Fully Modern Homo sapiens
 A. African origins, ca. 100,000 - 200,000 y.a.
  B. Arrive in Asia, ca. 100,000 y.a.
  B. Arrive in Europe & Australia, ca. 40,000 y.a.
  C. Arrive in Americas, ca. 30 - 12,000 y.a.
Death makes evolution possible
Death is a necessary part of a species ability to survive
Human evolution is unique because of the extent of our dependence upon culture
Transition to Food Production
 A. Semi nomadic hunting and gathering (Natufians), 12,000 - 10,000 y.a.
  B. Early dry farming and caprine domestication, 10,000 - 7,500 y.a.
  C. Increasing specialization in food production, 7,500 - 5,500 y.a.
  D. Origin of state (Sumer), 5,500 y.a.

Human interdependence with domesticated plants & animals
Independent domestication of plants and animals
Cultural adaptations integrates human life cycles with those of plants and animals
Independent domestication in seven key locations around the globe
World’s major foods
Transformation of life, millet & corn
Domestication: A human advancement?
Human history not a tale of progress
Hunting and gathering as a comfortable lifestyle
Increased food production brings both benefits and costs
Human relationship with death dramatically transformed
Genetic erosion: death of our food supply
Genetic erosion rapidly increasing in global economy
Death by plague
Death by starvation
Disproportionate impact of death from starvation in world today
Death from freezing
Death from flooding
Death from drought
Sumer and Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, ca. 4,700 y.a.
Earliest written sources, ca. 4,000 y.a.
Enkidu & Gilgamesh as representatives of two worlds

Iraq’s Ancient Heritage
Archaeology: the science of death
Invention of Writing: the science of immortality

return to syllabus