ANTH 232 - Topics in Biological Anthropology

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course covers topics within the broad field of biological (or physical) anthropology ranging from evolutionary theory to the human fossil record to the identification of human skeletal remains from crime scenes and accidents. Bioanthropology conceptualizes cultural behavior as an integral part of our behavior as a species. Topics covered in this course may include human evolution, primate behavior, population genetics, human demography and variation, or forensic anthropology.

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Topic for 2014/15a: The Anthropology of Death. Skeletal remains of past populations have been a focus of interest for biological anthropologists, archaeologists, and medical practitioners since the nineteenth century. This course introduces students to (1) biomedical archaeology: the study of health and disease, and the demographic, genetic, and environmental [natural, cultural and social] factors that affect a population’s risk for specific diseases; (2) forensic anthropology: the study of identifying the dead and the cause of death; (3) paleopathology: the study of injury and disease in ancient skeletons; and (4) cross-cultural attitudes toward death, including such things as issues of grave goods and monuments, and controversies that arise between bio-anthropologists, archaeologists and communities when the spiritual value of ancestral bones is pitted against their scientific value. Ms. Pike-Tay.

Prerequisites: ANTH 100 , ANTH 120 , or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.