside the houses, people
in western clothes and army boots sat
around in front of the houses and ate
mongongo nuts. Nearby someone scraped
a skin. It seemed almost like old times.
Then meal time arrived and with it, the
newly married daughters of our two
informants, on a visit from the settle-
ment at Tchumlkwe in Namibia (55
kilometers away). A three-legged pot,
filled with a strange yellow porridge,
appeared out of one of the huts.
"What are you eating?" we asked.
Again, out of the hut, someone dragged
an enormous bag marked "Gift of the
People of the United States of America."
We were later to learn that the ration
of relief food reaching Dobe each week
consisted of thirteen 50-pound sacks
of this corn-soy-milk mixture and
several gallons of soy oil for about
100 inhabitants. No wonder even the
dogs were fat
!
One of the teenage girls ducked
into a hut and staggered out with an
amplifier that would have done justice
to the Rolling Stones. I began to notice
just how much stuff was hidden in these
huts and how little was out in plain
view of everyone. "Uncle," she said
"lend me your knife!" When her uncle pro-
duced the tool, she deftly unscrewed the
back of her gramophone and a mass of
wires tumbled out. Quickly she hooked
up the correct wires to the correct ter-
minals in the amplifier and soon we were
assaulted by a peculiar brand of southern
African rock music called gumba gumba
which could have been heard back at
Tchumlkwe. "Ah," I thought, "add a
little more asphalt and this could be in
downtown Washington."
By 1982 most families had saved up
enough cash to buy bicycles on which their
adolescent sons made frequent trips to
Tchumlkwe for supplies. A young married
woman whose childhood face illustrated the
desert hunter-gatherer in many an anthro-
pology textbook, gave me this year a can
of Japanese peaches as a farewell present.
A few San were serving in the South African
army for the astonishing wage of ca. $450
per month. The comparable legal minimum
wage in most of the countries of southern
Africa is between $75 and $110 per month.
Like most soldiers, these individuals now
hold substantial life insurance policies,
which may ultimately result in unheard-of
windfalls of cash.
Away from Equality
The most significant change in 1982,
however, was that one man had emerged as
a 'headman' who spoke for the community
to the outside world, and who spent much
of his day sitting on a special chair under
a tree settling disputes among Dobe resi-
dents. Designated leadership goes against
traditional values of the San which place
a strong emphasis on personal equality,
sharing and humility. Even in 1976 we
could not persuade any member of the Dobe
community to assume responsibility for
handing out daily rations of food at lunch
to workers at our archeological site.
Indeed, the conflict between traditional
values and the need for personal hoarding,
resource conservation and dispute settle-
ment mechanisms in a semi-settled community
of subsistence farmers is perhaps the
central difficulty for the San becoming
independent farmer-herders
.
A second major change was the in-
creasing role of non-San individuals
in the economy and social life at Dobe.
To become the dependent servants of a
Herero or Tswana cattle owner, when
hunting and gathering is no longer
viable, is to take a relatively pain-
less road to development. San servants
are often viewed as 'children' for whom
the cattle owner adjudicates disputes,
sets priorities, takes ultimate respon-
sibility for fields and animals ,and stores
the surplus, so that traditional inti-
mate camp styles and personal mobility
patterns can be maintained if the San
group desires. Intermarriage between
San and non-San is a frequent feature
of the relationship, and the children
of such a union are further assimilated
into the cattle owner's culture. Soon,
the San will probably be assimilated
into the dominant cultures and nations
of southern Africa. Eventually their
distinctive languages and physical
appearance will disappear, as has
already happened over most of South
Africa itself and much of Zimbabwe and
eastern Botswana, where Bantu-language
speakers have lighter skins, broader
faces and more prominent cheekbones
than their counterparts to the north,
and where 'click' sounds form an inte-
gral part of some Bantu languages such
as Zulu and Xhosa.
It is not hard to look down the
road and see that within a generation,
the traditional independent hunting and
gathering way of life depicted in the
films and books of the 1950's and 1960's
will no longer be visible.
Alison S. Brooks
(new A'N editor)
Recent references :
Lee, Richard B. The Dobe ! Kung . (Case
Studies in Cultural Anthropology.)
Holt, Rinehart , and Winston, 1983.
"N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman", a
film available from Documentary
Educational Resources. 5 Bridge St.,
Watertown, MA 02172. "The San in
Transition" guide included.
LUCY,UPATREE?
Paleoanthropologists no longer ques-
tion that Lucy, a 3 1/2 foot hominid
female with a chimp- sized brain, walked
on two legs in Ethiopia about 3.5 million
years ago. Neither do they argue that
the anatomy of Lucy's species, Australo -
pithecus afarensis
, is fully modern; all
agree it is a "mosaic of human-like and
ape-like features." No one seriously
disputes that bipedal ism was more impor-
tant to their lifestyle than for any non-
human primate, living or dead. However,
Lucy's discoverers, Donald C. Johanson
and Tim White, claim that the bipedalism
seen in A. afarensis differs insignifi-
cantly from that of modern humans. Other
scientists disagree.
Recently two noted anatomists from
the State University of New York at Stony
Brook, Jack Stern and Randall L. Susman,
called for new interpretations of Lucy
and her contemporaries . After carefully
examining some original A. afarensis
bones, casts of others, and the set of
3.7 million year old footprints at
Laetoli in Tanzania, Susman and Stern
argue that A. afarensis moved bipedally,
but with a bent-knee, bent-hip posture.
Also, they argue, at least some of the
A. afarensis hominids, especially the
smaller ones like Lucy, no doubt slept,
hid, and fed in trees enough of the
time so that we can recognize some
arboreal features in their anatomy.
Susman and Stern presented their
evidence and analysis in an extensive
article in the Journal of Physical
Anthropology (March 1983) , and at an
exciting and often boisterous confer-
ence in April. The conference, held
at the Institute of Human Origins in
Berkeley, was directed by Donald C.
Johanson, founder of the Institute.
There the different factions met to
examine the bones and thrash out their
many different views about two con-
troversies: 1) When did bipedalism
begin and to what extent was Lucy
bipedal? 2) Did A. afarensis make
the footprints at Laetoli or did
members of the genus Homo ?
Why the Trees ?
Why do Susman and Stern conclude
that A. afarensis retained arboreal
adaptations? The shoulder socket
faces upwards 15 degrees more than
in a human. This greater angle is
better for the overarm movement and branch
hanging involved in climbing. In this
respect A. afarensis is closer to a chimp's
anatomy and almost identical to a gorilla's.
An even stronger argument rests on the
finding that A. afarensis ' hands and feet
both have long, slender curved bones and
their arms and legs are relatively heavily
muscled. Both conditions are found in
apes and both are suitable for grasping
and moving along tree branches and trunks.
While Johanson e_t a_l . consider these as
primtive patterns held over from an ar-
boreal past, Susman and Stern argue that
1.5 to 2 million years is too long to re-
tain morphological traits which are no
longer consistent with daily behavior.
"The possibility of lesser developed...
ligaments ?in the sacroiliac areaj sug-
gests a lesser frequency of terrestrial
bipedalism" than in humans, they wrote.
Looking at the knee area, they conclude
that, "the hamstring moment arm ?which
acts to straighten the leg and is more
efficient and powerful when short3 is not
as short as modern humans' and is not as
long as monkeys' and apes'." Since leg
straightening is crucial to walking but
not climbing, this intermediate condition
suggests A. afarensis was both a climber
and walker
.
Since the most compelling evidence
for retained arboreality is in the shoulder,
arm, fingers and toes, Susman and Stern
are more cautious in arguing that A.
afarensis walked on two legs in a signifi-
cantly different way than a modern human
does. Because the iliac blades face
backwards more than sideways, the pelvic
balance is closer to apes than humans,
yet the rest of the pelvis is more typical
of humans. A. afarensis probably straight-
ened the knee and hip in walking less
than modern humans do and also transferred
less weight onto the ball of the big toe.
But the anatomy of the hip and knee in
no way suggests they ever were quadrupedal
knucklewalkers
.
Hence, Susman and Stern conclude that
A. afarensis were probably both arboreal
and bipedal, using the trees for sleeping,
escape, and food.
Females Up
,
Males Down
Susman and Stern tentatively pro-
pose that sexual dimorphism explains
the differences in skeletal size with-
in the A. afarensis sample and they
link this dimorphism to different
degrees of arboreal adaptations. If
the different sizes are different
sexes, the females were smaller in
stature and lighter and the males
were taller and heavier. The femurs
in the larger specimens (supposedly
male) are more like human femurs than
the smaller specimens. The knees of
the small hominid are not very human-
like and are more compatible with
arboreality. The larger specimens
probably walked bipedally more fre-
quently than did the smaller ones.
Therefore, Susman and Stern suggest
that all specimens of A. afarensis
may not have had "identical locomotor
profiles." Perhaps the females moved
in and used the trees more than the
males did, a pattern also -seen with
orangutans and gorillas.
Who made the Laetoli footprints?
Susman and Stern examined the prints
and even had two subadult male chim?
panzees walk on two legs in wet sand
to compare to the casts of the Laetoli
footprints. Susman and Stern agree
with Johanson and White that the A.
afarensis footbones could have made
the Laetoli footprints, but they see
the prints as those of walkers still
climbing as well. (The Leakeys deny
this interpretation.)
It is unfortunate that Susman
and Stern attach the label "missing
link" to the A. afarensis specimens
considering the emotions surrounding
that phrase. It suggests only one
link, a highly linear pattern to
evolution, and perhaps subtly influ-
ences their research to see these
specimens as transitional. Johanson
and White, on the other hand, empha-
size the hominid qualities of the
finds and would expect to find more
(continued)
10
transitional specimens further back in
the past.
No Resolution
Why can't a consensus emerge? Con-
sider these variations. Paleoanthropolo-
gists interpret biomechanics differently.
While Susman and Stern use a variety of
electrical methods, such as electromyo-
graphy, to study muscle and movement in
living apes, other scientists question
whether living ape's biomechanics are
similar to those of apes in the past.
Paleoanthropologists must struggle to
overcome problems with different measure-
ment techniques, the effects of post-
mortem distortion, and the differences
between working with casts and with the
original bones. Finally, they have to
assess what is the expected range of mor-
phological and behavioral locomotor
variation in humans.
Moreover, paleoanthropologists inter-
pret anatomical functions differently.
For example, Owen Lovejoy, the sci-
entist arguing for bipedalism in the A.
afarensis specimens, does not accept that
curved toes and fingers necessarily
indicate grasping -- and therefore arbo-
reality. He says the A. afarensis hand
is smaller than an ape's, and the fingers
are shorter and straighter. "If you were
still climbing, why would you shrink your
hand?" Lovejoy asks. Furthermore, the
big toe is not divergent, as in the apes,
which would certainly handicap climbing.
In line with this position, Johanson and
Edey argue that the long curved toes
were needed to "move over rough stony
ground or in mud, where some slight grip-
ping ability would have been useful."
One certainty that all agree on is
the necessity to find more bones in
order to sort out the evidence and argu-
ments, particularly bones from 4-5 mil-
lion years. If only Lucy could talk,
as well as walk.
Bibliography :
Anderson, Ian. "Who Made the Laetoli
Footprints?" New Scientist (May 12,
1983) :373.
Blakeslee, Sandra. "Did Lucy Actually
Stand on Her Own Two Feet?" New
York T imes (May 3, 1983) : C8 ,
Johanson, Donald and Maitland A. Edey.
Lucy : The Beginnings of Humankind .
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.
Lewin, Roger. "Were Lucy's Feet Made
for Walking?" Science 220 (May 13,
1983) :700-702.
Stern, Jact T. and Randall L. Susman.
"The Locomotor Anatomy of Australo-
pithecus afarensis," American
Journal of Physical Anthropology
60 (March 1983) :279-317
.
JoAnne Lanouette
NOW AVAILABLE
How Humans Adapt : A Biocultural
Odyssey , edited by Donald J.
Ortner, is a collection of 20
essays by well-known scholars such
as Rene DuboSj James Neel, L.L.
Cavalli-Sforza, Jane Lancaster,
and Kenneth Boulding who partici-
pated in the Smithsonian's Sev-
enth International Symposium,
November 8-12, 1981, organized
by Ortner. Available from the
S.I. Press, P.O. Box 1579,
Washington, D.C. 20013 for
$9.95 paperback. (This book
will be reviewed in the winter
issue of Anthro .Notes
.)
11
AAA: WHITHER NOW?
American anthropologists, who often
scrutinize other groups' social institu-
tions, can hardly be unconcerned with the
fate of their own defining institution,
the American Anthropological Association
(AAA) . It is facing a radical reorganiza-
tion brought about by outside forces but
having implications for all anthropologists.
The change concerns AAA's role as an um-
brella institution providing support ser-
vices for independent sub-discipline or-
ganizations such as the Society for Amer-
ican Archaeology, the American Associa-
tion of Physical Anthropologists, and
the Society for Applied Anthropology. In
many cases, professionals become members
of these smaller societies without ever
becoming members of the AAA.
The Birth of AAA
The history of anthropology reflects
the tension between the holistic focus
of the discipline and the divergent in-
terests of its various subfields. In the
19th century the handful of Americans who
considered themselves anthropologists
usually defined their role in narrower
ways than we do now. They were museum
curators, or explorers, or comparative
anatomists, or linguists, and their pri-
mary allegiance as professionals was to
their employers. Since the most important
employer of anthropologists in 19th century
United States was the Smithsonian, it is
not surprising that it was in Washington,
where there were several dozen men and
women doing professional anthropological
work by 1890, that the first steps toward
a larger institutional framework were
taken. The Anthropological Society of
Washington (ASW) , founded in 1879, quickly
took on many of the trappings of a full-
fledged national professional association.
Beginning in 1889 the Society began pub-
lishing a scholarly journal, entitled the
American Anthropologist
,
and many anthro-
pological scholars living elsewhere in
the United States and abroad became members
of ASW.
By the turn of the century, with the
rapid development of anthropology in
universities, Washington began to share
its automatic preeminence with other
anthropological centers. After consi-
derable negotiation between the ASW
and several other local societies,
it was decided to set up a national
editorial board for the journal. Then,
in 1902, the American Anthropological
Association came into being, as a
truly national professional organiza-
tion for anthropologists.
Old Boys and Young Turks
The AAA had two distinct historical
phases, with the division line falling
in 1947. During Its first four decades
the Association's membership was rela-
tively small and full participation in
its affairs was limited to an elected
"Council" of 30 to 40 "fellows". The
yearly meetings were cozy get-togethers
with most of the papers, whatever their
subject, heard and discussed by the
full group. This "intimate" associa-
tion (which reflected the general
smallness of the field right through
the 1930's) was radically disrupted
by the Second World War and , in the
12
immediate postwar years, by the huge and
rapid growth of the social sciences in the
curriculum of American universities.
At the 1947 meeting, a group of
younger scholars, frustrated by what seem-
ed to them an increasingly irrelevant AAA
dominated by an "old boy network" (the
"boy" in this case included Margaret Mead,
Ruth Benedict, Elsie Clews Parsons) led
a revolt and forced the Association to
adopt a new, much more liberal constitu-
tion. The new organization, unlike the
pre-war AAA, actively encouraged student
membership. The real business of the
Association was no longer conducted in the
inner sanctum of the elected Council, but
by the membership at large (at the annual
meeting and by mail ballot) and by an
Executive Board elected by the whole mem-
bership. Concurrent with this structural
shift came an enormous growth in special-
ization. The intimacy of the old meetings
was replaced by the jumble of concurrent
sessions devoted to relatively narrow
topics, with here and there a half-hearted
attempt at "synthesis", that still charac-
terizes the AAA meetings we know today.
Winds of Change
Now after nearly 40 years, once again
the winds of change are howling through
professional anthropology. With the growth
of the field and its burgeoning literature
throughout the 1960's and 1970 's came
increasing specialization. Archeologists
,
physical anthropologists and even such
smaller groups as medical anthropologists
and applied anthropologists conduct much
of their professional business within
institutional structures that are, in
varying degrees, independent of the AAA.
The annual meeting, American Anthropologist
,
and other facets of the larger organiza-
tion are often seen as primarily sources
of practical information about new books,
job opportunities, research funding, and
the state of the profession while the
AAA's role in the dissemination of new
ideas is diminishing. Like it or not,
professional anthropology in this country
must face up to the social change it has
undergone and once again the institutional
definition must be altered.
The question is how. Unlike the
situation in 1947, there are no
"young turks" in 1983 with a clear
alternative organization in mind.
This time, change is being forced
upon the AAA from outside ? from
the improbable direction of the IRS.
The IRS last year ruled that the
services the AAA performs on behalf
of the various sub-discipline organ-
izations (billing for dues, printing
and distributing journals, etc.) is,
in fact, a "profit-making business
enterprise, since these other organ-
izations are in no significant struc-
tural way a part of the AAA itself."
If the AAA is to avoid paying taxes
on this income and, even more crucially,
maintain its tax-exempt status, one of
two things must be done to satisfy
the IRS: either the AAA must cease
to perform these services, and divorce
itself entirely from the business of
the subdisciplinary organizations, or
the subdisciplinary organizations must
formally and structurally become a part
of the larger AAA organization.
A Call to Action
For anthropology as a unified
subject of study and teaching, the IRS
challenge provided a call to action.
The AAA Executive Board decided to
gamble on anthropology's intellectual
unity, and last fall proposed a sweep-
ing reorganization of the discipline,
to go into effect in 1984, if agreed
on by all parties. Under this plan,
all of the subdisciplinary organiza-
tions now in existence (except for the
Linguistic Society of America, which
was deemed too intellectually indepen-
dent of anthropology) would disincor-
porate, and their members would trans-
fer to the AAA, where they would auto-
matically become members of the appro-
priate subdisciplinary "unit". Inde-
pendent journals would continue to be
published, and independent annual
meetings held. But henceforth all
budgetary decisions and other business
would be handled by a Board of Directors
whose membership would represent, pro-
portionately, the membership strengths
13
of the various subdisciplinary units.
Will this plan work? Much depends
on the willingness of the members and
officers of such organizations as the
Society for American Archaeology, the
American Association of Physical Anthro-
pologists, and the American Ethnological
Society, and others, to allow their organ-
izations to lose their individual identi-
ties on behalf of the (presumably) greater
good of a unified anthropology. If the
proposal is rejected and no satisfactory
alternative is created, it is likely that
the AAA, if it survives at all, will play
a very different role in the future from
what it has in the past. It will be, in
some sense, in competition with archeology,
physical anthropology, and other subdis-
ciplines, rather than being the "parent"
organization. Negotiations are presently
under way, and we may not know for several
months what the final outcome will be.
But one thing is for certain: the institu-
tional definition of anthropology is once
again in the process of change and the
outcome will probably affect the disci-
pline for years to come.
Victor Golla
Assoc. Prof, of Anthropology
George Washington University
(July, 1983)
Editor's Note :
As Anthro . Notes was going to press, we
asked Ed Lehman, the chief executive
officer of the AAA for any last minute
word on the reorganization. He told us
that as of the end of September, while
all the member societies have endorsed
the AAA's reorganization plan, five
organziations had voted not to merge
with the AAA but to remain independent
and to take over the administration of
their own affairs. The five organizations
were: the Society for American Archaeology,
the Society for Historical Archaeology,
the American Association of Physical
Anthropologists, the Society for Applied
Anthropology and the Southwestern Anthro-
pological Association. Results from the
nine other organizations were pending.
In Lehman's view, the results
simply reflect what has been going
on in the field for several years.
Not only have archeologists and
physical anthropologists, for example,
become more intellectually separate
from general anthropology, but they
have often complained of being
treated like second class citizens
by socio-cultural anthropologists
who are in the majority in most
academic departments. "The relation-
ship is a little like that between
the underdeveloped countries and
the developed industrial world,"
Lehman said. Archeology could per-
haps be compared to an underdeveloped
country that discovered oil ten
years ago in the form of historic
preservation money, and whose oil
fields are now threatening to give
out.
Lehman sees the reorganization
as a challenge to determine whether
there is a holistic field called
anthropology; to define the field,
if it exists, in new ways; and to
develop a new, stronger general
organization (AAA) which stands on
its own rather than being a support-
ing organization for various special-
ties. Perhaps a federation will be
the answer, but that would require
a totally new organization and con-
siderably more time and money to
work out. It is unfortunate that
the present reorganization comes at
a time of financial retrenchment for
academic institutions in general and
for anthropology in particular. If
holistic anthropology is on its way
out at the higher education level
what is its fate at the secondary
school level? Anthro ' Notes editors
hope to consider this question and
other issues in the months ahead.
14
(continued from p. 3)
Joining t'he Smithsonian
In an effort to do something useful
for the war effort, and at the same time
avoid the draft and a probable desk job,
Angel became an Associate Professor of
Anatomy and Physical Anthropology at The
Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
When questioned what brought him to the
Smithsonian, Angel replied, "By 1960 I
was getting bored having taught anatomy
for 19 years. In 1961 Dr. T. Dale Stewart,
then Department head, offered me a posi-
tion as Curator of Physical Anthropology
which I readily accepted. Carmichael was
then Secretary and he was interested in
international education and neurology.
There was an atmosphere of creativity at
the Smithsonian which Dillon Ripley has
continued .
"
Angel continued his research on
ancient Greeks and at the same time began
to explore opportunities for studying
other populations. He has compared the
nutrition of the Colonial Williamsburg
population with their English ancestors '
(selection favored higher skulls in the
Americans) and American Blacks with
Africans. Just as his research shows a
significant improvement in health in
modern U.S. populations over the last
100 years (a relatively short period of
time), the health of the Classic Greeks
was much better than their ancestors,
though it was a much slower process. At
present , Angel is working on a book
Health ^ the Growth of Civilization , an
expression of his career-long interests
in demography, health and disease studies,
and the processes of human evolution at
the population level. "I've done pretty
much what I've wanted to do. However,
it would be nice to do a very detailed
and extensive twin study to separate
genetic and environmental factors which
influence disease and different aspects
of nutrition such as stature. Matura-
tion and growth is faster today and my
concern is how it affects stature and
body proportions. Modern teenagers'
rate of psychological maturity falls
behind their physical rate, getting
them involved in adult behavior before
they are psychologically ready to
accept its consequences."
When asked what people think of
Dr. Angel's work, Peggy Angel replied,
"People think physical anthropologists
are strange. There is a certain fear
of their work since it is connected
with death. Actually my husband'
doesn't like to kill anything. We
have a stable of crickets in our
cellar and if one of them should find
its way upstairs, he returns it to
the cellar."
A Latin verse hangs in Dr. Angel's
office ? "Hie Locus Est Ubi Mortui
Viventes Docent" (This is the place
where the dead teach the living.)
We might add that this is the place
where Dr. Angel teaches the living
about the dead.
Ann 'Kaupp
Science 83 articles of interest:
"Tales of an Elusive Ancestor" by
Allen L. Hammond, (November) : 36-43,
Is Ramapithecus a human ancestor?
"Heat Loss" by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy,
(October) :72-86. Why don't human
females go into heat?
"The Perpetrator at Piltdown" by
John Winslow and Alfred Meyer,
(September) J32-43. Is Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle suspect?
A Teacher's Resource Packet on
Creationism, which includes 17
articles and a bibliography by
Laurie R. Godfrey and John R.
Cole j is available from Ann
Kaupp, Department of Anthropol-
ogy, Stop 112, Smithsonian Insti-
tution, Washington, D.C. 20560.
15
UPCOMING EVENTS
Oct. 1-Jan. 8, 1984: "Art of Aztec
Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan.
"
Natural Gallery of Art exhibit organized
with Dumbarton Oaks. Many of the objects
on view were recently excavated at the
site of Temple Mayor or Great Temple,
of Tenochtitlan, in the heart of Mexico
City. Most comprehensive collection of
Aztec art ever shown in the U.S.
Nov. 1-Jan. 31, 1984: "Ban Chiang;
Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age" (Thailand)
Exhibit held in Evans Gallery, Museum
of Natural History.
Nov. 4: "The Mindful Way" and "Bangkok:
A Special Time and Place." Two free
films presented in conjunction with the
"Ban Chiang" exhibit. Baird Auditorium,
Museum of Natural History, 12 noon.
Nov. 9-Jan. 1, 1984: "The Precious
Legacy; Judaic Treasures from the
Czechoslavk State Collections." Exhibit
held in Evans Gallery, Museum of Natural
History.
Nov. 15: Anthropology Society of Wash-
ington (ASW) meeting. Speaker Stephen
A. Tyler (Rice University) . The 1983-84
program theme is "Meaning in Social Life".
Naturalist Center, Museum of Natural
History, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 25: "Pragues' 1000 years of Judaism"
and "The Remnant". Two free films pre-
sented in conjunction with "The Precious
Legacy" exhibit. Baird Auditorium,
Museum of Natural History, 12 noon.
Dec. 10: "The Aztecs". All-day Smith-
sonian seminar. Speaker D. Esther
Pasztory (Columbia University)
. For
ticket information call Smithsonian
Resident Associates Program Office at
357-3030.
Dec. 13: ASW meeting. Speaker Sharon
Stephens (University of Chicago) .
Naturalist Center, Museum of Natural
History, 8:15 p.m.
NEW EXHIBIT
"In Keeping with Nature" a new North
American Indian art exhibit opened
July 18th at Hillwood, the former
estate of Majorie Merriweather Post.
On extended loan from the Smithsonian
Institution, recipient of Mrs. Post's
generosity, are approximately 190
American Indian artifacts she collected
in the 1920' s,, with emphasis on the
material culture of the Plains and
Southwest. The exhibit is on view in
a building in the style of Topridge,
Mrs. Post's Adirondack retreat, where
these artifacts were originally housed.
Hillwood, located at 4155 Linnean Ave.,
N.W., Washington, D.C., is open daily
from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. except
Tuesday and Sunday. To view the
Indian collection, it is necessary
to call in advance (202)686-5807.
Admission is $2.00.
ANTHRO -NOTES is continuing through the generous support of the
National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Educa-
tional Outreach Program. Anthro ? Notes was originally part of
the George Washington University/Smithsonian Institution Anthro-
pology for Teachers Program funded by the National Science
Foundation. The newsletter will continue to be distributed
free-of -charge in 1983-84. To be added to the mailing list,
write Ann Kaupp , Department of Anthropology, National Museum of
Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560,
ANTHRO -NOTES STAFF: Ann Kaupp, JoAnne Lanouette, Alison S.
Brooks, Ruth 0. Selig, editors;
Robert L. Humphrey, artist.
Illustrations (c) Robert L. Humphrey 1983
Kaupp NHB 363
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20560
OFFICIAL BUSINESS
PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE. S300
POSTAGE AND FEES PAID
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
FIRST CLASS MAIL
317 PR