Oh, now I get it. It didn't make sense to me that a history course would spend significant time on evolution, and I bet his course doesn't. The first chapter of his book probably begins by discussing theories about the evolutionary paths leading to the first humans, moves through the stone age, then ends with the latest pre-historical period, perhaps with plant and animal domestication, the earliest farmers, development of ceramics and the utilization of metals. At that point he's on the threshold of recorded history and ready to study the first civilizations of the fertile crescent.
I wonder if he'll have as big a problem with civilizations that predate creation as he does with evolution.
--Percy