Rutgers Department of Anthropology



Undergraduate Courses in Evolutionary Biology

Evolutionary processes, including adaptation and speciation; fossil and archaeological records of human morphological and social-behavior evolution.

Principles underlying social evolution with special emphasis on humans: natural selection, kinship, parent-offspring conflict, parental investment, sexual selection, cooperation, deceit, and self-deception.

Focus on the major cultural traditions and adaptations from the earliest appearance of humans in the record of the Americas through the colonial period.

Focus on the major cultural traditions and adaptations from the earliest appearance of human lineage to the establishment of literate complex societies and early civilizations.

Syllabus: Harris 2002

Introduction to the archaeology of historic times - the interpretation of the past using both archaeological residues and the written documents. Emphasis on Africa, Britain and North America.

A critique of the "cultural relativist" and "cultural constructionist" positions through a consideration of the literature on cultural universals, human ethology and sociobiology, small groups, and play.

An introduction to the primate Order, emphasizing the morphological and behavioral adaptations of the major groups.

Syllabi: Palombit 2006;     Rose 2004

Analysis of influence of environment on evolution in record of human ancestry.  Morphological and physiological adaptations of humans in reaction to environmental controls.

Syllabus: Feibel 2003

Outline of primate evolution; origin of primates and primate relatives; description and paleoecology of fossil species, including Paleocene and Eocene species, Malagasy lemurs, first higher primates, New World and Old World monkeys, and Miocene apes; hominid origins.

Syllabus: Cachel 2004

01:070:216    Anthropology and Modern Problems [3]

Selected topics including conflict of productive and reproductive systems, location and nature of social power, roles of symbolism and zealotry in defining group boundaries.

Roots and circumstances of human aggressive behavior.  Interplay of phylogenetic and cultural variables.  Relevance of ethnological and paleontological data to modern forms of personal violence and warfare.

Syllabus: Tiger 2004

Cultural and biological aspects of hominid evolution during the Pleistocene.

The evolutionary ecology of primate social systems. The range of adaptive solutions to problems of finding food, avoiding predators, using and defending space, competing with other species, living in groups, obtaining mates, and rearing young.

Syllabi: Palombit 2006;    Rose 2004

Advanced evolutionary theory. Biochemical and genetic approaches. Primate morphology and behavior. Modern theories of human variability.

Syllabus: Fisher 2002 (Human Sexual & Social Behavior)

Anatomy, behavior, and evolution of primates. Evolution of social life: sexual behavior, dominance, aggression, territoriality, social alliances, communication, ecology.

Syllabus: Cachel 2002

Morphology and function of the human/primate skeleton, integrating developmental bone biology, functional morphology and biomechanics, and descriptive musculoskeletal anatomy.

History of the concept of race in the west. Physical anthropological perspective, with emphasis on human variation through time and on the principles of study of modern human variation.

Traditional family types and organization studied cross-culturally. Modern western family and alternatives; utopian communities, "intentional" communities.

01:070:361    Hunters and Gatherers [3]
Prerequisite: 01:070:101 or permission of instructor

A consideration of data from Aboriginal Australia, the Southern African Bushman, and elsewhere, in light of social theory, including gender studies.

Syllabus: Cronk 2003

Sexual differences in primates; implications for social, economic, and political relationships in contemporary society. Cross-cultural comparison. Adaptive and maladaptive features of sociosexual patterns.

01:070:390    Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Anatomy [3]
Prerequisite: 01:070:102

Human fossil record during Plio-Pleistocene; taxonomy, phylogenetics, and functional morphology.  Origins of Hominidae, diversity in Australopithecus and Paranthropus, rise of Homo and of Homo sapiens.  Casts and published reports; methods of inference.

Identification of animal bones, teeth, and other faunal remains in archaeological contexts. Quantifying number of individuals and skeletal elements; butchery techniques and bone modification, and their implications for archaeological interpretation.

Intensive study of major figures in physical anthropological thought. Origins and spread of new ideas; methods of study of humans and non-human primates.

Syllabi: Palombit & Steklis 2000 (Primate Cognition);     Cachel 2004 (Evolution Hominidae)

Selected topics and problems in archaeology.

Syllabus: Dillian 2003

Focused consideration of current research and explanatory theory, on topics ranging from hominid origins to Holocene adaptations in Africa.

Analysis of molecular evolution of human and primate genomes, genetic and phenotypic evolution, the genetic basis of being human, and primate phylogeny.

Syllabus: Chiu 2003

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