Year
2021
Units
4.5
Contact
1 x 1-hour lecture weekly
1 x 2-hour tutorial weekly
Assessment
Assignment(s), Library exercise, Project, Test(s)
Topic description

This topic covers big themes in the human societies of the ancient world. Through the archaeological record, we examine how people in the past made sense of their lives and ultimate deaths through rituals. From the savannahs of Africa to the temples of Greece, places and artefacts reveal the history of human responses to sex and death, and illuminate the world as we know it today.

Educational aims

This topic aims to:

  • Introduce broad themes in the evolution of human behaviour
  • Investigate diversity across cultures and throughout time
  • Demonstrate how material culture reflects symbolic and social behaviour in the archaeological record
Expected learning outcomes
On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

  1. Apply theories of the role material culture plays in universal human experiences such as sex and death
  2. Appreciate the diversity of human behaviour
  3. Apply critical reasoning in interpreting the archaeological record