Bones and Genes: The Story of Homo Sapiens

Undergraduate / Graduate

The primary aim of this course is to explore the biological and behavioral makings of our species, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, by considering hypotheses, models, evidence, and the latest consensus from the complementary fields of paleoanthropology and genetics. The course is divided into two blocks, one focusing on our origins and the other on migrations across the globe. After a brief introduction to the human skeleton, students will learn about the pool of potential direct ancestors that lived before Homo sapiens emerged 300,000 year ago, as well as the environmental and cultural environments that may have led to the arrival of our species. This will be complemented by an evaluation of competing genetic models for the origin of our species and evidence for genetic intermixing with archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. We will, then, follow modern humans out of Africa and study the fossil, archaeological, and genetic evidence for the peopling of the planet and adaptations to novel environments. Finally, the contributions of paleoanthropology and genetics to our understanding of behavior, cognition, physical traits/phenotypes, diet, and disease evolution will be explored. Complementary laboratory and discussion sessions will expose students to state-of-the-art methods and current research endeavors in these fields.