Course aims:

World Prehistory is a course that presents a global survey of the human past from the earliest evidence of tool use by hominid species to the emergence of stratified chiefly societies. This course tells the story of humanity from two million years ago to the present. Understanding that story require
We will emphasize the complex diversity of past life ways, including the development of many different social systems over time, and the wide range of cultural responses human groups have made to the longer term environmental changes of the past 300.000 years. Case studies will focus on the nature
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Course Entry Requirements:

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Course contents:

Introduction to the course, course format, requirements, content. Studying the Past (Dating, Fossils, and Archaeology) Early human pre-cultural ancestors (Australopithecus). Earliest humans (Homo habilis) and origins of culture (Oldowan) in Africa Geologic Ages. Pleistocene. Holocene. Glaciations Phenomenon. Holocene Period. Intensification of Hunting/Gathering/Fishing. Changes in Climate Lower Paleolithic Hominid Origins. Middle Paleolithic (Neanderthals in Europe). Upper Paleolithic (Evolution of Homo sapiens. Europe and Asia). Art and Spirituality in Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Paleolithic Cave Art. Paleolithic Mobiliary Art. Totem and Shamanism. First burials. Neolithic. Village Life. Plant and Animal Domestication. The Origins of Agriculture and Inequality. Old European Civilization. Fertility Cult. Symbols and Artifacts. Copper Age. Copper Ores, Crucibles and Slag. Coppersmiths. Burial Practices and Grave Goods in Prehistory. Osteoarchaeology and Bioarchaeology. Human Remains in Prehistory. Bronze Age. A New Elite. Axes, Symbols of Power. Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology. Iron Age. Metal Works, Chiefdoms, Social Structure, the Trade Explosion.

Teaching methods:

Lecture, conversation, exemplification.

Learning outcomes:

retrieval of written sources on the historical past; establishing historical facts on the basis of historical sources and outside of these; the concrete production of new historical knowledge on the basis of deeper insights within the study of an epoch and/or of a medium complexity historical subject.

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Written paper – interpretative essay – 60%; continuous assessment – 40%.

Recommended reading:

Anthony, D. W., Chi, J. (Eds.) (2010): The Lost World of Old Europe. The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC, Princeton University Press.
Bailey, D. W. (2000): Balkan Prehistory, London and New York.
Bellwood, P. (2005): First Farmers. The Origins of Agriculturals Societies, Blackwell Publishing.
Bocquet-Appel, J.P., Bar-Yosef, O. (2008): The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences, Springer.
Harding, A. F. (2000): European Societies in the Bronze Age, Cambridge.