Human Origins & Evolution

Prof. Anthony P. Andrews
Office: College Hall 212
Office Hours: Wednesday, 1-3
andrews@ncf.edu

Spring 2005
Anthropology Lab
Tues & Fri: 12:30-1:50
http://faculty.ncf.edu/andrews






This course offers an introduction to biological anthropology, and will focus on the origins and evolution of the human species, as well as that of our ancestors and closest relatives among the non-human primates. Special emphasis will be placed on evolutionary theory, primate evolution and behavior, human paleoanthropology, and contemporary human diversity, adaptability, and survivability.

The class format will consist of lectures and class discussions of the issues and readings. Most of the readings are from the required texts listed below; additional articles, available in the library or online, will be assigned. These articles are available on reserve as individual items, in the Ciochon & Fleagle volume (also on reserve), or in the appropriate journals in the journal stacks. Articles with color illustrations (i.e., in Scientific American, Nature, Science, or National Geographic) are best appreciated online or in the original journals. Articles in Nature and Science can be accessed online through Luis. Evaluation of student performance will be based on two exams.

Texts

Angeloni, Elio (ed.)

2004     Physical Anthropology 04/05, 13th edition. Annual Editions, Dushkin/McGraw-Hill, Guilford, CN.

Jurmain, Robert, et al.

2005     Introduction to Physical Anthropology. 10th edition. Wadsworth Publishing Co., Belmont, CA.

Tattersal, Ian

1995     The Fossil Trail. Oxford University Press, New York & London (Paperback 1997).

On Reserve

The above texts, and many of the individual articles listed below; several of the articles are reprinted in the following volume, also on reserve:

Ciochon, Russell L., & John G. Fleagle (eds.)

1993     The Human Evolution Source Book.

Edey, Maitland A., and Donald C. Johanson

1989     Blueprints. Solving the Mystery of Evolution. Little, Brown and Co.,

Multiple copies of each National Geographic article have been placed on reserve. Articles in National Geographic, Scientific American, Nature, and Science are also available in the journal stacks. Nature is available online at http://sfx.fcla.edu/usf?sid=sfx:e_collection&issn=0028-0836. Science is at http://www.sciencemag.org/ ; pre-Oct. 1995 issues are at http://www.jstor.org/journals/00368075.html . Annual Review of Anthropology is at http://sfx.fcla.edu/usf?sid=sfx:e_collection&issn=0084-6570. Consequences is available online at: www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/introCON.html

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND READINGS

WEEK 1: The Evolution of Evolutionary Theory

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chaps. 1 & 2.

Tattersall: Chaps. 1-5.

Angeloni: Chaps. 1 (Futuyma), 2 (Thomson), 3 (Mayr), 4 (Rennie), 5 (Huyghe)

Optional:

Edey & Johanson: Parts I-III (Chaps. 1-6).

WEEK 2: Genetics, Inheritance, and Evolutionary Forces

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chaps. 3 & 4

Optional:

Edey & Johanson: Parts IV-V (Chaps. 7-15)

The Human Genome. The Economist, 356 (8177; July 1, 2000).

WEEK 3: The Primates: Characteristics and Taxonomy

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap. 6

Angeloni: Chaps. 10 (Sapolsky), 11 (Goodall), and 14 (Waal).

Miller, Peter

1995     Jane Goodall. National Geographic, 188 (6): 102-29.

WEEK 4: Primate Behavior

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chaps. 7 & 8

Angeloni: Chaps. 9 (Smuts), 13 (Boesch & Boesch-Achermann)

WEEK 5: Primate Evolution

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap. 5

Angeloni: Chaps. 12 (Stanford), 19 (Small), and 20 (Smuts).

Tattersall: begin reading Chaps. 6-11, 14 (finish by end of break).

WEEKS 6-7: The Earliest Hominids

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chaps. 9 & 10.

Angeloni: Chaps. 21 (Stone), 23 (Lemonick & Dorfman)

Wood, Bernard

2002     Hominid Revelations from Chad. Nature, 418 (6894): 133-35.

Gibbons, Anne

2002     In Search of the First Hominids, Science, 295 (5558): 1214-19.

Balter, Michael, and Ann Gibbons

2002     Were "Little People" the First to Venture Out of Africa? Science, 297 (5578): 26-27.

SPRING BREAK

WEEKS 8-9: Models of Human Origins

Readings:

Angeloni: Chap. 24 (Shipman).

Lovejoy, C. Owen

1981     The Origin of Man. Science, 211 (4480): 341-50. Also in Ciochon & Fleagle: 230-43.

Coppens, Yves

1994     East Side Story: The Origin of Humankind. Scientific American, 270 (5; May): 88-95.

Tattersall, Ian

2000     Once We Were Not Alone. Scientific American, 282 (1; January): 56-62.

Fedigan, Linda M.

1986     The Changing Role of Women in Models of Human Evolution. Annual Review of Anthropology, 15: 25-66. Also in Ciochon & Fleagle: 243-62.

WEEK 10: The Lower Paleolithic: Homo Erectus (and Homo Ergaster)

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap. 11.

Angeloni: Chaps. 25 (Shreve), and 26 (Boaz and Ciochon).

WEEK 11: Archaic and Modern Homo Sapiens

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chaps. 12 & 13.

Tattersall: Chaps. 12-13, 15-17.

Angeloni: Chaps. 27 (Trinkaus), 28 (Bower), and 29 (Cartmill) .

Gore, Rick

1997     The Dawn of Humans. The First Europeans. National Geographic, 192 (1): 96-113.

1996     The Dawn of Humans. Neandertals. National Geographic, 189 (1): 2-35.

Mirazón Lahr, Marta, and Robert Foley

2004     Paleoanthropology: Human evolution writ small. Nature, 431 (7012; Oct. 28): 1043-44.

WEEK 12: Human Diversity

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap. 14

Angeloni: Chaps. 31 (Preston), 32 (Marks), and 33 (Rensberger).

WEEK 13: Human Adaptability

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap. 15

Angeloni: Chaps. 7 & 8 (Diamond), 22 (Leonard), 34 (Bogin)

WEEK 14: Human Survivability

Readings:

Jurmain et al.: Chap 16.

Angeloni: Chaps. 37 (Peterson), 39 (Armelagos), and 4 (Oliwenstein).

Rosenzweig, Cynthia, and D. Hillel

1995     Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Agricultural and Food Supply. Consequences, 1 (2): 23-32*.

Epstein, Paul R.

1997     Climate, Ecology, and Human Health. Consequences, 3 (2): 3-19.*

Lutz, Wofgang, W. Sanderson, S. Scherbov

2001     The end of world population growth. Nature, 412 (6846; Aug. 2): 543-45.

Diamond, Jared

2005     The Ends of the World as we Know Them. The New York Times, January 1, 2005: A21.

* NOTE: Consequences articles available online at: www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/introCON.html