Lecture Twenty Modern Human Variation
Scope Though they reject the idea of human races, biological anthropologists remain very interested in how human populations vary in the modern world. As we saw in the last lecture, it is possible to glean much useful information about human variation by shifting the focus from individual or racial traits to analysis of whole populations. We will consider two types of case studies of human variation. In the first, variation is studied in basic human features according to environmental...
Species Sketches
Australopithecus a arensis A gracile hominid species that includes Lucy and lived in Africa from about 3.6 to 3 million years ago. Australopithecus africanus The first australopithecine to be discovered, this gracile African form lived from perhaps 3.6 to about 2 million years ago. Australopithecus anamensis An African hominid dating to about 4.2 million years ago. Australopithecus robustus and Australopithecus boisei Two robust hominids that lived in Africa along with gracile forms but...