James H. Mielke

The papers in this volume were presented as part of the University of Kansas Department of Anthropology Distinguished Lecture Program on Anthro pological Genetics. Consecutively, each contributor spent approximately a week on the campus at Lawrence participating in a seminar. The contributors to this volume were not on campus at one time, but visited us on alternating weeks; hence, a symposium-type interchange was not possible between all participants. However, the students and faculty of Kansas University acted as a sounding board. This volume can be considered a companion and continuation of Methods and Theories of Anthropological Genetics, which was based upon a symposium on the state of the art in 1971. This present volume reflects what we consider to be some of the advances and current developments in anthropological genetics since 1973. Emphasis has shifted, to some degree, away from population struc ture analysis (as depicted in Crawford and Workman) to genetic epidemiology. However, population structure still remains a fertile and ongoing area of research with many theoretical questions still remaining unanswered.

Volume 1 Theory and Methods

Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics

Michael H. Crawford

This volume examines the interrelationship of ecology, subsistence pat terns, and the observed genetic variation in human populations. Hence, the book is divided conceptually into the following categories: nonhuman primates, hunters and gatherers, nomads, swidden agriculturalists, peas ant farmers, religious isolates, and modern and urban aggregates. While many of these populations have experienced (and are experiencing) ac culturation as a result of contact with technologically more advanced groups, the genetic structures described in this volume attempt to recon struct the traditional patterns as well as genetic changes because of con tact. Most chapters also integrate biological (genetic), social, and de mographic data within an ecological frame thus presenting a holistic view of the population structures of ecologically distinct groups. The first chapter examines the body of early nonhuman primate lit erature that emphasized ecological determinism in effecting the popula tion structure of our primate ancestors-relatives. It also examines more recent literature (since 1970) in which it became apparent that greater flexibility exists in primate social structure within specific environmental frameworks. Thus, it appears that our nonhuman primate evolutionary heritage is not one of ecological determinism in social organization but one of flexibility and rapid change suggesting the evolutionary success of our species is based upon a system of flexibility and that social ad aptations can be accomplished in a number of diverse ways.

James H. Mielke

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