This course examines the field of palaeoanthropology. It examines evidence for our early ape ancestors, the emergence of human lineage, earliest hominines, australopithecine diversity and palaeobiology, genus Homo up to the emergence of modern humans (a topic explored further in ANAT3601), and the origins of human language, culture and lifestyle and ecology. It draws heavily on evidence from human fossil record in considering major adaptations of the human lineage and evidence of anatomical change. The multidisciplinary approach of modern palaeoanthropology is examined in recognition of the complex nature of the evidence for biological origins.