Anthropology 101 Student Blog

Part 1 I found Part I of the experiment to be extraordinarily challenging, though not as much so as Part II (more on that in a bit). I found the experiment difficult because it involved me not communicating! It was interesting to see the way that my partner would respond as well. For instance, because I was not communicating a response, they began to get ansy, hesitant, and almost nervous. They didn't appear to like talking without any reciprocity. I would say that they were definitely in control of the conversation, being that I was unable to communicate with them.  They initiated everything...topic choice, topic changes, questions, etc. They asked questions and I did not answer, which made them act differently. Conversation is certainly a balance of power, and they had it all. Interestingly, I felt as if I did have some power in the conversation because they were caught so off guard by my lack of communication.  If we were part of two separate cultures I would ima...

The Piltdown Hoax was a simple yet effective hoax played against the scientific community in the early 20th century. In 1912 a man by the name of Charles Dawson was digging through some rubble in the small town of Piltdown, England. Mr. Dawson came across what seemed to be some very old human fossils. While the fossils did fill the evolutionary gap between apes and humans, the brunt of the scientific exuberance occurred within the English scientific culture. English scientists were elated to learn that they (Englishmen) too had human remains that dated as far back as one million years old. This was the first discovery of its kind on the island and was met with a large amount of enthusiasm. There was some in the English scientific community that were not as elated about the discovery as the rest. Some individuals who were participating in the scientific community of England at the time doubted the Piltdown discovery. Because the Piltdown discovery was met with such elation and excitem...