Talk:Anthropology

Please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page.

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Anthropology article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2: 6 months

This article uses the common scientific time system mentioned in Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Scientists use the BP method of dating, especially when they use radiometric dates or thermoluminescence dates, which are those dates in use in this article. To change these dates to B.C. is to be inconsistent and to substantially change the dates to make them wrong. They are put off by 2000 years by doing this. The citations used to establish the dates are also then misused. The dates for early humans in Ethiopia/Omo are around 200,000-265,000BP. NOT BC. It's the rare anthropologist who uses AD/BC and this is an article about anthropology. Please do not edit the dates; do keep them consistent.--Levalley (talk) 15:51, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(paraphrased by – Paine Ellsworth ( CLIMAX ) )

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Anthropology is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
April 18, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
October 20, 2018	Good article nominee	Not listed

Current status: Former featured article candidate

Anthropology Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Anthropology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Anthropology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AnthropologyWikipedia:WikiProject AnthropologyTemplate:WikiProject AnthropologyAnthropology articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale.

Primates Top‑importance

	Primates portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Primates, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Primates on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PrimatesWikipedia:WikiProject PrimatesTemplate:WikiProject PrimatesPrimate articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 August 2021 and 17 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kmcolgan.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:24, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Research Process and Methodology - FA22 - Sect 200 - Thu

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 September 2022 and 8 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Janyu150 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Janyu150 (talk) 20:38, 27 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Linguistics inclusion

What does the lede mean in saying that Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with[...] linguistics? Does this mean that linguistics falls under the umbrella of anthropology? And, if so, is this actually the case? (Linguistics of course is not equivalent to linguistic anthropology.) Wolfdog (talk) 13:08, 1 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The sentence is saying anthropology studies humanity, and lists several major concepts which intersect with that study of humanity in the field of anthropology. The opening paragraph then goes on to clarify/explain for each of these subjects. For "linguistics", the paragraph specifies: Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. --Pinchme123 (talk) 15:39, 1 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Gotcha. I guess my question is, why do we list the intersections as: human behavior (a broad concept), human biology (an entire science of its own), cultures (a broad concept), societies (a broad concept), and linguistics (an entire science of its own)? This just seems semantically (maybe grammatically-semantically) odd to me. Would it make more sense to list "here are the broad concepts anthropology covers" and then, in a separate sentence, "here are the scientific fields that intersect with anthropology"? Wolfdog (talk) 19:13, 1 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)Given the specifications provided in the very same paragraph, I do not see an issue. In the same way that none of the broad concepts or the other entire science, as you've described them, are wholly subsumed under anthropology, neither is linguistics. I'd also note, the AAA article used for sourcing the sentence in question specifically states: "In the community of anthropologists in the United States, these four fields—human biology, archaeology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics—are understood to be the pillars on which the whole discipline rests"; which is in line with the broader description found in the also-provided Encyclopedia Britannica source. --Pinchme123 (talk) 19:24, 1 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your prompt responses. I do feel like the science of "culture" and "societies" is, in fact, wholly subsumed under anthropology. Would love to hear others' responses too. Wolfdog (talk) 20:47, 2 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

To preface, yes, I would really like others to chime in as well. I will say, sociologists would probably have something to say about "societies", and possibly "culture" too. --Pinchme123 (talk) 21:05, 2 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]