Renee M. Bonzani – författare

Few topics in the development of humans have prompted as much interest and debate as those of the origins of pottery and agriculture. The first appearance of pottery in any area of the world is heralded as a new stage in the progress of humans toward a more complex arrangement of thought and society. Cultures are defined and separated by the occurrence of pottery types, and the association of pottery with mobility and agriculture continues to drive research in anthropology. For these reasons, the discovery of the earliest fiber-tempered pottery in the New World and carbonized remains identified as maize kernels is exciting. San Jacinto 1 is the archaeological site located in the savanna region of the north coast of Colombia, South America, where excavations by led by the authors have revealed evidence of mobile hunter-gatherers who made pottery and who collected and processed plants from 6000 to 5000 B.P. The site is believed to show an early human adaptation to the tropics in the context of significant environmental changes that were taking place at the time. This volume presents the data gathered and the interpretations made during excavation and analysis of the San Jacinto 1 site. By examining the social activities of a human population in a highly seasonal environment, it adds greatly to our contemporary understanding of the historical ecology of the tropics. Study of the artifacts excavated at the site allows a window into the early processes of food production in the New World. Finally, the data reveals that the origins of ceramic technology in the tropics were tied to a reduction in mobility and an increase in territoriality and are widely applicable to similar studies of sedentism and agriculture worldwide.

Kinship & Imagined Communities is written as an introduction for the general public and undergraduate students to some of the basic concepts found in the field of Anthropology. Anthropology very basically has been defined as the study of human cultures. Kinship & Imagined Communities covers the keystone or foundational concepts found in all human societies, that of kinship. A brief review on the origins of the field of Anthropology is given followed by four chapters listed under Part I: Why does Kinship Seem to Be More Important to Some Societies and Who Cares Who You marry Anyway? Part II of the text is entitled Which Flag Should I Fly on the Fourth of July? In this section the chapters deal more so with political relations and institutions and how one finds oneself in multiple of these identities at the same time. Often referred to an "imagined communities", this concept is explored in this section. The general goal of the book is to give the reader a basic foundational knowledge of these anthropological concepts and examples of how they work in the real world and how they have changed and are changing with industrialisation and globalisation.

This text offers an overview of anthropology, divided into four core subfields: physical or biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. It explores human biological diversity, population environments and movements, and archaeological evidence. The latest edition introduces updated methods, particularly in archaeology, and includes new definitions for branches of linguistics, as well as over 60 new images.