Posted on 05/22/2010 8:53:08 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Bared teeth are a prominent and eye-catching feature on many historical and archaeological artifacts, and are commonly interpreted as representing death, aggression and the shamanic trance. But a study in the forthcoming issue of Current Anthropology argues that the bared-teeth motif often expresses something a bit less sinister: the smile.
Alice V. M. Samson, Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and Bridget M. Waller, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, examined the bared-teeth motif (BTM) of the Taíno, who lived in the Greater Antilles (the Caribbean) from AD 1000 to the early decades of European contact (1492-1550). Here the BTM was used on bodily adornments and items associated with healing and shamanic practices, usually as part of decorations depicting human and animal faces...
Samson and Waller argue that the negative interpretation misses the mark. "Exposed and clenched teeth are not common features of the universal facial expression of anger, which is instead characterized by widened eyes, tensed lower eyelids, and lowered, furrowed brows," they write. "Studies of facial expression in human and non-human primates have shown that the bared-teeth expression is used in social contexts as an unambiguous signal of non-aggression, affiliation and benign intent."
The Greater Antilles were home to several different societies. Samson and Waller believe that pendants and other adornments that carried the BTM "acted as a sort of Taíno social grammar, allowing the indigenous peoples of the islands to engage with each other and facilitating interactions while retaining their differences."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
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PreColumbian smiley-faces. |
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related story:
Gestures Can Mislead Children
By Robin Nixon, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 12 May 2010 09:22 am ET
http://www.livescience.com/culture/gesture-truth-100512.html
I guess these people have to find something to do to justify their existence, and try to generate more money to pursue their “fantasies.”
More power to them, if they can find people stupid enough to “fund” the kind of research they are doing, whether directly or through government agencies or other foundations.
There’s an old science fiction story called “With friends like these”. It’s a story of the civilized races of the universe freeing earth from a 400,000 year isolation because they need our help fighting the current bad guys.
My favorite line from the whole book is when one alien says to another alien “Of all the races in the galaxy the Terran human is the only one known to express pleasure by baring it’s fangs”
:’)
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