Biological Anthropology

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1 Biological Anthropology Human evolution, ecology and behaviour, past and present Courses available in BBS and from MVST

2 Enquiries and questions to: Anna O Mahony, Undergraduate Administrator ao419@cam.ac.uk Registration for MVST students will be online in May. Contact Anna for more information. 2

What is biological anthropology? Biological Anthropology is the study of humans from a biological, evolutionary and comparative perspective.

3 What is biological anthropology? Biological Anthropology is the study of humans from a biological, evolutionary and comparative perspective. Ultimately it is concerned with how and why humans evolved, how we are similar to or different from other primates, how we have and still do adapt to the environments in which we live. The field covers the past and the present, and the human organism from the gene through to behaviour and culture. Biological anthropology is extremely wide-ranging, and includes approaches from genetics, palaeontology, ecology, behaviour, physiology, growth and development, and can include non-human primates as well as humans themselves. Courses in biological anthropology provide an opportunity to study the human species in depth. Humans in evolutionary perspective the history of the hominin lineage, and the patterns and processes that led from an African ape to Homo sapiens Humans in an adaptive context how humans have and still adapt to their complex environments, genetically, behaviorally, and culturally The comparative biology and behaviour of humans looking at the human species in the context of broader patterns of evolution and ecology, and in particular as a primate species 3

4 Courses and options. The following papers are available in : Human ecology and behaviour Human evolution Major topics in human evolutionary studies Evolution within our species Human behaviour and culture Health and disease in anthropological perspective Advanced human evolution Dissertation BBS Minors B2 BBS 105 B3 BBS 104 BAN5 BAN6 BAN7 BAN8 BBS 103 BAN9 MVST transferring to Bio Anth IIB (one year) Core paper Core paper Option Option Option Option Option Option 4

B2 Human ecology and behaviour (BBS paper 105) Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 10-11am Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview This paper examines human and other primate behaviour in a broad comparative

5 B2 Human ecology and behaviour (BBS paper 105) Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 10-11am Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview This paper examines human and other primate behaviour in a broad comparative perspective. Non-human primate social communication across all sense modalities will be reviewed in the context of the social organization of the various primate species. The paper will also consider what primate and human communication have in common, and will discuss the evolution of human language. In covering human behaviour, the perspective will be cross-cultural, and from the perspective of disciplines such as human behavioural ecology which view human society and behaviour from a standpoint based in evolutionary theory. Foraging and other small-scale human societies will receive special attention. If you read two things: Laland, K.N. & Brown, G.R. (2011) Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour (2nd. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Liebal, K. et al. (2013) Primate Communication: a Multimodal Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5

6 B3 Human evolution (BBS paper 104) Lectures: Friday 10-12pm Michaelmas and Lent Term Practicals: There are 8 practicals, four per term. Overview This course provides an in depth exploration of the evolutionary history of humans and hominins. The paper looks at human evolution from ca. 10 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. The course starts with the origins of the hominins and their relationship to the apes, the emergence of bipedalism in an ecological framework, and the adaptive radiation of hominins between 4 and 2 million years ago. From shortly after 2 million years ago, hominins dispersed beyond Africa, and the genus Homo became dominant. The emergence and dispersal of anatomically modern humans, giving particular focus on the diversity of their adaptations in different parts of the world, and their relationship to both the climate in which they evolved and the archaic competitors such as Neanderthals whom they out-survived. We will explore the modern human dispersal(s) into nearly all parts of the world during the last 100,000 years, and the evolution of human diversity. The central theme of the course is to understand how and why humans evolved in relation to the environments in which they existed. The course uses approaches from palaeontology, genetics and archaeology. If you read one thing: Stringer, C., 2012 The Origin of Our Species. Penguin.

7 BAN5 Major topics in human evolutionary studies Lectures: Wednesday and Thursday 9-10am, Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview Humans are the product of evolution, and in that sense they exist as a result of the same evolutionary principles and processes that apply to all organisms. However, humans are also uniquely unique, in having such a dependence on cultural processes. This course tackles both aspects. In the first module important models and concepts in evolutionary biology are introduced and discussed, and then their application to humans and other hominins considered (for example, speciation). In the second, the processes and patterns of cultural evolution are introduced and explored, and the extent to which this represents a new form of evolution considered. If you read two things: Mesoudi, A., Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian theory can explain human culture and synthesize the social sciences. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Skelton, P Evolution. A Biological and Palaeontological Approach. The Open University. 7

BAN6 Evolution within our species Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 10-11am, Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview: This paper investigates the mechanisms which have driven the genetic and phenotypic

8 BAN6 Evolution within our species Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 10-11am, Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview: This paper investigates the mechanisms which have driven the genetic and phenotypic variation within our species. We investigate models which explain the origin and maintenance of variation, the role of dispersals and major cultural transitions in shaping human diversity, and the interaction between cultural change, natural environments and the biology of our species. This includes consideration of the roles of plasticity, developmental biology, life history, natural selection and neutral mechanisms in shaping human diversity and its variation in time and space. Students will learn how to critically evaluate the relationship between cultural and biological variation, with an emphasis on interaction and mechanisms of change in adaptive systems, and the relationship between our Anthropological understanding of human diversity relative to the biological and social sciences more broadly. If you read one thing: Rinaldi 2017 We re on a road to nowhere. EMBO Reports 18:

BAN7 Human behaviour and culture Lectures: Monday and Wednesday 3-4pm, Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview: Humans are distinctive in their behaviour compared to all other species.

9 BAN7 Human behaviour and culture Lectures: Monday and Wednesday 3-4pm, Michaelmas and Lent Term Overview: Humans are distinctive in their behaviour compared to all other species. That behaviour - what people do - is on the one hand rooted in our biology, and on the other is produced by our capacity for culture. The aim of this course is to consider how such biological elements such as life history strategy influence behaviour, and how culture also generates entirely novel solutions to adaptive problems. The course will consider the three broad approaches to the subject - behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution - and how they contribute to an understanding of the diversity of human behaviour. Emphasis is on how ne theories and methods are revitalising fieldwork and experimental approaches. If you read one thing: Coxworth, J.E., Kim, P.S., McQueen, J.S. & Hawkes, K Grandmothering life histories and human pair bonding. PNAS 112:

10 BAN8 Health and disease in anthropological perspective (BBS paper 103) Lectures: Friday 9-11am Michaelmas and Lent Term. Overview: From conception to death, humans undergo a process of development that is shaped by both genes and environment. This process is thus a product both of a long-run evolutionary process and of the succession of environments that individuals encounter through their lives, resulting in health patterns in populations that vary greatly with time, space and culture. This paper selectively explores means to characterize health patterns of different populations, from the archaeologically recovered and historically documented past, remote and otherwise, up to the present day. Thus the paper investigates how disease has shaped the way humans have evolved, and how diseases have evolved to exploit humans. It also discusses how human genetic variation influences our susceptibility to infectious diseases, as well as considering the causes of the varying health profiles of different present-day populations, with special attention to tropical infections. If you read one thing: Gluckman, PD, Beedle A, Hanson M. Principles of Evolutionary Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009.

11 BAN9 Advanced human evolution Seminars: Friday 2 4 pm Michaelmas and Lent Term. Overview: This course has to main aims. The first is to provide students with an opportunity to study particular problems in palaeoanthropology in depth. The second is that it combines both the biological and behavioural (archaeological) aspects of the field, and so invites a strong interdisciplinary approach. The course is taught by seminar, and comprises four modules, each looking at a particular problem in human evolution. The modules are responsive to current research interest, but previous modules have included human diet and nutrition, the Neanderthals, and major transitions in human evolution.

12 Dissertation in Biological Anthropology Writing a dissertation in your third year is a fantastic opportunity to work with world class academics and facilities and is invaluable if you plan to take your studies further or undertake any kind of research in the future. It also develops transferrable skills of great value to employers in many different fields. Your dissertation supervisor can work with you to formulate a title for your dissertation and find something you want to work on. Below are a sample of titles of dissertations submitted by students in the last few years. If you would like a longer list of past titles for inspiration, please contact Anna O Mahony on ao419@cam.ac.uk. Humans A comparative study of nutrition & disease in pre-dynastic ancient Egyptian crania. A dream diet? Linking sleep and the obesity epidemic. A study of the intestinal parasites of the inhabitants of the Bronze Age Britain site Must Farm. Can natural selection produce a moral being? In Pursuit of the Red Queen: New Perspectives on Bacterial and Viral Co-evolution with the Human Host. A study on the relationship between spinal canal width and cerebellum size. Primates and other animals A comparison of the social behaviours between orang utans from sumatra and orang utans from Borneo. A genetic test of the relationship between matrilines and troop fission in wild baboons. Is tool use in New Caledonian crows equivalent to that in chimpanzees? Spotted hyena sex ratio adjustment as a model of the human reproductive stress model. 12

Introduction to Human Evolution Anthropology 102 KY150

Introduction to Human Evolution Anthropology 102 KY150 Professor: Kate Pechenkina, Ph. D. Office: Powdermaker Hall 312A Telephone: (718) 997-5529 Fax: (718) 997-2885 E-mail: ekaterina.pechenkina@qc.cuny.edu