Courses for Undergraduate Students:
ANTH 101 Human Origins
Biological evolution of the human species and the archaeology
of early humans.
Relationship of humanity to other primates, living and extinct.
Cultural achievements
of early humans and their relationship to biological evolution
and the natural
environment. The fossil and archaeological record of Pliocene
and Pleistocene
humans.
ANTH 372 Adaptation and
Human Variability
This course covers biological adaptations of living human populations
to their
environments, and the interaction of these adaptations with cultural
patterns. The
relationships of body size, form, and composition to climatic
and nutritional factors in
various geographical groups of modern humans are covered. Major
adaptive problems
facing the human species are discussed and implications for the
future are also explored.
ANTH 451 Species and Species
Concepts in Human Paleontology
The number of proposed fossil hominid/hominin species has mushroomed
in recent years, yet
the recognition of species in the human fossil record remains
a daunting task. However, in order
to reconstruct the phylogenetic (ancestor-descendent) relationships
among humans, our
ancestors, and close collateral relatives, we must attempt to
group hominin fossils into meaningful
taxonomic categories, ones that most likely reflect truly monophyletic
(shared common ancestor)
descent patterns. This course explores different evolutionary
species concepts and their applicability
to human paleontology. Current approaches to the reconstruction
of phylogenetic relationships are
then discussed, and the taxonomic status of hominin species is
assessed.
Courses for Undergraduate and Graduate Students:
ANTH 602 The Neandertal Enigma
The Neandertals are the best-understood group of non-modern fossil
hominids, having been known to
science since 1856. Yet even today they inspire many provocative
questions. Who were the
Neandertals? How different were they from us? Did
they have language? How and why did they
disappear? Were they our ancestors, or did our ancestors
outcompete them? And if the Neandertals
were not our ancestors, then who were? These are just some
of the questions we will explore in this
class on the classic “cavemen”.
ANTH 646 Human Osteology
A laboratory course emphasizing the study of the human skeleton.
In addition to a thorough knowledge
of skeletal anatomy, training is given in a variety of techniques
and procedures for identification,
reconstruction, description, and analysis of skeletal traits.
Students are given the opportunity to use these
skills in original research on human skeletal materials from archaeological
sites and modern populations.
ANTH 648 Human Functional Morphology
This course covers the functional anatomy of the human body, with
emphasis on the structure, function,
evolution, and development of the musculo-skeletal and nervous
systems and associated human
kinesiology. The principle of biological uniformitarianism
is used to correlate hard tissue (i.e., teeth and
bone) structure with soft tissue function, since soft tissues
are only rarely recovered in archeological or
paleontological settings.
ANTH 650 Human Evolution
In this class we will explore the field of paleoanthropology,
the fascinating study of human evolution. At its
core, paleoanthropology is holistic and multidisciplinary, including
the contributions of human paleontologists,
paleolithic archeologists, geologists, zoologists, botanists and
geneticists. The work of primatologists,
ethnographers and ethnoarcheologists also provides invaluable
insight into the lifeways of our ancient
ancestors. Our focus will be primarily on the hominid fossil
record (human paleontology), although we will
often discuss paleoanthropological issues that have been elucidated
by the other above-mentioned fields of
study.
Courses for Graduate Students Only:
ANTH 772 Bioanthropology of Modern Humans
This is the companion course for ANTH 372 (described above).
It includes a separate seminar-format
weekly meeting.
ANTH 751 Fossil Hominin Taxonomy and Systematics
This is the companion course for ANTH 451 (described above).
It includes a separate seminar-format
weekly meeting.