ANTHROPOLOGY 101
HUMAN BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
SPRING 2008
SECTION 0142
8:00 - 9:25 MW
ANTH 0102
This course is an introduction to the anthropological study of human biology and human evolution. Topics include
the mechanisms of evolutionary change, genetics and human variation, and the reconstruction of human evolutionary
history through an examination of the fossil record and through the use of comparative studies of our closest biological relatives, the living monkeys and apes. The course will also explore what implications evolutionary theory has for
modern psychology and behavior. In order to understand what it is to be human, we need to have an understanding of
how humans evolved. There are four steps to this process, which correspond roughly to the four units of this course.
First, we need to understand how evolution works, which includes a discussion of human genetics and natural selection. Second, we will look at how evolution works in the Order Primates (which includes the monkeys, apes, and humans). Through comparative studies of natural history, anatomy, behavior, and DNA, we gain many useful clues
about human evolution. Third, we will study the history of the human lineage, examining the fossil record to determine where our ancestors came from and what they were like. Finally, we look at modern humans, including the examination of contemporary human variation.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Explain and apply the scientific method in the context of problem-solving.
2. Describe the process of evolution and explain how to assess the evolutionary history of a species.
3. Describe and analyze the evolution and biological diversity of humans, past and present.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Apply the process of science to problem solving situations and formulate procedural steps necessary for a scientific investigation.
2. Analyze and evaluate the arguments of creationism and intelligence design and demonstrate the fallacies of these
points of view as scientific theories.
3. Describe, apply, and distinguish the basic concepts of Mendelian genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and
population genetics.
4. Criticize and debate contemporary issues that have developed out of the modern applications of genetics to humans such as genetic counseling, cloning, and gene therapy.
5. Describe the process of evolution and speciation by employing the concepts upon which modern evolutionary
theory is based and recognize examples of each.
6. Diagram the place of Homo sapiens within the animal kingdom as expressed in the classification of humans and
demonstrate what evidence is used to determine evolutionary relationships among animals.
7. Differentiate between monkeys, apes and humans by identifying both similarities and differences.
8. Compare and contrast the anatomy of humans and the great apes, and be able to identify those anatomical features that provide evidence for human evolution. Explain and evaluate this evidence.
9. Compare the social behavior of human and nonhuman primates and demonstrate how studies of primate behavior shed light on contemporary human behavior.
10. Construct a probable scenario of early hominin behavior.
11. Categorize the important hominin fossils and construct a diagram illustrating the evolutionary history of the hominins.
12. Describe the physical differences observed among all human populations and determine the ecological significance and distribution of these differences.
13. Compare cultural classifications of human variation with biological observations and hypotheses. Assess the validity of these cultural classifications.
2
INSTRUCTOR
Philip L. Stein, Professor of Anthropology
Office: FO 2905 (located behind College Services Building)
Office Hours: 8:00-10:45 TTh & by appointment
Email: steinpl@piercecollege.edu
Please put your name and course in subject line.
Website: www.piercecollege.edu/faculty/steinp
See website bulletin board for announcements and information of interest.
Office Phone: (818) 710-4104; Fax: (818) 710-9844
When leaving a message on voice mail please (1) spell your last name, (2) identify the class you are in, and (3) very slowly give
your telephone number if you want a call back.
TEXTBOOK
Stein & Rowe, Physical Anthropology, ninth edition (0-07-320575-3)
A copy of the text is on 2-hour reserve in the Library.
EXAMS
Your grade in this course is based upon two exams, a multipart research paper, and a final exam.
 Each of the two exams will consist of several essay questions and is worth 100 points.
 You need to bring to class by the end of the second week three large blue book. (Please do not write
anything on the blank blue books.) For each exam you will be provided with a blue book from the
stockpile of bluebooks that have been collected. If you come to the first exam without having turned
in your blue books, you will be given one, but 5 points will be deducted from your score.
 If you miss an exam you may take a makeup within 2 weeks of the original exam at the instructor’s
convenience. Makeup exams given after 2 weeks will be penalized 5 points a week. You may only
makeup one exam.
 Keyed copies of all exams will be available for review in the instructor’s office. If you find an error in
the grading of an exam, the error must be reported to the instructor no later than the start of the final
exam. Corrections in the scores will not be made after the final exam begins.
 The final exam will be given on Monday, June 2, from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. The final exam will not be
given at a different time or date. The final exam is worth 150 points.
 If you fail to take the final exam, an Incomplete will be recorded only if you request the Incomplete
from the instructor no later than Tuesday morning, June 3, and you are passing the course. An Incomplete will be assigned only for missing the final exam and not for failing to take any of the other exams or submitting the research papers. If you do not make up the final exam within one year from the
end of the session, the Incomplete automatically becomes a grade of “F”. If you miss the final exam
and fail to request an Incomplete, you will be assigned the grade of “F” for the course.
It is often asked why we do science? Or, what is science good for? . . . The insatiable curiosity of human
beings, and the desire for a better understanding of the world they live in, is the primary reason for an interest
in science by most scientists. It is based on the conviction that none of the philosophical or purely ideological
theories of the world can compete in the long run with the understanding of the world produced by science.
Ernst Mayr (1904-2005)
3
RESEARCH PAPER
You will be asked to write a multipart research paper that is worth 100 points on
a topic that will be assigned by the instructor. The paper will consist of 3 parts.
 Finding Information on the Internet and Evaluating Internet Sources
 How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
 How to Write an Abstract
One point a day will be subtracted from the points possible for each day that an
assignment is late. The last day that any late paper will be accepted is Friday,
May 30, by 2:00 p.m., in the instructor’s hands.
REACTION PAPERS
You may earn extra points by submitting a short reaction paper each Monday morning in class that presents some of your thoughts about the material covered during the previous week. You might want to discuss some idea that triggered some thoughts or questions in your mind, some critical issue that was
raised, or anything else that would like to write about that is related to the class material. The reaction papers should be very short—no more than one page. Each paper will be worth 1 point, although occasionally 2 points will be given for an exceptionally well-thought out paper.
GRADING
A total of 450 points may be earned in this course as follows:
Assignment/Activity
First Exam
Second Exam
Research Paper Pt 1
Research Paper Pt 2
Research Paper Pt 3
Reaction Papers
Attendance
Final Exam
Total
*Extra Credit
Points
Possible
100
100
35
35
30
13
15
150
450
Percent of
Total Grade
22.2
22.2
7.8
7.8
6.7
*
*
33.3
100
Points
Earned
The points required for specific grades are:
A
B
C

405-450 90-100%
360-404 80-89%
292-359 65-79%
D 225-291 50-64%
F
0-224 0-49%
The credit/no credit option is not available for this course.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those
who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
4

The following standards will be used in grading papers and essays and to assist in assigning grades in
borderline situations.
A You successfully completed the assignment or answered the question following the instructions.
You read and understood the material and were able to use the information presented in the lectures and readings in your analysis. All work that was not your own was appropriately referenced. There were very few or very unimportant errors. Your paper or essay was interesting to
read and showed that you truly understood the assignment and the concepts.
B You successfully completed the assignment or answered the question following the instructions.
You read and understood most of the material and were able to use the information presented in
the lectures and readings in your analysis. All work that was not your own was appropriately referenced. There were a few errors. Your paper or essay did not show the depth of understanding,
level of analysis, and completeness of an A paper.
C You completed the assignment or answered the question following most of the instructions. You
read and understood much of the material and were able to use some of the information presented in the lectures and readings in your analysis. All work that was not your own was appropriately referenced. There were some important errors. Your analysis was weak and/or incomplete.
D You completed the assignment or answered the question, but you did not follow many of the instructions. Your essay or paper showed that you probably read the assigned material and listened
to the lectures with little understanding. You did not totally understand the question, and some of
your material was not on the topic. Your analysis was very weak. There were many important
errors.
F You did not follow the instructions. Your paper or essay showed that you probably did not read
the book or understand the lectures. You did not understand the question, and your essay was not
on the topic. Your analysis was very weak. There were a great many errors. Some of your work
may not have been your own.
COURSE GRADE
In accordance with Section 76244 of the California Education Code, the only basis for an instructor to
change a grade is instructor error. In the absence of an instructor error the final grade in the course is a
final grade.
 Any error in grading must be brought to the attention of the instructor no later than one year after the
last day of class. A grade cannot be changed after one year even if an error has been made.
 The course grade will be based upon the exams and papers only. No extra credit (except for reaction
papers and attendance), retaking of exams or additional assignments will be accepted.
 Please note that the college does not mail grades to students. You may obtain your final grade through
the STEP phone system or college website, or by ordering a transcript. You are encouraged to check
all grades since errors cannot be rectified after one year.
5
ATTENDANCE POLICY
The instructor will exclude from the class all students who do not attend the first class meeting. If you
have two unexcused absences for the first four class meetings, you will be excluded from the class unless
you inform the instructor that you wish to remain in the class. The message must be received by phone,
email, note, or in-person no later than Wednesday, February 20. A simple message will do; there is no
requirement for explanation or documentation.
 Beginning Wednesday, February 20, the instructor may exclude you for nonattendance. If you are absent for more than three consecutive class meetings, please inform the instructor so you will not be
dropped. However, do not assume that you will be excluded if you stop attending class.
 While it is the intention of the instructor to drop nonattending students, the instructor will take no responsibility if he fails to do so. Thus it is strongly suggested that you officially drop the class if you
decide to stop attending. If you stop attending class and fail to officially drop through the Admissions
Office, and the instructor fails to exclude you, you will receive a final grade of “F” in the course.
 You may drop the class at any time through May 3 (in person, on-line, or by phone).
ATTENDANCE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM
Students who attend class on a regular basis tend to receive much higher grades than students who do not
attend class. In order to encourage attendance, a bonus of 15 points will be added to the total number of
earned points at the end of the course to all students who were absent no more than three times during the
session beginning with the second meeting of the class.
 To be counted as present, you must sign the roll sheet when it is passed around. If you come in after
or leave before the roll sheet is circulated, you will be counted as absent. If someone signs the sheet
for you, you will forfeit the bonus points.
 No allowances will be made for unavoidable or excused absences. It doesn’t matter whether you are
absent because it is a nice day to go to the beach or because your boss insisted you come in that day.
The bottom line is that you were not present in class to listen to the lecture.
 If you habitually arrive late to class or leave early, you will forfeit the bonus points.
STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The college’s Student Academic Integrity Policy can be found on page 132 in the Schedule of Classes,
which every student should read. Violations of academic honesty and integrity include “cheating on examinations [or] assignments… (allowing another student to copy one’s answers or copying the answers of other students; exchanging information by any means)….; submitting for a grade the words, ideas, and/or written work … of another person without giving due credit to that person.”
A person who knowingly conducts himself or herself in a dishonest manner shall receive a 0 for the
exam or paper and a record of the act will be sent to the Dean of Student Services for disciplinary action.
The individual who permits another student to copy his or her paper or exam is as guilty as the person doing the cheating and will be punished in a similar manner.
Please note that the instructor has a zero-tolerance policy with respect to violations of academic integrity. There are no excuses for cheating, and none will be accepted—or even listened to.
The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of
human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002)
6
CLASS COURTESY
Please try to be on time to class. It is extremely disrupting to your instructor and other class members
when you come in late. If you are late to class, please come in quietly, do not slam the door, and take a
seat near the door. If you must leave class early, please have the courtesy of notifying the instructor before
class begins that you will have to leave early, and please do so quietly.
 You may bring food or drink into the classroom. However, all food containers must be cleaned up and
deposited in the trash barrel outside of the classroom. The wastepaper baskets in the classroom are for
paper only.
 The area surrounding the Anthropology building is a smoke-free area. Please confine all smoking to
the area to the east of the Geography building.
 This classroom is a cell phone-free space. Cell phones and beepers are extremely disrupting to the
class. Your cell phone and/or beeper must be turned off during class. If your cell phone rings during
class, you may be asked to leave, taking your cell phone with you.
It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with
birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the
damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other,
and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting
around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance
which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the
external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a
Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character
and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death,
the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher
animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been
originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on
according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and
most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
7
COURSE OUTLINE
Subject to Change
2/4
2/6
2/11
2/13
2/14
2/18
2/20
2/25
2/27
3/1
3/3
3/5
3/10
3/12
3/17
3/19
3/24-26
3/31
4/2
4/7
4/9
4/14
4/16
4/21
4/23
4/28
4/30
5/3
5/5
5/7
5/12
5/14
5/19
5/21
5/26
6/2
Introduction to the course; the study of physical anthropology
The study of evolution in historical perspective; Darwinian natural selection
Darwin’s finches; the nature of science; creationism and intelligent design
Mendelian genetics; Tay-Sachs disease
LAST DAY TO ADD CLASS
PRESIDENTS BIRTHDAY – NO CLASS
Cellular and molecular genetics; the human genome
Population genetics; genetic equilibrium; mechanisms of evolutionary change
Mechanisms of evolutionary change; natural selection
LAST DAY TO DROP CLASS WITHOUT “W”
Natural selection; sexual selection & kin selection
The origin of species
Principles of taxonomy; people’s place in nature
People’s place in nature; the living primates
INSTRUCTOR CONFERENCE – NO CLASS
FIRST EXAM (Ch. 1-6)
SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
CESAR CHAVEZ DAY – NO CLASS
The living primates
Comparative anatomy of the primates
Comparative anatomy of the primates
Primate cytogenetics, and molecular biology; nonhuman primate behavior
Nonhuman primate behavior; human behavior in perspective
Human behavior in perspective
Fossils and their interpretation
SECOND EXAM (Ch. 7-11)
Geologic Time
LAST DAY TO DROP CLASS
The early primate fossils record
The early hominins
The early hominins
Early species of the genus Homo
The evolution of Homo sapiens
The biology of Homo sapiens; analysis of human variation
MEMORIAL DAY
FINAL EXAM (Ch. 11-17 & Review of Course)
Black & White Images: EclectiCollections™
Ch. 1
Ch. 1
Ch. 1
Ch. 2, 3
Ch. 2, 3
Ch. 4
Ch. 4, 5
Ch. 5
Ch. 5
Ch. 6
Ch. 6
Ch. 7
Ch. 8
Ch. 8
Ch. 8, 9
Ch. 10
Ch. 9, 10
Ch. 11
Ch. 11
Ch. 12
Ch. 13
Ch. 13
Ch. 14
Ch. 15
Ch. 16, 17