Note: These materials are intended as supplements for students in Ant. 301. These pages are in development and will contain errors.
These pages are in development and will contain errors.
HUMAN EVOLUTIONARY
BIOLOGY
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Dedicated To the students
who share the adventure of science
and the joy of life
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Preface to the User:
Philosophy
The most important thing to acquire from any anthropology treatise is a physical anthropologist's perspective -- a way of thinking that shapes how one understands and uses ideas. The study of human origins is important because it provides useful insights about our lives, our choices, and our future. I hope that you will enjoy it. Science, especially when directed at ourselves, is fun.
The nature of a general lecture is that it is amateurish -- barely
more than an annotated outline and simplified discussion. These
pages should only be a beginning for your exploration of these
topics, and if they speed you on your way, they will have served
their purpose. It is most important that you think as you explore
and enjoy your discoveries.
You are strongly encouraged to read further on all topics. It
is vital to read as much original material as possible. For example,
books about what Wallace or Darwin wrote are not as much fun as
a cursory perusal of their actual writings. Secondary sources
are useful, especially if you do not read the language of the
original, but an original text can give you the feeling of visiting
a forest instead of examining a photograph. When you read original
texts, you meet and get to know the minds that shape our thinking
today. Some of these authors should become old friends whose opinions
and ideas still demand discussion and respect.
Physical anthropology continuously changes with current events
but it carries the intellectual tools and baggage left to it by
previous practitioners. These pages make use of history to illustrate
dynamic relationships between biology, culture, and ideas. "Discoverers"
are heroes when they are correct and villains when they make mistakes.
Contemporary societies have the same mixture of heroes and villains,
as do those of the past.
Organization
These notes consist of an introduction and three parts. Although
the parts are independent, each presents ideas needed to understand
the whole. The sequence is arbitrary and parts can be read in
any order. "Chapters" are constructed in a "top
down" fashion within each part to make the relevance of any
topic evident as it is reached. For example, reproduction begins
with a discussion of mating and conception, continues downward
to the chromosome level, then to the gene, and finally to the
molecular biology of genes.
We begin with an introduction that discusses the nature of physical
anthropology as an academic discipline. Although anthropology
is usually considered part of the social sciences or humanities,
physical anthropology uses scientific methods to study the human
organism. Science is presented as a process of inquiry - not a
body of knowledge.
Part 1 reviews human evolutionary biology, beginning with the
processes of reproduction. The mechanisms by which our species
passes on life to future generations supply both the continuity
of life and its diversity. It explains evolutionary theory, the
central organizing concept of modern biology. The processes of
evolution are simple to understand, and such knowledge is vital
to modern biology, including the practice of medicine. It discusses
the sources and significance of population and individual diversity.
This includes a discussion of race, one of the most troublesome
topics that falls within the anthropological perspective. Brief
attention is given to human ecology, the least optimistic of sciences.
Ecological principles are applied to human problems.
Part 2 surveys the diversity of anatomy and behavior found among
the living members of the Order Primates, that group of mammals
most similar to humans. This section also introduces an anatomical
vocabulary for the study of primate evolution.
Part 3 discusses the fossil and molecular records of primate and
human evolution. This fossil record is the only absolute documentation
of past evolutionary events. Merging fossils with contemporary
ideas about processes provides a synthetic view of human origins,
and perhaps of human nature. The narrative of human evolution
is simplified by placing the historical discovery of the record
and current models of Paleoanthropology in separate chapters.
The closing section briefly discusses the evolution of culture.
It includes discussion of events since the Pleistocene and speculates
the future, but it is intended to raise contemporary questions.
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Thanks
I owe special thanks to many superb teachers who shaped my interest
in physical anthropology, especially S. Chad Oliver, Thomas W.
McKern, and Sherwood L. Washburn. Sharon S. Bramblett has served
as author's assistant, companion, critic, and editor through all
phases of the instructor's career.
HUMAN EVOLUTIONARY
BIOLOGY
--DEFINING PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
What Are Humans?
What Is Anthropology?
Culture
The Subdiscipline of Physical Anthropology
Biological Continuity
Anthropological Perspective
Science as a Way of Understanding
- - THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Cultural and Historical Antecedents of Science in Europe
Christianity
Mohammedanism
Renaissance
The Beginnings of Evolutionary Thought
Development of Classification Systems
The Birth of Geology
The Beginnings of Archaeology
The Idea of Selection
Darwin
Wallace
History of Physical Anthropology
-- REPRODUCTION
Mating and birth seasons
Mating seasons and reproductive physiology
Chromosomes
Genes: Mendelian models for heredity
Mendel
Castle-Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium
ABO Blood Groups
Genetic Polymorphisms
Gene interaction
Linkage
Non-Mendelian traits
Nucleic acids and the genetic code
The chemistry of life
Energy
Amino acids and proteins
Translation of the DNA code to phenotype
Hemoglobin
Non-nuclear nucleic acid
Genetic engineering, embryo transplants, and clones
- -EVOLUTION AS A PROCESS
Synthetic Theory of Evolution
Selection
Polymorphisms and Selection
Resistance to Disease
Mutation
Cancer, Mutagens, and the Immune system
Genetic drift
Isolation and Gene flow
Evolution: the current synthesis
Adaptation
Speciation and adaptive radiation
Species
Classification
Subspecies
The Mendelian Population
- HUMAN DIVERSITY
Race
History of the race concept
Political Definitions of Race
Racism
Adaptive Significance of Race
The Human Life Cycle
Growth and Development
Diet and Growth
Altitude Stress
Other Disturbances of Growth
Senescence
Adaptability
Temperature Extremes
Solar Radiation
Altitude
Undernutrition
Homeostasis
Hormones and Energetics
Respiration
Immunology
OUR PLACE IN NATURE
-- ECOLOGY
The Subversive and Conservative Science of Human Ecology
Population Growth
Carrying Capacity
Interactions
What Can We Do?
Sustainable development and sustainable agriculture
Ecology and Disease
Water Treatment
AIDS
Radiation
- -PRIMATE ANATOMY
Human skeletal and dental anatomy
Skeletal maturation
Locomotor anatomy
Primate vision
Forensic Anthropology
Estimating the Age of the Individual
Estimating the Gender of the Individual
Estimating the Race of the Individual
Discriminant Functions
Estimation of Stature
- -PRIMATES AS AN ADAPTIVE ARRAY
Primates
Strepsirhini
Haplorhini
Prosimii
Chiromyiformes
Daubentoniidae
Lemuriformes
Lemuroidea
Indriidae
Lemuridae
Lorisoidea
Lorisinae
Tarsiiformes
Tarsiidae
Anthropoidea
Platyrrhini
Ceboidea
Cebidae
Callithricidae
Catarrhini
Cercopithecoidea
Cercopithecidae
Colobidae
Hominoidea
Hylobatidae
Pongidae
Hominidae
-- PRIMATE BEHAVIOR
What Does It Mean to Be Social?
Kinship Recognition
Altruism
The Selfish Gene and an Imaginary Social Group
Roles
Status
Primate Socioecology
Society
--MESSAGES FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
The Impact of Ape Communication on Science
Animals and Ethics
PRIMATE AND HUMAN EVOLUTION
- GEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Geochronology
Relative Dates by Superposition
Relative Dates by Biostratigraphy
Relative Dates by Chemistry
Absolute Dating by Radiometric Decay
Thermoluminescence
Paleomagnetic Dating
Molecular Clocks
Dating by Typology
Other Dating Methods
Rules for Interpretation of the Fossil Record
Historical Geology
Planetary Origins
The Early Geological History of the Earth
Precambrian
Paleozoic Era
Mesozoic Era
Cenozoic Era
Extinctions
Migrating Continents
-- THE DISCOVERY OF THE FOSSIL RECORD
There is a Prehistory
Prehistoric Humans Have Modern Anatomy and Abilities
Another Human Species is Found
The First Link: A Fossil Clearly Less Than Human
A Fake Ancestor to Fit Expectations
Ape men: Humans with Ape Sized Brains
Exploration Between the World Wars
The Demise of Eoanthropus
Radiometric Dating Provides a Time Scale
-- EVOLUTION OF PRIMATES
Nonhuman Primates
Pliocene and Early Pleistocene Humans
Ardipithecus
Ardipithecus ramidus
Australopithecus
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus ramidus
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus robustus
Australopithecus boisei
Homo
Homo habilis
Pleistocene Humans
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens soloensis
Homo sapiens rhodesiensis
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens sapiens
-- RECONSTRUCTING HUMAN EVOLUTION
Molecular Evidence of Primate Evolution
Electrophoresis
Immunodiffusion
Microcomplement fixation
DNA Hybridization
Amino Acid Sequences
DNA Fingerprinting
Mitochondrial DNA
Nuclear DNA
Chromosomes
Non-molecular Phylogenetic Trees
Models of Human Evolution
The First Human Adaptive Radiation - Bipedal Pongids
The Second Human Adaptive Radiation - Tools and
Material Culture
Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans (H. sapiens
sapiens)
MRE
RAE
AES
RLE
- -PRIMATE MENTAL EVOLUTION
Primate Precursor
The Third Human Radiation - Speech
Adaptive Features of Cultural Systems
Value Systems
Culture
Contrasts Between Culture and Species
The Anthropologist's Dilemma
The Diversity of Human Life ways
Domestication of Plants and Animals
Life ways
Rise of Complex Societies
Value Systems
Futures
Course Evaluations -
