The Viking Fund Summer Seminars in Physical Anthropology

Physical Anthropology

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder after Alzheimer's disease. Due to the complex etiology of PD, there is possibility that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in PARKIN gene could be associated with the disease and lead to the pathogenesis by genoenvironmental interactions. Role of PARKIN polymorphisms as risk factors varies in diff...

History of Physical Anthropology

Yearbook of Physical Anthropology

Our understanding of primate evolution is ultimately based on patterns of phyletic relationship and morphological change documented in the fossil record. Stratophenetic interpretation of living and fossil primates yields an objective alternative to the arbitrary scala naturae assumed implicitly in traditional comparative biology. Fossils provide an outline of primate history constraining compar...

Physical Anthropology and Gender Issues

The Status of the Race Concept in Physical Anthropology

There are hereditary differences among human beings. Some of these differences have geographical correlates. Some genetic variants that produce physical or behavioral deficits occur significantly more often in some areas, or in some ethnic groups, than in others. However, none of these facts provides any intellectual support for the race concept, for racial classifications, or for social hierar...