Guides: ANTH 121 Guide for Dr. Sarah King: Impacts on Evolution: Articles

Impact of the Black Death

The Anthropology of Infectious Disease / Maria C. Inhorn
Review of anthropological works on infectious diseases, which have profoundly affected both human history and biology; claimed more lives than all wars, noninfectious diseases, and natural disasters taken together; and caused human populations to adapt on genetic and cultural levels.
Between Famine and Death: England on the Eve of the Black Death—Evidence from Paleoepidemiology and Manorial Accounts / Sharon DeWitte and Philip Slavin
Archaeological findings provide evidence of selective mortality during the 14th-century epidemic known as the Black Death.
The Black Death / Kristina Lenz and Nils Hybel
Theories concerning the origin of the Black Death, its routes of dissemination in the Nordic countries and across the British Isles, and the pattern of that dissemination with trade routes throughout northern Europe in the period up to and including 1350.
The Black Death Versus HIV / Ross Douthat, Terrence Henry, and Marshall Poe
About 10 percent of Europe's present-day population seems resistant to HIV, more than on other continents. This is traced to a genetic mutation from 2,500 years ago that protects white blood cells against penetration by HIV. The mutation protected Europeans against the Black Death.
The Black Death’s Gift of Life / A. T. McPhee
Certain survivors of the Black Death might have passed on to their descendants a kind of resistance to AIDS in the form of the gene CCR5.
The Case for Selection at CCR5-Δ32 / Sabeti, et al.
Previous studies have suggested that CCR5-Δ32 arose within the past 1,000 years and rose to its present high frequency (5%-14%) in Europe as a result of strong positive selection, perhaps by such selective agents as the bubonic plague or smallpox during the Middle Ages.
Detection of the CCR5-?32 HIV Resistance Gene in Bronze Age Skeletons / S. Hummel, D. Schmidt, B. Kremeyer, B. Herrmann, and M. Oppermann
Discovery in 2900-year-old skeletal remains of the of the mutant CCR5 allele believed to have conferred immunity to the plague in medieval times, and which also confers resistance to HIV-1 infection.
Mortality Risk and Survival in the Aftermath of the Medieval Black Death
This study investigates whether the combination of the selective mortality of the Black Death and post-epidemic improvements in standards of living had detectable effects on survival and mortality in London.
Reflections on Crisis Burials Related to Past Plague Epidemics / M. Signoli
Discusses the interest in plagues as a topic of study due to its recurring influence on demography and the evolution of human societies at both the biological and cultural levels.
Role of Viruses in Human Evolution
Shared viruses could have affected hominid species diversity both by promoting divergence and by weeding out less resistant host populations, while viruses carried by humans and other animals migrating out of Africa may have contributed to declines in other populations.

Impact of Extreme Environments

Ancient Tropical Climates Warm San Francisco Gathering / Richard A. Kerr
Reports on topics presented at the 1993 American Geophysical Union meeting, including climate history of the tropics in the ice age, the effect of the ice age on human evolution and the role of the Milankovitch cycle in mid-range climate periodicity.
Century-Scale Holocene Processes as a Source of Natural Selection Pressure in Human Evolution: Holocene Climate and the Human Genome Project / Alison J. Smith
Research from the Human Genome Project includes discovery of extremely recent evolutionary changes in the human genome, shows that positive selection pressure occurred during the Holocene age. Certain periods stand out as significant times for rapid human evolution, in concert with shifts in climate and environment.
Climate Change Shaped Humans / Michael Slezak
Topics associated with impact of changing climate on the evolution of humans, including the correlation of highly variable climate and milestones in human evolution; development and spread of adaptable skills; and the impact of topography and plate tectonics on human evolution.
The Emergence of Intelligence / William H. Calvin
The article cites various studies and principles that contemplate on the evolution of human intelligence. Rapid climate changes may have promoted behavioral flexibility in the ancestors of modern humans. Early humans may have needed considerable intellectual resources to survive.
Evolution and Environmental Change in Early Human Prehistory / Richard Potts
Bipedality, toolmaking, dispersal of Homo erectus, extinction of Neanderthals, and the global spread H. sapiens suggest that significant events in human origins tended to occur during lengthy eras of strong climate fluctuation.
Evolutionary Pulse Found, But Complexity as Well / Richard A. Kerr
Discusses the connection between climate change and human origins based upon analysis of fossils from southern Ethiopia.
Human Evolution (Climate Change: In Context, Vol. 2, Gale) / Larry Gilman
Changes in the ancient African climate may have triggered crucial events in human evolution: development of bipedal (two-footed, upright) walking, selective pressure creating conditions favoring characteristics that had not previously been needed. Separate climate changes further shifted our ancestors toward the modern human form.
Is Intelligence Inevitable? / Kate Douglas
Argues that intelligence is an adaptation that evolved because it is the best way to survive in a particular ecological niche - evolution's answer to unpredictability. Animals that live in shifting environments need to be flexible, to be able to weigh up new situations and act accordingly.
Out of Arid Africa: Debate Heats Up on Whether Climate Change Sparks Evolutionary Outbursts / Richard Monastersky
Comments on Elisabeth Vrba's turnover pulse theory, which states that environmental changes markedly quicken the pace of specie extinctions and originations. Climatic upheavals may have also shaped human evolution.
Twilight of the Neandertals / Kate Wong
Discusses the extinction of Neandertals and the mystery surrounding their disappearance. Topics include an in-depth examination of extinction theories that focus on climate change and the differences in behavior and biology that may have given an advantage to Homo sapiens.

Impact of Agriculture

4000 Years of Human Dietary Evolution in Central Germany, From the First Farmers to the First Elites / Angelina Münster, et al.
In order to provide insight into the development of human food consumption and husbandry strategies, our study explores bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 466 human and 105 faunal individuals from 26 sites in central Germany.
5000 Years of Dietary Variations of Prehistoric Farmers in the Great Hungarian Plain / Beatriz Gamarra, et al.
Reports on the development of farming as a catalyst for the evolution of the human diet, and how dietary choices continued to develop during subsequent millennia.
Animal Source Foods and Human Health During Evolution / C. S. Larsen
Discusses the effects of meat in the human diet over the course of human evolution. A study of human remains reveals that the dietary changes that followed the shift from hunting and gathering beginning approximately 10,000 y ago resulted a decline in health.
Dawn of a Continent / Colin Barras
Discusses human evolution among prehistoric peoples in Europe from 45,000 years ago through 4,500 years ago, including humans' relations with Neanderthals, prehistoric agriculture and farmers and human evolution's impact on Western civilization.
Demic Expansions and Human Evolution / Luigi L. Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza
Population growths that began after the Paleolithic, especially with the spread of agriculture, progressively reduced the drift in population and the resulting genetic differentiation. Genetic traces of the expansions that these growths determined are still recognizable.
Genes, Culture, and Agriculture: An Example of Human Niche Construction / Michael J. O’Brien and Kevin N. Laland
Explores gene-culture coevolution in recent human history and proposes a framework with which archaeologists and anthropologists can explore coevolutionary dynamics like the evolution of dairying by Neolithic groups in Europe and Africa and the rise of the “sickle-cell allele” among certain agricultural groups in West Africa.
Harnessing Ancient Genomes to Study the History of Human Adaptation / Stephanie Marciniak and George H. Perry
With the human reference genome as a cornerstone and benefiting from advances in genotyping and sequencing technology, evolutionary population genetic analyses have greatly aided the study of human biological adaptation.
How Civilization Started / John Lanchester
Discusses evolution and development of human civilization; advantages and disadvantages of hunting and gathering over farming and settlement; impact of agricultural innovations and the domestication of animals on civilization.
Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America / Bruce D. Smith
As a result of research carried out over the past decade, eastern North America now provides one of the most detailed records of the origins of agriculture available.

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ANTH 121 Guide for Dr. Sarah King: Impacts on Evolution: Articles

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Impact of the Black Death

Impact of Extreme Environments

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