Anthropologist Subsistence Patterns

Many people believe that once archaeologists make a discovery, the discovery goes to a museum and the archaeologist`s job is done. Although this is the popular belief and often-depicted on T.V and movies such as Indiana Jones, this could not be further from the truth. Once an archaeologist discovers a body. The archaeologist must investigate the biological remains in order make inferences about antiquity, subsistence and settlement patterns, diet, social and political life, and ideology. There are many strategies an archaeologist can use in order to determine how old the human was at death. The most common way is by investigating the skeleton and teeth. Archaeologists are able to make inferences about age using the cranial bones. The main

The five main subsistence patterns are generalized foraging, specialized foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture. It is possible to categorise people based on where and how they get their food. A generalized forager is someone who gets their food from a variety of plant and animal species that they collect themselves. Generalized foragers typically live in small groups (less than fifty) and are very mobile. Specialized foragers also eat a wide variety of plants and animals but have a primary dependence on one resource. Pastoralism is when a diet relies on herded animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Signs of pastoralism are a diet relying heavily on one or two animals. Horticulture is when plants are farmed using hand tools. Finally, agriculture involves intensive plant cultivation. Evidence of agriculture includes more

It is possible to determine an individual`s occupation based on physical stresses associated with certain occupations. It is also possible to reconstruct inequality by determining differences of status within a group. There are three types of groups egalitarian, where everyone has equal status. Ranked where everyone has different status, and stratification where there are ranked subgroups (usually three). Indication of different status groups can be found in skeletal remains. For example some groups artificially shape the forehead as an indication of high status. Another example is a flat distinctive elongated shaped skull is a sign that a flat object had been binded to the skull for a significant amount of time as an infant. This could be a crown, which would signal high status. Gender is a cultural construct that comes with many rules and roles that one must follow. There are many different ways archaeologists can determine gender but none that guarantee certainty. The best indicator is the pelvis. A female pelvis is wider and u-shaped to help with carrying a child. Another indicator of gender is that a male skeleton is much more rugged than their female