Lecture Eight Models for Human Ancestors
pe Previous lectures have demonstrated that we humans inherit from other primates, especially the great apes, an evolutionary legacy based on strong social bonds and rudimentary abilities in technology, cognition, and language. But can data from great apes help us to model the evolution of the human species more directly Biological anthropologists use three types of models to elucidate how human behavior, including cognition and communication, may have evolved from a nonhuman primate...
The Prehistory of Gender
Scope Biological anthropologists have hotly contested the relative roles of men and women in human prehistory, as the previous lecture on hunting versus gathering attests. From our current vantage point, it becomes clear that some important models of the evolution of human behavior were constrained by assumptions particular to American culture in the 1960s and 1970s. The nuclear family was, for instance, assumed to be the typical family structure in hominid evolution by some anthropologists the...
Species Sketches
Australopithecus afarensis 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...
Stones and Bones
Scope Fifty years before Lucy's discovery, the first australopithecine was found in South Africa. Dated to more than 2 million years ago, that hominid. we now know, comes from one of the two major lineages that coexisted in the time period after Lucy's existence. We can contrast the anatomy of these two lineages, but they have left behind virtually no cultural traces. At about 2.5 million years ago, a revolutionary new ability appeared on the hominid scene. For the first time, with the...
Lecture Two How Evolution Works
Scope One single concept is the best starting point for our exploration of humans in evolutionary perspective. Like all other life on earth, humans have evolved. But what, exactly, does this mean By establishing a common set of terms and definitions, we will set about answering this question. Evolution can be defined as a change in the genetic structure of a population. To grasp this definition, we need to understand something about genes, populations, and species. From there, we can proceed to...
Lecture Sixteen Modem Human Anatomy and Behavior
Scope A single question forms the core of this lecture When and where did modern human anatomy and behavior appear The fossil record points to development of modern human anatomy by about 125.000 years ago. Modern humanity, defined anatomically, is thus quite young in evolutionary terms. The timing of modern human behavior is more contentious. An earlier view converged on a radical shift in behavior at about 35,000 years ago in Europe, with the appearance of new forms of technology symbolic...
Outline Daj
I. We have explored how natural selection and other evolutionary forces work on established populations. How can these forces, though, account for the diversity of life on Earth How do new species arise in the first place A. Speciation is the term for the process by which new species arc formed from earlier, existing ones. B. A key requirement for speciation is reproductive isolation. Two populations must be effectively separated from each other, disallowing mating between them. 1. Reproductive...
Did Hunting Make Us Human
e In several previous lectures, we have noted that early Homo ate meat, obtaining it by processing animal carcasses with stone tools. But when did hominids turn from scavenging and opportunistic capture of small game to organized big-game hunting Was hunting a prime mover of increased hominid brain size, as envisioned in classic early anthropological models In the late 1960s, two male anthropologists published a paper that was to remain influential for many years. This Man the Hunter paper...
Lecture Seventeen On the Origins of Homo sapiens
Scopc We know that Homo sapiens is a young species, in evolutionary terms we humans are no older than 125,000 years anatomically, with modern behavior appearing even more recently than that. But from which hominid populations did Homo sapiens evolve And at what point did modern humans become the sole hominid on Earth Homo sapiens likely evolved from transitional hominid populations living between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago by about 30,000 years ago, our species was the only hominid alive on...
Outline Dij
I. Fully modern Homo sapiens differ in appearance from Neandertals and the so-called transitional forms that show a mix of erectus-sapiens traits. A. The most dramatic changes appear in the shape of the skull. Compared to Neandertals and transitional hominids. modern humans have a high forehead, smaller brow ridges, smaller teeth, and a definite chin. B. Variation can be still seen today in the modern human skull a few populations show a more pronounced brow ridge than is the norm, for example....
Biological Anthropology An Evolutionary Perspective Part II
Professor Course Lecture Thirteen Who Were the Lecture Fourteen Did Hunting Make Us Lecture Fifteen The Prehistory of Lecture Sixteen Modern Human Anatomy and Behavior 12 Lecture Seventeen On the Origins of Homo Lecture Lecture Nineteen Do Human Races Lecture Twenty Modern Human Lecture Twenty-One Body Fat, Diet, and Lecture Twenty-Two The Body and Mind Lecture Twenty-Three Tyranny of the Lecture Twenty-Four Evolution and Our Species Footage of a rhesus monkey on Cayo Santiago provided by...
Outline 1
I. The single most critical process in this course is evolution, defined as a change in the genetic structure of a population. A. All humans belong to the same species, but many human populations exist. No meaningful category exists in our species between the species level and the population level. B. Most mating takes place within, rather than between, animal populations. This is true even though populations are open rather than closed that is, some individuals will enter or leave a single...
Biological Anthropology On Hunting
We have seen that Homo habilis processed animal carcasses with Oldowan tools, and Homo erectus ate even more meat. We have remained agnostic, however, on the question of how this meat was procured, other than to suggest a role for scavenging. Several classic anthropological models have debated directly whether hunting was a prime mover in human evolution. A. In the 1960s, Sherwood Washburn co-authored a seminal article with fellow anthropologist Chet Lancaster, claiming in no uncertain terms...
Outline Adq
I. The nonhuman primates, united by the five major characteristics we learned in Lecture Four, are found mostly throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World southern Mexico, Central and South America and the Old World Africa and Asia . II. Prosimians, found only in the Old World, are the first of three taxonomic divisions of the nonhuman primates. A. Prosimians evolved first, before the other nonhuman primates. B. As a group, prosimians have some anatomical specializations...
Lecture Five Prosimians Monkeys and Apes
Scope With this lecture, we shift our focus away from evolutionary theory to begin a detailed exploration of our closest living relatives, the primates. Having already learned what unites primates as a taxonomic group, we will now consider the major subgroups within nonhuman primates prosimians, monkeys, and apes. These nonhuman primates are distributed across major regions of the world's tropics and, in a few cases, outside the tropics . Prosimians are nocturnal, often solitary creatures, with...
Outline Hlr
I. Modem humans originated no earlier than about 125,000 years ago. Between that time and 30,000 years ago. Homo sapiens shared the Earth with Neandertals. Could our species have evolved from Neandertals A. Given that Neandertals and modem humans evolved at about the same time, it is unlikely that Neandertals gave rise to modern humans. Rather, we can think of the two species as co-inhabiting certain areas at certain times. 1. Neandertals and modem humans occupied the same general region of the...
Outline Fpg
I. In their social groups, individual monkeys and apes form strong social bonds with selected companions. A. Some of the strongest social bonds are based on recognizing and acting preferentially toward one s relatives. B. Other social bonds are predicated on close associations, or what some primatologists call friendships between nonrelated individuals. II. Some of the most well studied monkey species live socially in groups organized around mainlines, or groups of female relatives. Rhesus...