Postgraduate Course: Human Evolution (PGHC11080)
Course Outline
School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
Summary | The course provides an overview of human biological and cultural evolution from the first hominins to the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens, using evidence provided by archaeology, molecular biology, and biological and social anthropology. |
Course description |
The aim of the course is to provide students with a greater awareness of where we came from, and how we have developed physically and culturally over the past seven million years. Topics covered include: how scientists study human evolution; climate change and evolution; primate origins; the earliest hominins and the origins of bipedalism; evolution of the brain, intelligence and language; reconstructing diet and behaviour; the origin and global expansion of modern humans.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | None |
High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 4 |
Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 33,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay: 3000-word limit (excluding bibliography) |
Feedback |
Not entered |
No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- Demonstrate, by way of coursework, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- Demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Arsuaga, J.L. and Martinez, I. 2006. The Chosen Species: The Long March of Human Evolution. Oxford: Blackwell.
Cartmill, M. & Smith, F.H. 2009. The Human Lineage. Hoboken, Wiley-Blackwell.
Dinnis, R. & Stringer, C. 2014. Britain: one million years of the human story. London, Natural History Museum
Harris, E.E. 2015. Ancestors in our Genome. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Jobling, M.A., Hurles, M. and Tyler-Smith, C. 2004. Human Evolutionary Genetics: Origins, Peoples and Disease. New York: Garland.
Stringer, C. 2012. The Origin of Our Species. Harmondsworth, Penguin. |
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
Special Arrangements |
Jointly taught with Human Origins (ARCA10003) |
Keywords | Human Evolution |
Contacts
Course organiser | Prof Clive Bonsall
Tel: (0131 6)50 2375
Email: Clive.Bonsall@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Jonathan Donnelly
Tel: (0131 6)50 3782
Email: Jonathan.Donnelly@ed.ac.uk |
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