Monthly Archives: April 2012

Thoughts on an anthropology curriculum

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

Following up on my post last week (the usefulness of Anthropology), I could not help but continue to think about the issue of structuring an anthropological curriculum in such a way as to actively develop skills in students and encourage … Continue reading →

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Weekend wag the dog: 4/29/12

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

Clifford the dog loves other dogs. Clifford the dog loves other dogs so much that we, his owners, felt bad every time he would get home from his walks and be stuck with us, mere humans, in his presence. So, … Continue reading →

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The usefulness of anthropology

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

The Daily Beast published a list this week of the “13 Most Useless Majors.” Coming in at #9 was Anthropology and Archaeology. The information they publish alongside their ranking is as follows: Unemployment, recent grad: 10.5 percent Unemployment, experienced grad: … Continue reading →

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Human violence

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

One of the issues brought up by Michael Plavcan and Phil Reno in yesterday’s BU dialogue on sexual dimorphism was the issue of human violence, specifically male-initiated violence. Humans are unquestionably violent in many nuanced and complex ways. Richard Wrangham … Continue reading →

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The complexity of human sexual dimorphism

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

Today’s dialogue on sexual dimorphism and human evolution, hosted by BU’s Anthropology department and featuring Michael Plavcan and Phil Reno as speakers, was great. But it was not great because it came to any grand resolution on questions of the … Continue reading →

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Site changes

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

I have made a slight change to the blog’s title. “A.P. Van Arsdale Biological Anthropology Lab was always just a default placeholder till I found something I liked better. I have, at least temporarily, changed it to “The Pleistocene Scene.” … Continue reading →

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What I talked about at the AAPA meetings

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

Here is a link to a slightly modified (in order to display correctly in .pdf form) version of the talk I gave in Portland at this year’s AAPA meetings.

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Early Homo and the carnivore guild

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

One of the topics making the rounds today is the connection between Plio-Pleistocene hominins and their carnivorous contemporaries. Ann Gibbons gets the ball rolling by reporting on recent research by Lars Werdelin and colleagues on the apparent extinction of carnivores, … Continue reading →

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Sexual dimorphism and human evolution

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

I am once again going to promote BU’s on-going Dialogues in Biological Anthropology series. This Thursday they are hosting a discussion on sexual dimorphism and human evolution (Does Size Matter?) featuring Michael Plavcan (Univ. of Arkansas) and Josh Reno (Penn … Continue reading →

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Fluid Intelligence

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Adam Van Arsdale

Anne Buchanan has a nice post at The Mermaid’s Tale reviewing two recent stories about intelligence. She summarizes an important point about intelligence, evolution and the brain: But let’s step away from the politics for the moment, and think about … Continue reading →

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