[4] ANT285 Concepts and Methods in Biological Anthropology (Online)

Instructor: Craig Hadley

Course Description: The overall goal of this course is to build an understanding of how we came to be the way we are. A second goal is to understand how we know what we know about our evolutionary past. We achieve these goals by covering the biological aspects of the human species from comparative and evolutionary perspectives. We will investigate the evolution of our species - and others - though the study of genetics, inheritance, population biology, and the basic principles of evolution. We will also rely on the comparative method; that is we will draw on evidence from other animals, particularly the nonhuman primates and review their ecology, anatomy, morphology, and behavior to gain insights into our own evolutionary past. Finally, we examine cultural evolution and the evolution of human adaptability. Through several case studies we will investigate the ways that populations are adapted to their local contexts and we will explore the demographic and environmental consequences of human’s unique biocultural capacities. Through these multiple lines of evidence we hope to create a single picture of the emergence of our species.

My role: I was responsible for grading and running online lab sessions. I also delivered several guest lectures in the form of video recordings, covering topics such as R language basics, genetic inheritance, natural selection, and skull measurements using 3d models.