Prehistory and Ancient History
Code: 100013 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2502758 Humanities | OB | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Isaias Arrayas Morales
- Email:
- isaias.arrayas@uab.cat
Teachers
- Oscar Auge Martinez
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Although there are no specific prerequisites for this subject, it is recommended to review the knowledge previously acquired throughout the student's academic career.
Any other subject related directly or indirectly to the syllabus can serve the students to obtain an excellent degree of understanding and learning.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main aim of the subject is the knowledge and understanding of the historical realities of the Prehistory and the Antiquity, analyzing their basic characteristics in social, economic and cultural terms. To achieve this goal the students must be familiar with the direct sources (archaeological and documental record) and with the methods of investigation that define the study of the prehistory and of the ancient world. These methods will relate the historical interpretations that along the time have been produced with the historical context of each moment.
The recent advances in the two disciplines show a constant evolution. Both, the interpretative theories of some historical phenomena and the application of some archaeologic technics have changed through the time. The knowledge on the Prehistory or on the Antiquity is constantly under construction. The students has to perceive that their training will provide them a set of practical knowledges that can allow they to understand the advances and the context of the new interpretations of the historical processes .
Both Prehistory and Ancient History have an outstanding corpus of interpretations that make up the explanation of the world as we know it. From these interpretations the students can know the main milestones of these disciplines when explaining their field of study.
The priority objective is to train people with a critical spirit, who have basic knowledge but, above all, who know both the methodology and the main works and theories of reference. It is expected that these theories are subject to analysis and reflection.
Competences
- Critically analysing today's culture and its historical conditions.
- 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 be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
Learning Outcomes
- Critically analysing the past, the nature of the historical speech and the social function of historical science.
- Drawing up an academic text using the discipline's specific vocabulary.
- Effectively working in teams and respecting different opinions.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Interpreting the regulatory information that is located in the web pages of regulatory institutions.
- Organising and planning the search of historical information.
- Properly using the specific vocabulary of History.
- Recognising the most appropriate bibliographic databases in order to obtain sources of a specific issue.
- Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
- Using the characteristic investigation sources of the history of Catalonia.
Content
BLOCK 1.- Methods and sources for Prehistoric and Ancient world research
BLOCK 2.- The views on prehistory and the ancient world (historiography and schools of thought). How the historical processes have influenced the studies of the Prehistoric and Ancient past
BLOCK 3.- Archeology of origins: what makes us human? Technology and humanization
BLOCK 4.- The modern humanity. Symbolism and colonization
BLOCK 5.- Social complexity: the end of the hunter-gatherer world and the origin of the domestication of plants and animals
BLOCK 6.- The emergence of urban societies. Mesopotamia and Egypt
BLOCK 7.- The Aegean and Ancient Greece: periodization / urbanism and architecture / legal context / work / intellectual and cultural life
BLOCK 8.- Rome: from the origens to the Mediterranean Empire: periodization / urbanism and architecture / legal context / work / intellectual and cultural life
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 40 | 1.6 | 1 |
| Practical sessions | 5 | 0.2 | 7, 10 |
| Seminars | 5 | 0.2 | 1, 3, 5 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorial | 15 | 0.6 | 7 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings and written report | 80 | 3.2 | 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
The subject is mainly theoretical. The sessions will consist of the presentation of the syllabus combined with the reading and commentary of articles, chapters of monographs, virtual visits to museums and archaeological settlements and other practical activities in the classroom.
The explanations of the different sessions will be accompanied by teaching material that the student can find in the Virtual Campus.
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.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outputs of practical work and seminars | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 |
| Written assignment Ancient History (exam 2) | 35% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 5, 8 |
| Written assignment Prehistory (exam 1) | 35% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 5, 8 |
The evaluation continuous (Continuous Assessment) implies:
- A practical work of prehistory and a practical work of ancient history (30% of the final grade, 15% for each one).
- A partial exam of Prehistory (35% of the final grade).
- A partial exam of Ancient History (35% of the final grade).
At the time of each assessment activity, the teacher will inform the student (Moodle) of the procedure and date of review of grades.
The Unique evaluation (Unique assessment) implies:
- A practical work of prehistory and a practical work of ancient history (30% of the final grade, 15% for each one), to be deposed in the day of the Unique evaluation.
- A partial exam of prehistory (35% of the final grade) and a partial exam of ancient history (35% of the final grade) to be developed in a unique assessment.
For both evaluation models, yhe only recoverable activities will be partial exams. The subject cannot be passed if in one or both partial exams the mark is equal to or lower than 3.5. At the end of the ordinary assessment, students who have not passed the subject will have the option of retrieving it through an exam that covers the entire syllabus of the subject or the part that does not has been passed. The treatment of any particular cases should be discussed directly with teachers.
Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
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.
Bibliography
Agustí, Jordi; Anton, Mauricio, 2011: La gran migración. La evolución humana más allá de África: Crítica.
Arsuaga, José Luis; Martínez, Ignacio, 2001: La especie elegida: La larga marcha de la evolución humana: Destino.
Aurenche, Olivier; Kozlowski, Stefan, Karol, 2003: El Origen del neolítico en el Próximo Oriente: el paraíso perdido: Ariel.
Beard, Mary, 2016: SPQR: una historia de la antigua Roma: Crítica.
Binford, Lewis R., 1983: En busca del pasado. Descifrando el registro arqueológico: Crítica.
Bravo, Gonzalo, 1998: Historia del mundo antiguo. Una introducción crítica: Alianza.
Budin, Stephanie L. / Turfa, Jean MacIntosh, 2016: Women in antiquity: real women across the ancient world: Routledge.
Ehrenberg, Margaret, 1989: Women in Prehistory: University of Oklahoma Press.
Gómez Espelosín, Francisco Javier, 2001: Historia de Grecia antigua: Akal.
Kemp, Barry J., 1992: El Antiguo Egipto: Crítica.
Kuhrt, Amélie, 2017: El Oriente Próximo en la Antigüedad (2 vols.): Crítica.
Liverani, Mario, 2006: Uruk: la primera Ciudad: Bellaterra.
López Barja, Pedro, 2004: Historia de Roma: Akal.
Picazo, Marina, 2008: Alguien se acordará de nosotras: mujeres en la ciudad griega antigua: Bellaterra.
Reinchholf, Joseph, 2009: La invención de la agricultura: Crítica.
Rosas, Antonio, 2019: Los fósiles de nuestra evolución. Un viaje por los yacimientos paleontológicos que explican nuestro pasado como especie: Ariel.
Shaw, Ian, 2007: Historia del antiguo Egipto: La Esfera de los Libros.
Tattersall, Ian, 2015: El mundo desde sus inicios hasta 4000 a.C.: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Software
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Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |