Editor’s Selections: Lice, Cultural Preservation, Short Farmers, and Chipped-Stone Tools
June 23rd, 2011 Editor's Selections 1 Comment
Krystal D’Costa selects interesting and notable ResearchBlogging.org posts in the social sciences, including anthropology, research, and philosophy. She blogs about anthropology, technology, and urban life at Anthropology in Practice.
New and notable from the social sciences this past week on ResearchBlogging.org:
- At Contagions, Michelle Ziegler explores evidence that Napoleon’s armies may have also had to battle a minute enemy: lice, which can carry a host of diseases.
- Razib Khan documents the benefits of the selective preservation of cultural elements with regard to human evolutionary history at Gene Expression.
- At Inkfishblog, Elizabeth Preston debunks the notion of robust farmhands, made tough by the labors they performed and working outdoors. They were likely shorter, more prone to disease, and malnourished, believe it or not.
- And finally, the author of Gambler’s House reveals what chipped-stone tools can tell us about our early ancestors.
I’ll be back next week with more from the social sciences.
