Brooklyn Technical High School

Unit 1 What Is Physical Anthropology?

•  anthropology defined
•  the four-field approach
•  the scope of physical anthropology (traditional and applied)
•  allied fields of study
•  current research endeavors: a sampling of anthropologists at work

Unit 2 The Evolution of Evolutionary Thought

•  Greek philosophers and the Great Chain of Being
•  Linnaeus and hierarchical classification
•  Cuvier and catastrophism; Lyell and uniformitarianism
•  Lamarck and acquired characteristics
•  Darwin and natural selection

Unit 3 Heredity and Genetics

•  Mendel¡¦s pea plant experiments
•  Principles of heredity revealed; laws of independent assortment and segregation
•  dominant alleles mask recessive alleles; homozygous vs. heterozygous
•  genotype and phenotype; the role of the environment on phenotype
•  Mendelian traits vs. polygenic traits; codominance
•  the role of mitosis, meiosis, chromosomes and DNA in heredity

Unit 4 Mechanisms of Evolution

•  natural selection defined
•  Darwinian fitness defined
•  prerequisites and conditions under which natural selection operates
•  balanced polymorphisms
•  mutation defined
•  the role of mutations in evolution; its significance compared to other sources of genetic variety
•  gene flow
•  genetic drift
•  contrasting the results of gene flow with genetic drift within and between populations
•  species defined; the process of speciation

Unit 5 Extant Primates

•  classification of primates as mammals
•  taxonomic overview of the primate order
•  "lower" vs. "higher" primates with reference to degree of exhibition of primate trends
•  common biological/anatomical primate trends
•  common social/behavioral primate trends and patterns of social organization
•  the prosimians: lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers (geographic distribution, anatomical features, locomotion, econiche, behavior)
•  overview of the anthropoids: platyrrhines, catarrhines, cercopithecoids, hominoids, hylobatids, pongids, and hominids
•  geographic distribution, anatomical features, locomotion, econiche, and behavior of platyrrhines, cercopithecoids, hylobatids and pongids
•  prosimians and anthropoids vs. strepsirhines and haplorhines
•  chimpanzee culture: tools, hunting parties, and alpha females
•  language experiments with apes

Unit 6 Primate Evolution: From Early Primates to Hominoids

•  overview of geological time periods (Paleocene through Pleistocene)
•  significance of Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene in the study of human evolution
•  theories proposed to explain the emergence of primates
•  brief overview of the fossil record of extinct apes

Unit 7 The Emergence of Hominids

•  bipedalism defined; identifying skeletal evidence of bipedalism
•  theories proposed to explain the emergence of bipedalism
•  brief overview of the hominid ¡§family tree¡¨ reflecting the current fossil record
•  controversies in classification: lumpers vs. splitters
•  fossilization and archaeological excavation techniques
•  relative dating techniques
•  absolute dating techniques
•  Ardipithecus: the earliest hominid?

Unit 8 Australopithecines: The Fossil Record, Anatomy, and Behavior

•  Australopithecus anamensis
•  Australopithecus afarensis
•  gracile vs. robust australopithecines
•  Australopithecus africanus
•  Australopithecus aethiopicus
•  Australopithecus robustus
•  Australopithecus boisei
•  australopithecines as human ancestors: phylogenetics and different models of human evolution

Unit 9 The Emergence of Homo: Anatomy and Culture

•  general anatomical evolutionary trends of the genus
•  brain size increase and reorganization
•  methods of stone tool manufacture
•  methods of lithic analysis
•  Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis
•  Homo erectus and Homo ergaster
•  Oldowan vs. Acheulian tools
•  Lower Paleolithic culture: use and control of fire, hunting, campsites
•  anatomical evidence for pair bonding in H. erectus
•  Homo floresiensis: making sense of ¡§the hobbit¡¨

Unit 10 The Emergence of Homo sapiens

•  transitional fossils and classification debates
•  anatomical features of Neanderthals
•  classifying Neanderthals: Homo sapiens or Homo neanderthalensis?
•  Neanderthal geographic distribution
•  Mousterian tools, subsistence, home sites, and possible funeral rituals
•  archaic Homo sapiens: how, when, and where did our species emerge?
•  anatomical features of Homo sapiens
•  Single Origin (¡§Out of Africa¡¨) vs. Multiregional theories
•  theories proposed to explain the disappearance of the Neanderthals

Unit 11 The Upper Paleolithic World

•  geological conditions; the last ice age
•  changes in stone tool manufacture technologies
•  comparison of Middle and Upper Paleolithic tools
•  the widespread appearance of art
•  migration into the Americas; sea levels and the Bering land bridge
•  linguistic and genetic evidence for migration into the Americas
•  current controversies; Clovis First vs. alternative models of entry into the Americas
•  climate change and accompanying dietary shifts at the end of the ice age

Unit 12 Human Variation and Adaptation

•  the concept of ¡§race¡¨
•  race vs. human variation
•  adaptation vs. acclimatization
•  examples of adaptation: body build, skin complexion, nasal form, sickle-cell anemia
•  variation without adaptive significance: sexual selection
•  race as a social construct
•  race, racism, and inequality

Unit 13 Origins of Food Production and Settled Life

•  domestication defined
•  genetic and archaeological evidence for domestication of plants and animals
•  overview of the earliest locations of domestication worldwide
•  how did the domestication of wild plants occur?
•  theoretical models to account for the shift from hunting and gathering to farming
•  negative consequences of the Neolithic Revolution on individual health and social organization

Unit 14 Origins of Cities and States

•  civilization defined
•  identifying features of civilization in the archaeological record
•  overview of the earliest cities and states worldwide
•  theories proposed to account for the origin of states