Laboratory Manual For Biological Anthropology

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

About the Book This Laboratory Manual is a comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated treatise on methods of Biological Anthropology. The first edition of the book, published in 2009, received wide acceptance in most of the Indian universities having Anthropology as a course of study.

In the present, thoroughly revised and enlarged edition, two more essential chapters have been incorporated: one is on Physiological Anthropology and the other on Anthropological Genetics. Thus, the scope of the book has further been enhanced. The chapter on Physiological Anthropology has dealt with different physiological aspects of our body with special emphasis on various dimensions of blood.

The chapter on Anthropological Genetics is very well scoped and articulated. It will not only serve the students of anthropology, but also as a foundation for study and research in human genetics and human genomics.

The sections on Osteology, Comparative Anatomy, Human Palaeontology, Somatology, Methodology of Some genetic traits, and that of Appliances have also been improvised a lot in the present edition.

Apart from lucid and scientific treatment on the methods of biological anthropology, each topic is provided with its theoretical basis. This makes the book an essential guide for the under-graduate and post-graduate students of Anthropology all over the world.

About the Authors DIPAK MUKHERJI (1940 -) MSc. (Cal), Ph.D. (Cal)

Dr. Dipak Mukherji is a veteran Anthropologist of India, who authored and co-authored a number of books in Anthropology as well as on allied subjects. Dr. Mukherji was a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, N.D. College, Howrah; and retired as a Reader from the same Institution after thirty four years (1966 - 2000) of continuous service.

As a Teacher-Author, he is more inclined to write basic books on the subject in vernacular so that the beginners can have a clear understanding of the subject. Besides writing books he also wrote quite a number of popular articles on the subject in different Bengali periodicals, and later published as a compilation. Dr. Mukherji has also to his credit more than thirty scientific papers, published in Indian and Foreign Journals.

DEBA PRASAD MUKHERJEE, (1931 - 2015) MSc. (Cal), Ph.D. (London). B.T. (Cal), & DMS.

Formerly, Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta during 1981-1996. Before that he was Founder Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh (1971-1975). In between he shouldered the responsibility of Deputy Director of the Anthropological Survey of India. Dr. Mukherjee started his career as a lecturer in Kandi Raj College, Murshidabad (W.B.).

Besides, he performed as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi and also in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Lady Irwin Medical College, New Delhi. He was also a guest Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, W.B.

His special area of interest was Population Genetics and possessed technical specialization in Dermatoglyphics. More than 150 papers in Indian and foreign journals belong to his credit. He authored a book on 'Outlines of Population Genetics' and co-authored the First edition of 'Laboratory Manual for Biological Anthropology'. Year before his demise he also published a small book on the Theories of Human Evolution; and prepared a manuscript on 'Development of Biological Anthropology in India'

He was appointed Expert in Human Genetics, WHO, Geneva; and was an invited Panelist, AAAS Symposium on Biological Relativity, Philadelphia, USA (1971). Professor Mukherjee presided over the Section of Anthropology & Archaeology of Indian Science Congress Association (1996-1997). He was the Founder President of the School of Human Genetics and Population Health (SOHGAPH) in 1993.

PREMANANDA BHARATI' (1953 -) Msc. (Cal), Ph.D. (Cal)

Formerly, Professor and Head of the Biological Anthropology Unit. Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. His main research interests are in the fields of Nutrition, Growth, Poverty, Demography, Public health, Bio-cultural Evolution of Man.

ARIJIT MUKHOPADHYAY (03.09.1972 -) Msc. (Univ. of Calcutta), Ph.D.(Jadavpur University)

General Profile

Dr. Mukhopadhyay has been practicing and teaching science, in the field of human biomedical genomics, for the last 18 years. Until October 2016 he was a senior scientist and group leader at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, India. Currently, Dr. Mukhopadhyay is a lecturer in Human Genetics at the University of Salford, Manchester, UK and an adjunct faculty at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, UK. His primary research interest is studying human genomic variations with emphasis on ocular phenotypes. He has to his credit 54 peer-reviewed publications in international journals, which are widely cited.

Positions held: August 2007- October 2016: Scientist/Senior scientist and group leader in the Genomics & Molecular Medicine Unit of CSIR-Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, Delhi, India. November 2016 - : Lecturer in Human Genetics, School of Environment and Life Sciences Address: Room 203 a, Cockcroft Building, University of Salford, Manchester M5 4WT, United Kingdom

Preface In the beginning we were a bit skeptic about acceptance of the Laboratory Manual because that was quite a courageous attempt in the context of the existing attitude towards academics related with Anthropology teaching and learning. After publication of the Manual, we realized that our skepticism was baseless since the Manual was accepted by most of the Universities and colleges in India inculcating anthropological education. As an obvious consequence, the Manual became out-of-market within three years of publication. Besides, teachers of different universities requested us to revise the book and to add two more areas of Biological Anthropology such as, some basic topics of Physiological Anthropology, and some preliminaries of Anthropological Genetics.

In the mean time, on July 01 of 2015, we lost our senior co-author Professor D. P. Mukherjee. We became almost guardian less, and preparing the revised edition of the Manual was deterred. However, of late we have been able to complete the book and made that ready for publication. A young Human Geneticist, Dr. Arijit Mukhopadhyay, faculty of the University of Salford, Manchester, U.K., has joined us to fill the gap due to death of Professor D.P. Of course, Professor D. P. Mukherjee shall remain as co-author; and we have decided to dedicate this edition of the book to the inspiring memory of Professor D. P. Mukherjee.

Apart from revising and modifying the previous edition two more sections have been added in the present edition. Those are, Physiological Anthropology (Section-F) and Anthropological Genetics (Section-G).

We expect that this revised edition of the Manual will be all the more helpful to the students of Anthropology in home and abroad.

It is a fortunate coincidence that this edition of the Manual is being published in the centenary year of beginning of institutionalised academics in Anthropology in India, at the University of Calcutta.

Introduction Biological Anthropology contemplates to understand biological variation of human kind in time and space. The 'Time' dimension in variation is represented by evolutionary facts and processes through time. Emergence of biologically modern Homo sapiens from non-human stock is the most fascinating and intriguing subject of biological variation through an enormous time of about 34 million years, and the last lap of about 6million years. Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) came out as the end product (up till now) only 100,000 years ago at the most.

Fossilized skeletal fragments, representing different levels of evolutionary development towards modern human type have been discovered by painstaking archaeological activities in different countries. Those fragmentary evidences are most valuable material for understanding the amount of change along with causative factors behind those changes. A bit of positive information in this field may often involve large fund, well-equipped laboratory, and expert scientists of different fields. A sound knowledge in human anatomy and also in comparative anatomy of higher primates (particularly, the great apes), is essentially required in deciphering the fragmentary evidence, and conceptualizing the whole from the part. Such endeavor and methodology of reconstructing whole from small fragmentary evidence is comparable with Forensic science.

In the Chapter dealing with Human Palaeontology representative fossil evidence of human evolution have been presented to make the students understand the cladistic changes from Anthropoid -+ Hominoid -> Hominid -4 Homo, and finally to Homo sapiens.

Since the understanding of developmental (anatomical) stages requires a basic knowledge about human skeleton and comparative anatomy with higher primates (Chimpanzee), a quite sizeable section on Osteology (Section-A) and another section on Comparative anatomy (Section-B) have been presented.

The ' Space ' dimension of human biological variation is understood on living human beings spatially distributed throughout the globe, with the help of Somatological methodology including Somatoscopy, Somatometry and Somatotyping, presented in the Section - D. Of these three fields, Somatoscopy is also useful in Forensic investigations; Somatometry is essentially necessary in ascertaining growth and nutrition at individual as well as at community levels; and Somatotyping, which deals with relative adiposity, musculature and skeletal constitution of individuals, to be selected for training in different types of sports and athletics.

Section -E deals with methodology of Blood grouping (ABO and Rh); Tastability and sensitivity of normal and graded solutions of Phenyl Thio Carbamide (PTC) crystals; Dermatoglyphics and Colour vision deficiencies.

Section -F deals with methodology of determination of different physiological parameters such as, Serology, Blood sugar (Fasting, PP) and BP, Pulse rate, Respiration rate and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

Book's Contents and Sample Pages