- Course Code
- AY 1002
- Credit Points
- 15
- Course Coordinator
- Dr S Foster
Pre-requisites
None.
Notes
This course includes a one-day field trip, which will involve some off-road walking over gentle terrain. The School is committed to making reasonable adjustments for students with mobility issues, and any student with concerns should contact the course coordinator at the beginning of the course. Students will be asked to make a nominal contribution towards the cost of the field trip.
Overview
This course introduces the discipline of archaeology, human origins, and world prehistory. It is structured around three themes:
- Being and becoming human. Hominid evolution, early subsistence strategies, tools and social life, the origins of cognition and the human mind, early evidence for ‘art’ and ‘religion’.
- Transformations in human society. The global development of human complexity, including the transition to agriculture, the emergence of social complexity, urban life, the first polities.
- Perceptions of the past. Interpretation and dissemination of archaeological knowledge in museums, sites, and visual media, and how these reflect and influence how the past has been perceived.
Structure
2 one-hour lectures per week, excluding reading weeks, 5 one to two-hour tutorials, which will be held at biweekly intervals throughout the half-session, and a compulsory one-day field trip for which a small sum will be charged to cover the cost of the coach.
Assessment
1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%) in the form of a 1,500-word essay, and participation in tutorials and online quizzes.
Resit: 1 two-hour written exam (50%) PLUS original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment provided in tutorials.
Feedback
Written feedback on essays. Students also take part in online quizzes that are linked to the main course text book. They have unlimited attempts and only when they score over 50% do they gain a mark that feeds into their overall course score.