Examining the Interdependence of Humans and Nature

What Is Anthropology? ANTH 2301 Central Commitment #3: Examining the Interdependence of Humans and Nature Anthropologists are interested in the natural world, how humans have interacted with it throughout history, and how different civilizations have been shaped by these interactions, as our story implies. Anthropologists examine how individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds perceive and utilise the land, water, plants, animals, climate, and space, among other components of nature. They demonstrate the intricate ways in which humans engage with these natural factors. The understanding of celestial objects by prehistoric people has been documented by archaeologists working at prehistoric sites around the globe. These people utilised these objects to navigate their rivers, make calendars and clocks, control farming practices, plan religious rites, and communicate with political authorities. We refer to this field of research as archaeoastronomy. Archaeologists have found that houses in the main population sites of Chaco Canyon, in the American Southwest, were oriented such that specific windows would offer ideal vantage points to observe the sun and moon during significant periods of the year, like the solstice and equinox. Two whorl-shaped petroglyphs (stone etchings) atop Fajada Butte make up the Sun Dagger, which is strategically placed beneath a rock crevice to mark the solstices and equinoxes as sunlight passes through the crack. Sadly, the Sun Dagger no longer appropriately records these astronomical occasions because to changes in the breadth and orientation of the cleft caused by foot activity by tourists. It's possible that the inhabitants of Chaco Canyon were especially aware of the characteristics of their surroundings as they built their sophisticated society amid the harsh high desert. Their existence relied on precisely determining the best times to sow and harvest because to infrequent rainfall and short growing seasons. The start of a 50-year drought made farming increasingly risky. The Chacoan indigenous people were eventually compelled to leave the region. Some anthropologists research the relationships that locals have with the plants. Ethnobotany is the study of how humans in other cultures classify and utilise plants for tools, transportation, art, food, housing, and religion. Researchers studying ethnobotany also study plants used in traditional medicine to see how these plants' medicinal qualities relate to cultural customs. Some look at how hallucinogenic substances like peyote and mushrooms are used in religious rituals. For example, anthropologist Jamon Halvaksz (2006) investigated the contentious usage of marijuana among young people in New Guinea. Halvaksz heard from young people who said that pot made them work harder, get over their guilt, and comprehend ancestor stories. Halvaksz was informed by opponents of the technique that marijuana users' blood dried out, leaving their progeny weak and frail. Similar debates about marijuana usage have arisen in other nations, including the US. Proponents of the substance contend that it relieves pain and promotes relaxation, while detractors argue that it impairs motivation and cognitive function. Nature and we share a reciprocal connection. people shapes nature, and nature shapes people. Anthropologists investigate how nature influences humans and make assumptions about how environmental factors, such as our capacity to walk, the form of our teeth, and the size of our brains, have affected the origin and evolution of human biology. Over the past several million years, dramatic climatic upheavals have prompted periods of fast biological and cultural adaptation, giving rise to new human species and skill sets like language and toolmaking. Environmental factors have influenced political structures, gender roles, religious beliefs, and food-gathering techniques in more recent ancient eras. A society can emerge or collapse due to external factors. Some archaeologists research the connections between environmental disasters like volcanic eruptions and droughts and the dissolution of empires and large-scale migrations. people and nature have a reciprocal interaction in which people shape the natural world. The ways in which our civilizations obtain food and the ways in which we obtain and exchange commodities like gold, oil, natural gas, and diamonds all influence our ecosystems. Numerous anthropologists investigate the ways in which modern lifestyles alter the natural world locally, regionally, and globally. Because farms destroy forests, marshes, and prairies, they have a significant negative influence on ecosystems. Certain species can become extinct due to fishing, which alters the ecology of rivers and coastal waters as a whole. In an effort to supply water to newly emerging cities, people build dams in response to population pressure. Water diversion changes the ecology of the surrounding areas, converting wetlands into deserts and deserts into resource-hungry towns. Academics refer to the current era of growing human influence on Earth's ecosystems as the "Anthropocene." Significant environmental disturbances including climate change and the mass extinction of plant and animal species are being brought on by large-scale pollution, mining, deforestation, ranching, and agriculture. Numerous anthropologists are researching these issues, with a particular emphasis on the efforts made by individuals at the local, regional, and international levels to encourage more environmentally friendly lifestyles in our natural environment.