04328 - Paleoanthropology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire when and where the hunam evolution occurred trhoughout the fossil record and the cultural manifestations of the prehistoric humans.

Course contents

The course is for the students of the School of Sciences (for which it consists of 4 CFU) and of the School of Art, Humanities and Cultural Heritage (LM: Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, for which it consists of 6 CFU) and it is done in the same hours.The program is common, except for some topics, below specified, for the students of the LM Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico.

 

In the course the natural history of humans will be told through the fossil record and its chronological and geographical framework. To understand the evolutionary process, a comparative approach is made between the skeletal variability of modern humans, that of the living Primates and that of some fossil remains. In this context, the main features of modern human biology (upright posture, biopedism, hand release from locomotor function, encephalization) will be explained. The changes of the ecological niche in the different phases of the human evolution will be dealt with the study of biology and cultural innovations (fire, diet, lithic technology, sociality, funerary behavior) and in particular those occurred in the Pliocene-Pleistocene and Pleistocene-Holocene transitions .

 

The program of the students of the LM Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico foresees supplementary topics related to the funerary practices and rituals during the human evolution (see Readings/Bibliography).

Readings/Bibliography

Manzi G. L'evoluzione umana. Ed. Il Mulino, Bologna, 2007.

 

The slides of the lessons will be provided. They can vary in relation to the scientific innovations that emerge from year to year. Specific papers can be provided for further insights.

 

Supplementary bibliography only for the students of the LM Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico:

Pettitt P (2011) The Palaeolithic Origins oh human burial. Routledge. Taylor and Francis Groups. London and New York.

The teacher will indicate some parts of the books for the study.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons and laboratories will be held by the teacher to compare and recognize the different skeletons of the human and non-human Primates. Moulds of the most important human fossils housed at the Museum of Anthropology will be also analyzed.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral examination in which the student have to explain the chronological phases of the human evolution, the geographical location of the fossils, the criteria for recognizing the human fossils, and the cultural aspects related to the human evolution.

 

The students of the School of Arts, Humanities and Cultural Heritage who attend the 6CFU course can make a power point presentation on a topic chosen from those that were handled during the course previously agreed with the teacher. The power point presentation must be done no later than 15 minutes. After the presentation the teacher intervenes with questions that allow to appreciate the overall level of preparation.



For all students and in general:

The evaluation will take into account not only the preparation of the required arguments, but also the capacity of synthesis and expression, the adequate and correct scientific terminology and the critical sense.

Teaching tools

Computer projector, PC, laboratory hands-on, visit at the Museum of Anthropology

Office hours

See the website of Maria Giovanna Belcastro