Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Well, Chad, Tara, and Janet have spilled the beans (some people can't keep a secret) about a super top secret discussion we ScienceBloggers have been having at the even more secret, highly classified, bat cave (or squid den, I forget which). They will, of course, be punished for mentioning the even more secret, highly classified, bat cave (or squid den, I forget which) in public (emphatic frowns in their general direction seem in order).
What is the secret?
Basic concepts! It is easy for us bloggers to write posts about what interests us, usually we get a little carried away and forget our audience. Consequently, the language or concepts can get a little esoteric. So, to remedy this, some of us ScienceBloggers thought it might be a good idea to do a series of posts on the basic concepts in our areas of interest/expertise.
In order for the idea to really work, though, reader feedback is in order. What basic concepts would you like to see more clearly explained. For me, this can include any subject within the field of anthropology (linguistics excepted, because that is a field I do not know that much about), or evolution, or any of the subjects I write about on a regular basis. As, Chad, Tara, and Janet mentioned feel free to ask about anything. If I can't explain it, I will be certain to mention it to others in our bat cave/squid den/primate nest.
Comments
Why don't you start with something easy and really basic? Like, say, "What is 'culture'?" :-)
Posted by: Duane | January 12, 2007 11:51 PM
First, let me ask you a question: What subjects, besides evolution, do you do on a regular basis? What I have seen here seems to be evolution(and I've recommended this site to a number of other interested parties for that reason), and what seems to be population genetics. So I naturally won't recommend that you make special efforts to explain them. There are, however, fields *I'm* interested in(because of my e-mail list) that might do with some "explaining". Or at least linking to other sites that do explain them. If you are willing to answer this question, I'll expand further.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | January 13, 2007 12:03 AM
Duane - What did I ever do to you, that you would ask such a question? :)
Anne - That is a good, but tough, question. Outside of anthropology (physical, cultural, archaeology) I would feel comfortable with biology (for example I'm thinking of doing something on the Miller/Urey experiments), some paleontology (depends on the question), other than those I would have to hear the question. Having said that, given the breadth of expertise here at ScienceBlogs I'm someone could be found to answer whatever questions are submitted and we are ironing out procedures of getting the question to the right person. I'm not sure if that answers your question or not, without knowing more details of what you are interested in it's the best I can do. So feel free to ask for more details
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | January 13, 2007 1:14 AM
First, let me ask you a question: What subjects, besides evolution, do you do on a regular basis? What I have seen here seems to be evolution(and I've recommended
Anne, long time no see! How are you doing?
I agree with this effort by Science Blogs to get down to basic explanation of interesting things. That is what I hope to do on my blog.
Has Science Bloggers ever done a survey of the audience?
Also, I wonder, what has brought this discussion up at this point in time?
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 13, 2007 8:56 AM
This is interesting. I've been thinking for months now about whether or not to do some "archaeology 101" posts at Hot Cup of Joe, but I wasn't sure how well that would play out. Most of my visits are Google Searches and the like, and I've got a great plug from the Canadian Museum of Civilization (here). Most of these types of hits seem to be people (i.e. students) searching for information.
Maybe we can organize an edition of the Four Stone Hearth dedicated to "anthropology 101" type posts. This might be a good way to hook a few readers that aren't steeped heavily in anthro tea. In fact, if more anthro blogs had a regular "101" feature, that might develop new regular readers as well.
Hmmm.... something I'll be mulling over.
Posted by: cfeagans | January 14, 2007 12:32 AM
Carl - That is a good idea. I have been mulling over doing basic concept posts for awhile, but keep putting it off.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | January 14, 2007 11:41 AM