ANTHROPOLOGY NEWS DIARY 28.04.2021
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ANTHROPOLOGY NEWS DIARY
(AND)
28.04.2021
FOR UPSC CSE MAINS
This series provides compilation of daily CURRENT AFFAIRS of Anthropology.
It is aimed at addressing the requirement of aspirants to add contemporary aspects of the subject to the answers.
It also helps in understanding the trends of anthropology across India and the world.
NOTE: Please attempt the questions given at the end of the document and can
upload on the telegram channel: Sosin for Anthropology Q&A, for peer review
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INDEX
A. SOCIO - CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
1. Securing Rights for Rainforests……………………………………………………………….…03
B. ARCHAEOLOGY 1. Dating Landscape Evolution …………………………………………………………………….04
C. BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1. Selection of Aptamers against Breast Cancer………………………………………….…05 2. Genetic Study of Rhinoceros ………………………………………………………..……….…06 3. Fossils and Ultrasonics……………………………………………………………………………..07
UPSC ANTHROPOLOGY PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS……………………………….………..09
PRACTICE QUESTIONS FOR PEER REVIEW……………………………………………………………09
Note - For convenience, the respective reference links have been dropped at the end of every topic.
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A. SOCIO - CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1. Securing Rights for Rainforests Context: The Sarakayu People of Ecuador seek legal protection for Amazonian Plants and Animals. Anthropologist Eduardo Kohn’s work on “Thinking Forests“ might help. Highlights: ● The Sarayaku territory in Ecuador is a 500-square-mile roadless jungle reachable only by helicopter, small aircraft, or a full day’s canoe trip on the Bobonaza River. For outsiders, opportunities to connect with this community of about 1,200 people are rare. ● After decades of bravely staving off oil company incursions on their land and spearheading an Indigenous resistance movement in Ecuador, the people of Sarayaku wanted to make their predicament more widely known. ● A 30-foot canoe carved from a cedar tree was already en route to France, and a delegation of Sarayaku leaders would follow. When heads of state from nearly every nation convened, the Sarayaku leaders would launch their canoe into a Parisian canal, bringing their struggle for the Amazon to the world stage. ● The Sarayaku community also wanted a written document that would resonate across cultures, geography, and radically different perspectives. ● That’s why the Sarakayu President had summoned Kohn, an Anthropologist & a professor at McGill University whose writings explore the connections between humans and other species. Working together in a small team that included other Sarayaku leaders, they quickly finalized the Declaration of Kawsak Sacha, a term that in Kichwa means “sentient forest.” ● Kawsak Sacha is an expression of the Sarayaku community’s worldview, which is Animist, based on the principle that not only people but plants, animals, and even rocks are sentient, knowing beings. ● The future not just of the Amazon but of the planet depends on reimagining human connection to nature. ● What’s distinctive about the Sarayaku community is their melding of traditional ways with cyberactivism, and that they have taken the fight for their forest to new levels, positioning it within the context of larger political currents, including the global climate crisis. Reference: https://www.sapiens.org/culture/eduardo-kohn-sarayaku/
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B. ARCHAEOLOGY 1. Dating Landscape Evolution Highlights: ● The fact that many major rock art sites are located in highly distinctive landscapes has led archeologists, ethnologists, and ethno-archeologists to explore potential links between landscape features and their symbolic usage. ● The study of the physical context of the archaeological sites is of particular importance for expanding the interpretive horizons of the location of ancient societies and their interactions with living spaces. ● An increasing number of studies now focus on the restitution of site morphologies during their frequentation. ● The main gaps in understanding concerns either the external geomorphological processes involved in the evolution of the external context of a site, the chrono- stratigraphic relationships between the deposits present on excavated sites and its surroundings, and the lack of integrated studies linking the information gathered on a site with its direct environment. ● The Chauvet cave benefited from such integrated geomorphological studies and cave morphologies could be reconstructed at different stages before, during and after the human frequentations. ● The Chauvet cave Upper-Palaeolithic artwork was dated back to 37 ka cal. BP, and showed two main periods of frequentation at 37-33.5 ka cal. BP and 31–28 ka cal. BP respectively. ● Its artwork characteristics and the antiquity of the radiocarbon ages made this cave a reference for the beginning of the Upper-Palaeolithic worldwide (UNESCO World Heritage). Exceptional artwork preservation is related with a series of rockfall events between 23 and 21 ka that blocked the Palaeolithic cave entrance, thereby preventing further access to the cave and preserving its paintings. ● Because of the quartz-rich component of the Ardèche river sediments, paleo dosimetry methods (Electron Spin Resonance – ESR) to date the river deposits were used. ● In cave environments, radiometric analysis (Uranium series – U-series) are used to date the speleothems growth phases. ● The combination of dating methods in both river and cave environments provides independent constraints that can be discussed through topographic and chronological
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correspondences, potentially better constraining landscape evolution during the Quaternary period. ● The use of ESR on fluvial sediments and U-series in karst systems provides absolute constraints for landscape evolution studies in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. ● For the +15 m alluvial deposit (T2), boreholes and trenches inside the Combe d’Arc revealed the presence of thin clay layers on top of layers of coarse sand and pebbles. ● The cobbles are linked to the last perennial flows through the meander before the cutoff became complete, while the clay is linked to flood events that occurred later in the cutoff meander. Reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88240-5
C. BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1. Selection of Aptamers against Breast Cancer ● Triple-negative breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype of invasive breast cancer with a poor prognosis and no approved targeted therapy. Hence, the identification of new and specific ligands is essential to develop novel targeted therapies. ● An emerging strategy in tumor-targeted therapies consists of using specific ligands, such as aptamers that are able to bind a variety of targets including proteins, small molecules, viruses, bacteria and live cells with high affinity, specificity and selectivity ● Aptamers exhibit many advantages over other ligands, such as the antibodies, since they can be easily synthesized and chemically modified, are non-toxic, and possess rapid tissue penetration and low immunogenicity ● Aptamers are short single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) oligonucleotides derived from random oligonucleotide libraries through an in vitro iterative method so-called Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment (SELEX), which involves repetitive rounds of partitioning and enrichment commonly performed with purified target proteins immobilized on a solid support ● Usually, the identification of enriched sequences is mainly performed by cloning and Sanger sequencing of the library resulting from several selection cycles ● Therefore, only sequenced clones are identified as possible targeting ligands, excluding candidate aptamers with good performances but with low copy numbers in the enriched library. To overcome this issue, specialized technologies have been incorporated into the original SELEX process such as high throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatics analysis.
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● Sequencing results after an initial filtration, adapter and constant primer binding region removal and length filtration (49 nt) led to 4,699,206 total sequences, from which about 4,347,204 were unique sequences and 352,002 exhibited more than one copy in the entire sequenced pool. ● The analysis of the nucleotide sequences within those sequences were performed regarding sequence alignment, phylogenetic relationship, and secondary structure prediction. Reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87998-y
2. Genetic Study of Rhinoceros Context: ● A genome study involving the last remaining populations of the Sumatran rhinoceros — a solitary rainforest dweller — is providing what scientists called good news about the prospects of saving this critically endangered species from extinction. ● The study conducted by the researchers found that the two existing wild populations of this rhino on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra boast unexpectedly good genetic health and surprisingly low levels of inbreeding. Highlights: ● Experts estimate that only about 80 of the rhinos remain after a separate population on the Malaysian Peninsula went extinct in recent years. The Sumatran rhinoceros — the closest living relative to the woolly rhinoceros that was among the notable species of the last Ice Age — is known for its two small horns and a thin coat of reddish-brown hair. ● The researchers sequenced the genomes of seven rhinos from Borneo, eight from Sumatra and six from the Malay Peninsula population that has been considered extinct since 2015. ● The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest of the world’s five rhinoceros species, at around 1,540 to 1,760 pounds (700 to 800 kg). The elusive rainforest inhabitant, the most vocal rhino species, remains solitary except for mating and rearing offspring. It once had a wide range in Southeast Asia, from the foothills of the Himalayas down to Borneo and Sumatra. ● Poaching and habitat destruction by humans have devastated its population, with its numbers falling by about 70% over the past two decades.
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● When it comes to long-term survival of a species, genetic diversity is one of the key factors, as this enables adaptation to future environmental changes and diseases ● Inbreeding creates a heightened risk of genetic flaws and reduced genetic diversity. Scientists had feared that reports of tumors and low fecundity among these rhinos were evidence of a dangerously inbred population. ● It’s important to remember that the Sumatran rhino is still on the verge of extinction due to non-genetic factors. ● The hope that these results offer is that if we manage to solve the problems caused by habitat destruction and poaching, there is at least a chance that the survivors will not be doomed by their poor genetic status. Reference: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/schools/genetic-study-offers-good-news-for- endangered-sumatran-rhinoceros-244932
3. Fossils and Ultrasonics ● Representative fossils from rocks of different ages and lithologies were subjected to relatively low frequency ultrasonic vibrations. ● An examination of the results showed that the cleaning accomplished is highly successful for many samples and that detrimental effects are rare unless cleaning is continued for an excessive length of time. ● Fossil remains found in limestone caves frequently display problems related to the presence of calcium carbonate, which precipitates and hardens the sediment of the cave. Because of its hardness, the sediment often has to be broken with great force. In fact, excavation is often the most critical moment for the remains; even material in good condition can suffer serious alterations due to the enclosing matrix ● Thus, it is common for the preparation laboratory to receive fossils that are either embedded in hard matrices or broken as a result of the excavation process. Mechanical tools are normally used to prepare such specimens. Preparation by means of mechanical methods has been widely reported, including the use of chisels, pneumatic engraving pens (also referred to as pneumatic scribes or engravers) and air abrasion devices. ● Most of the sediments can be cleansed by the ultrasonic scaler. ● The ultrasonic scaler was designed for use in the field of dentistry. There are therefore some drawbacks that we think may be due to the lack of the tool’s adaptation to preparation work.
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The following shows a newspaper cutting from the year 1960.
Reference: https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/3283
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UPSC Previous year questions based on today’s concept: 1. Society & Culture (10 Marks - 2015) 2. Gene Therapy (S.N. - 1997)
D. DAILY PRACTICE QUESTION/S FOR MAINS 2021. Pl do not forget to upload your answer sheet for a peer review on the telegram channel: Sosin for Anthropology Q&A 1. Present a comparative account of different dating methods. Indicate which of them can be used for dating landscapes. (20 Marks)
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