M. Sc. (H.S.) IN ANTHROPOLOGY 1st year Semester-I

M. Sc. (H.S.) IN ANTHROPOLOGY 1st year Semester-I

M. Sc. (H.S.) 1^st year

Semester-I

Paper :                                                                                                            Marks

Ass.     Test     Total

AHS- 411        Physical Anthropology and Race Biology

Total: 65

Semester Exam.: 50

Internal Assessment: 15

Objectives: This paper introduces the student to two areas of Physical Anthropology, namely, the basic concept of the Subject, Conceptualization of Evolution (since the course is open for students from non biology backgrounds) and Human ethno-biology.  The paper lays the basis for the student to understand further course work in Anthropology. This paper will increase the skill of its pursuant in the area of working with and using concepts to work in the context of human ethno-biological diversity. The paper will help the student to use a holistic approach while working in human situations.

SECTION-I

            History and scope of Physical Anthropology, its relationship with other branches of Anthropology.

                                                                    SECTION-II

 Theories of evolution, contribution of Lamarck, Darwin, Weismann, Mendel and De Vries, Neo-Lamarckism and Neo-Darwinism.  Speciation and characteristics of evolution.

   SECTION-III

            Race concept-historical development, formation of race, morphological and genetical definition of race, UNESCO statement of race.   Racial differences in Physical characters such as skin, eye, hair, nose, head and variations in other bodily proportions.

                                                                     SECTION-IV

Distribution of racial varieties in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania in general and India in particular. 

Note:  

1.                  For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.

2.                  Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.

3.                  All question will carry equal marks.

AHS 412         Prehistoric Archaeology

Total: 65

Semester Exam.: 50

Internal Assessment: 15

Objectives: This introductory course is designed to provide students with an understanding of European and Indian prehistory from the time of the earliest hominids to the development of the civilizations. The students will receive both lectures and hands-on-instructions in the principles, techniques, methods and theory of Prehistoric Archaeology with actual artifacts and other material remains from various archaeological sites. The course ------ basic archaeological concepts and methods and post-glacial environments in Europe and India. The main goal of the course is to instill an understanding and appreciation of the record of European and Indian prehistory through artifacts and archaeological sites.

SECTION-1

            Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology: Aims and its scope; Major branches of archaeology and its relationship with other social, biological and natural sciences.

            Place of Pleistocene in the geological time-scale and its importance.  Climatic conditions during Pleistocene in Europe and India. Pleistocene Glaciations: evidences and causes.

                                                                    SECTION-II

            Land forms and the processes involved in their formation.  Types and nature of sedimentary deposits- fluvial, glacial, lacustrine, aeolian, spring, cave and marine.  Sedimentary deposits as indicative of climate and hydrology.

    SECTION-III

            Principles of Prehistoric Archaeology. Archaeological sites: Probable Archaeological sites; how a site is formed, and their classification.

            Excavation and Recording: Kinds of excavation, excavation records and their importance.

                                                                    SECTION-IV

            Dating Methods: Relative and Absolute.

            Natural tools and man-made artifacts- different natural agencies at work and origin of techniques of Stone Age tools.

Note:  

1.   For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of  the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.

2. Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.
3. All question will carry equal marks.

AHS 413         Palaeoanthropology

Total: 65

Semester Exam. : 50

Internal Assessment: 15

Objectives: This course is designed to provide basic knowledge about the fundamental concepts of palaeoanthropology. The paper introduces the subject of palaeoanthropology to the beginners by providing conceptual palaeontological, geological and anthropological knowledge necessary to understand the subject of palaeoanthropology. The main aim of the paper is to sufficiently equip a student with fundamental concepts and techniques of palaeoanthropology so that he/she can understand and appreciate the advanced concepts of human evolution to be taught in M.Sc. (Hons.) Second Year.

SECTION-I

            Introduction: Aims, objectives, problems, affinities with other disciplines and historical development of Palaeoanthropology.  Fossils and their preservation and processes of fossilization. 

                                                                    SECTION-II

Principles of stratigraphy and correlation.  Dating methods- Relative and Chronometric dating.

  SECTION-III

            Taxonomy and rules of nomenclature.  Succession of life through ages with stress on Cenozoic Era.

                                                                   SECTION-IV

            Siwalik Group – Nomenclature, stratigraphy, fauna and flora and Palaeoanthropological significance of Siwaliks. Evolution of dentitition with special emphasis on primate dentition.  Various trends in primate evolution – Continental drift, food habits and alternative interpretation etc.

Note:  

1.   For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.

2. Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.

      3.   All question will carry equal marks

AHS 414         Social Anthropology

Total: 65

Semester Exam. : 50

Internal Assessment: 15

Objectives: Study of man, culture and society in its various hues acquaints students to the story

of human civilization.  It tells how basic concepts that govern social survival of societies and various social systems are formed over the years.  The paper is an introductory course, that introduces students to the basic concepts used in social science research.  It also deals with various social institutions namely marriage family and kinship. The paper briefly discusses concept of tribe, caste and civilization.  While emphasizing applications of anthropology in society, the course concludes addressing questions of social and cultural change.  The course proposes two class seminars at the end of each unit and eight assignments two from four units of the prescribed syllabus.

SECTION-I

            Introduction to the study of Man, Culture and Society. Aims, scope and methods of social-cultural anthropology. Subdivisions of Social-cultural anthropology. Ethnology, Ethnography, Social anthropology and cultural anthropology.  Relationship with other disciplines especially sociology, psychology and history.

            Brief history of the development of social-cultural anthropology.  Schools of thought: Classical Evolutionism, Historical Particularism, Diffusionism, Functionalism Structural Functionalism, Culture and Personality.  Twentieth century Evolutionism, Structuralism.

                                                                        SECTION-II

            Basic concepts: society, culture, civilization: Ethos and Eidos: Culture Trait, Culture Complex; Community, Caste, Sanctions.

            The concept of culture, Culture as an explanatory and a descriptive concept.  The reality of culture, explicit and implicit culture; culture and subcultures, culture and the individual; culture and ecology.

SECTION-III

            Family, Marriage and Kinship.

            Incest, exogamy and endogamy.  Theories of incest.

            Forms and functions of family; universality of family; typological and processual approaches to the study of family; household and domestic groups; stability and change in the family, impact of industrialization, urbanization, education and feminist movements on the family.

                                                            SECTION-IV

            The problem of universal definition of marriage; forms and functions of marriage; nature of marriage in small-scale societies; ways of acquiring mates in simple societies; preferential and prescriptive forms of marital alliances.  Marriage and rules of residence.

            Nature of Kinship; Descent and Filiation; Non-unilineal descent; Kindred; Descent Groups: Lineage, clan, phratry, moiety, Unilineal, Double descent and Bilineal descent, Descent and Alliance theories of kinship.  Kinship usages and kinship terminology.

Note:  

1. For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.
2. Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.
3. All questions will carry equal marks

AHS 415         Transmission & Molecular Genetics

Total: 65

Semester Exam.: 50

Internal Assessment: 15

Objectives: The course is designed to impart basic knowledge of concepts and fundamentals of the science of Human Genetics.  The course aims to enhance skills of the students so that they are adequately equipped to pursue research in the field of human genetics.  Besides, the knowledge is imparted with emphasis to explain how prevalence of diseases existing in the present day human populations be explained on basis of genetic evolutionary and bio-cultural principles.  Each student has to participate in workshops and seminar based on problems relating to human genetics.

SECTION-I

Introduction to Genetics, Mendelism, Mendelism in man, Chromosomal theory and Gene theory of heredity, Genetic nomenclature, testing gene mutations for allelism: complementation test, intragenic complementation

Extension of Mendelian principles: Dominance relations, multiple allelism, Genotype to phenotype: penetrance and expressivity, effect of the environment on phenotype development; Gene interactions and modifying genes, Suppressor genes, Lethal genes

                                                             SECTION-II

Linkage, Types of linkage, crossing over and recombination, Interference and coincidence, genetic recombination and construction of genetic maps, genetic mapping of Mendelian traits: Identifying recombinants and non-recombinants in pedigrees, Genetic and physical map distances, Two-point mapping, Multipoint mapping, Linkage in man; Direct and indirect analysis of linkage , pedigree method: y and u statistics, sib pair method, Lod-score method

                                                              SECTION -III

DNA is the genetic material, Evidences in favour of DNA being the genetic material, DNA structure, Organization of eukaryotic gene; Eukaryotic genome: C-value paradox, Repetitive DNA, General concept of a gene, Gene families, Non-coding genes

Replication in bacterial and eukaryotic chromosomes: DNA polymerases, Replicons, origin and termination, Replisome.

                                                               SECTION-IV

Transcription: Transcription factors, RNA polymerase, Formation of primary transcript: initiation, elongation and termination, Processing of primary transcript to mature mRNA. Translation: Structure and functions of Ribosomes and tRNAs, General mechanism of translation.

Basics of human gene mapping: Assigning genes to chromosomes and determining the location of genes on the chromosomes, somatic cell genetics and its extensions;

Low resolution mapping – Cell hybridization, mini- and micro-satellites, Radiation hybrid mapping

Note:  

1.   For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.

2. Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.

3.   All questions will carry equal marks

AHS 416         Descriptive Statistics and Research Methods

                        (Part A Descriptive Statistics (Theory Paper)

Total: 35

Semester Exam.: 25

Internal Assessment: 10

Objectives: This paper introduces the student to the fundamentals of Univariate Statistics that is necessary for population studies. The paper enables the student to understand and apply descriptive statistics. The main objective is to enable the student to understand and apply statistical techniques in anthropological and population research. This course will also develop necessary skills to make simple analysis and presentations of the data. The skills acquired as a result of this course will enable the student to seek careers in various fields of population research and services.

SECTION-I

            Introduction to Statistics; use of statistics in anthropological research. Levels of measurement nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales.  Fundamental concepts of population, samples, variables, parameter and statistics, frequency, proportion, percentages and ratios.  Graphical representation of data frequency curves.

                                                                   SECTON-II

            Measures of central tendency, mean, median and mode.  Measures of dispersion: range, interquartile range, 10-90 percentile range, standard deviation and variance.  Moments-moment coefficients of skewness and kurtosis.

SECTION-III

            Concept of probability-properties and uses. Bayes theorem, Normal, Binomial and Poisson distribution.

                                                                   SECTION-IV

Sampling methods and sampling theory.  Confidence limits, levels of significance and critical region Type I and Type II errors.  Standard error of a statistic.

Note:  

1.   For the semester examination a total of nine questions will be set, two each from each of the sections I, II, III, IV. There will be one compulsory question of 8 to 10 short answer type questions covering the whole syllabus. There will be no choice in the compulsory question.

2. Students will be required to attempt five questions, choosing one question from each of the sections I, II, III, IV and the compulsory question.

3.      All questions will carry equal marks.

Part B: Research Methods (Practical)

Total: 30

Semester Exam.: 24

Internal Assessment: 06

Library Research: Consulting source material, Preparing Bibliography, use of abbreviations in scientific writing.

           

            Writing research proposals and preparing research design.  Basic concepts: Theory, Fact, Concept, Hypothesis. 

           

Role of Field work in Anthropology. Field Research: Techniques of Data collection. Preparation of Census schedules for the collection of household and village census in the context of preliterate and semiliterate populations.

AHS 417         Practical in Physical Anthropology I

Total: 55

Semester Exam.: 44

Internal Assessment: 11

Objectives: This Practical paper helps the student to understand the gross anatomy of the human skeleton. The work is done on actual skeletal material (of which the department has several).

The student is enabled to acquire knowledge of the human skeleton that is essential in the pursuit of careers and research in human evolution, human growth and development, forensic sciences, primatology and applied Para- medical sciences.

Section A:       Human Osteology – General concepts and descriptive terminology, macroscopic and microscopic structures of bone, process of ossification, features and classification of bones.

Exterior of the skull – Norma verticalis,  Norma occipitalis, Norma lateralis, Norma frontalis, Norma basalis.  Identification of disarticulated major bones of the skull.

Vertebral column; Distinguishing features of Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar Vertebrae; Sacrum, Thoracic cage.

Section B:       Somatometry of Cranium and face and determination of Indices, Somatoscopy.

Objectives: In this practical, students are taught scientific methods and techniques for taking various measurements and observations on the living man.  The skill acquired by the students will be extremely helpful in carrying out research in the field of human growth and development, forensic science and skeletal biology.  The practical will involve study on human beings. 

AHS 418         Practical in Studies in Human Evolution I

Total: 55

Semester Exam.: 44

Internal Assessment: 11

Objectives: The course is aimed to provide practical training in the laboratory and field techniques used in palaeoanthropology. The course includes practical training is imparted to the students in various techniques used in the collection, preparation, identification, illustration, moulding and casting and photography of fossil material. Training is also imparted in the identification of various rock types and the use of essential field equipment. The class-room teaching is supplemented with field-trips to palaeoanthropological and archaeological sites.

How and where to look for fossils.  Equipment and techniques for collection, washing & screening, field cataloguing, transportation, etc. of fossils.

           

            Identification of major rock types. Structure and use of clinometer compass (dip and strike, toposheet reading and mapping).  Chemical and Mechanical techniques for the preparation of fossils with particular reference to primates, field and laboratory photography, Moulding and casting.