ANU - STUDYAT - Archaeology of Neanderthals

Offered By:

School of Archaeology & Anthropology

Academic Career:

Undergraduate

Course Subject:

Archaeology

Offered in:

ARCH2036 will not be offered in 2010

Unit Value:

6 units

Course Description:

Neanderthals are the most well known, and most maligned, of the peoples that lived before modern humans. Were they sophisticated, evolving cultural beings or non-cultural, cannibalistic dunces? This course explores this question by examining the information about the tools, bodies and sites left behind by Neanderthals. Additional questions are when and why they became extinct, and when and how modern behaviour developed? Emerging evidence yields surprising conclusions about the Neanderthals, and by implication about ourselves.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will acquire knowledge of the lives and evolution of Neanderthals, the archaeological and biological evidence that forms the basis for those reconstructions, and the history of debates about the nature of these hominids.

Indicative Assessment:

Students review the theory and method of archaeological interpretations through the review of two articles (20%) and 3,000 word essay (80%).

Workload:

Normally offered in alternate years
2 hours of lectures and one hour of laboratories per week. Students will normally spend an additional 4 hours per week in study.

Areas of Interest:

Archaeology

Requisite Statement:

One first year course to the value of 6 units in Archaeology (ARCH or PREH) or permission of the lecturer.

Incompatibility:

PREH2036 Understanding Early Technologies.

Preliminary Reading:

Mellars, P. 1996 The Neanderthal Legacy. Princeton University Press, New York.

Majors/Specialisations:

Archaeology, Australian Studies, and Archaeology Practice

Academic Contact:

Prof Peter Hiscock

Archaeology of the Neanderthals: who were they? ARCH2036 - Details