Annual Editions: Physical Anthropology, 26/e

Unit 1: Evolutionary Perspectives

Was Darwin Wrong? David Quammen, National Geographic, 2004
Evolutionary theory is not just an ephemeral guess, but a well-established set of concepts that has come to be critically important to human welfare, medical science, and understanding the world around us.

The Facts of Evolution, Michael Shermer, Henry Holt and Company, LLC - Macmillan, 2006
Evolutionary theory is rooted in a rich array of data from the past. While the specifics of evolution are still being studied and unraveled, the general theory is the most tested in science; spanning the past century and a half.

Evolution in Action, Jonathan Weiner, Natural History, 2005
More than 250 scientists around the world are documenting evolution in action. Some of the most dramatic cases are those that result from the ecological pressures that human beings are imposing on the planet.

The Age of Disbelief, Joel Achenbach, National Geographic, 2015
We live in an age in which scientific knowledge has come into conflict with people’s cherished beliefs.  Given the human tendency to cling to intuition and to distrust those who do not share our values, we all too often forsake the rational, scientific way of thinking in favor of our need to be accepted by our chosen community.

Why Should Students Learn Evolution? Brian J. Alters and Sandra M. Alters, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc., 2001
In explaining how organisms of today got to be the way they are, the evolutionary perspective helps us to make sense of the history of life and explains relationships among species. It is an essential framework within which scientists organize and interpret observations, and make predictions about the living world.

Life Chances, Bob Holmes, New Scientist Magazine, 2015
The question as to whether the evolutionary process has to do with a series of chance events or is a matter of somewhat predictable outcomes within a limited number of possibilities has long been debated within the scientific community as well as among the public in general.  The answer is no better illustrated than with the fact that varieties of offspring spring up as a result of random mutations and an unpredictable recombination of genes, while natural selection winnows out the unfavorable traits and thereby provides a sense of direction to evolution because the more favored tend to survive and reproduce.

Unit 2: Primates

No Alpha Males Allowed, Steve Kemper, Smithsonian, 2013
Karen Strier’s research on the muriquis monkeys of Brazil has underscored the fact that primates are a varied group with diverse social structures and more complex behavior than ever thought before. They may even provide us with insights as to how our own ancestors came to the ground and became who we are today.

Love in the Time of Monkeys, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Natural History, 2014
Since monogamy is the standard among humans, but rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, it is instructive to examine why it exists in a species of monkey where it is apparently related to ecological resource distribution.

The 2% Difference, Robert Sapolsky, Discover, 2006
Now that scientists have decoded the chimpanzee genome, we know that we share 98% of our DNA with chimps. So how can we be so different? The answer lies in the fact that a very few mutations make for some very big differences.

Got Culture? Craig Stanford, Perseus Books Group, LLC, 2001
The study of the rudimentary cultural abilities of the chimpanzee not only sharpens our understanding of our uniqueness as humans, but it also suggests an ancient ancestry of the mental abilities that we and the chimpanzees have in common.

Dim Forest, Bright Chimps, Christophe Boesch and Hedwige Boesch-Achermann, Natural History, 1991
Contrary to expectations, forest-dwelling chimpanzees seem to be more committed to cooperative hunting and tool use than are savanna chimpanzees. Such findings may have implications for the understanding of the course of human evolution.

Earthly Delights, Frans de Waal, W. W. Norton & Company, 2013
Where does—or should—our morality come from? Does it come from God or is it ingrained in our very nature as social beings? In searching for answers, Frans de Wall finds tendencies toward empathy in our closer mammalian and primate relatives as well as in ourselves. While the concept of a supernatural source may be very helpful, it is also true that, long before present-day religious institutions our ancestors would have not survived without some sense of right and wrong.

One for All, Frans de Waal, Scientific American, 2014
Although caring tendencies are common in primates, they seem to have become an absolute survival necessity in our human ancestors who came to cooperate with each other on a much more extensive level, shared in a reciprocal manner and identified with others in need, pain or distress.

Unit 3: Sex and Gender

What Are Friends For? Barbara Smuts, Natural History, 1987
An understanding of friendship bonds that exist among baboons is not only destroying our stereotypes about monkeys in the wild, but is also calling into question the traditional views concerning the relationships between the sexes in early hominid evolution.

What's Love Got to Do with It?: Sex among Our Closest Relatives Is a Rather Open Affair, Meredith F. Small, Discover, 1992
The bonobos' use of sex to reduce tension and to form alliances is raising some interesting questions regarding human evolution. Does this behavior help to explain the origin of our sexuality? Or should we see it as just another primate aberration that occurred after the split from the human lineage?

Powers of Two, Blake Edgar, Scientific American, 2014
Theories abound as to why humans are primarily monogamous since most mammals are not, but pair-bonding does seems to have something to do with the way in which our ancestors cooperated in food-getting and sharing and what would seem to have been the most effective way to raise large-brained offspring in need of prolonged care.

When Do Girls Rule the Womb? Jennifer Abbasi, Discover, 2013
While demographers have pointed to cultural factors to explain the sex ratio imbalance which favors the birth of boys over girls in such societies as China, India and South Korea, they have not been able to explain why the same trends in sex ratio at birth exist in societies that do not value sons more than daughters and, furthermore, why in certain situations, regardless of cultural preferences, more girls may be born than boys. Perhaps an evolutionary model is in order.

Brains are Not Male or Female, Jessica Hamzelou, New Scientist Magazine, 2015
Although there are hormonal differences between men and women that have to do with sexual and reproductive functions, the superficial differences in their brains have nothing to do with intellectual skills.

Unit 4: The Fossil Evidence

Our True Dawn, Catherine Brahic, New Scientist Magazine, 2012
As paleontologists have searched for fossil remains to establish the timing of the evolutionary split between our ancestors and apes, geneticists have tackled the same problem using DNA. After earlier disagreeing with the fossil hunters, calling for a significantly later time for the split, the geneticists' new molecular clock may well prove the paleontologists right.

Mystery Man, Jamie Shreeve, National Geographic, 2015
The discovery of hominin remains in a most improbable location within a South African cave has called into question many of our previous conceptions about human evolution.  Rather than a straight line development from a small, bipedal ape-like ancestor to modern Homo sapiens, Homo naledi seems to be telling us that there may have been many, diverse lines of hominin development with all but one of them leading to us.

Who Apes Whom? Franz de Waal, The New York Times, 2015
Prompted by the discovery of the hominin Homo naledi, the author cautions us against teleological conclusions—that natural selection is “seeking certain outcomes”—or that, indeed there is a particular point at which our ancestors achieved a mental breakthrough—“a miraculous spark”—that made us radically different from any other creature.

The Quiet Rise of the First Toolmaker, Catherine Brahic, New Scientist Magazine, 2015
Since intentionally flaked Oldowan hand-axes did not come out of the blue, it stands to reason that there must have been predecessors.  It therefore follows that a different approach to dating early tool use is to look at the hands that made them, to assess just when our early ancestors attained the manual dexterity that made stone tools possible.

The First Cookout, Kate Wong, Scientific American Online, 2012
Once our ancestors began cooking their food, their brains got larger, their anatomy changed, and they were enabled to hunt more effectively for meat. Without fire, we might not even exist.

Rethinking Neanderthals, Joe Alper, Smithsonian, 2003
Contrary to the widely held view that Neanderthals were evolutionary failures, the fact is that they persisted through some of the harshest climates imaginable. Over a period of 200,000 years, they had made some rather sophisticated tools and have had a social life that involved taking care of the wounded and burying the dead.

Neanderthal Minds, Kate Wong, Scientific American, 2015
It has long been held that Neandertals lagged behind anatomically modern Homo sapiens.  So far, the functional significance of DNA differences is unclear, but recent discoveries of Neandertal cultural remains seem to have narrowed the supposed mental gap and suggest that factors other than intelligence drove the Neandertals to extinction and allowed Homo sapiens to flourish.

The Most Invasive Species of All, Curtis W. Marean, Scientific American, 2015
Whereas previous theories purporting to explain the world-wide expansion of anatomically modern Homo sapiens have to do with the circumstances within particular regions, such as advances in technology, the development of a more sophisticated brain and climate change, the author emphasizes the importance of a new social behavior that evolved in our species: a genetically encoded penchant for cooperation with unrelated individuals.

How We Hounded out the Neanderthals, Pat Shipman, New Scientist Magazine, 2015
Many theories have been set forth as to why our direct ancestors, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, replaced the Neanderthals in Europe.  Part of the answer lies in our ancestors’ more diverse hunting skills, but just as important was another unique advantage: we “invented” dogs.

From Wolf to Dog, Virginia Morell, Scientific American, 2015
Scientists are probing the enduring mystery of how a large, dangerous carnivore evolved into our best friend.  While their value to humans seems to have changed over time, ranging from utilitarian to ritualistic, one thing is certain: they could not become fully accepted into hunter-gatherer camps without understanding the absolute concept of “No!”

Unit 5: Late Hominid Evolution

Human Hybrids, Michael F. Hammer, Scientific American Online, 2013
The recovery of DNA from fossil hominins such as the Neanderthals is enabling us to make genetic comparisons with modern populations. From such analyses, we are increasingly able to reconstruct the migrations of ancient peoples, figure out who mated with whom along the way and, perhaps, the implications of such interbreeding for modern human health.

Dawn of a Continent, Colin Barras, New Scientist Magazine, 2015
Various lines of evidence, archaeological, genetic and linguistic, point to three waves of migration into Europe by Homo sapiens populations.  With each invasion associated with specific changes in technology and lifestyle, we see the remnants of these biological and cultural characteristics in European populations today.

The Awakening, Jo Marchant, Smithsonian, 2016
The discovery of cave art on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia has led to several challenges to standard thinking about such paintings around the world, not the least of which have to do with the timing, the motivations of the artists and the implications for the origins of human cognitive awareness.

The Story in the Stones, David Robson, New Scientist Magazine, 2014
Several lines of evidence, including stone tool construction, neuroscience, psychology and archaeology, are being combined to estimate the origins of the distinctly human mental abilities that set us off from our primate relatives and ancestors and enabled our species to survive some very challenging times.

King of Beasts, Lars Werdelin, Scientific American Online, 2013
Africa once harbored a far greater variety of large carnivores than it does today. Competition with early humans for access to prey may have brought about their decline.

The Birth of Childhood, Ann Gibbons, Science Magazine, 2008
Unlike our closest relatives, the apes, humans depend on their parents for a long period after weaning. New investigative technology has allowed researchers to determine when and why our long childhood evolved.

The Evolution of Grandparents, Rachel Caspari, Scientific American, 2011
A marked increase in survivorship of adults in the Upper Paleolithic had far-reaching effects on the nature of society. The appearance of a grandparental generation meant more resources available to the group, significant population increases, and a greater efficiency in the transmission and accumulation of cultural knowledge for future generations. These changes may very well have accounted for our ancestors being the only hominid species left standing.

A Bigger, Better Brain, Maddalena Bearzi and Craig Stanford, American Scientist, 2010
The diverse food-getting strategies employed by dolphin and ape societies are an excellent gauge of their social complexity as well as an example of how brain complexity, social complexity, and ecological complexity are all linked.

What Are Big Brains For? Or, How Culture Stole Our Guts, Joseph Heinrich, Princeton University Press, 2015
The key to the success of the human species lies not in our raw innate intelligence or in any specialized mental abilities, but rather in the fact that we are a cultural species, relying on accumulated wisdom--a know-how that arose incrementally over millions of years of mental, psychological and biological evolution.

The Naked Truth, Nina G. Jablonski, Scientific American, 2010
Recent findings lay bare the origins of human hairlessness and hint that naked skin was a key factor in the emergence of other human traits, such as the ability to cover long distances in the pursuit of food.

Unit 6: Human Diversity

Skin Deep, Nina G. Jablonski and George Chaplin, Scientific American, 2002
Although recent migrations and cultural adaptation tend to complicate the picture, human skin color has evolved to be dark enough to prevent sunlight from destroying the nutrient folate, but light enough to foster the production of vitamin D.

How Real Is Race? Using Anthropology to Make Sense of Human Diversity, Carol Mukhopadhyay and Rosemary C. Henze, Phi Delta Kappan, 2003
The authors claim that race is not a scientifically valid biological category. Instead, looking at it as a historically specific way of thinking about categorizing and treating human beings, race can be seen as a cultural invention.

The Tall and the Short of It, Barry Bogin, Discover, 1998
Rather than being able to adapt to a single environment, we can, thanks to our genetically endowed plasticity, change our bodies to cope with a wide variety of environments. In this light, research suggests that we can use the average height of any group of people as a barometer of the health of that particular society.

Dead Men Do Tell Tales, William R. Maples, Random House Inc., 1994
This classic piece by Maples maintains its relevance as a plea for the continued and expanded use of forensic anthropology. There are just too many stories yet to be told and so much justice yet to be carried out.

Still Evolving (After All These Years), John Hawks, Scientific American, 2014
Many people argue that our technological advancement -- our ability to defy and control nature -- has made humans exempt from natural selection and that human evolution has effectively ceased.  However, human populations are continuing to evolve today. Unlike the distant past, where we must infer the action of selection from its long-term effects on genes, today scientists can watch human evolution in action, often by studying trends in health and reproduction.

Unit 7: Living with the Past

The Perfect Plague, Jared Diamond and Nathan Wolfe, Discover, 2008
Globalization, changing climate, and the threat of drug resistance have conspired to set the stage for that perfect microbial storm; a situation in which an emerging pathogen—another HIV or smallpox perhaps—might burst on the scene and kill millions of people before we can respond.

The Inuit Paradox, Patricia Gadsby, Discover, 2004
The traditional diet of the Far North, with its high-protein, high-fat content, and shows that there are no essential foods—only essential nutrients.

The Food Addiction, Paul J. Kenny, Scientific American Online, 2013
During millions of years of evolution, the major concern of humans was not suppressing appetite, but get getting enough food to persist in lean times. Perhaps, says the author, our feeding circuits are better at motivating food intake when we are hungry than they are in suppressing food intake when we are full—and therein lies the problem: the brain regards the overeating of high-calorie food as tremendously beneficial.

Taste Test, Bee Wilson, Discover, 2016
In a ground-breaking experiment, pediatrician Clara Davis, investigated what children’s appetites would look like if allowed to develop without preconceived ideas of what tasted good.  Contrary to what most people took from this study—that children’s’ likes and dislikes are built-in and natural—Davis found that as long as children were allowed to select only from wholesome and nutritious foods, they not only liked what they were offered, but their health improved dramatically.  In other words, the beneficial outcomes for the children were not based upon some mystical “wisdom of the body,” but rather upon the particular food environment presented to them.

The Evolution of Diet, Ann Gibbons, National Geographic, 2014
The transition from the Paleolithic way of life, in which our ancestors hunted for meat and gathered vegetables, to one with agriculture and processed foods, has had a lasting impact on human health.  Questions arise, however, as to the degree to which humans have adapted to the changing circumstances or are simply going to suffer the consequences of abandoning the “paleo-diet.”

Curse and Blessing of the Ghetto, Jared Diamond, Discover, 1991
Tay-Sachs disease is a choosy killer, one that has targeted Eastern European Jews above all others for centuries. By decoding its lethal logic, we can learn a great deal about how genetic diseases evolve—and how they can be conquered.

Ironing It Out, Sharon Moalem, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007
Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease that disrupts the human body's ability to metabolize iron. To understand why such a deadly disease would be bred into our genetic code, we need to take a closer look at European history, the bubonic plague, and medical practices that were discredited.