Biological anthropology

Dunbar R. 2016. Human evolution. Our brains and behaviour. Oxford University Press.

Pääbo S. 2014. Neanderthal Man: in search of lost genomes. Basic Books.

Tattersall I. 1999. Becoming Human: evolution and human uniqueness. Mariner Books.

This course focuses on the evolution of Homo sapiens. It describes the emergence, development, and diversification of our species and helps student to understand the place of humans among other organisms.

ECTS points in relation to student’s duties

1 ECTS pt – 30 class participation hours

1 ECTS pt – 15 hours of consultation and/or exercise preparation for in-class discussion; 15 hours of exercises as take-home assignments

This course is a survey of the evolution of Homo sapiens and its conterporary biological variation. Students will be able to understand the evolutionary history of Primates and origins and development of Homo sapiens and other hominins based on the fossil record and genetic data. The following topics will be addressed: fundamental principles of theory of evolution; introduciton to genetics and heredity and as they are related to morphological, physiological, and genetic variation of Homo sapiens; behavioral and ecological diversity in the living nonhuman primates (monkeys and apes) and how study of them can help us to understand our own evolutionary history; hominin biological, social, and cultural evolution.

Larsen C.S. 2014. Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology, third edition. W. W. Norton, New York.

Participation in discussions during seminars and students oral presentations will be evaluated.