WELCOME TO VAGABOND GEOLOGY WHERE GEOLOGY ROCKS!
2016 - Darwin to DNA: The Evolution of Homo Sapiens
The Vagabonds, Sandi Phillips & Rocky Romero, research areas of geology, climate change, anthropology, archaeology, paleobiology, and paleogenetics, that demonstrate the evolution of modern Homo sapiens and their migration from Africa into the rest of the world; showing that we are all connected by our DNA.
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Session 1 - Our world through geologic time: Introduction to plate tectonics, mantle convection, and the East African Rift. Introduction to Human history: timeline of human development, hominin timeline, and hominin family tree. Introduction to Theory of Evolution: hominin evolution beginning in Tanzania, Laetoli & Olduvai archeological sites. (721MB)
| week1-east_africa-senioru.pptx |
Session 2 - Dispersal into Africa: dispersal pathways, South Africa's 'cradle of humankind', Australopithecus africanus, "Ms Ples" & "Little Foot". Techniques for age dating hominin remains. Extinction theory of earlier hominin species. Mystery of the newest species discovery: Naledi. (45.2MB)
| week2-south_africa-su.pptx |
Session 3 - Evolution Timeline & parallel species; "Out of Africa" competing theories; Distribution of early humans fossils; How did geology facilitate evolution; Tracing the steps from Africa to Europe and into France; "Toba Catastrophe"- a "near miss" on Homo Sapiens; Grotto de Lascaux, France; Cro-Magnon Man. (77.8MB)
| week3-europe-r3_su.pptx |
Session 4 - Putting brain size evolution in perspective; three important implications of the "Out of Africa" theory; intro to Genetics and DNA; brief history of genetic research; DNA mutation and how that gave us "Haplogroups"; migration of haplogroups around the World; DNA testing; Neolithic Banpo People of Xi'an, China. (41.7MB)
| week4-asia-su.pptx |
Session 5: Geology- formation of glaciers, glacial ages and climate change in geologic time, and pathways into the Americas: Beringia land bridge. Paleogenetics-DNA analyses of Homo remains -- Lake Baikal & Denisova Cave in Siberia, Yupiks in Siberia & Canada, and On-your-knees cave in Alaska. (65.3MB)
| week5-beringia-s.u..pptx |
Session 6 - One additional Migration Hypothesis, "The Solutrean Hypothesis", explained; Buttermilk Complex & Gault Site, Florence, Texas; review of topics discussed over last 6 weeks (38.6MB)
| week6-americas_-su.pptx |