SUBJECT

Human origin: Evolutional Theories and Human Adaptation

lecture

master

Faculty of Science

2

Semesters 1-4

Autumn/Spring semester

1. Adaptation mechanisms of human evolution; Primate, Hominid, Hominin features appeared in biological evolution; cultural aspects of Homo sapiens’ evolution by describing the diversity of modern populations

2. Historical overview of paleoanthropological research; evolutionary theories in biological focus. The ontogeny-phylogeny nexus: implications for primatology and paleoanthropology; principles of taxonomy and classification: current procedures for classifying organs; quantitative approaches to phylogenetics; homology: philosophical and biological perspectives

3. The divergence of Hominidae and Pongidae’s ancestrors; Africa in the late Miocene; Hominidae’s evolution: ecological influence on the early Hominidae biodiversity; potential Hominoid ancestors for Hominidae; definicion of Hominidae; origins of Homininae and putative selection pressures acting on the early Hominins; role of environmental stimuli in Hominid origins

4. Environmental influence on Hominidae’s origin; Origin of bipedal locomotion; results of bipedal standing posture; the beginnings of the „cerebral Rubicon” in brain size and the stone tool manufacture

5. The earliest putative Hominids; the species and diversity of Australopiths; defining the genus Homo morphologically; the earliest putative Homo fossils; Homo ergaster and its contemporaries

6. Defining Homo erectus: size considered; later middle Pleistocene Homo; Naenderthals and their contemporaries

7. Origin of modern humans; analysing of Hominid phylogeny

8. Archeology: contribution of stable light isotopes to paleoanthropological reconstruction; chronometric methods in paleoanthropology; geological ground of Hominid sites in Africa; paleoclimate; Primate and early Hominin distribution and migration patterns; patterns of diversification and extinction

9. Hominin paleodiets; population genetics and paleoanthropology; ancient DNA; the paleodemography of extinct Hominin populations

10. Modelling the past: the primatological approach; the ethnological approach; the linguistic approach; general principles of evolutionary morphology; computer-based reconstruction: technical aspects and applications

11. Morphology and paleoecology: Primate evolution: morphological evidences, molecular evidences; Primate fossils from the Paleocene, Oligocene a Miocene;biotic environment of Hominoida from the late Miocene

12. Adaptation: postcranial and locomotor adaptations of Hominoids; Hominoid cranial diversity and adaptation; dental adaptations of African Apes; evolution of the Primate brain

13. The biology and evolution of ape and monkey feeding; great ape social systems; Primate intelligence; chimpanzee hunting behaviour; cooperation, coalition, alliances

14. Population biology and population genetics of Pleistocene Hominins; species concepts and speciations: facts and fantasies; human environmental impact in the paleolithic and Neolithic; the dentition of American Indians: evolutionary results and demographic implications following colonization from Siberia

• Henke, W., Tattersall, I. (2007) Handbook of Paleoanthropology I-III. Springer, Heidelberg

• Stringer, C., Andrews, P.: The Complete World of Human Evolution, 2nd ed., Thames & Hudson, 2012