Archaeology of Hunting and Gathering Societies
Code: 100729 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 3 | 0 |
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Rafael Mora Torcal
- Email:
- Rafael.Mora@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- Yes
Teachers
- Rafael Mora Torcal
Prerequisites
The own that marks the norm of the degree.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Objectives and contextualization
The aim is to approximate the students to the interpretative complexity of hunter-gatherer societies from an archaeological perspective and:
- To reflect on the theoretical and methodological capacity of Archeology.
- To raise awareness among students about the criteria that define the human groups, as well as of the different forms of life in which they are organized.
- To generate a critical view of current knowledge status
Competences
- Archaeology
- Contextualizing and analysing historical processes.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Managing the main methods, techniques and analytic tools in archaeology.
- Providing a context for the concepts of archaeological theory and its origin and distinguishing the main epistemological and methodological debates in social sciences.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethic relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Applying both knowledge and analytical skills to the resolution of problems related to their area of study.
- Applying proper techniques and analytical tools in case studies.
- Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
- Critically assessing the sources and theoretical models.
- Effectively expressing themselves and applying the argumentative and textual processes of formal and scientific texts.
- Identifying the characteristic methods of Archaeology and its relationship with the historical analysis.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Interpreting material sources and the archaeological record.
- Knowing the main archaeological debates on Prehistory.
- Mastering the processes of change produced in Prehistory.
- Mastering the relevant languages to the necessary degree in the professional practice.
- Recognising the importance of controlling the quality of the work's results and its presentation.
Content
- Key concepts in the study of hunter-gatherer societies. Reflecting on the meaning of the past and the role of Prehistoric Archeology.
- The role of objects, mobility and taxonomies in the compression of hunter-gatherer groups.
- The first hominids. Models of behavior. Milestones in the evolutionary context.
- The concept of humanity.
- The first instruments: The Lomekwianense and the Olduvai. The environment and way of life of the first hominids: Powerful hunter or carronyer marginal.
- Meaning of the accumulation of bones and stones.
- H. ergaster / H. erectus and the origin of Achelià in Africa.
- Settlements of the Euro-Asian continent.
- Environment and culture in the Middle European Paleolithic. The Neanderthal mode of life.
- The appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens and the problem of the recent Neanderthals.
- Environment and culture in the Upper European Paleolithic. The Homo Sapiens way of life.
Methodology
Guided activities: 40 hours
Attendance to theoretical classes
Attendance at seminar and internship sessions
Autonomous activities: 90 hours
Self-study:
Preparation of oral presentations
Search of bibliography and reading of texts
Making reviews work and comments.
Supervision of Works: 15 hours
Monitoring of individual and group work
Evaluation: 5 hours
Written and oral tests
Review of the results
Assessment
Students have to actively participate in the discussions that arise in class and in the seminars (5%)
Students will have to submit a group work and present it for class discussion (40%)
To deliver abstracts, reviews, comments on the texts and documents related to the subject topics (55%)
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Magistral lecture | 30 | 1.2 | 4, 9, 10, 11, 5, 7, 6 |
| Research seminars | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 1, 4, 3, 9, 10, 11, 5, 7, 8, 12 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| work in group and of the individual works writings tutorials | 17 | 0.68 | 2, 1, 4, 5, 7, 6, 8, 12 |
| Visit to any emblematical archaelogical site (optional) | 0 | 0 | 1, 9, 10, 7, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Bibliographic research | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 4, 3, 9, 10, 7, 6, 8 |
| Writting texts and coments | 17.5 | 0.7 | 1, 3, 9, 5, 7, 6, 8, 12 |
| individual studies | 62.5 | 2.5 | 2, 1, 4, 3, 9, 10, 7, 6, 8, 12 |
Assessment
Description
Students have to actively participate in the discussions that arise in class and in the seminars (5%)
Students will have to submit a group work and present it for class discussion (70%)
To deliver abstracts, reviews, comments on the texts and documents related to the subject topics (25%)
Evaluation calendar
At the beginning of the course students will be informed of the deadlines for completion / delivery of the assignments and the date of the written test
Requirements to pass the subject
• Presentation / completion of the evaluation exercises within the established deadlines.
• Achieve an average score of the evaluation exercises of five or more on a scale of 10
• A student will be considered not presented if he does not deliver or submit to one or more of the assessment modules within the established deadlines.
Grading Review
At the time of completion/delivery of each assessment activity, the teacher will inform (Moodle, SIA) of the procedure and date of revision of the grades.
Re-evaluatio
Students who have performed / presented supervised and autonomous activities within the established deadlines and have a minimum mark of 3.5.
Conditions for the rating ‘Not evaluable’:
The student will be classified as Non-evaluable when he/she has delivered less than 30% of the evaluation assignments
Plagiarism
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practical case 1 and 2 | 20 | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 1, 4, 3, 9, 10, 11, 5, 7, 6, 8, 12 |
| Practical case 3 | 20 | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 4, 3, 9, 11, 5, 7, 6, 12 |
Bibliography
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Software
- Key concepts in the study of hunter-gatherer societies. Reflecting on the meaning of the past and the role of Prehistoric Archeology.
- The role of objects, mobility and taxonomies in the compression of hunter-gatherer groups.
- The first hominids. Models of behavior. Milestones in the evolutionary context.
- The concept of humanity.
- The first instruments: The Lomekwianense and the Olduvai. The environment and way of life of the first hominids: Powerful hunter or carronyer marginal.
- Meaning of the accumulation of bones and stones.
- H. ergaster / H. erectus and the origin of Achelià in Africa.
- Settlements of the Euro-Asian continent.
- Environment and culture in the Middle European Paleolithic. The Neanderthal mode of life.
- The appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens and the problem of the recent Neanderthals.
- Environment and culture in the Upper European Paleolithic. The Homo Sapiens way of life.