Dept. of Anthropology
Miami University
W.C. McGrew
Fall, 2003
ATH 255: Foundations of Biological Anthropology
Course Information
Aims: This course focuses on one of the 4 fields of anthropology: physical or (more accurately these
days) biological anthropology. As such it is grounded in evolutionary theory, at all levels, from cell to
organ to individual to group to population to species. We will aim to elucidate Homo sapiens, in terms
of our origins in the past and of our present variation, using the nonhuman primates, our nearest living
relations, and the fossil record for our ancestral, extinct relations. Students must have taken ATH 155,
or have comparable knowledge of basic biology, but entry without ATH 155 requires permission
from the instructor.
Schedule:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00-11:40 am, Upham Hall 71.
First class meeting is 27 August; last class meeting is 15 October; 22 class meetings.
THIS IS A SPRINT CLASS: TWICE THE WEEKLY WORK IN HALF THE TIME!
Required Books:
Assessment:
Relethford, John H. (2003) The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological
Anthropology, 5th edition. McGraw-Hill. 506 pp.
Annual Editions (2003) Physical Anthropology, 03/04, Dushkin, 221 pp.
(Copies of these are on reserve in Brill Library)
The overall course grade will be based on 5 components, each of which is obligatory and
must be done to pass the course:
Exam #1
Exam #2
Book Review
Exam #3
Final Exam
Total
20%
20%
10%
20%
30%
100%
Exams will be a mixture of objective (e.g. multiple choice) and descriptive (e.g. essay) in order to assess
fully each student's knowledge. No make-up exams will be given, except by prior arrangement, on
grounds of illness or bereavement. All assessed material, including exams, will be marked blind (by ID
number) and attendance at exams will be taken by a sign-in sheet.
Access. WCM’s Anthropology office is Upham 70, telephone 529-7777 (there is voice mail). Office
hours will be held in the Biological Anthropology Laboratory (Upham 65) at 12.00-14.00 hrs. on
Wednesdays. These will have multi-purpose, drop-in informality, e.g. coffee, bag lunch, perusal of
books, journals, etc. Zoology office hours on Tuesdays at 13.00-14.00 and Thursdays at 11.00-12.00,
Pearson 174, 529-2488.
Attendance: Attendance at lectures is strongly advised for those seeking to do well in the course.
Attendance at other scheduled meetings (e.g. exam returns, evaluations, etc.) is obligatory, and
unexcused absence will be detrimental to course grades. Anticipated absences (e.g. religious holidays)
should be arranged in advance. WCM’s campus mailbox is in the Anthropology Department Office,
Upham 164.
Book Review: The textbook and reader rightly emphasize breadth, but this exercise gives an
opportunity for depth in one area of biological anthropology. Each student will choose a non-fiction
book from a list of about 30 and write a 1000-word analysis of it, using the guidelines provided. This
exercise aims to develop critical faculties of rigorous clear thinking and ability to write lucidly in the
scientific style. Guidelines:
1.
Length. About 1000 words, ± 10%. Be concise. Give word count.
2.
Layout. Leave margin of 1.5 inches for comments. Double-space. If hand-written, use dark ink
and write legibly. Number each page and staple together. Put individual ID number on each
page.
3.
Quotations. Avoid any quotations unless uniquely apt and absolutely necessary, for example:
exact definitions.
4.
Introduction. Assume a reader who needs to be attracted and held, who may never have heard of
the book. You can never go wrong by starting with an outline of the book's aims.
5.
Usage. Write in plain English, as simply and directly as you can. Try to avoid jargon or slang-a
good rule is not to use a word unless it is in the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
6.
Unnecessaries. Don't use footnotes, abstract, summary, appendices. Do provide full
bibliographic details at the outset - check the sample handed out in class, but don’t stop there.
7.
Content. There are no self-evident truths in science; every assertion requires evidence. Evidence
(= data) does not equal opinion (= interpretation of data, or even data-less speculation). Your
opinion is as good as the next person's, but only if you back it up with facts and logical
argument.
8.
Conclusion. A closing paragraph with a recommendation is a good way to end a review, but
don't lapse into repetition or cliché.
9.
Author. Who and what is she/he?
10.
Copies. Turn in TWO copies of your review, please. (I will keep one for my files.)
NOTE: IF YOU BORROWED A BOOK FROM ME, IT MUST BE TURNED IN WITH THE
REVIEW, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A GRADE!
Each of the books (see list) is a descriptive, readable account of some key aspect of biological
anthropology. Unless noted to the contrary, a copy (often more than one) is available in Brill or King
Libraries. Most have been published in cheap paperback, but some are out of print (and so may be
available only second-hand). To be confident of getting the book of your choice, get it sooner, rather
than later! If you want to review a book NOT on the list, you MUST check it with me beforehand.
3
Dept. of Anthropology
Miami University
Fall Semester, 2003
W.C. McGrew
ATH 255
Suggested Books for Review (N = 36)
Buss, David M. (1994) The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating. Evolutionary
psychologist tries to explain girl-meets-boy in terms of natural selection.
Cavalli-Sforza, Luca L. (2000). Genes, Peoples, and Languages. The record of human dispersal around
the globe, left in the DNA and in languages. The greatest correlation in biological
anthropology?
Coren, Stanley (1993) The Left-Hander Syndrome. The biology and culture of handedness, arguably
one of our species's key traits. Are we unique in this?
Dawkins, Richard (1989) The Selfish Gene (New edition). How many book titles become a
(misunderstood) catch-phrase? One of England's most readable evolutionists explains
everything.
Dawkins, Richard (1995) River Out of Eden, A Darwinian View of Life. Darwinian evolution
explained and creationism rebuffed, in lucid, elegant prose.
Desowitz, Robert (1981) New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers. It's the organisms you
can't see that will get you in the end! Essays on tropical medicine and ecology.
Diamond, Jared (1997) Guns, Germs, and Steel. The prehistory and history of humanity in the New and
Old Worlds--why do they differ? Pulitzer Prize winner.
Diamond, Jared (1992) The Third Chimpanzee. Collection of essays on human evolution by one of the
most eclectic of popularists. Many were published originally in Discover or Natural History.
Eaton, Boyd et al. (1988) The Paleolithic Prescription. Eat right and stay healthy in evolutionarily
sound terms, following a Stone Age diet. But where do Pop Tarts fit in?
Falk, Dean (1992) Braindance. Feminist paleoneurologist seeks to explain the evolution of the human
brain with her "radiator" theory. Feisty stuff.
Fossey, Dian (1983) Gorillas in the Mist. The first-hand account that inspired the Hollywood film of the
same name; an idiosyncratic view of mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
Goodall, Jane (1971) In the Shadow of Man. Vivid account of first 10 years of study of the wild
chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania, East Africa. Much-reprinted classic.
Goodall, Jane (1990) Through a Window. Sequel to Shadow. Follows the Gombe chimpanzees for next
20 years, reveals their "dark side," e.g. pongicide.
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Gould, Stephen (1996) The Mismeasure of Man. (Revised edition.) America's most famous essayist of
natural history tackles the anthropology of human intelligence.
Hrdy, Sarah (1981) The Woman That Never Evolved. Foremost evolutionary anthropologist seeks to
reconcile feminism and sociobiology.
Johanson, Donald & Shreeve, James (1989) Lucy's Child. Not really about Lucy's offspring, but a
sequel of sorts, as the Great Fossil-finder stays lucky at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
Keeley, Lawrence (1996) War Before Civilisation: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. What is the
evidence about humanity’s primal state, regarding collective aggression?
Konner, Melvin (1990) Why the Reckless Survive. Sequel to The Tangled Wing, more essays on
human nature by the anthropologist-physician-polymath.
Lewin, Roger (1997) Bones of Contention. (2nd edition) Science journalism at its best, with the focus
on controversies over hominid fossils, now updated.
Maples, Williams & Browning, Michael (1994) Dead Men Do Tell Tales. Famous forensic
anthropologist details the profession of applied physical anthropology, illustrated by famous
cases, from the Elephant Man to the Romanovs. Not for the squeamish!
Morell, Virginia (1995) Ancestral Passions. Dallas, Dynasty, Falconhurst....then there was....The
Leakeys! A saga of scientific intrigue and raw passion, played out in the vast arena of East
African prehistory.
Napier, John (1993) Hands. Everything you ever wanted to know about our most instrumental organs,
by a foremost British anatomist.
Nesse, Randolph & Williams, George (1994) Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian
Medicine. From allergies to Alzheimers’s, our symptoms may signal adaptation to past natural
selection pressures.
Petrinovich, Lewis (2000) The Cannibal Within. Humanity’s darkest taboo? Why do we eat one
another, or do we, really? Ritual, symbolic, nutrition, survival — it’s all anthropology!
Small, Meredith (1995) What's Love Got To Do With It? The Evolution of Human Mating. Feminist
primatologist tackles human sexuality and minces no words, even on tricky topics.
Spindler, Konrad (1994) The Man in the Ice. A 5000-year old body is found in an Alpine glacier.
What can he "tell" us about life in the Neolithic? A biological anthropological detective story.
Stanford, Craig B. (1999) The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior. Did a
taste for flesh spur our evolutionary emergence? Compare our carnivory with that of apes.
5
Stanford, Craig B. (2001) Significant Others. The Ape-Human Continuum and the Quest for Human
Nature. Primatologist turns his hand to Homo sapiens and takes no prisoners. Lively stuff.
Ubelaker, Douglas & Scammell, H. (1992) Bones: A Forensic Detective’s Casebook. FBI forensic
anthropologist recounts his most memorable cases - the bones reveal all!
de Waal, Frans (1998) Chimpanzee Politics, Power and Sex among the Apes. (revised edition). Most
widely-read book on captive apes details and illustrates the machinations of a group of
chimpanzees in a Dutch Zoo.
de Waal, Frans (1989) Peacemaking Among Primates. Conflict and reconciliation among monkeys,
apes, and humans. What do we have in common?
de Waal, Frans (1996) Good Natured. The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.
Are we humans the only moral species, or is there an evolutionary continuum of ethics?
de Waal, Frans (2001) The Ape and the Sushi Master. Not a cookbook, but a primatologist’s account of
East meets West, in the field of cultural primatology. Could Planet of the Apes really happen?
Wills, Christopher (1996) Yellow Fever, Black Goddess. A biologist tackles the co-evolution of people
and plagues. The non-fictional basis for The Hot Zone and Outbreak.
Wilson, Edward O. (1978) On Human Nature. The entomologist/naturalist who “invented”
sociobiology turns his mind to Homo sapiens and wins a Pulitzer. A modern classic.
Wrangham, Richard & Peterson, Dale (1996) Demonic Males. Do the evolutionary roots of human
violence lie in male-male competition? Which is the better model: aggressive chimpanzees or
sexy bonobos?
6
7
Department of Anthropology
Miami University
Fall Semester, 2003
W.C. McGrew
ATH 255
Schedule of Classes (M, W, F)
Week
Chapters
Dates
Textbook Chapters
Reader
1
27 Aug.
29 Aug.
Introduction
1 - Biological Anthropology
--1, 2, 3, 35
2
(Tues.) 2 Sept.
3 Sept.
5 Sept.
2 - Human Genetics
3 – Evolutionary forces
4 – Origin & Evol. of Species
8
6
4, 43
3
8 Sept.
10 Sept.
12 Sept.
EXAM # 1
5 – Human Variation
6 - Human Microevolution
all so far!
36, 38
7
4
15 Sept.
17 Sept.
19 Sept.
7 - Human Adaptation
15 – Human Biology & Culture
Catchup
19, 21, 22
39, 40, 41
5
22 Sept.
24 Sept.
26 Sept.
EXAM # 2
8 – Primates in Nature
9 – Living Primates
all so far!
9, 10, 20, 24
11, 14, 15, 16,
6
29 Sept.
1 Oct.
3 Oct.
10 – Human Species [BR due]
11 – Primate Origins
EXAM #3
12, 13, 17, 18
33, 42
all so far!
7
6 Oct.
8 Oct.
10 Oct.
12 – Hominid Origins
13- Genue Homo
14 – Modern Humans Emerge
25, 26
27, 28, 29, 34
30, 31, 32, 33
8
13 Oct.
15 Oct.
[17 Oct.
Review and Evaluation
FINAL EXAM
Fall Midterm Holiday - no class
--all!
23
]