Undergraduate Course: Human Origins (ARCA10003)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
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 | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Human Evolution (PGHC11080)
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Other requirements | Pre-requisites: Archaeology 2A and 2B, or Honours entry to degrees in Classics, or equivalent. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Archaeology courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolments for this course are managed by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department. All enquiries to enrol must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- show detailed knowledge of core concepts in human evolution
- show an understanding of hominin skeletal morphology
- demonstrate an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship on human origins
- demonstrate an ability to sustain scholarly arguments in written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence
- plan and generate a public engagement poster
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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. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Catriona Pickard
Tel: (0131 6)50 2372
Email: Catriona.Pickard@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Rob Hutchinson
Tel:
Email: robert.hutchinson@ed.ac.uk |
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