""Bare Backbones: A Brief Introduction to Anthropology" gives readers fundamental information about the four sub-fields of anthropology: physical or biological anthropology, archeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology.
The material clearly and concisely defines concepts typically covered in separate classes. These include evolution, genetic diversity, the origins of food production, language diversity, systems of food collection, and the origins of social, political, and ideological diversity. In addition, "Bare Backbones" provides information on topics, such as territoriality, ethnicity, and nationalism, that can help frame complex human relations.
The information is written to correspond with that found in more extensive and specialized texts on each sub-field, but can be customized to meet the needs of different courses and instructors.
Renee Bonzani holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and currently serves as a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Dr. Bonzani has been a peer reviewer for numerous professional journals. She has co-authored (with Dr. Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo) the book "San Jacinto 1: A Historical Ecological Approach to an Archaic Site in Colombia" published by University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa which was also published in Spanish by the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. She has received research grants from the National Science Foundation and has published with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She is a member of the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Ethnobiology.""