Download Unit 1 - Susan Kerr`s Anthropology Site

Biological Anthropology  Susan Kerr  Modesto Junior College 
Study Guide 1: Introduction to Anthropology and Evolution
Readings:
Larsen, Chapters 1 and 2 (we will return to the topic of inheritance in the next Unit)
Shubin (Preface and Chapters 1-7)
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this unit you should be able to define anthropology as a discipline, and to
distinguish between the subdisciplines of anthropology (the “Four Fields”). Also you should be familiar
with the overarching theoretical perspective of Biological Anthropology—the theory of evolution.
Some Terminology:
The Four Fields of Anthropology
Anthropology
Holistic
participant observation
Archaeology
Cultural Resource Management
biological/physical anthropology
Paleoanthropology
genetics/evolutionary biology
St. Catherine’s Island
Daniel Everett
William Maples
cultural anthropology
culture
linguistic anthropology
prehistoric archaeology
experimental archaeology
primatology
human variation
osteology
Napoleon Chagnon
Margaret Mead
ethnography
ethnology
The Scientific Method
scientific method
hypothesis
data
theory
testing
Names to Know in Evolution
Carollus Linnaeus
Count Buffon
Jean Lamarck
Thomas Malthus
Charles Lyell
Alfred Wallace
Charles Darwin
James Hutton
James Ussher
Erasmus Darwin
Georges Cuvier
Robert Hooke
Pre-evolutionary Ideas and Early
Evolutionary Ideas
Evolution
Great Chain of Being
Uniformitarianism
Taxonomy
macroevolution
fixity of species
binomial nomenclature
genus and species
microevolution
catastrophism
voyages of discovery
inheritance of acquired
characteristics
Charles Darwin
Galapagos Islands
natural selection
H.M.S. Beagle
On the Origin of Species (1859)
adaptation
differential reproductive
success (fitness)
Thomas Huxley
Darwin’s Lines of Evidence
historical archaeology
artifacts
biocultural evolution
forensic anthropology
Franz Boas
Clark Larsen
Six Steps to Humanness
Biological Anthropology  Susan Kerr  Modesto Junior College 
Inheritance and Evolution
Gregor Mendel
Neil Shubin (Geologist)
Sonic Hedgehog Gene
blending inheritance
Tiktaalik
evolutionary synthesis
Hox gene
Study Questions:
1. What is anthropology? What are the four fields of anthropology, and what kinds of phenomena do
anthropologists working in these areas study (give examples of anthropologists and their research)?
2. What makes anthropology unique when compared to other disciplines (hint: think “holistically”)?
3. What is biological/physical anthropology and what do biological anthropologists study? Give
examples of actual biological anthropologists and their research.
4. Explain what anthropologists mean by the concept of “culture.” Explain the significance of the
biocultural approach to the study of humans.
5. What is the scientific method? Why is it relevant to a physical/biological anthropologist?
6. What are the “Six Big Events in Human Evolution?”
7. Discuss the influence of Buffon, Lamarck, Lyell and Malthus on Charles Darwin’s work on natural
selection. What did C. Darwin do that had not been done before?
8. What is natural selection? On what basic facts is it based, and how does it work?
9. Compare and contrast the hypotheses of natural selection and the inheritance of acquired
characteristics. Illustrate your answer with two examples of natural selection at work. Be sure you
fully DESCRIBE these examples and know who came up with each.
10. What two aspects of Medieval thinking had to be altered before a modern scientific view of
evolution could be developed? How were they altered?
11. Name and explain Darwin’s “Lines of Evidence” for evolution.
12. Define macroevolution and microevolution. Which of these is the focus of the assigned portion of
the UC Berkeley website “Evolution 101” and why is this significant to class?
13. Discuss the evolutionary synthesis (a.k.a. Modern Synthesis/synthetic theory of evolution) as it
relates to the advances since Darwin in understanding evolution.
14. Who is Neil Shubin? Why is this geologist (he is not an anthropologist) significant to our
understanding of how genes are related to evolution?
NOTE: This is a GUIDE. It is not a comprehensive list of everything you need to know to succeed in this
class. Use it as a guide while reading and studying, but know you WILL see, and be expected to use,
other terminology and examples in journals and on quizzes/exams.
Unit 1 Core Topic: What is Anthropology and Why is Evolution a Part of this Class?
Topic 1/Week 1: What does Anthropology mean to you? Before this class, had you heard of
Anthropology? If so, how? If not, what did you think Anthropology was about before logging onto class?
No matter your familiarity with or background in the field, also address how your ideas of Anthropology
may have changed given your readings in lecture and texts this week.
Topic 2/Week 2: How does evolution relate to us all--is it happening around us? If so, where and why?
Using the textbook, assigned website article on evolution, and after visiting the UC Berkeley site on
Evolution, describe how evolution is happening all around us. At the Berkeley site, you should focus on
the section on MICROEVOLUTION and look for sidebars on things that are happening today in terms of
evolutionary change. While you are talking about these ideas, tell me how they may or may not fit in
your current understanding of the world and science.