SYLLABUS

TOPIC SCHEDULE

GRADES

ASSIGNMENTS

ACTIVITIES

SCHOLAR LINKS

LECTURE OUTLINES

RETURN TO A105

 A105 Human Origins and Prehistory
Topic Schedule & Brief Notes

The following is still subject to change...be sure to check back regularly!

                                   Tentative Topic Schedule
Week 1, January 7.  Introduction to course. Why study human evolution and prehistory?  Science and non-science explanations of human existence.  History of scientific thought pertaining to human evolution.
           READING: Chapters 1 and 2.  Focus especially on the archaeology and biological anthropology, and the section on the scientific method in Chapter 1. 

Week 2, January 14.  Finish history of evolutionary thought; basics of natural selection and the modern synthesis.  In-class Activity: Basic Mendelian genetics.  Assignment 1: Evolution in Modern Humans to be assigned.
           READING: Chapter 3; skim sections on DNA and proteins.  Concentrate on Mendelian principles.  Chapter 4: Concentrate on pgs. 70-78; this section will probably be quite helpful with your assignment.  Read the rest of the chapter for main ideas.

Week 3, January 21.  Martin Luther King Holiday -- Classes Do Not Meet. 

Week 4, January 28. Lecture: Finish evolutionary principles.  Basic osteology and introduction to the primates.  In-Class Activity: Basic Human Osteology.  Assignment 1 Due at Beginning of Class!
           READING: Chapter 6: Start reading primate overview chapter.  There may also be assigned or recommended passages from Chapter 5; check back later.

Week 5, February 4.  Lecture: Archaeological techniques.  In-Class Activity: Dating techniques and/or taphonomy.  
           READING: Chapter 9 pgs. 204-213; Chapter 14.

Week 6, February 11.  Lecture: Primate morphology and classification.  In-Class Activity: Primate classification.  Possible Film TBA.  Review for first midterm.
          READING:  Finish Chapter 6; start Chapter 7.

Week 7, February 18.  First Midterm, 7:00-8:00 p.m.!  Post-Exam Lecture: Primate behavior.  Possible Film TBA.  Assignment 2: Amateur Primatologist OR Archaeology in Your Own Backyard to be assigned.
         READING: Finish Chapter 7.

Week 8, February 25.  Lecture: Primate evolution, why are there hominids?; bipedalism.  In-Class Activity: Bipedalism and/or fossil primates.
        READING: Chapter 8, focus on pgs. 188-199 and scan the rest; Chapter 9 pgs. 202-204 and pgs. 213-218.

Week 9, March 4.  Lecture: Finish bipedalism; the earliest hominids.  Possible In-Class Activity: Fossil casts.  Possible Film TBA. 
       READING: Chapter 10, pgs. 223-237.

Week 10, March 11.  SPRING BREAK!

Week 11, March 18.  Lecture: Australopithecines and their lifeways.  Evolutionary trends in the australopithecine lineage.  Possible In-Class Activity: Fossil casts.  Possible Film TBA. Assignment 2 Due at Beginning of Class!
       READING: Chapter 10, pgs. 237-end.  Includes material in next week's lecture.

Week 12, March 25.  Lecture: Early Homo and the first stone tools.  Possible In-Class Activity: Early Homo -- One Species or Two? and/or stone tools.  Review for second midterm.
Possible Film TBA.  Assignment 3: Media Representations of Our Ancestors OR A Day in the Life of a Hominid to be assigned.
        READING: Review Chapter 10 pgs. 237-240.

Week 13, April 1.  Second Midterm, 7:00-8:00 p.m.! Post-Exam Lecture: Introduce Homo erectus.  Stone toolmaking demonstration.

Week 14, April 8.  Lecture: Homo erectus and its immediate successors.  Possible In-Class Activity TBA.  Possible Film TBA.  
       READING: Chapter 11; Chapter 12 pgs. 288-297.

Week 15, April 15.  Neandertals and the transition to modern humans and modern behavior.  Possible In-Class Activity and/or Film TBA.  Assignment 3 Due at Beginning of Class!
       READING: Chapter 12 pgs. 297-314; start Chapter 13.

Week 16, April 22. The Upper Palaeolithic and the peopling of the Americas.  Review for final exam.
       READING: Finish Chapter 13; other TBA.