Introduction to Physical Anthropology

by Arnie Schoenberg
version: 10 October 2021

Figure 1 "The Gene Pool" by B. Kite ©1992

Full Table of Contents

front matter

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accessibility

preface

student guide

1 introduction to anthropology

1.1    science

1.1.1    scientific method

1.1.1.1    how to review a scientific article

1.1.1.1.1    hypothesis

1.1.1.1.2    background

1.1.1.1.3    method

1.1.1.1.4    data

1.1.1.1.5    conclusion

1.1.2    faith

1.2    anthropology

1.2.1    the anthropological imagination

1.3    subfields of anthropology

1.4    anthropology and science

1.4.1    epistemology

2    intro to biology

2.1    Scale; Human Space; Powers of Ten for Physical Anthropology

2.2    evolutionary theory

2.2.1    history of evolutionary theory, up to Darwin

2.2.1.1    the fixity of species

2.2.1.2    The Great Chain of Being

2.2.1.3    John Ray

2.2.1.4    Carolus Linnaeus

2.2.1.5    Buffon

2.2.1.6    Erasmus Darwin

2.2.1.7    Jean Baptiste Lamarck

2.2.1.8    Georges Cuvier

2.2.1.9   geologists: James Hutton and Charles Lyell

2.2.1.9.1    geological time

2.2.1.9.2    the principle of uniformitarianism

2.2.1.10    Thomas Malthus

2.2.1.11    Mary Anning

2.2.2    Charles Darwin

2.2.2.1    understanding natural selection

2.2.2.1.1    sexual selection

2.2.2.2    Alfred Russel Wallace

2.2.3    beyond Darwin

2.2.3.1    Gregor Mendel

2.2.3.1.1    dominance and recessiveness

2.2.3.1.1    the principle of segregation

2.2.3.1.2    principle of independent assortment

2.2.3.1.3    Punnett squares

2.2.3.1.4    Mendelian traits laboratory

2.2.3.1.4.1   Example: PTC tasting

2.2.3.1.4.2   earwax

2.2.3.1.4.3   mid-phalanx hair

2.2.3.1.4.4   lactase persistence

2.2.3.1.4.5   relative finger length

2.2.3.1.5    ABO blood type

2.2.3.2    population genetics

2.2.3.3    the modern evolutionary synthesis

2.3    forces of evolution

2.3.1    mutation

2.3.2    natural selection

2.3.3    migration

2.3.4    genetic drift

2.4    genetics, cellular biology, and variation

2.4.1    cells

2.4.1.1    organelles

2.4.1.1.1    nucleus

2.4.1.1.1.1   chromosomes

2.4.1.1.2    mitochondria

2.4.1.1.2.1    mtDNA

2.4.1.2    cell division

2.4.1.2.1    mitosis

2.4.1.2.2    meiosis

2.4.1.2.2.1   oogenesis

2.4.1.2.2.2   spermatogenesis

2.4.1.2.3    recombination

2.4.1.2.2.1   crossing over

2.4.1.2.4   non-disjunction

2.4.1.3 fertilization

2.4.2    DNA

2.4.2.1    replication

2.4.2.2    protein synthesis

2.4.2.2.1     polygenic traits

2.3.2.2.2     pleiotropic genes

2.4.2.3    locus → gene → allele

2.4.2.3.1    introns and exons

2.4.3    cells and the source of variation

2.4.4    genetics and ethics

2.4.4.1    identity and ownership

2.4.4.2    stem cells

2.4.4.3    cloning

2.4.4.4     GMOs

2.4.4.5     lateral gene transfer

2.5    summary example: holism in anthropology, sickle cell anemia and malaria

3    osteology

4    paleontology

4.1    paleontology → paleoanthropology → archaeology → history

4.2    macroevolution

4.2.1    Hox genes

4.2.2    allopatric speciation

4.2.3    punctuated equilibrium

4.3    species vs. paleospecies

4.4    interspecific vs. intraspecific variation

4.6    plate tectonics

4.7    adaptive radiation

4.8    analogy vs. homology

4.9    taxonomy

4.10    human taxonomy

4.11    mammals

4.11.1    protomammals

4.11.2    examples of living mammals

4.11.2.1    monotremes

4.11.2.2    marsupials

4.11.2.3    placental mammals

5    primatology

5.1    primate evolution

5.1.1    prosimians

5.1.2    anthropoids

5.1.3    hominoids

5.2    primate taxonomy

5.3    ethology

5.3.1    behavioral ecology

5.3.2    primate sexuality

5.3.3    primate culture

5.3.1 primate tools

5.3.2 ape language?

5.3.3 ape music?

5.3.4    theory of mind

5.3.5    agonistic behavior

5.3.6    affiliative behavior

5.3.7    K-selection vs. r-selection

5.4    conservation

5.4.1    habitat loss

5.4.2    bush meat

6    paleoanthropology

6.1    trends

6.1.1    bipedalism

6.1.2    encephalization

6.1.3    culture/tools

6.1.4    language

6.1.5    dentition

6.2    methods

6.2.1    archaeology

6.2.2    taphonomy

6.2.2.1    fossils

6.2.3    dating

6.2.4    paleoclimatology

6.2.5    molecular paleontology

6.2.6    paleo taxonomy

6.3    pre-australopithecines

6.4    australopithecines

6.4.1    gracile

6.4.2    robust

6.5    early genus Homo

6.5.1    Homo habilis

6.6    Homo erectus

6.6.1    Africa

6.6.2    Asia

6.6.3    Europe

6.6.4    Dmanisi hominids

6.6.5    Homo ergaster

6.6.6    Acheulian tool industry

6.7    around Homo erectus

6.7.1     Homo antecessor

6.7.2     Homo heidelbergensis

6.8    Neandertals

6.8.1    Neandertals in popular culture

6.8.2    Chatelperonian

6.9    Denisovans

6.10    the Cerutti mastodon

6.11    Homo floresiensis

6.12      Homo naledi

6.13    anatomically modern Homo sapiens

6.13.1    Out of Africa vs. Regional Continuity Model

6.13.2    Upper Paleolithic revolution

7    human variation

7.1    age

7.1.1    evo devo

7.1.2   embryology

7.1.3    human life cycles

7.1.3.1    infants

7.1.3.2    childhood

7.1.3.3    adolescence

7.1.3.3.1    secular trend

7.1.3.4    grandmother hypothesis

7.2    disease

7.2.1    paleopathology

7.2.2    altitude sickness

7.2.3    the epidemiological transition

7.2.3.1    zoonosis

7.2.3.2    lifestyle diseases

7.2.3.3    the evolution of infectious disease

7.2.4    lactose intolerance

7.3    sex

7.3.1 biocultural glossary

7.3.2 incest

7.4    race

7.4.1   Bergman's rule

7.4.2   Allen's rule

7.5    culture

7.5.1    class

7.5.2    intersectionality

7.5.3    art

7.5.4    music

7.5.5    cyborgs

7.5.6   terraforming

8    Homo sapiens futures; Doom, Gloom, and hope?

8.1    Doom and Gloom

8.1.1    overpopulation

8.1.2    loss of biodiversity

8.1.3    global warming

8.1.4    pollution

8.1.5    speciation by class

8.2    hope

9    bibliography

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