Year 1
Core units
AAFS Study Skills: You will learn the fundamental skills needed for any scientist to work with a range of field and lab data.
Ancient Peoples & Places: You will be introduced to the key thematic studies in archaeology concerning the evolution and development of ancient humans, changing technologies and material culture, and the organisation and development of past societies.
Human Anatomy & Physiology: This unit will give you an overview of the structure and function of the human body, and you will be introduced to the principal concepts underlying pathophysiological processes that disturb health.
Introduction to Social Anthropology: During this unit student-centred activities such as discussions and short presentations will enable you to demonstrate your growing knowledge of the historical emergence and development of anthropology and some of the key theoretical and empirical debates within social anthropology.
Introduction to Social Theory: During this unit, you will be introduced to key social theory that informs classical and contemporary sociology and anthropology. Such theories are embedded in the historical and philosophical context of the analysis of Western society and its social forms.
Studying Ancient Materials: You will learn to handle a range of artefacts and other archaeological materials including ceramics, textiles, foodstuffs, glass, metals and building materials. You will be able to observe and record their characteristics and their importance to the interpretation of people and societies.
Year 2
Core units
Becoming Human: What makes us (as humans) unique? Where did our species come from? Starting from the divergence of the human lineage from that of other apes, this unit will demonstrate how a wide variety of different lines of evidence can inform the way in which we became human.
Bonobos, Bones & Bottlenecks: Lectures and lab work will introduce you to the basic principles of modern human variation, adaptation and the evolutionary forces that have influenced them.
Themes in Archaeology & Anthropology: If there is such a thing as ‘human nature’, then why are cultures across the world so different? Many things and practices that we think of as ‘natural’ or biologically given – for example, bodies, eating, shelter and the environment – are in fact thought about or performed in very different ways in different cultures across the globe today and in the past.
Option units
Semester 1 (choose 2):
Controversial Cultures
Interpreting History
Archaeological Science
Semester 2 (choose 1):
Community Histories
Environmental & Societal Challenges
Globalisation & Marginalisation
Growing up & Growing old
Rome & Barbarian Europe
Societies of prehistoric Europe
Year 3
You may choose to complete an optional 30-week minimum work placement which can be carried out anywhere in the world. The placement year offers a chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future. Alternatively you can complete a short 5 week placement and complete your course in three years.
Year 3/4 (Final year)
Core units
Cultural Ecology: Humans share their habitats with a multitude of other organisms and have to adapt to a variety of existing or changing circumstances of the natural environment. However, humans themselves change these basic conditions by using techniques, agreements, rules and modes of organisation in order to facilitate long-term settlement in their habitat. They form and manipulate their environment as part of adaptation strategies within the framework of their personal interests and collective goals. Adaptations of human populations to their respective habitats thus always embrace cultural strategies and their biological conditions and consequences. By considering an ecosystems approach, this unit will give an overview and discuss of the diversity and correspondence of biocultural solutions, which human populations have developed to co-ordinate these two sides of their life support system.
Independent Research Project: The Independent Research Project provides you with an opportunity to gain experience of research in a topic of your choice relevant to your degree and to demonstrate your ability to report that research. Such experience is considered essential for those students interested in pursuing academic and/or professional research at a higher level of responsibility and achievement.
Option units
Semester 1 (choose one):
Anthropology of International Policy
Science of Human Remains
Seekers, Believers & Iconoclasts - Sociology of Thought
Semester 2 (choose one):
Animals & Society
Food, Culture & Travel
Primate Behavioural Ecology