"More About" Fact Pages

Expansions, Rants, and Cautionary Notes

Go to listings for Anthropology, Religious Studies,
Catholic Christianity, Chinese Names & Terms.

Mini-essays linked on this page were developed to expand on topics mentioned in various classes. Most of these are a little longer than the simple definitions in the Glossary of Specialized Terms in Anthropology. A few evolved into longer essays on independent pages, which have also been linkd here.

Early Agriculture

1. Beer
2. Cacao, Cocoa, and Chocolate
3. Chinampas
4. Fermentation & Distillation
5. Millet & Sorghum
6. Wine
   
   
7. Independent page: Tea

Geography

1. Eurasia
2. Loess (Löss) Soil
3. Near East and Middle East
4. Savanna Environments
5. Steppe Environments
6. Tundra Environments
   
   
7. Independent page: Beringia

Historically Important Diseases

1. AIDS
2. Anthrax
3. Cholera
4. Dengue Fever
5. Flu
6. Malaria
7. Plague
8. Smallpox

Materials Frequently Referred to by Archaeologists

1. Amber
2. Bitumen
3. Catlinite (Pipestone)
4. Cinnabar
5. Clay
6. Cloisonné
7. Faience (Faïence)
8. Flint
9. Jade
10. Lacquer
11. Lapis Lazuli
12. Malachite
13. Mica
14. Obsidian
15. Plaster & Cement
16. Red Ochre
17. Slate
18. Soapstone
    
    
19. Independent page: Cloth
20. Independent page: Metallurgy

Archaeological Tool Traditions

1. Oldowan Tools (2.5 mya - 1.5 mya)
2. Acheulean Tradition (1.5 mya - 100 kya)
3. Mousterian Tradition (100 kya - 35 kya)
4. Châtelperronian Tradition (32,000 BC - 27,000 BC)
5. Aurignacian Tradition (30,000 BC - 28,000 BC)
6. Perigordian Tradition (32,000 BC - 22,000 BC)
7. Gravettian Tradition (27,000 BC - 20,000 BC)
8. Solutrean Tradition (20,000 BC - 15000 BC)
9. Magdalenian Tradition (15,000 BC - 8,000 BC)
10. Ahrensburgian Tradition (8,500 BC)
11. Hamburgian Tradition (11,000 BC)
12. Azilian Tradition (9,000 BC - 8,000 BC)
    
    
13. Neolithic
14. Neolithic Ground Stone Tools
    
    
15. Independent page: Stone Tools
16. Independent page: Paleo-Indian Spear Points

Religion

1. Creationism
2. Cults
3. Myths & Legends
4. Sects
5. Shamans & Shamanism
6. Syncretism
7. Superstition
8. Theories of Religion
9. Trance & Possession

Social Structure & Sociocultural Anthropology

1. Communism and Cultural Evolution
2. Divine Kingship
3. Elites
4. Ethnocentrism
   
5. Feudalism
6. Functionalism
7. Political Legitimacy
8. Raiding
9. Reciprocity
10. Status
11. Tributary States

Miscellaneous Other Stuff

1. Calumets (Peace Pipes)
2. Grass Eating
3. Harpoons and Leisters
4. Lost Wax Metal Casting
5. The Word Manchu
6. Peking and Beijing
7. Sexual Dimorphism
8. Soap
9. Steelyards
10. Stone Sickles
11. Teeth and Dentition
12. Representation of Very Large Numbers
    
    
13. Independent page: Evolution
14. Independent page: The Bantu Expansion
15. Independent page: Human Birth & Bipedalism
16. Essays on Theory
    • Two Kinds of Definitions
      Center-focused and boundary-focused definitions and the process of "operationalization," the basis of all social research
    • Classification: Lumping & Splitting
      What is your "default" hypothesis in classifying ambiguous evidence?
    • Variables & Models
      What the dingdong is a "theory" anyway?
    • Explaining Human Behavior: The Question "Why?"
      Most "explanations" of human behavior are fatuous foolishness. What is the logical trap that they fall into?
    • Symbols, Sumptuation, and Mystification
      Why do people like gold? It's not because it's pretty.
    • Conflicting Loyalties, & Cross Cutting Ties
      Is it good to have conflicting loyalties? Wouldn't that make for … um … conflict?

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