The Evolution of Homo Sapiens 3700-AL-EHS-QPR

The class will explore the evidence for the evolution of our species since we last shared a common ancestor with our fellow great apes. We will examine the history of the science of human evolution, from Darwin’s early hints that Africa was our homeland to the discovery of Neanderthals in 19th century Germany. We will discuss the ‘Piltdown Man’ fraud and the discovery of Australopithecus afarensis (‘Lucy’) and more recent fossils such as Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis (the ‘Hobbits’ of Indonesia) and Sahelanthropus tschadensis, focusing on controversies and differences in interpretations. Our overall focus will be on reconstructing the lifestyles of our extinct relatives. We will deal with the following questions: 1. What led one species of African great ape to differentiate from its cousins, become bipedal and eventually spread across the world? 2. Why is the genus Homo today limited to one species when in the past we shared the world with multiple hominin species? 3. When and why did early humans leave Africa? What routes did they then take to populate the world? What happened when they met other hominin species? 5. How did cumulative cultural evolution lead humans to invent fire, embark on the ‘Great Leap Forward’, then create agriculture, the industrial revolution and beyond?

Type of course

elective courses

Prerequisites (description)

Students with a good command of English (B2 or better) are welcome to enrol. This course is intended for students willing to challenge traditional ways of thinking about the difference between humans and other animals. Since the course offers a bulk of selected readings, students must be prepared to find time for self-study.

Course coordinators

Thurston Hicks

Learning outcomes

After completing this class, students should be able to:
1. Critically analyze the competing theories of human evolution.
2. Achieve a basic knowledge of the relationship of modern humans with other great apes, as well as with our fossil relatives, the bipedal hominins.
3. Achieve a basic knowledge of the fossil pre-human discoveries over the past 200 years, and how each expanded our knowledge of human prehistory.
4. Achieve a basic understanding of when and how the different human groups populated the world.
5. Understand how cumulative culture led to the rapid-fire evolution of our species, particularly over the past 100,000 years.
6. We will investigate the hypothesis that egalitarianism is a key feature of humans compared to other great apes, which has been overturned following the agricultural revolution but remains a key component of human nature.

Assessment criteria

1-2 quizzes, 1 exam, plus one research paper on a particular topic

Bibliography

Boehm, Christophe. 1999. Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior.
Diamond, Jared. 1997. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.
Johanson, Donald & Edey, Maitland. 1981. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind
Pääbo, Svante. 2014. Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes.
Stringer, Chris. 2012. Lone Survivor: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth.
Wrangham, Richard. 2010. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3700-AL-EHS-QPR in USOSweb