ANT 120 Human Biological and Cultural Origins
How did humans come to be? What makes us uniquely human? What are the origins of our technologies, agriculture, and civilizations? How does our past inform our future? The answer to these questions and the focus of this class lies in bones and stones!
This course provides a foundational overview of biological anthropology and archaeology. Biological anthropology uses human skeletons, fossilized remains of our hominin ancestors, living primates, and genetics to unearth the unlikely evolutionary journey of our species. This interdisciplinary framework sheds light on the inter-relationship between biology and the origins and development of human cognition and examines how human survival over millions of years shaped the ways we move, the origins of art and beliefs, the evolution of our technologies, and the formation of our societies and ways of relating. The archaeology component uses excavation techniques and the study of ancient human tools, trash, and constructions to better understand how our environmental adaptations, climate change, and cultural practices gave rise to agriculture, socioeconomic inequalities, life in the first cities and states, and the age of empires. The course also emphasizes critical thinking, hands-on learning, and the interpretation of scientific evidence.
If you are new to anthropology or interested in ancient bones, our technological journey, and human-environment interactions this class is for you!