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Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Teaching
Biological Anthropology
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Unit 3

Early Homo Sapiens

Biological anthropologists place the initial emergence of our species, Homo sapiens, around 300,000 years ago. In this unit, students will learn about the evolution of our species and read about some of the many questions biological anthropologists are still asking about our ancestors.

Sapiens articles
Hobbit hominin evolution
essay / News

New Discovery Expands the Hobbit Family Tree

Emma Marris
Fossil finds are challenging our understanding of the diminutive hominins discovered in Indonesia in 2003.
early human migrations
essay / Unearthed

Will Asia Rewrite Human History?

Sara Toth Stub
Politics, geography, and tradition have long focused archaeological attention on the evolution of Homo sapiens in Europe and Africa. Now, new research is challenging old ideas by showing that early human migrations unfolded across Asia far earlier than previously known.
Keywords
Professor Talking Points
  • Lay out the evidence scientists use to piece together the story of human evolution.
  • Explain different hypotheses about why Homo sapiens persisted until today and other species in the Homo genus went extinct.
  • Explore what it means to be human and what distinguishes anatomically modern humans from other related and ancestral species.
Academic Articles

  1. Facchini, Fiorenzo. 2006. “Culture, Speciation, and the Genus Homo in Early Humans.” Human Evolution 21: 51–57.

  2. Shea, John J. 2011. “Homo sapiens Is as Homo sapiens Was: Behavioral Variability Versus ‘Behavioral Modernity’ in Paleolithic Archaeology.” Current Anthropology 52 (1): 1–35.

  3. Tryon, Christian, and Shara Bailey. 2013.“Testing Models of Modern Human Origins With Archaeology and Anatomy.” Nature Education Knowledge 4 (3): 4.

Student Discussion Questions
  1. What kinds of morphological features differentiate early Homo sapiens from other Homo species?
  2. How does the 2020 SAPIENS article by Sara Toth Stub challenge prior theories about Homo sapiens’ migration out of the African continent?
Activities
  • Have students watch this TED Talk by Zeresenay Alemseged “The Search for Humanity’s Roots” and generate a class discussion on why societies invest so much in pursuit of illuminating humanity’s origins.
  • In class or through individual work, have students carefully explore the Smithsonian Institution’s interactive on the Human Family Tree.
Additional Resources

  1. Article: SAPIENS’ “How Eating Rat Stew Serves Hobbit Research”

  2. Article: SAPIENS’ “Were Neanderthals More Than Cousins to Homo Sapiens?”

  3. TED Talk: Svante Pääbo’s “DNA Clues to Our Inner Neanderthal”

  4. TED Talk: Robert Sapolsky’s “The Uniqueness of Humans”

Unit By

Eshe Lewis (2020)

Teaching
Biological Anthropology
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Unit 4

Human Genetic Variation

is race real