Professor Scott Lacy

Agricultural scenes of threshing, a grain store, harvesting with sickles, digging, tree-cutting and ploughing from Ancient Egypt. Tomb of Nakht, 15th century BC. (Image: Norman de Garis Davies, Nina Davies/Public domain)
Ancient History

Why We Farm—The History of the Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle

July 18, 2018

When we enjoy a traditional holiday meal on a day like Thanksgiving, we might easily imagine that humans have always eaten classics like potatoes, gravy, and sweet corn… but that couldn’t be further from the truth—even if we reduce the scope of our family tree to only modern humans, we’ve been hunter-gatherers for about 190,000 of the past 200,000 years. As odd as it may sound, farming—in the grand scheme of things—is about as “modern” as space travel and the internet. […]

The Torch Podcast

Anthropology—More Than Just Bones: The Torch Podcast

July 27, 2017

What does it mean to be human? Where did we come from? And what unites us in our diversity today? As the world population continues to explode, these big questions about humanity become increasingly important, and anthropology is the field of study that tackles them. From our tree-dwelling primate ancestors 63 million years ago through today’s globally connected citizens, anthropology looks at Homo sapiens to find out why we are the way we are. […]

cover art for Anthropology course
New on The Great Courses Plus

Anthropology and the Study of Humanity

June 28, 2017

Anthropology and the Study of Humanity: Biology, archaeology, language, and culture—gain a comprehensive understanding of humanity’s development from an acclaimed professor and field researcher. […]