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Palaeolithic Archaeology of Homo Sapiens 100,000-12,000 BP

Module description

Latest evidence suggests our species Homo sapiens has lived on planet earth for around 350,000 years, with >95% of this existence dominated by hunter-gatherer lifeways often in global climatic contexts very different from the Holocene interglacial climate of today. Studying the human experience of these Palaeolithic periods before the advent of farming is therefore critical to understanding the human condition.

This module will focus on the Palaeolithic archaeology of Homo sapiens, with particular attention given to the period after 100,000 BP and the Upper Palaeolithic of Eurasia. You will engage with a series of key topics including the lifeways of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, climate and environmental reconstruction, the interpretation of Palaeolithic art, use of fire through the latitudes, burials and status, dwelling construction, and the recent revolutions in ancient DNA studies that are continuing to revolutionise our understanding of this period.

The module will be taught assuming no prior knowledge of Palaeolithic archaeology.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce you to the archaeology of Homo sapiens expansion across the world. You will engage with a variety of different data and assignments will require you to synthesise complex ideas and interpretations into coherent arguments. You will engage with a series of key topics including the lifeways of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, climate and environmental reconstruction, the interpretation of Palaeolithic art, use of fire through the latitudes, burials and status, dwelling construction, and the recent revolutions in ancient DNA studies that are continuing to revolutionise our understanding of this period.The module will be taught assuming no prior knowledge of Palaeolithic archaeology.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of the archaeology of Homo sapiens expansion and colonization of the world
• 2. Demonstrate knowledge of ice age climates and methods used to reconstruct them
• 3. Show understanding of specific challenges faced by Palaeolithic archaeologists due to taphonomy, including the various effects acting at a local scale on archaeological deposits over geological time.
• 4. Demonstrate knowledge of key techniques that have been used to investigate Upper Palaeolithic archaeology
• 5. Demonstrate knowledge of key themes and topics in Palaeolithic archaeology that chart continuity and change through time

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Ability to assemble diverse evidence and synthesize it into a coherent linear argument to support a particular view or interpretation
• 7. Demonstrate ability to gather evidence generated using a wide range of methods and analytical techniques

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Demonstrate an ability to weigh competing interpretations of the same evidence and reach own reasoned judgements
• 9. Engage in discussions of complex issues
• 10. Write clearly and concisely in good English

Syllabus plan

The syllabus will cover:

• Upper Palaeolithic archaeology
• Hunter-gatherer lifeways of the Upper Palaeolithic
• First colonisation of the northern latitudes and the Arctic Circle
• Climate and environment of the last ice age
• Diet and subsistence
• Encounters between Homo sapiens and other extant hominins including Neanderthals
• Upper Palaeolithic art, burials and society
• Fire, subsistence and dwellings

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment. 

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Fu et al. (2016). "The genetic history of Ice Age Europe." Nature534(7606): 200-205.
• Hoffecker, J.F. (2002) Desolate landscapes: Ice-Age settlement in Eastern Europe. London: Rutgers University Press.
• Hublin, J.-J. (2015). "The modern human colonization of western Eurasia: when and where?" Quaternary Science Reviews118: 194-210.
• Kelly,R.L. 2013. The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers: The foraging spectrum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pettitt, P. (2011) The Palaeolithic origins of human burial. Oxon: Routledge.
• Pettitt, P. (2011). The living as symbols, the dead as symbols: problematising the scale and pace of hominin symbolic evolution. In Henshilwood, C. S. and d'Errico, F. (Eds). Homo symbolicus: the dawn of language, imagination and spirituality. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company: 141-162.
• Pettitt, P. (2013). The European Upper Palaeolithic. In Cummings, V., Jordan, P. and Zvelebil, M. (Eds). The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Roberts, P. and Stewart, B. A. (2018). "Defining the ‘generalist specialist’ niche for Pleistocene Homo sapiens." Nature Human Behaviour2(8): 542-550.
• Sankararaman, S., Mallick, S., Dannemann, M., Prufer, K., Kelso, J., Paabo, S., Patterson, N. and Reich, D. (2014). "The genomic landscape of Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans." Nature507(7492): 354-357.
• Speth, J.D. (2010) Boiling vs roasting in the Paleolithic: broadening the "broadening food spectrum"". Journal of The Israel Prehistoric Society, 40, 63-83.
• Wengrow, D. and Graeber, D. (2015). "Farewell to the ‘childhood of man’: ritual, seasonality, and the origins of inequality." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute21(3): 597-619.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE –  https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11467

Key words search

Archaeology, Palaeolithic