ANSO 203-01, Human Evolution, Spring 2007

Abstract

This course considers the origin and development of humankind and covers the origins of humanity from the fossil, biological, and archaeological perspectives. As humans have only recently developed writing systems, the historical record is rather short. Nearly 99 percent of the human experience on the planet can be found nowhere else but the archaeological and geological record. This course will explore human evolution from its beginning, when our ancestor diverged from ancestors of modern non-human primates. We will examine the evolution of humans from this point some five million years ago, to the emergence of modern humans about 100,000 years ago. To understand human prehistory, this course will cover topics such as the development of evolutionary theory, human genetics and variation, neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, elements of geology and archaeology, and a background in human cultural anthropology.