5. Gaining understanding of the atomic structure of matter (middle to late 1900's)

This knowledge is significant for anthropology because it made possible the development of absolute-dating techniques. The initial dating method, Carbon 14, introduced in the late 1940's, was joined by a series of procedures that permit the reasonably accurate calculation of how long ago extinct humans lived and provide a temporal context for the study of human evolution.

 

 

Alan E. Mann is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His Top 10 list reviews the 1900's in a general historical light and shows how the major events affected the work and chief concerns of anthropologists. He generally calls attention to broad movements rather than single momentous events. He points to the rapid population growth during the 1900's and reveals why some anthropologists link this trend to the end of human evolution.

1.

The effects of World War II (1939-1945) on theories of race
2. Social change caused by World War I (1914-1918)
3. The increase in world population (throughout the 1900's)
4.

The development of genetics (mid-1900's)
5. Gaining understanding of the atomic structure of matter (middle to late 1900's)
6. The development of antibiotics (middle to late 1900's)
7. The impact of automobile and airplane travel (throughout the 1900's)
8. The rise of the computer-based Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
9. The development of effective and safe methods of birth control (mid-1900's)
10. Accepting the theory of continental drift (late 1900's)