The course aims to provide students with an understanding of core biological approaches used in modern archaeology to better understand and reconstruct past lifeways. The course consists of three intensive short-courses on a selection of key bioarchaeological research areas. Topics offered will vary year-on-year, reflecting in-house research specialisms, but may include isotope analysis, DNA, animal and human remains, plant remains, invertebrates, and geometric morphometrics. Through lectures, seminars and practical/workshop sessions students will gain an overview of each method, its relevance to archaeology, scope, potentials and limitations. Case studies will allow students to access key themes in bioarchaeological research, including human-environment interactions; subsistence, diet and health; and human and animal migrations, colonisations, and diasporas.
During this course, students will have the opportunity to:
- Acquire an understanding of the role biological sciences have to archaeology, and an appreciation of the development of the field of bioarchaeology and human palaeoecology
- Become familiar with the range of bioarchaeological remains recovered from archaeological and Quaternary palaeoecological sites
- Gain a broad knowledge of each of the bioarchaeological specialisms studied, and their relevance and applications to archaeological case studies
- Gain a critical awareness of the potentials and limitations of selected bioarchaeological specialisms
- Become adept at exploring and evaluating scientific/bioarchaeological literature
