Human Evolution

Undergraduate

The main objective of this course is for students to learn how evidence and theory intersect with some of the peculiarities of history to form the modern discipline of paleoanthropology. It deals with scientific questions of human origins and evolution, and what we think we know of our own ancestry over the past 6 million years. We cover key tools such as evolutionary theory, paleontology, archaeology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, phylogenetic analysis, genetics, and functional morphology. Using these tools, we critically examine what key debates have taken place over the last century of exploration and discovery in human evolutionary research, learning how unconventional thinking and spectacular discoveries have shaped current knowledge of our origins. Students learn what a surprising amount of information scientists can discern from fragmentary fossils, and are brought up to date with the most current discoveries and debates in human evolution. Students also see how human origins are conveyed to a broader audience, and how misunderstandings about how it happened can propagate and be misused. Knowledge of introductory biological anthropology or biology are helpful. SC , SO 0 Course cr HTBA