Anthropology 1
Introduction to Physical Anthropology
Syllabus
Instructor Information
Instructor: Dennis Etler
Telephone: (831) 426-3489 (evenings only - use sparingly)
Office Hours: MW 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. or by appointment, Adjunct Office
Mailing Address: Department of Anthropology, Gavilan College, 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd., Gilroy, CA 95020
Email: detler@gavilan.eduGeneral Course Information
This class is an introduction to biological (or physical) anthropology, a branch of anthropology that seeks to understand, from a biological point of view, what it means to be a human being. In particular, bioanthropology seeks to answer these questions:
- What biological characteristics define the human species?
- How do our genes code for these characteristics?
- What role does the environment play in shaping our traits?
- How does evolution work and how does it apply to us?
- What is the physical record of our evolution?
- How did the biological variation we see in our species today evolve and what do the variable traits mean (and not mean)?
- What can we learn about ourselves by studying the genes, bodies and behavior of our closest living relatives the nonhuman primates (prosimians, monkeys, and apes)?
- And how can we apply all of this to matters of current concern?
In essence, this course deals with the historical and comparative biology of humans, looking at humans as members of the animal kingdom, focusing on the attributes shared with our primate relatives, and the origins of uniquely human attributes. Using the approaches of biological anthropology (and archaeology), we'll trace human physical and cultural development from its earliest beginning, more than five million years ago, to about 15,000 years ago, just before the beginnings of plant and animal domestication and the rise of complex societies.
On a more personal note, my goal in teaching this class is to provide you with the intellectual tools and information that will help you appreciate how a knowledge of yourself as a biological organism with a deep evolutionary past is relevant to your own life as a senscient being on Planet Earth.
Course Organization
The course is divided into three parts. We will begin with a survey of the principles of evolution and biological inheritance, so that we can understand how human evolution has come about. Because the evolutionary processes that have produced modern humans are the same processes that have produced every single species that has ever inhabited this planet, evolution and its application to the human species is a central theme of bioanthropology.
In the second part of the course we will take a look at the anatomy, behavior and evolution of our nearest relatives, the non-human primates. Although we often think of ourselves as quite different from other animals, we can learn much about ourselves by studying the genes, bodies and behavior of our closest living relatives, and apply this knowledge to help answer questions about the origins and development of early human behavior.
In the third part we will examine the human fossil and archaeological record, which is made up of the physical remains of our ancestors and the traces of their behavior. We'll look at the evidence revealing:
- When and where did humans ancestors first stand erect and when did they begin to "act human."
- Where, when and why tools were invented?
- What we know about the origins of language, religion, art and the many other social and cultural practices we consider so "human" today.
- The biological and cultural evolution from the earliest direct humans ancestors (the australopithecines) down to today (and perhaps into tomorrow).
- The biological and adaptational reasons underlying the human biological diversity we see in the world today.
Text
Biological Anthropology, 4th ed. by Michael Alan Park (2005). At the end of this syllabus is a "Tentative Week-By-Week Reading And Lecture Schedule." Please make sure you keep up with the readings. Occasionally I ask you to look at articles in scientific journals, popular magazines, or on the Internet. Please make sure you do the readings since some class time is spent discussing them and questions draw from these additional readings invariably appear on the exams.
Course Requirements
You are expected to attend all lectures and it's a good idea to take notes because some material presented in class is not covered in the textbook. If you are absent it is your responsibility to obtain information concerning missed work and to see that it is completed and turned in on time. If you do happen to miss a class handouts and assignments will be available for you to pick up during office hours.
Attendance will be taken on a regular basis and will have a bearing on determining the final grade in the class. Excessive will constitute reason for my dropping you from the class.
Grading
There will be two Mid-term Exams (50 pts. each=100 total pts.), one Final Exam (100 pts.), four quizzes (25 pts. each=100 total pts.), four in class assignments (25 pts. each=100 total pts), semester project options (100 total pts). Semester point total = 500 total pts. If your point total is marginal attendance, participation, effort (or lack thereof) and improvement (or deterioration) in performance, will be used as subjective factors that may influence your grade for better or worse.
Exams. The 2 Mid-term Exams and the Final Exam will contain a variety of testing options: multiple-choice questions, True-False statements (which require you to say why a statement, if you believe it to be FALSE, is false), fill-ins, and one or two short essays.
Semester Grade: Your semester grade is based upon the total number of points you accumulate (by means of exams, quizzes, projects, video reviews, and extra credit): 450+ points = A, 400-449 = B, 350--399 = C, 300-349 = D, below 300 = F
* NOTE: Course content and outline are subject to change at Instructor's discretion.
READING and LECTURE SCHEDULE
(Lecture notes are in Powerpoint format. If you do not have Microsoft Powerpoint you can still access the notes by using Powerpoint Viewer downloadable at the Microsoft Office Download Center)
- Week 1. Biological Anthropology (Reading: Chapter 1, Park)
Jan. 26 Class Introduction, Understanding Biological Anthropology The Scientific Method: Interpreting the World Around Us
- Week 2. The Evolution of Evolution (Reading: Chapter 2, Park)
Feb. 2 Historical Development of the Natural Sciences The Darwinian Revolution Part I, Part II (Artificial Selection)
- Week 3. Evolutionary Genetics (Reading: Chapter 3, Park)
Feb. 9 Mendelian Genetics, Cellular Biology NY Times DNA Interactive Program (highly recommended) Mendalian Genetics Module 1 An introduction to Mendelian genetics (IE) Mendalian Genetics Module 2 Mendelian genetics continued (IE) Meitosis/Meiosis animation Works best with Internet Explorer (IE) Celluar biology animation Works best with Internet Explorer (IE) Genetic Learning Resource Center A simple introduction to the basics of DNA, genes and heredity (IE)
- Week 4. DNA, Molecular Genetics (Reading: Chapter 4, Park)
Feb. 16 DNA, Molecular Genetics, NY Times DNA Interactive Program (highly recommended) DNA From the Beginning A detailed animated primer on the basics of DNA, genes and heredity (Best with IE) Nobel e-Museum DNA For the motivated student, detailed description of all aspects of molecular genetics, with assorted animations Transcription/Translation Fun interactive program demostrates the building of proteins based on codons (IE)
- Week 5. The Processes of Evolution (Reading: Chapter 5, Park)
Feb. 23 Species Concept, Forces and Modes of Evolution
- Week 6. 1st Mid-Term
Mar. 2 Review for 1st Exam 1st Exam
- Week 7. The Origin of the Species and the Shape of Evolution/A Brief Evolutionary Timetable (Reading: Chapter 5-6, Park)
Mar. 9 The Origin and Diversification of Life on Earth Systematics (Linnaean Nomenclature & Review of the Animal Kingdom)
- Week 8. The Primates (Reading: Chapter 7, Park)
Mar. 16 Review of the Order/Primate Adaptations Video: Life in the Trees, Slide Show
- Week 9. The Primates (Cont.) (Reading: Chapter 8, Park)
Mar. 23 Primate Ecology Video: The New Chimpanzees, Slide Show
- Week 10. Spring Break
Mar. 30 Spring Break - No Class
- Week 11. 2nd Mid-Term
Apr. 6 Review for 2nd Exam 2nd Exam
- Week 12. Studying the Human Past (Reading: Chapter 8-9, Park)
Apr. 13 Techniques for Studying the Human Past, Taphonomy, Radiometric Dating Methodologies for Studying the Human Past, Molecular Biology, Cladistics
- Week 13. Primate Evolution and Hominid Origins (Reading: Chapter 10, Park)
Apr. 20 Primate Evolution and Hominid Origins The Australopithecines Video: Search for the First Human
- Week 14. Hominid Origins (Reading: Chapter 10, Park)
Apr. 27 Early Humans, Homo erectus, Archaic Humans Paleolithic Archeology
- Week 15. The Debate over Modern Human Origins (Reading: Chapter 11, Park)
May 4 Neanderthals and Modern Human Origins Video: Neanderthals on Trial
- Week 16. Human Biological Diversity/Biological Anthropology and Today's World (Reading: Chapter 13-15, Park)
May 11 Human Adaptation and Variation
- Week 17. Human Biological Diversity/Biological Anthropology and Today's World (Reading: Chapter 13-15, Park)
May 18 The Race Concept/Race vs. Ethnicity, Linguistics
- Final Exam Week
May 25 Final Exam
RESPONSE PAPERS
Evolution Segments: View the segments shown in class by clicking on the links below
Life in the Trees
The New Chimpanzees
Search for the First Human
- Chimps and Bonobos video clip
- Chimpanzee Info Sheet
- Bonobo Info Sheet
- Article on Bonobo Sex by Frans B. M. de Waal
Neanderthals on Trial
- Scientists Spar Over Claims of Earliest Human Ancestor
- Return to the Planet of the Apes
- Secrets of the Dead: Search for the First Human Website
SEMESTER PROJECT OPTIONS
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ARTICLES
(in PDF format)
Disturbing Behaviors of the Orangutan
The Mammals that Conquered the Seas
15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Time Magazine report on new Ardipithecus discoveries
Great Mysteries of Human Evolution
New Look at Human Evolution (Scientific American Special Edition)
- Table of Contents
- An Ancestor to Call Our Own
- Early Hominid Fossils from Africa
- Once We Were Not Alone
- Who Were the Neandertals
- Out of Africa Again ... and Again
- The Multiregional Evolution of Humans
- The Recent African Genesis of Humans
- Food for Thought
- Skin Deep: Biology of Human Skin Color
- The Evolution of Human Birth
- Once Were Cannibals
- If Humans Were Built to Last
- Stranger in a New World (addendum)
- The Littlest Human (addendum)
"And now, as a germination of planetary dimensions, comes the thinking layer which over its full extent develops and intertwines its fibres, not to confuse and neutralise them but to reinforce them in the living unity of a single tissue."Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. The Human Phenomenon, 1955
Last Updated: Jan. 23, 2005
