Anthropology days celebrate diversity

         Story by: Ana Acosta 

The Anthropology Department hosted Anthropology Days to address why Anthropology is an important subject in the current climate of today’s environment.

At the event, booths that showcased different fields within Anthropology were set up around the Clocktower on Tuesday morning. The booths included activities that touched on topics such as Medical Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, and Archaeology.

Games such as ‘Who is your cousin’ and ‘Human or Not’ were set up to quiz students on their knowledge of the similarities and differences between primates and humans.

Other activities demonstrated tool making demonstrations, such as flintknapping and atlatl demonstrations. Professor Jim Eighmey demonstrated how to use the atlatl, a paleolithic spear-thrower, to students that participated.

There was also a booth where students could create their own cave art with finger painting.

“It is our way for people to relate to past human cultures,” said Isabella Godshall, vice president of the anthropology club, “It’s also a way to educate people in a more interactive way.”

Professor Marlo Willows, a Biological Anthropologist, said that Palomar College is of the few colleges that offer certificates in Archaeology. The program is trying to collaborate with the Geography Department to utilize drones in future archaeological excavations.

“I took a workshop for teachers and drones,” Elizabeth Pain, the archaeology program coordinator said, “so I’m going to

be incorporating drones into the archaeology program.”

At the booth that showcased drones that will be used at the future excavations, Mikela Garza and Neil McDowell-Horn both discussed how the technology helps students achieve with during excavations.

“It would support the program by helping students learn how to operate all different drones,” Garza said, “This is helping a lot of students in the programs so when they go out and get jobs, they’ll be able to know how to operate these kinds of drones already.”

McDowell-Horn added that “it’s going to help them (students) get a better understanding of where drones could be used but also to get hands-on with the actual equipment that people are using in the industry.”

During the excavations, the drone technology could assist with mapping the land to help plan the mission and also to get a better understanding of what’s on the land, and what the potential is for a dig.

On the last day of Anthropology Days, Pain mentioned a few of the classes that will be held at Palomar in the Spring semester of 2019. Classes include Introduction to Biological Anthropology, Intro to Cultural Anthropology, Intro to Archaeology, and many more.

“All of these different areas are seeing how we can celebrate Anthropology and diversity today,” said Willows, “that’s kind of the whole purpose of Anthropology. What it means to be human.”