THE HUMAN PAST: AN INTRODUCTION TO WORLD PREHISTORY

Course Code: KL 105H
Credit Points: 15
Course Coordinator: Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

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 fist 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

4 fortnightly classes of one-and-a-half-hours – times may vary.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%)

Resit: 1 two-hour written exam (50%) PLUS original in-course assessment carried forward (50%)