human map

Food

Shelter

Technology

Economy

Gender

Social
Organization

The Family

Aesthetics

Religion

History

FOOD

In the valley around Cusco corn is cultivated and mainly exported to Japan.

Like other animals, human beings need food as a source of energy. Human have also made food the focus of rituals, a gesture of hospitality and friendship, a means of indicating differences in social status and a sign of identity that distinguishes one culture from another.

The New World was the site of the domestication of several important foods that have since spread throughout the world. These include maize, potatoes, tomatoes, chili pepperes and squash.

Nancy C. Lutkehaus, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
Center for Visual Anthropology
University of Southern California

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SHELTER

A birds-eye view of a Yanomami shabono or village surrounded by gardens.

In the hot tropical climate of Africa where humans originated, there was little need for permanent shelter. The dense canopy of trees or rock ledges could protect people from periodic stormy weather. Later, in colder climates, caves provided warmth and protection against predatory animals for our early ancestors.

Over time, humans have developed a wide variety of shelters-from collapsable tents to motorized mobile homes, from simple sod huts to elaborate castles, from dwellings their house a single family to long houses that shelter an entire clan or section of a tribe.

The wide array of shelters found throughout the world reflects the climate and physical environment in which people live, the level of technology available, and their economic status.

Nancy C. Lutkehaus, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
Center for Visual Anthropology
University of Southern California

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HISTORY

At the site of the Koiyurity festival pilgrims pray at the foot of a cross
built in the snow 5,000 m. above sea level.

As far as we know, human beings are unique among primates in their capacity to spontaneously generate language. Language forms the basis of human communication as well as human memory and the creation of narratives (stories) about our human past.

Thus, the creation and transmission of history-stories about our personal and collective pasts-also seems to be a uniquely human trait.

Not only do we talk about our past, we also erect monuments to past events and people, we create rituals and other events their celebrate and honor the past, and we use our creativity and aesthetic sensibilities to encode memories of past feelings in songs, dances, books, pictures and dramas.

Nancy C. Lutkehaus, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
Center for Visual Anthropology
University of Southern California

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