Abstract
What makes you " human"? This is our driving question this semester. We begin with the origins of evolutionary thought: the earliest scholars of human antiquity, Darwin, and how scientists understand evolution today. We move through archaeological time: from Australopithecus afarensis to Homo sapiens, exploring combined shifts in biology and culture. Students learn about hominin evolution, origins of archaeological cultures and technology, dispersals, speech, art, and the origins of agriculture and social organization. What are tools? Are they a signifier of humanity? Were Homo sapiens the only humans on earth? And what about art – when and why did it begin? We pull from different textbooks, peer-reviewed articles, and news sources. We contextualize discoveries against relevant sociocultural milieu, considering how knowledge discovery, dissemination, and inception of knowledge is shaped by contemporary culture. This introductory level course is interdisciplinary and STEM majors will see familiar topics: evolution, ecology, and genetics. Students will quickly discover that Archaeologists and Anthropologists examine these same topics through a cultural lens. Students will leave this class thinking about connections between science and culture, humanity's origins, and our future.