HUMAN ORIGINS (ANTH 05a)

Transcription

1 HUMAN ORIGINS (ANTH 05a) Comparison of early and contemporary hominid skeletons Spring 2017 M, W, and Th 1-1:50 pm Room: Schwartz Hall 112 female male Professor Javier Urcid Office: Brown 203 Office hours: W 3-4:30 pm (and by appointment) Extension: urcid@brandeis.edu Australopithecus afarensis Australopithecus africanus Australopithecus robustus Homo sapiens Teaching Fellows (Office: Brown 322) Doug Bafford bafford@brandeis.edu Office hrs: M (and by appt.) Max Seidita mseidita@brandeis.edu Office hrs: F 11:30 12:30 (and by appt.) Leah Wasil wasill@brandeis.edu Office hrs: Th 10:30 11:30 (and by appt.) Course objectives This course covers the transformations of human biological and cultural endowments through a span of some 5 million years, from a hominoid stage to the origins of anatomically modern humans. A consideration of humans place in nature as well as a review of evolutionary principles leads to discuss the findings of hominid skeletal remains in a diachronic framework. The journey through the bio-cultural transformations of humanity highlights the transition to bipedal locomotion, increased levels of encephalization, changes in human life histories, and the acquisition of language and material symbolic systems. Learning goals The aim of the course is for the student to have a basic and general understanding of the evolutionary paradigm as it applies to the biological and cultural makeup of humans. The major contributions from naturalists (Darwin and Wallace) as well as contributions from molecular biology help contextualize major biological transformations of the human clade and to understand the polytypic nature of contemporary human populations. Applied to both the biological and the cultural domains, a critical evaluation of the evolutionary paradigm stresses the need to decouple the notion of progress from that of biological diversity, learned symbolic adaptations, and to construe the evolutionary process as non-teleological and multidirectional. Students will have the opportunity to develop their critical thinking by analyzing documentaries, completing reading assignments, engaging in class discussions, and writing short essays and documentary reviews.

2 2 Course outline Sessions Topics Readings Jan W 18 Introduction to the course and to Latte None Jan Th 19 Framing paradigms: intelligent design Cartmill 2000; versus evolution Scott 2014 Documentary: Judgment Day Jan M 23 Science and Anthropology Bardis 1981; Marks 2002; Lewis et al Jan W 25 Inorganic dynamics of the blue planet: Hallam 1976; Plate tectonics and Pangaea Kurtén 1976 Jan Th 26 The evolution of evolution Allen 2014; Eldredge 2015 Jan M 30 From Molecules to the Human Genome Whitlock 2014; Pääbo 2001 Documentary: What Darwin Never Knew Feb W 1 The synthetic theory of evolution Stearns 2014; Baer 2014 Documentary: Why Sex Feb Th 2 The place of humans in nature Williams 2010 Documentary: Your Inner Monkey Feb M 6 Primates and human evolution Rodman 1999; Strier 2003 Feb W 8 Ethology of apes Wundram 1979; Wilson Documentary: The Gorilla King et al Feb Th 9 Class suspended (Snowstorm) Feb M 13 Paleoanthropology, time scales Sarich-Wilson 1967; and chronology Johanson and Edey Documentary: Great Transformations Feb W 15 The evolution of Primates Delson-Tattersall 2002; Benefit-McCrossin 1995 Feb Th 16 The Australopithecines (Part 1) White et al. 2009; Berger et Documentary: The Story of Lucy al

3 3 Feb M 27 The Australopithecines (Part 2) Gurche 2013a; Shipman 1986 Documentary: Surviving Africa Mar W 1 Why walking upright? Krogman 1959; Winder et al. 2014; Thorpe et al Mar Th 2 From quadruped to biped: how? Lovejoy 1981; Falk 1997 Documentary review due Mar M 5 Ancestral Homo (Part 1) Berger et al 2015; TBA Midterm made available on LATTE Mar W 8 Ancestral Homo (Part 2) Gurche 2013b; TBA Midterm due Mar Th 9 Derived Homo (Part 1) Gurche 2013c; TBA Documentary: The Birth of Humanity Return first review Mar M 13 Derived Homo (Part 2) Etler 1996; Shipman 2000 Mar W 15 Homo Floresiensis? Brown et al. 2004; Jacob Documentary: Alien from Earth et al Mar Th 16 The quest for fire James et al. 1989; Stahl et al Mar M 20 Archaic Homo sapiens Wood 2011; TBA Mar W 22 Neandertals (Part 1) Tattersall 2012; TBA Documentary: Decoding Neanderthals Mar Th 23 Neandertals (Part 2) Rendu et al. 2014; Rougier et Documentary: The Neandertal remains al from El Sidron Mar M 27 Anatomically modern humans (part 1) White et al. 2003; Willoughby Documentary: First Peoples-Africa Mar W 29 Anatomically modern humans (part 2) Lewin 1987; Templeton 2002 Mar Th 30 The evolution of human life history Key 2000; Reznik 2014

4 4 Apr M 3 The evolution of human language Terrace et al. 1979; Burling 1993; Pinker 2003 Apr W 5 Origin of other symbolic adaptations White 1992; Power-Aiello Lecture by Max Seidita 1997; Boyd et al Documentary: The Mind s Big Bang Apr Th 6 The iconography of human evolution Moser 1996; Connif-Giller 2014 Apr W 19 Ancient human diasporas (Part 1) Grayson-Meltzer; Fiedel- Haynes 2004; Documentary: First Peoples-Australia Fagan Apr Th 20 Ancient human diasporas (Part 2) Straus et al. 2005; Bradley- Documentary: First Peoples-The Americas Stanford Apr M 24 One species, much diversity Templeton 2014a; Diamond Documentary: The Evolutionary Arms Race Apr W 26 Selfish Genes and Social Darwinism Dawkins 1976a; TBA Documentary review due Apr Th 27 Anthropological reactions to Sociobiology Wilson 1980; Sahlins 1977 Lecture by Doug Brafford May M 1 Memes and Cultural evolution Dawkins 1976b; Bloch 2001; Lecture by Leah Wasil Deacon 1999 May W 3 The future of evolution Templeton 2014b; Marks 2015 Final exam available on LATTE May F 5 Final exam due, no later than 5pm Students with extra challenges If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately. Keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively.

5 5 Course requirements Four-Credit Course (with three hours of class-time per week) Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (reading, analyzing documentaries, preparing questions, and writing assignments). Class attendance Attendance to class is obligatory. Absence from classes will only be accepted in cases of medical or extreme emergencies, and should be timely notified in person or by (before the intended absence, not after). Three missed classes without justification carry a recommendation to drop the course or will affect the final grade in a significant way. Reading assignments Reading assignments (available on Latte) should be completed by the dates indicated above. Reading of these materials is essential for your engagement and participation in class (15% of the total grade). Throughout the semester, you will reflect critically on the readings and generate at least one question for each of the readings assigned. These questions should reflect your comprehension of the readings and highlight salient points that you think are significant for a discussion. You should TYPE and PRINT your questions for each session and be ready to present them orally as well as hand them over if your turn is called upon in class. Viewing of documentaries Viewing and analyzing documentaries (available through URLs in the syllabus) should be completed by the dates indicated above. Prior to the scheduled viewing, we will release a series of questions that should guide your viewing and analysis of the documentaries. Write your responses to those questions and be prepared to address them in class. Throughout the semester you will have the opportunity to view a fair amount of documentaries. Writing assignments There are two written reviews of the documentaries Surviving Africa and First Peoples- The Americas. Each is due a class after the scheduled viewing and should have a maximum of three double-spaced typed and numbered pages. The reviews need to address three points: 1) A synthetic summary of the core ideas, 2) a critical evaluation of the main points, and 3) a general assessment of the effectiveness of the video. The first review counts 10% of the final grade and the second 15%. Exams There will be two take-home exams (each 30%). Each examination will address one of several questions in the form of an essay no longer than four double-spaced typed pages. These assignments are intended to foster critical thinking by comparing and contrasting assumptions, statements, or positions from different authors. The tests are not cumulative; that is, the final exam will cover only topics discussed after the midterm.

6 6 Summary of grading Class participation 15% Midterm exam 30% Final exam 30% First documentary review 10% Second documentary review 15% Use of laptops and tablets Students are welcome to bring a laptop computer or a tablet to class provided it is used for note taking or for web searches specifically related to the topic being discussed. Students using them have to seat in the front rows of the classroom. If a student is found using the laptop for other purposes, his/her right to use it will be immediately suspended for the rest of the semester. The use of phones is not permitted. Academic Integrity Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to be familiar with, and to follow, the University s policies on academic integrity. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities ( for all policies and procedures. All policies related to academic integrity apply to in-class and take home projects, assignments, exams, and quizzes. Students may only collaborate on assignments with express permission. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Readings (on LATTE) Allen, Garland, E The History of Evolutionary Thaought. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et al., pp Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Bardis, Panos D Science and its Method. Social Science, vol. 56 (4): Begun, David, R Planet of the Apes. Scientific American, vol. 289 (August): Back to Africa Again. In The Real Planet of the Apes: a new story of human origins, pp Princeton University Press, Princeton. Benefit, Brenda R., and Monte L. McCrossin 1995 Miocene Hominoids and Hominid Origins. Annual Review of Anthropology 24:

7 7 Berger, Lee, R. et al Australopithecus sediba: a New Species of Homo-like Australopith from South Africa. Science, vol. 328: Bloch, Maurice 2001 A well-disposed social anthropologist s problem with memes. In Essays on Cultural Transmission. London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology, volume 75. Berg, Oxford. Bradley, Bruce, and Dennis Stanford 2006 The Solutrean-Clovis Connection: Reply to Straus, Meltzer and Goebel. World Archaeology, vol. 38 (4): Boyd, Robert, Peter J. Richerson, and Joseph Henrich 2011 The Cultural Niche: Why social learning is essential for human adaptation. Papers of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 108, suppl. 2: Burling, Robbins 1993 Primate Calls, Human Language, and Nonverbal Communication. Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 1., pp Cartmill, Matt 2000 Oppressed by Evolution. In Contemporary Readings in Physical Anthropology, edited by Alan J. Almquist, pp Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Conniff, Richard and Geoffey Giller 2014 Iconic. Almost by accident. Yale Alumni Magazine, Nov/Dec Pp Dawkins, Richard 1976a The Gene Machine. In The Selfish Gene, pp Oxford University Press, New York [1989 edition]. 1976b Memes: The New Replicators. In The Selfish Gene, pp Oxford University Press, New York [1989 edition]. Delson, Eric, and Ian Tattersall 2002 Fossil Primates. The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9 th Edition, pp The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Diamond, Jared M Why are pygmies small? Nature 354 (14): Eldredge, Niles

8 Darwing and the Beagle: Experimenting with Transmutation, In Eternal Ephemera, pp Columbia University Press. Etler, Dennis 1996 The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution in Asia. Annual Review of Anthropology 25: Fagan, Brian 2001 How did the Polynesians Find Their Homeland? In The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World, edited by Brian M. Fagan, pp Thames and Hudson, London. Falk, Dean 1997 Brain Evolution in Females: an answer to Mr. Lovejoy. In Women in Human Evolution, edited by Lori D. Hager, pp Routledge, London. Fiedel, Stuart, and Gary Haynes 2004 A premature burial: comments on Grayson and Meltzer s Requiem for overkill. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: Grayson, Donald K., and David J. Meltzer 2004 North American overkill continued? Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 31 (5): Gurche, John 2013a 2013b 2013c 2013d 2013e Walkers and Climbers: Australopithecus afarensis. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, pp Yale University Press, New Haven. Transitional Hominins and the Origin of Homo. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, pp Yale University Press, New Haven. The Traveler: Homo erectus. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, pp Yale University Press, New Haven. A Symbolic Animal: Homo heidelbergensis. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, pp Yale University Press, New Haven. The Other: Homo neanderthalensis. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, pp Yale University Press, New Haven.

9 9 Hallam, A Alfred Wegener and the Hypothesis of Continental Drift. In Continents Adrift and Continents Aground, pp Freeman and Company, San Francisco. James, Steven, R., et al Hominid Use of Fire in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene: a review of the evidence. Current Anthropology, vol. 30 (1): Johanson, Donald, and Maitland A. Edey 1981 How Old is Lucy? In Lucy, The Beginnings of Humankind. Simon and Schuster, New York, pp Key, Catherine A The Evolution of Human Life History. World Archaeology, vol. 31 (3): Krogman, Wilton, M The Scars of Human Evolution. In Human Evolution: Readings in Physical Anthropology, edited by Noel Korn and Harry Reece Smith, pp Henry Holt and Co., New York. Kurtén, Björn 1976 Continental Drift and Evolution. In Continents Adrift and Continents Aground, pp Freeman and Company, San Francisco. Lewin, Roger 1987 The Unmasking of Mitochondrial Eve. Science, Vol. 238 (4823): Lewis, Jason E., et al The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias. Plos Biology, vol. 9 (6): 1-6. Lovejoy, C. Owen 1981 The Origin of Man. Science 211: Marks, Jonathan 2002 Science, Religion and Worldview. In What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and Their Genes, pp University of California Press, Berkeley How to think about Evolution non-reductively. In Tales of the Ex-Apes, pp University of California Press.

10 10 Moser, Stephanie 1996 Depicting the Missing-Link in Human Origins. In Picturing Knowledge, edited by Brian S. Baigrie, pp University of Toronto Press. Pääbo, Svante 2001 The Human Genome and Our View of Ourselves. Science 291 (5507: Pinker, Steven 2003 Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche. In Language Evolution, edited by S. Kirby and M. Christiansen, pp Oxford University Press, New York. Power, Camilla, and Leslie Aiello 1997 Female Proto-Symbolic Strategies. In Women in Human Evolution, edited by Lori D. Hager, pp Routledge, London. Rendu, William, et al Evidence supporting an intentional Neandertal burial at La Chapelleaux-Saints. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Reznick, David 2014 Evolution of Life Histories. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et al., pp Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Rougier, Helene, et al Neandertal cannibalism and Neandertal bones used as tools in Northern Europe. Nature, Scientific Reports 6:29005 DOI: /srep29005 Sahlins, Marshall 1977 Ideological Transformations of Natural Selection. In The Use and Abuse of Biology: An Anthropological Critique of Sociobiology. Pp The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Sarich, Vincent, M., and Allan C. Wilson 1967 Immunological Time Scale for Hominid Evolution. Science, vol. 158 (3805): Scott, Eugenie, C Creationism and Intelligent Design. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et all, pp Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Shipman, Pat

11 Scavenging or Hunting in Early Hominids: Theoretical Framework and Tests. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 88, No. 1. (Mar., 1986), pp Marginalia: Doubting Dmanisi. American Scientist 88 (6): Stahl, Ann Brower, et al Hominid Dietary Selection Before Fire. Current Anthropology, vol. 25 (2): Straus, Lawrence Guy, David J. Meltzer, and Ted Goebel 2005 Ice Age Atlantis? Exploring the Solutrean-Clovis Connection. World Archaeology, vol. 37 (4): Tattersall, Ian 2012 Who were the Neanderthals? In Masters of the Planet: in search for our human origins, pp Palgrave, MacMillan, New York Templeton, Alan R Out of Africa again and again. Nature, vol. 416: a Evolution and Notions of Human Race. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et al, pp Princeton University Press, Princeton. 2014b The Future of Human Evolution. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et al, pp Princeton University Press, Princeton. Terrace, H.S., et al Can an Ape Create a Sentence? Science, vol. 206 (4421): Thorpe, Susannah, K.S., Juliet M. McClymont, and Robin H. Crompton 2014 Putting flesh on to hominin bones. Antiquity **: Cambridge University Press. White, Randall 1992 Beyond Art: Toward an understanding of the origins of Material representation in Europe. Annual Review of Anthropology 21: White, Tim, et al Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature, vol. 423: White, Tim, et al.

12 Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids. Science, vol. 326 (5949): Whitlock, Michael, C From DNA to Phenotypes. In The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan B. Losos et al., pp Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Williams, James C Understanding the Place of Humans in Nature. In The Illusory Boundary, edited by Martin Reuss and Stephen H. Cutcliffe, pp University of Virginia Press. Willoughby, Pamela R Modern Human Origins: A People without History. In The Evolution of Modern Humans in Africa, pp Altamira Press, Lanham. Wilson, Michael, L., et al Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts. Nature, vol. 513: Winder, Isabelle, C., et al Human bipedality and the importance of terrestriality. Antiquity **: Wood, Bernard 2011 Did early Homo migrate out of or in to Africa? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 108 (26): Wundram, Ina Jane 1979 Nonreproductive Sexual Behavior: Ethological and Cultural Considerations. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 81, No. 1, pp