Journal of Anthropological Sciences最新文献

Shifting paradigms in anthropology: from racial classifi cation to the natural history of humanity. 人类学范式的转换：从种族分类到人类自然史。

IF 1.6 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-10-16 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10407

Alice Scartezzini, Patrizia Battilani, Maria Giovanna Belcastro

{"title":"Shifting paradigms in anthropology: from racial classifi cation to the natural history of humanity.","authors":"Alice Scartezzini, Patrizia Battilani, Maria Giovanna Belcastro","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10407","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropology emerged as an informal field of inquiry during the 18th century, in the intellectual milieu of the Enlightenment, yet it was only in the following century that it became an institutionalized discipline. The historical context is far from incidental: European colonialism and imperialism, predatory extractive capitalism, and the rise of nationalism profoundly shaped the political, social, and cultural environment within which anthropology took shape as an academic discipline. This article offers a concise account of anthropology's development from the 18th to the 20th century, examining the intertwining of scientific inquiry and imperialist ideologies, with particular attention to the Italian case, from the unification to the end of World War II, including the Fascist period. We then discuss the deconstruction of the concept of \"race\" in contemporary anthropology and survey the current debate surrounding human biodiversity as a contested terrain at the intersection of biology and politics. The article concludes by advocating for renewed interdisciplinary dialogue between biological and cultural anthropology, grounded in scientific integrity and a humanistic commitment to social justice.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149217248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Sexual dimorphism and body shape differences in hip bone morphology between Homo sapiens and Neanderthal lineage individuals. 智人与尼安德特人血统个体髋骨形态的两性二态性和体型差异。

IF 1.6 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-10-16 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10408

Gonzalo Madroñal-López, Nieves Candelas González, Armando González Martín, Markus Bastir, Daniel García-Martínez

{"title":"Sexual dimorphism and body shape differences in hip bone morphology between Homo sapiens and Neanderthal lineage individuals.","authors":"Gonzalo Madroñal-López, Nieves Candelas González, Armando González Martín, Markus Bastir, Daniel García-Martínez","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10408","url":null,"abstract":"The pelvis as a whole and the hip bones are the best skeletal elements for determining sex in humans, as their pattern of sexual dimorphism is based on women's ability to give birth to a full-term fetus. Additionally, an individual's body type also has a significant effect on pelvic shape, which could, in turn, influence the pattern of sexual dimorphism. It has been demonstrated that 3D geometric morphometrics (3DGM) can distinguish between male and female hip bone morphology in anatomically modern humans. Therefore, this study employs 3DGM methodology to analyse and compare hip bone morphology of individuals from the Neanderthal lineage, as well as a specimen of early Homo, in a comparative framework of 46 H. sapiens of known sex. The Neanderthal lineage individuals were distributed along modern male and female morphologies, coinciding with their traditional sexual assessment, based on differences in pubic length, iliac width, and greater sciatic notch aperture. These results point to a similar coxal sexual dimorphism pattern in both lineages. Body shape does not seem to influence the dimorphic pattern, but the results show a gradient from archaic coxal morphology present in early Homo to the derived Neanderthal morphology, where the pre- Neanderthal individual has a more Neanderthal-like morphology than the H. heidelbergensis individual.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149217171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Direct radiocarbon dating reveals medieval reuse at the prehistoric site of Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Apulia, Italy). 直接放射性碳定年法揭示了格罗塔罗曼内利（卡斯特罗，阿普利亚，意大利）史前遗址的中世纪再利用。

IF 1.6 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-08-27 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10405

Raffaele Sardella, Maria Nicolaci, Lucia Borrelli, Ilaria Mazzini, Pierluigi Pieruccini, Alessia Galbusera, Alessio Iannucci, Giuseppe Lembo, Fabio Bona, Luca Forti, Lucio Calcagnile, Marisa D'Elia, Giorgio Carbone, Gianluca Quarta, Giorgio Manzi, Alessia Nava

{"title":"Direct radiocarbon dating reveals medieval reuse at the prehistoric site of Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Apulia, Italy).","authors":"Raffaele Sardella, Maria Nicolaci, Lucia Borrelli, Ilaria Mazzini, Pierluigi Pieruccini, Alessia Galbusera, Alessio Iannucci, Giuseppe Lembo, Fabio Bona, Luca Forti, Lucio Calcagnile, Marisa D'Elia, Giorgio Carbone, Gianluca Quarta, Giorgio Manzi, Alessia Nava","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10405","url":null,"abstract":"Grotta Romanelli has long been recognised as one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Mediterranean, preserving a rich assemblage of lithic artefacts, faunal remains, and parietal and mobiliary art, mostly dating to the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. In contrast, human remains recovered from the cave have remained poorly understood, particularly because the chronology of the three best-preserved individuals, excavated between 1900 and 1904, has never been directly radiocarbon dated. Based on stratigraphic evidence, P.E. Stasi referred them to prehistoric times, but this attribution has been questioned by several scholars. Here, we present new AMS radiocarbon dates obtained from these individuals, one adult and two infants. Our results demonstrate that the three burials belong to previously unrecognised phases of medieval reuse of the site. The adult individual dates to the fourteenth to early fifteenth century AD (1302- 1369 and 1379-1411 cal AD, 95.4% probability), whereas the two infants date to the fifteenth century AD (1423-1455 and 1435-1489 cal AD, 95.4% probability). This finding highlights the importance of reassessing old archaeological collections using modern analytical approaches. The chronological ranges broadly overlap with periods of recurrent plague outbreaks in southern Italy, but any specific association between the burials and epidemic mortality needs further investigation.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148867483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Human diets in transition: evolutionary legacies, cultural change and modern food environments. 转型中的人类饮食：进化遗产、文化变迁和现代饮食环境。

IF 1.6 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-08-27 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10406

Marco Capocasa, Cinzia Battaggia, Monica Dinu, Marilena Vitale

{"title":"Human diets in transition: evolutionary legacies, cultural change and modern food environments.","authors":"Marco Capocasa, Cinzia Battaggia, Monica Dinu, Marilena Vitale","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10406","url":null,"abstract":"This conference paper synthesizes selected perspectives from the interdisciplinary lecture series \"Il Cibo Siamo Noi: biologia, società, evoluzione\" (\"Food Is Who We Are: Biology, Society, Evolution\"; April-May 2025), organized by the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia. Its aim is to examine human diet as a biocultural phenomenon, shaped by the long-term interaction between biological evolution, cultural practices, subsistence strategies, and changing food environments. Adopting a diachronic perspective, the paper considers how major dietary transitions have influenced human physiology, genetic adaptation, and the gut microbiota, while also contributing to contemporary forms of biological and cultural mismatch. It then discusses the Mediterranean diet as a historically rooted dietary model in which health, cultural heritage, and environmental sustainability remain closely connected, despite growing pressures from urbanization, convenience foods, and industrialized dietary patterns. Selected contemporary dietary models, including therapeutic and popular diets, are considered to illustrate how scientific evidence, adherence, cultural appeal, and sustainability interact in current nutrition debates. Finally, the paper addresses the circulation of nutrition misinformation and the role of open access and the \"third mission\" of academia in improving public engagement with nutrition science. By integrating evolutionary, cultural, biomedical, and environmental perspectives, the paper argues for dietary approaches that reconnect health promotion with biological history, cultural meaning, and sustainability.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148866089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Two methods of intentional cranial modification from Early Holocene Songhuajiang in Northeast China. 东北松花江早全新世有意颅骨改造的两种方法

IF 1.6 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-06-24 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10404

Qiyu Yin, Christopher J Bae, Xijun Ni

{"title":"Two methods of intentional cranial modification from Early Holocene Songhuajiang in Northeast China.","authors":"Qiyu Yin, Christopher J Bae, Xijun Ni","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10404","url":null,"abstract":"Since its appearance at the terminal Pleistocene, intentional cranial modification (\"ICM\") and its implications have generated considerable scientific debate regarding how or why such a tradition arose. Here, we report on newly discovered human ICM crania from the Songhuajiang area in Northeast China, dating to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The materials include three partially damaged cranial specimens - PA1688 (11,641 - 11,270 cal BP), TPA2401 (11,825 - 11,601 cal BP) and TPA2402 (11,245 - 11,179 cal BP). Geometric morphometric analyses effectively distinguished modified and unmodified individuals, in addition to partially identifying variation in different modification types. PA1688 presents a typical tabular type, while TPA2401 and TPA2402 display traits of the annular type, a type not previously reported in this region. During the Early Holocene two types of ICM coexisted in the Songhuajiang region; a tradition that persisted for nearly 1,000 years. Further, there was no significant difference in the strontium isotope ratios between individuals with the different ICM. These results are consistent with two different ICM methods being practiced by local individuals in the Harbin region during the terminal Pleistocene-Holocene period, with no evidence linking either type to individuals of non-local origin.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148320050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The anatomical position of the ribs and thoracic vertebrae of the Roc de Marsal Neandertal infant. 马绍尔洛克尼安德特人婴儿肋骨和胸椎的解剖位置。

IF 2.3 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-05-01 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10403

Asier Gómez-Olivencia, Daniel García-Martínez

{"title":"The anatomical position of the ribs and thoracic vertebrae of the Roc de Marsal Neandertal infant.","authors":"Asier Gómez-Olivencia, Daniel García-Martínez","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.10403","url":null,"abstract":"Recent technical and methodological advances have provided new insights into Neandertal thorax morphology, revealing significant differences compared to modern humans, both in terms of the individual elements (vertebrae, ribs, and sternum), and in the thorax as a whole. However, the thorax morphology of immature Neandertals remains poorly understood, due to the limited and fragmentary fossil record. The Roc de Marsal (RdM) infant is one of the few cases in which the vertebrae and ribs are both relatively well preserved. Previous research has characterised the ribs of the RdM individual as having shafts with low robusticity and short necks. They also have a large radius of curvature (i.e., they are less curved) and a pronounced anterior flare. Theoretically, this would result in a thorax that was more anteroposteriorly projected than that of Homo sapiens, with a maximum width at the 7th rib. Here, we reassess the anatomical position of the thoracic vertebrae and ribs of RdM, evaluating previous observations using a combination of traditional measurements and 3D geometric morphometrics. A morphological assessment of the most complete ribs (7, 9, 10 and 11) reveals marked differences between the ribs of RdM and those of modern human children. These differences include less curvature of the shaft in cranial view, more vertically oriented and straighter (i.e., less sinuous, with less torsion) shafts in external view. At least for ribs 9-11, the shaft portion sternal to the posterior angle is also longer. In some instances, these differences are similar to those present in adult Neandertals, suggesting that the Neandertal thorax was distinct from that of H. sapiens since infancy. This study reinforces the idea that the size and shape of the individual elements (the ribs and vertebrae) provide information about the distinctiveness of the entire thorax.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"104 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Reexploring drivers of technological variation through the complex landscapes of cultural evolution. 通过文化进化的复杂景观重新探索技术变化的驱动因素。

IF 1.8 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-04-17 DOI: 10.4436/jass.10401

James Clark,Lucy Timbrell,Sarah E Paris,Gonzalo J Linares-Matás

{"title":"Reexploring drivers of technological variation through the complex landscapes of cultural evolution.","authors":"James Clark,Lucy Timbrell,Sarah E Paris,Gonzalo J Linares-Matás","doi":"10.4436/jass.10401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.10401","url":null,"abstract":"Despite a number of issues in its collation, the dataset published by Oswalt et al. (1976) remains a key resource for operationalising cross-cultural technological variability and understanding the socioecological drivers of cultural change in small-scale societies. At the same time, however, it has not been comprehensively explored using up-to-date contextual metrics of subsistence, climate, and demographic structure in each population. In this paper, we present a novel evolutionary framework for understanding technological change in both modern and past populations, according to the complex fitness landscapes of cultural evolution present in different environments. We then use this framework as a lens to explore the drivers of toolkit composition and complexity among hunter-gatherer populations to assess how they relate to the adoption of particular behavioural strategies. We suggest a hierarchy of interlinked influences on the nature of technology: resource distributions exert the most proximate influence on their character, but demography (especially the size of seasonally-aggregated groups) and climate (especially seasonality and inter-annual predictability) are themselves critical in constraining technological possibilities. Finally, we argue that landscape knowledge is crucial in driving access over time to the highest-return technological strategies that are possible in any given environmental context.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147708463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The Neanderthal cranium: functional reappraisal of a peculiar morphology. 尼安德特人头盖骨：一种特殊形态的功能重新评估。

IF 1.8 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2026-04-17 DOI: 10.4436/jass.10402

Barbara Coletti,Giorgio Manzi

引用次数: 0

Anthropology, “races”, and colonialism. African populations in the work of Giuseppe Sergi and beyond 非洲乳糖酶持久性的马赛克：从基因文化共同进化到大陆人口统计学。

IF 2.3 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2025-12-24 Epub Date: 2025-12-22 DOI: 10.4436/JASS.10308

Giovanni Cerro

{"title":"Anthropology, “races”, and colonialism. African populations in the work of Giuseppe Sergi and beyond","authors":"Giovanni Cerro","doi":"10.4436/JASS.10308","DOIUrl":"10.4436/JASS.10308","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to examine the complex and ambivalent conception of Africa and its peoples in the work of Italian anthropologist Giuseppe Sergi (1848-1936), placing it in the context of the birth of Italian colonialism and the scientific debates of the time. On the one hand, based on his new method of recognizing ethnic groups, Sergi developed an original vision that included the peoples of East and North Africa in the Mediterranean stock and affirmed a closeness and interconnection between Europe and Africa. On the other hand, his vision remained anchored in the \"racial\" hierarchies typical of positivism: Sergi considered the \"black\" peoples of sub-Saharan Africa to be physically, intellectually, and morally \"inferior\", placing them in a \"barbaric\" stage of human evolution. Despite this hierarchical view, Sergi was a fierce critic of Italian colonialism and imperialism, which he considered economically disadvantageous, politically short-sighted, and morally anachronistic. Inspired by socialist and pacifist ideals, he condemned colonial violence and promoted the emancipation of peoples through international cooperation. Giuseppe Sergi's work thus embodies the contradictions of the anthropological thinking of his time, characterized by a constant oscillation between progressive openness and deeply rooted prejudices.","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"103 ","pages":"141-178"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145811771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A new open-access 3D database of crania from prehistoric and historic Sardinia. 一个新的开放访问的三维数据库，从史前和历史撒丁岛的颅骨。

IF 1.8 2区社会学

Journal of Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2025-12-22 DOI: 10.4436/jass.10305

Elisabetta Marini,Marco Casula,Valeria Basciu,Davie Bratzu,Nicol Andrea Peddis,Roberto Tronci,Alessio Garau,Paolo Stara,Giorgio Lai,Paolo Lussu,Vitale Stefano Sparacello

引用次数: 0