Highlights
Week 1
On the first day of class Dr. E. explains the requirements for the course. You must sign an
attendance card. If you miss class this first day, see Dr. E. for a syllabus and signature card.The first class is an overview of what the course is about (the evolution of humans and
the development of human culture). A major point is that for most of human existence there are
no written records. Strategies by which we learn about these early times include physical anthropology, archaeology, and the study of our closest living relatives, the higher primates.On the second and third days of class we see a National Geographic movie, Mysteries of Mankind, This movie is also an overview of people and issues that will be discussed later in the course. The term "hominid" (living and extinct human) is used for the early form called "Australopithecus". The movie also shows pioneer paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey and their son Richard. Paleoanthropologists study early hominids. Jane Goodall is interviewed in this film She is a primatologist and is famous for her long term study of chimpanzees in Africa.
For information on careers in anthropology, see:
http://www.nku.edu/~anthro/careers.html#careersChapter 2
The concept of evolution is basic to understanding human origins. Chapter 2 in your text
discusses the development of this concept from the end of the Middle Ages through the 19th
century. The most important part of biological evolution discussed is the concept of natural
selection, formulated by Charles Darwin. To understand how Darwin arrived at his
understanding of natural selection, one needs to understand the contribution of earlier scholars,
including Lamarck, Lyell and Thomas Malthus. In class, the discussion of natural selection
emphasizes successful reproduction, not "survival of the fittest".For a web site that explores the controversy between creationists and evolutionists, see:
http://www.talkorigins.orgChapter 3
Chapter 3 deals with genetics. Material in this chapter may seem elementary to those with a
biology background and difficult for those lacking this. Don't worry about pages 42-46 (the cell,
DNA structure and function, DNA Replication, or Protein Synthesis). What you do need to
understand is what meiosis does and how traits are inherited from one's biological parents. We
are concerned with this because you need to understand biological inheritance to understand
human evolution. Know the difference between Mendelian and Polygenic inheritance. In class,
we will do an experiment with the chemical PTC. The ability to taste this substance is an
example of Mendelian inheritance in humans.For examples of "Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man" see:
http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Omim/
Chapter 4
In Chapter 4 we take up microevolution. This refers to changes in allele frequency in a
population over a few generations. It is important to realize that this chapter focuses on the
population, not individuals or families. If allele (gene) frequencies change in a population over
time, we call this microevolution. Natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and gene drift are
processes that cause micorevolution. These processes operate in all living things.
Chapter 6
Note that we skip Chapter 5 in the text. Chapter 6 is an overview of non-human primates.
Focus on the physical similarities we share with these animals which include grasping hands and
good depth perception. You may be asked to identify slides of primates. It is particularly
important that you not confuse monkeys and apes. The great apes are the orangutan in Southeast
Asia and the gorilla and chimpanzee (common chimp and bonobo) in Africa. We are most like
the African great apes and least like the prosimians. A number of physical differences between
the great apes and humans are related to the fact that humans are habitually bipedal.For more pictures of primates, see "Primate Gallery":
http://www.selu.com/~bio/PrimateGallery
Chapter 7
This chapter deals with primate behavior. We can see both similarities and differences
between our behavior and that of non-human primates. Behaviors that humans share with
chimpanzees may have been inherited from a common ancestor. There is an increasing trend
among researchers to refer to behavioral differences between populations of the same species as
"cultural". Many of the differences between species are differences in degree, rather than kind.
This is what is meant in the section entitled "The Primate Continuum".For more information on primates, including possible careers, see "Primate Info Net"
http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin
Chapter 8
This chapter deals with the evolution of mammals and primates. This is what is referred
to as "macroevolution" in chapter 4. One of the most difficult sections in the entire book is the
one on "Principles of Classification" and will require some effort. Make sure that you know the
difference between homologies and analogies, and between ancestral traits and derived traits.
You should also distinguish between intraspecific and interspecific. "Intra" (within) and "inter"
(between) are used with many words (Ex. intramural, intercollegiate athletics). In this chapter,
the most important geological epoch is the Miocene (23 million - 5 million years ago). Many
hominoid (ape-like) forms have been recovered from this time, and it is assumed that this is when
the common ancestor of apes and humans lived.For more information on the evolution of life, visit the University of California Museum
of Paleontology: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/Chapter 9
This relatively short chapter serves as an introduction to the methods of
paleoanthropology. We will see the first part of the NOVA series, In Search of Human Origins,
narrated by Don Johanson as a supplement to this and later chapters. Of the dating techniques
listed in Table 9-2, pay special attention to potassium-argon and biostratigraphy. Realize that we
really do not know why our distant ancestors became habitually bipedal.You may be interested in the Institute for Human Origins web site:
http://www.asu.edu/clas/iho
Chapter 10
This chapter discusses the fossil hominids recovered from Plio-Pleistocene deposits in
Africa. Hominids are now believed to have appeared over 4 million years ago. The discovery of
new hominid fossils is regularly announced in the papers. Members of our genus (Homo)
appeared at least 2.5 million years ago. Paleoanthropologists agree that there were different
kinds of hominids at the same time, but there is controversy about how many hominids there
were and their evolutionary relationships. See http://www.leakeyfoundation.org
Chapter 11
Homo erectus was biologically and culturally more advanced than earlier hominid forms.
The brain size of this form averaged around 900 cc. This is roughly intermediate between that of
the earliest hominids and modern humans. The increased brain of Homo erectus enabled this
form to make more sophisticated tools, fire, and adapt to more varied environments.Much recent evidence for human evolution has come from China. For more information
on discoveries in China, see: http://www.cruzio.com/~cscp/index.htm
Chapter 12
Neandertals have been the subject of controversy since their discovery in the mid-
nineteenth century. Recent studies in the popular press have argued that they were different
enough from us to be placed in a separate species. While noting this possibility, our text
discusses them as an extinct variant of our species, and refers to them as archaic Homo sapiens.
Technically, the subspecific designation is Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Note that this
taxonomic designation preserves the old fashioned German spelling of this hominid. Neandertals
are credited with a number of cultural developments including the Mousterian flake tool tradition
and burial of the dead.See the Neandertal Museum in Germany at: http://www.neanderthal.de/
Chapter 13
We begin this chapter by taking up the question of where modern humans originated. For the rest of the
course, we will be dealing with cultures associated with physically modern humans, people like
ourselves. The cultural stage associated with modern humans in Europe is known as the Upper
Paleolithic. Blade technology, the spear thrower, and the bow and arrow are all associated with
this stage, but it is most famous for evidence of visual imagery (art).One of the more recently discovered cave art sites is Chauvet Cave in France. For more
information on this site, see:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.htmlChapter 14
Since the remaining chapters in the book deal with past cultures, the subject matter is
primarily the domain of archaeology. This chapter looks at basic archaeological methods. This
is often the subject of a separate course. A more detailed treatment of many of this topic may be
had by taking ANT 329, World Prehistory.The Society for American Archaeology maintains a web site: http://www.saa.org. Among
other things, it contains information on careers in archaeology.
Chapter 15
The major topic in this chapter is the peopling of the Americas. It is clear that Native
peoples in this hemisphere had their ancestry in the Old World, but how and when they came to
the New World is the subject of debate. It is assumed by many that the culture of the earliest
Americans was similar to that of Upper Paleolithic peoples in Europe and northern Asia.
We also look briefly at the Natufian culture of the Near East. These people were
intensively exploiting wild cereal grasses (wheat, barley) which were shortly to become
domesticated. This was to have a profound effect, as we will see in the next chapter.For a good web site dealing with Paleoindians in Florida, see:
http://www.dos.state.fl.us/dhr/bar/hist_contexts
Chapter 16
Originally, the term "Neolithic" meant the "New Stone Age", differentiating it from the
Paleolithic or "Old Stone Age". Today, Neolithic has come to refer to simple farming cultures.
The somewhat old-fashioned term "Neolithic Revolution" refers to the many changes which
resulted from the adoption of farming as a way of life. We will focus on these changes, not all of
which were positive. While farming as a way of life fed many more people, it often had a
negative impact on diet and health and resulted in diminished environmental diversity.For information on Çatalhöyük, an important Neolithic site in Turkey, see:
http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk/catal/Newsletter1/media.htmlChapter 17
In this course, the term "civilization" is reserved for complex societies which include a
number of characteristics, including cities. If we use this definition, then there is no such thing as
a Neolithic "civilization". Like farming, "civilization" was a mixed blessing. While early
civilizations often achieved major engineering feats such as the Egyptian pyramids, they are also
often characterized by marked social inequalities. We look at the world's first major civilization,
Sumer, which arose along the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys in what is called Mesopotamia.The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago has long been investigating the
development of civilization in the Near East. You may wish to visit their web site at:
http://www.oi.uchicago.edu In particular, see their slide show of material from
the Royal Tombs at Ur.
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