Anna Machin

Last updated

Anna Machin
NationalityEnglish
EducationPh.D.
Alma mater University of Reading
Known for
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions Oxford University
Thesis The Acheulean handaxe: symmetry, function and early and middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour. (2006)
Doctoral advisors Steven Mithen

Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, England. She is the author of a book on fatherhood, The Life of Dad: The Making of a Modern Father.

Contents

Education and career

Machin graduated with a B.A. degree in anthropology and English, followed in 1999 by an M.Sc. degree in human evolution and behaviour from University College, London. In 2006 she obtained her PhD in archeology from the University of Reading. She was a postdoctoral fellow working with Robin Dunbar at Oxford University from 2008 to 2014 after which she became a visiting academic while also pursuing a career as a freelance scientific writer and broadcaster. [1] [2] [3]

Scientific research

Archeology

In archeology, Machin has studied and commented on the symmetry, morphology, effectiveness and sex appeal of Acheulean handaxes. [4] [5] [6]

Attachment and love

Machin has done research on attachment and love between parents and children, between loving couples and between best friends. [7] [8]

Fatherhood

As an evolutionary anthropologist, Machin believes that both mothers and fathers have been primed by evolution to parent their children. She has studied father-child relationships and takes the position that human fatherhood would not have developed unless the investment that fathers make in their children is vital for the survival of the species. She has concluded that fatherhood was fundamental to the development of humans and humanity, with fathers performing critical parenting tasks in coaching and educating their children. [9] [10]

Machin has also studied the expectations and reality of fatherhood, and systemic impediments to fathers' involvement in their children's lives. [11]

Machin has been interviewed and cited about fatherhood and love relationships by a variety of popular media outlets, including the New Scientist, [12] The Guardian, [13] BBC, [14] The Daily Telegraph, [15] The Mirror, [16] Eltern, [17] and Broadly. [18]

Selected publications

Books

Scientific articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Age</span> Prehistoric period during which stone was widely used by humans to make tools and weapons

The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with the advent of metalworking. Though some simple metalworking of malleable metals, particularly the use of gold and copper for purposes of ornamentation, was known in the Stone Age, it is the melting and smelting of copper that marks the end of the Stone Age. In Western Asia, this occurred by about 3,000 BC, when bronze became widespread. The term Bronze Age is used to describe the period that followed the Stone Age, as well as to describe cultures that had developed techniques and technologies for working copper alloys into tools, supplanting stone in many uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Father</span> Male parent

A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological father is the male genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or sperm donation. A biological father may have legal obligations to a child not raised by him, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive father is a man who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption. A putative father is a man whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepfather is a non-biological male parent married to a child's preexisting parent, and may form a family unit but generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child.

A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric cultures that have become extinct. Archaeologists often study such prehistoric societies, and refer to the study of stone tools as lithic analysis. Ethnoarchaeology has been a valuable research field in order to further the understanding and cultural implications of stone tool use and manufacture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olduvai Gorge</span> National Historic Site of Tanzania

The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution. A steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches across East Africa, it is about 48 km (30 mi) long, and is located in the eastern Serengeti Plains within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the Olbalbal ward located in Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region, about 45 kilometres from Laetoli, another important archaeological locality of early human occupation. The British/Kenyan paleoanthropologist-archeologist team of Mary and Louis Leakey established excavation and research programs at Olduvai Gorge that achieved great advances in human knowledge and are world-renowned. The site is registered as one of the National Historic Sites of Tanzania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand axe</span> Stone tool

A hand axe is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from a larger piece by knapping, or hitting against another stone. They are characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) periods, roughly 1.6 million years ago to about 100,000 years ago, and used by Homo erectus and other early humans, but rarely by Homo sapiens.

The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mothers—either after divorce or marital separation. The movement includes men as well as women, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acheulean</span> Archaeological culture associated with Homo erectus

Acheulean, from the French acheuléen after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated with Homo erectus and derived species such as Homo heidelbergensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldowan</span> Archaeological culture

The Oldowan was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry (style) in prehistory. These early tools were simple, usually made with one or a few flakes chipped off with another stone. Oldowan tools were used during the Lower Paleolithic period, 2.9 million years ago up until at least 1.7 million years ago (Ma), by ancient Hominins across much of Africa. This technological industry was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herto Man</span> Number of early modern human fossils found in Herto Bouri, Ethiopia

Herto Man refers to human remains discovered in 1997 from the Upper Herto member of the Bouri Formation in the Afar Triangle, Ethiopia. The remains have been dated as between 154,000 and 160,000 years old. The discovery of Herto Man was especially significant at the time, falling within a long gap in the fossil record between 300 and 100 thousand years ago and representing the oldest dated H. sapiens remains then described.

<i>Homo antecessor</i> Archaic human species from 1 million years ago

Homo antecessor is an extinct species of archaic human recorded in the Spanish Sierra de Atapuerca, a productive archaeological site, from 1.2 to 0.8 million years ago during the Early Pleistocene. Populations of this species may have been present elsewhere in Western Europe, and were among the first to colonise that region of the world, hence the name. The first fossils were found in the Gran Dolina cave in 1994, and the species was formally described in 1997 as the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals, supplanting the more conventional H. heidelbergensis in this position. H. antecessor has since been reinterpreted as an offshoot from the modern human line, although probably one branching off just before the modern human/Neanderthal split.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levallois technique</span> Distinctive type of stone knapping technique used by ancient humans

The Levallois technique is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed around 250,000 to 300,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period. It is part of the Mousterian stone tool industry, and was used by the Neanderthals in Europe and by modern humans in other regions such as the Levant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movius Line</span> Archaeological hypothesis

The Movius Line is a theoretical line drawn across northern India first proposed by the American archaeologist Hallam L. Movius in 1948 to demonstrate a technological difference between the early prehistoric tool technologies of the east and west of the Old World.

Human bonding is the process of development of a close interpersonal relationship between two or more people. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups, such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together. Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is different from simple liking. It is the process of nurturing social connection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Asian Stone Age</span> Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in South Asia

The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the Indian subcontinent. Evidence for the most ancient Homo sapiens in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India, Batadombalena and Belilena in Sri Lanka. In Mehrgarh, in what is today western Pakistan, the Neolithic began c. 7000 BCE and lasted until 3300 BCE and the first beginnings of the Bronze Age. In South India, the Mesolithic lasted until 3000 BCE, and the Neolithic until 1400 BCE, followed by a Megalithic transitional period mostly skipping the Bronze Age. The Iron Age in India began roughly simultaneously in North and South India, around c. 1200 to 1000 BCE.

<i>Hippopotamus gorgops</i> Extinct species of mammal

Hippopotamus gorgops is an extinct species of Hippopotamus known from remains found in Northern and Eastern Africa as well as the Levant. It first appeared during the late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene, and became extinct during the early Middle Pleistocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Stone Age</span> Period in African prehistory

The Middle Stone Age was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550–500,000 years ago and as such some researchers consider this to be the beginnings of the MSA. The MSA is often mistakenly understood to be synonymous with the Middle Paleolithic of Europe, especially due to their roughly contemporaneous time span; however, the Middle Paleolithic of Europe represents an entirely different hominin population, Homo neanderthalensis, than the MSA of Africa, which did not have Neanderthal populations. Additionally, current archaeological research in Africa has yielded much evidence to suggest that modern human behavior and cognition was beginning to develop much earlier in Africa during the MSA than it was in Europe during the Middle Paleolithic. The MSA is associated with both anatomically modern humans as well as archaic Homo sapiens, sometimes referred to as Homo helmei. Early physical evidence comes from the Gademotta Formation in Ethiopia, the Kapthurin Formation in Kenya and Kathu Pan in South Africa.

Steven Mithen, is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has written a number of books, including The Singing Neanderthals and The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science.

<i>Homo erectus</i> Extinct species of archaic human

Homo erectus is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Its specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo.

Gona is a paleoanthropological research area in Ethiopia's Afar Region. Gona is primarily known for its archaeological sites and discoveries of hominin fossils from the Late Miocene, Early Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. Fossils of Ardipithecus and Homo erectus were discovered there. Two of the most significant finds are an Ardipithecus ramidus postcranial skeleton and an essentially complete Homo erectus pelvis. Historically, Gona had the oldest documented Oldowan artifact assemblages. Archaeologists have since found older examples of the Oldowan at other sites. Still, Gona's Oldowan assemblages have been essential to the archaeological understanding of the Oldowan. Gona's Acheulean archaeological sites have helped us understand the beginnings of the Acheulean Industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathy Schick</span> American-born archaeologist

Kathy Diane Schick is an American archaeologist and paleoanthropologist. She is professor emeritus in the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University and is a founder and co-director of the Stone Age Institute. Schick is most well known for her experimental work in taphonomy as well as her experimental work, with Nicholas Toth, on the stone tool technology of Early Stone Age hominins, including their work with the bonobo Kanzi who they taught to make and use simple stone tools similar to those made by our Early Stone Age ancestors.

References

  1. Web page, Anna Machin
  2. Oxford University, Department of Experimental Psychology, Anna Machin Archived 15 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  3. LinkedIn Anna Machin
  4. Machin AJ, Hosfield RT, Mithen SJ. Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. Journal of Archaeological Science. 2007 Jun 1;34(6):883-93.
  5. Machin AJ. Why handaxes just aren't that sexy: a response to Kohn & Mithen (1999). Antiquity. 2008 Sep;82(317):761-6.
  6. Machin A. The role of the individual agent in Acheulean biface variability: a multi-factorial model. Journal of Social Archaeology. 2009 Feb;9(1):35-58.
  7. Machin AJ, Dunbar RI. The brain opioid theory of social attachment: a review of the evidence . Behaviour. 2011 Jan 1;148(9-10):985-1025.
  8. Machin A, Dunbar R. Sex and gender as factors in romantic partnerships and best friendships. Journal of Relationships Research. 2013 Oct;4.
  9. Anna Machin (17 January 2019). "The marvel of the human dad". Aeon.
  10. Machin, Anna (2018). The Life of Dad : The Making of a Modern Father. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN   9781471161407.
  11. Machin, Anna J. (Spring 2015). "Mind the Gap: The Expectation and Reality of Involved Fatherhood". Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research & Practice About Men as Fathers. 13 (1): 36–59.
  12. Jessica Hamzelou, Dad power: The surprising new science of fatherhood, New Scientist, March 21, 2018.
  13. Alexandra Jones, Hookups, sexting and unwanted threesomes: first-time dating in the age of Tinder, The Guardian, November 4, 2017.
  14. Alexandra Jones, No label dating: can you have love without commitment?, BBC Three, July 18, 2018.
  15. Jonathan Wells, Meet the men who got PTSD from seeing their partners give birth, The Telegraph, February 24, 2016.
  16. Steve Myall, The secret irreversible change a new father's body undergoes to make him a better parent, The Mirror, June 19, 2018.
  17. Dörte Nohrden, Die ersten Monate können frustrierend sein, Eltern.
  18. Laila Tyack, Angry and Overwhelmed: The Men Who Experience Postnatal Depression, Broadly, March 9, 2017.