Dr. Krigbaum
This course will review the ‘hard’ evidence for the evolution of humankind. Such a subject of study is indeed diverse, but concerns the fossil, genetic, and archaeological data that pertains to human evolution and its interpretation, past and present. Basic principles of geology, systematics, and functional morphology will form a shared foundation with which to evaluate the context of human evolution over time. We will step back in time, as paleoanthropologists, and learn about the last common ancestor we share with our African ape cousins, and the myriad hominin species that evolved during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, including the origin and subsequent spread of Homo sapiens throughout the Old and New Worlds.