UNIT 1. Natural History and the Spread of Humankind 1. 37048 Stand and Deliver: Why Did Early Hominids Begin to Walk on Two Feet?,Ian Tattersall, Natural History , November 2003 What gothumankindstarted on its uniqueevolutionarytrajectory? The ability to walk upright on two feet—bipedalismis what it’s called—allowedhominidsto outshine theirprehistoriccousins. As their environment changed, they adapted. Once they had the ability to hunt and taste red meat, the competition was over. Bipedalism was here to stay! So was meat! 2. 45695 Redrawing Humanity's Family Tree,John Noble Wilford, The New York Times , August 6, 2002 Two ancient skulls, one from Africa, the other from Georgia… (formerly part of the Soviet Union), offer clues regardinghuman origins. They might change the waypaleoanthropologistsview such questions such as when humans andprimatesparted ways, and when our earliest ancestors from Africa left there for greener pastures.Human evolutionawaits these and further discoveries that will shed light onHomo sapiens’ true ancestry. 3. 18656 Mapping the , Past,Adam Goodheart, Civilization , March/April 1996 Genetic historians are usingDNA analysisto track the migration of human beings.American Indianscan be traced to a region of Mongolia, andPolynesianshave been tracked to southeast Asia. DNA markers may eventually provide a “map” of the entire human species. 4. 37055 First Americans,Karen Wright, Discover , February 1999 Long thought that thefirst humansin the New World crossed theBering Straitat the end of theIce Age, recentarchaeologicalevidence seems to indicate that none of this may be true. Scientists continued to search for clues pertaining to who, how, and when the earliestAmericansarrived. 5. 22065 Japanese Roots,Jared Diamond, Discover , June 1998 The origins of theJapanese peopleoffer a mystery. Genetically they are similar to other Asians, especially Koreans, but their language is distinctly different. Interpretations of Japanese origins are complicated by myth and long-standing enmities. UNIT 2. The Beginnings of Culture, Agriculture, and Cities 6. 35830 Prehistory of Warfare,Steven A. LeBlanc, Archaeology , May/June 2003 According to Steven LeBlanc, humans have been at each others’ throats since theprehistoric era. This predilection for organizedviolencehas been largely ignored by previous archaeologists, even though LeBlanc finds evidence in every corner of the world.Warsin prehistoric times—should we be surprised? 7. 37049 Writing Gets a Rewrite,Andrew Lawler, Science , June 29, 2001 The commonly-held belief thatwritingbegan inMesopotamiafive thousand years ago is being challenged by researchers today. Evidence gathered in recent years indicates that it may have developed simultaneously inMesopotamia, Egypt, and theIndus River valley. But the findings, while promising, are not conclusive enough to make a case for that theory. Perhaps future discoveries will shed new light on this important question. 8. 37050 Time and the River: Life in Ancient Egypt Was Geared to the Annual Nile Flood,John Bain