Anthropology 131
Laboratory in Physical
Anthropology
Professor Kate Teffer, Instructor
ANTH 131
• 1-unit, satisfies GE Laboratory Science
requirement (Area B)
• Prerequisite/Co-requisite: C or better grade
in Anthropology 130 or equivalent
• CSU and UC transferable (talk to your
counselor)
A bit about me…
• B.A. (Psychology) University of
Chicago
• M.A. (Anthropology) U.C. San
Diego
• Ph.D (Anthropology), UCSD
• My specialty is comparative
neuroanatomy; I study the
brains of humans and the
living great apes to determine
what differences there are,
and when they arose during
the course of human evolution
Contact Information
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kate.teffer@gcccd.edu
kateteffer.wordpress.com
Email is best way to get hold of me
As an adjunct professor, I do not have
an office at Grossmont. However, if you
need to meet in person, please email
me and we will arrange something.
Required Text
• Exploring Physical Anthropology
by Suzanne Walker (2nd ed,2010).
Earlier edition is not acceptable.
• Comes unbound and 3-hole
punched
• If you purchased used, watch for
missing pages!
• Put into a 3-ring binder and bring
to each class
• You will need to have the lab
manual by the third class. Scans
of Chapters 2 & 3 are on the
course website
Other required materials
• 4 Grademaster Forms (Form 25420)
• 3-ring binder to hold lab manual
• Pencils (don’t use pens around skeletal
material)
• Calculator
• Clipboard (optional, but helpful during
Practical exams)
Grading:
• 5 quizzes (20 pts each)
– 3 multiple choice quizzes (single handwritten
sheet of notes allowed)
– 3 practical quizzes (no books or notes)
– Your lowest quiz is dropped
• Take-home Final Exam (40 points)
• 12 lab exercises (10 pts each)
– Will do 14; Lowest 2 exercises are dropped
• Primate observation project @ zoo (30 pts)
Course policies
• Attendance is extremely important—only 1
unexcused absence allowed. Two or more
unexcused absences may cause you to be
dropped.
• 2 Tardies/Early departures = one absence
• No make ups for missed labs or quizzes (no
exceptions).
• Although we will not always need the entire class
period, you should plan to stay the entire time.
Lab Rules
• Share the lab equipment
• Handle everything with extreme care. Hold all
bones over the table. Handle skulls with both
hands. Be gentle with the measuring equipment.
• Be respectful of the human skeletal material.
Most of the bones are replicas, but a few are
real.
• If you break something, let me know right away.
• No food. Don’t drink at your lab station if we are
working with materials.
• Keep an eye on personal possessions
Group work and collaboration
• You are encouraged (and sometimes required) to
work in groups to share ideas and complete lab work.
Don’t be shy of your neighbors—you might have to
measure their heads, or ask them about their earwax!
• However, all group members must be actively
participating and contributing. If you are not, you may
be asked to leave.
• Outright copying of labs by students who didn’t
participate is not allowed.
• Everyone should collect data individually for the
primate observation project.
While I am taking roll, could you
please write the following on your
index card…
1.Your name (and what you would like to be
called if different from the roll sheet)
2. Have you previously taken ANTH 130, or are
you currently taking it?
3. Anything about your educational goals
(major, field of interest, transfer plans, etc)
4. Anything else you think it may be important
for me to know that may affect your course
experiences (athletics, registered disability,
etc)
Physical Anthropology
• The study of the biological aspects of
humans
• Includes wide variety of fields
• What are some of these fields?
Course Topics
Genetics
• Cell Biology and DNA
• Principles of inheritance
• Genetics and evolution
Human Osteology
• The human skeleton
• Human variation
• Anthropometric techniques and
forensic anthropology
Primatology
• Primate classification
• Anatomy and behavior
• Primate evolution
Human Ancestors
• Early hominins
• The genus Homo
• Archaic and modern H. sapiens
Today’s lab exercise
• Anthropology, science and the scientific
method
The Scientific Method
How do physical anthropologists
“do” science?
What are some criteria in
evaluating scientific
experiments?
Science experiment #1
Annie is a bioarchaeologist studying
health and disease patterns among the
ancient Moche people who lived in Peru
2000 years ago. She finds a skeleton with
abundant evidence of malnutrition and
tuberculosis. She concludes from this that
the Moche population was incredibly
unhealthy and disease-ridden.
Science experiment #2
You are part of a team investigating patterns of
aggressive behavior among wild chimpanzees
in Tanzania. You notice that two members of
your team, Troy and Abed, are generating wildly
varying types of data. Troy is observing many
more instances of aggressive behaviors among
the chimpanzees he is studying than Abed is
among his population.
Next week…
• Make sure to buy the lab manual and
bring it to class.
• Lab handout #1 is due if you didn’t finish
it today
• Read Chaps 1, 2 and 3. Pay special
attention to Chap. 3 on DNA!