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2023/2024

Introduction to Prehistory

Code: 100336 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500501 History FB 1 1

Contact

Name:
Antonio Palomo Pérez
Email:
antoni.palomo@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.

Teachers

Marian Berihuete Azorin
Carlos Tornero Dacasa

Prerequisites

There are no oficial prerequisits


Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject is part of the History matter from the Degree in History. The 30 ECTS (distributed in 6 Prehistory, 6 Ancient History, Modern History and Contemporaneous History) should provide a minimum knowledge in History to get access to more specialized curses in second, third and fourth courses. These curses in History may provide a general knowledge in events, processes and changes in the Human History from a diachronic view, from the Prehistory to modern times, in broad geographical areas. Furthermore, subject in History will provide a first notions about the different perspectives in historical sciences (social, politic, economy, gender, ideology, cultural) as well about theory and methodological tools in History (debates and historiography).


Competences

  • Contextualizing the historical processes and analysing them from a critical perspective.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • 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 ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • 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

  1. Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
  2. Critically analysing the past, the nature of the historical speech and the social function of historical science.
  3. Developing the ability of historical analysis and synthesis.
  4. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  5. Identifying the context of the historical processes.
  6. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  7. Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
  8. Interpreting the plurality and heterogeneity of the cultural development of Humanity.
  9. Organising and planning the search of historical information.
  10. Solving problems autonomously.
  11. Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
  12. Working in teams respecting the other's points of view.

Content

PART 1: The process of humanization. The Human Evolution and protagonists. Technology, subsistence and social organization of first hominids.

PART 2: Process of humanization. The debate about the origin and expansion of the modern humans. The prehistoric colonisations. Technology, social organization and subsistence of hunter-gatherer societies during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene.

PART 3: The crisis of the Palaeolithic world and the origin of the peasant societies. The last hunter-gatherer societies and the causes of their transformations.

PART 4: The origin of the husbandry and agriculture. New economic ways of life. Main characteristics of the peasant societies.


Methodology

Directed activities:

- Theoretical classes led by teachers with ICT support

- Group work sessions and debates led by the teaching staff. Collective evaluation and discussion of texts or audiovisuals, individual and / or collective presentations and round of evaluations.

- Practical sessions.

- Field trips: visits to museums or archaeological sites.

 

Supervised activities:

- Concerted sessions to resolve doubts about the development of the subject. Individual or small group advice on specific subject contents.

- Counselling in small groups for the preparation of presentations and scheduled learning exercises.

 

Autonomous activity:

- Personal study. Reading texts. Bibliographic information search.

- Writing of papers. Preparation of presentations, oral comments and debates.

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      
Teaching leassons, seminaries, practical work, and field trips 50 2 2, 5, 7, 8, 4
Type: Supervised      
Supervision 10 0.4 9, 4, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation exams and essays 75 3 10, 3, 6, 9, 11

Assessment

Assessment modules

 A continuous evaluation of all the activities developed in the subject will be carried out. The evaluation system is organized into 3 modules, each of which will have a specific weight assigned in the final qualification:

 1. The directed activities will be evaluated through two written tests.

 2. Supervised activities will be evaluated through the classroom presentations and activities.

 3. Autonomous activities will be evaluated through two writen essays.

 

Assessment schedule

 At the beginning of the course, students will be informed of the specific contents of the assessment modules and their completion / delivery dates.

 

Requirements to pass the subject

 - Attendance at 75% percent of the sessions.

 - Presentation / completion of the evaluation modules on the established dates.

 - Obtaining an average score of the evaluation modules of 5 or more on a scale of 10, provided that a minimum qualification of 4 has been obtained on a scale of 10 in each of them.

 - A student will be considered non-evaluable in the case of non-presentation of one or more modules within the established deadlines or does not attend a minimum of 75% of the theoretical sessions.

 

 Recovery

 - Students who have completed / presented the evaluation modules within the established deadlines may be presented for recovery.

 - Only the written tests will be recoverable.

 

Recovery schedule

Recovery dates are set by the Faculty of Letters. These dates have been published on the faculty website since July of the previous year. It is the responsibility of the students to know the date that corresponds to make the recovery of their subject. The last continuous assessment test will be scheduled at least one week beforethe re-evaluation date.

At the time of completion/delivery ofeach assessment activity, the teacher will inform (Moodle, SIA) of the procedure and date of revision of the grades.

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.

Single assessment
										
											
										
											• Students will be able to take the Single Assessment through a form that they will submit to Academic Management between the following dates:
										
											
										
											First semester: September 18 to October 6.
										
											
										
											Second semester: February 12 to February 23.
										
											
										
											On these dates, they do not have to justify the reason for their choice.
										
											
										
											Evaluated activities
										
											
										
											Written test 50%
										
											
										
											Essais 50%

 

 


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attendance and activities in the classroom 10% 5 0.2 3, 4, 12
Essays 40% 5 0.2 2, 10, 1, 3, 5, 7, 6, 8, 9, 4, 12, 11
Written exams 50% 5 0.2 3, 5, 7, 6, 8

Bibliography

      • BIBLIOGRAFIA BÀSICA:

        AGUSTÍ, Jordi., ANTÓN, Mauricio. 2013. La gran migración. La evolución humana más allá de África. Crítica, Barcelona.

        BARKER, Graeme 2006. The agricultura Revolution in Prehistory: Why Did Foragers Become Farmers?. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

        CELA CONDE, CAMILO JOSÉ. Y AYALA, Francisco José 2013. Evolución Humana. El camino hacia nuestra especie. Alianza editorial, Madrid.

        HIGHAM, TOM.  2023. El mundo antes de nosotros. GeoPlaneta Ciencia

        EIROA, Jorge Juan 2010. Prehistoria del mundo. Sello Editorial, Madrid.

        LEWIN, Roger; FOLEY, Robert 2013. Principles of Human Evolution. Wiley-Blackwell.

        LÓPEZ GARCÍA. Pilar (coord.) 2017. La Prehistoria en la Península Ibérica. Istmo, Madrid.

        MENÉNDEZ, Mario (coord) 2012. Prehistoria antigua de la Península Ibérica. UNED, Madrid

        ROJO, M.A,  GARRIDO, R., GARCÍA, I. 2012. El Neolítico en la Península Ibérica y su contexto europeo, Ed. Cátedra

        ROSAS, Antonio 2016. La evolución del género ‘Homo’. CSIC-Catarata, Madrid

         

        BIBLIOGRFIA COMPLEMENTÀRIA:

        ADOVASIO, James, SOFFER, Olga., PAGE, Jake. 2008. El sexo invisible. Lumen, Barcelona.

        ÁLVAREZ FERNÁNDEZ, Esteban., BLANCO GONZÁLEZ, Antonio, RIVERO VILÁ, Olivia 2020. Prehistoria de la Península Ibérica. Ediciones Universidad Salamanca. Salamanca.

        ARSUAGA, Juan Luis 1999. El collar del Neandertal: En busca de los primeros pensadores. Ed. Temas de hoy. Madrid.

        BERMÚDEZ DE CASTRO, José María, 2021. Dioses y mendigos: la gran odisea de la evolución humana. Editorial Planeta, Barcelona.

        BINFORD, Lewis R. 1988. En busca del pasado. Ed. Crítica, Barcelona.

        DOMINGO, I., PALOMO, A. 2020. Art primer. Artistes de la prehistòria. Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya. Generalitat de Catalunya, 229 pàg.  file:///C:/Users/2011467/OneDrive%20-%20UAB/Escritorio/MAC_CATALEG_ARTPRIMER_SANT_JORDI.pdf

        DÍEZ MARTÍN, Fernando 2006.: El largo viaje. Arqueología de los orígenes humanos y las primeras migraciones. Bellaterra. Barcelona.

        FINLAYSON, Clive. 2020 El neandertal inteligente. Arte rupestre, captura de aves y revolución cognitiva. Editorial Almuzara, Córdoba.

        JOHNSON, Allen W., EARLE, Timothy 2003. La evolución de las sociedades humanas. Ed. Ariel Prehistoria.

        MARTINEZ-NAVARRO, Bienvenido 2020. El Sapiens asesino y El Ocaso De los Neandertales. Almuzara, Córdoba.

        PÄÄBO, Svante. 2015. El hombre de Neandertal: en busca de genomas perdidos. Alianza, Madrid.

        PALOMO, A., PIQUÉ, R., TERRADAS, X. 2017. La revolució neolítica. La Draga, el poblat dels prodigis, Generalitat de Catalunya/ Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, 183 p

        , https://www.academia.edu/35841600/Palomo_A_Piqu%C3%A9_R_Terradas_X_ed_La_revoluci%C3%B3_neol%C3%ADtica_La_Draga_el_poblat_dels_prodigis_2017

        PATOU-MATHIS, Marylene 2021. El hombre prehistórico es también una mujer. Una historia de la invisibilidad de las mujeres. Lumen, Barcelona.

        RICHARDS, M. BRITTON, K. 2020. Archaeological Science: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press

        RIPOLL LÓPEZ, Sergio (coord.) 2020. Prehistoria I: las primeras etapas de la humanidad. Editorial Universitaria Ramón Areces:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.

        ROSAS, Antonio. 2015. Los primeros homininos. Paleontologia humana. CSIC-Catarata, Madrid.

        ROSAS GONZÁLEZ, Antonio. 2019. Los fósiles de nuestra evolución: un viaje por los yacimientos paleontológicos que explican nuestro pasado como especie. Editorial Ariel, Barcelona.

        SANCHIDRIÁN, José Luis 2012, Manual de arte prehistórico. Ariel Prehistoria, Barcelona.

        TORRE, Ignacio. DE LA 2008. La Arqueología de los Orígenes humanos en África. Akal, Madrid

         

        RECURSOS DIGITALS:

        The Smithsonian's Human Origins Program | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program (si.edu) main | eFossils Resources

         

         

       


Software

None