Assignment:
Nature of humans from an evolutionary perspective and provides a means of observing and understanding ourselves and our history as a species.
The first part of the course will provide an introduction to anthropology, science and modern evolutionary theory, and basic principles of genetics. Then, we will learn about the ecology and behavior of our closest living relatives, the primates. We will move on to survey the fossil evidence for human origins and the evolution of human behavior, language and cognition. Finally, we will focus on the biological diversity of modern human populations. Throughout the course we will examine the dynamic interaction between biology and culture that is a hallmark of our species.