1. What Makes Us Human?
Anthropology's Answer

2. How Do Humans fit in? Social scientists look for answers in:
Genetics: the science of inheritance
Influences of environment and heredity (transmitting of characteristics from parents to offspring)
trace evolutionary development of humans

3. Anthropology
Age of Exploration – 15-16th century – discovery of new species of plants
Explorers – interacted with Aboriginal people in North and South America
Carolus Linnaeus – first to classify plants and animals according to structures

4. 18/19th Century- discoveries indicated that humans existed on earth for a long time
Discovery of fossils Charles Darwin – discoveries in South America lead to theory of Evolution
Theory of Natural Selection – process by which animals and plants best adapted to their environment survive and produce similar offspring

5. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

6. The Galapagos Islands Where Darwin studied
He proposed that the ancestral finches who came to the islands, finding no competitors or predators came to occupy the variety of ecological niches on the islands
geographic isolation prevented breeding between those in different areas resulting in a subspecies of finches

7. The Finches
He saw:
ground finches which ate food on the ground or in low shrubs
tree finches who live primarily on insects

8. The Science behind the Theory
We now know that inherited variation comes about through mutation, random assortment of chromosomes and genes, sexual reproduction where two parents contribute (different) genes to the offspring, and out breeding between different populations of the same species.

9. Converging Evolution

10. Homologous structures are those that develop from similar embryological origins. Analogous organs are those that are adapted to the same purpose. Some organs are both homologous and analogous.

11. Humans and Evolution

13. Gregor Mendal – provided theoretical background for genetics as part of evolution
Patterns of evolutions established
1924 – R. DART discovers fossilized child in South Africa (Australopithecus Africanus), postulates that Humans originated in Africa not Asia as was believed before

14. Classification
Classifying plants and animals according to similarities and differences in the physical structures

15. Human classifications
Kingdom: animal
Phylum: Chordata (having a backbone)
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: Sapiens

16. Human Classifications
Primates: humans, apes, monkeys
Subdivided into 10 categories
Humans – HOMINIDAE – from “Hominids” by anthropologists
We have larger braincase than other primates
Teeth are placed in rounded arches
Big toes are not opposable (able to grasp things)
Modern humans ONLY surviving members of this group
HOMO – man, SAPIENS – “wise and intelligent”