Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

This lecture will provide an introduction to the topic and will get us started with review some of the best known finds from earliest prehistory and a small exercise on what it means to be a modern human. This lecture provides a general introduction to the study of human origins. We will build on our exercise from Lecture 1 and briefly examine some key themes in the definition of humanity before reviewing the key techniques used for understanding human evolution: material culture, physical anthropology, genetics etc. Finally, we provide a very brief chronological framework for human evolution, and compare bushes and ladders as models of evolution.
Key phrases and themes: hominids/hominins, palaeolithic: lower,/middle/upper, palaeontology, archaeology, physical anthropology, genetics, ladders and bushes

The earliest hominids in Africa and Europe
In this lecture we examine the origins of hominids in Africa in their environmental context, from divergence from apes at about 7 million years ago, through to the migration from Africa at about 1.8 million years ago. We will look in detail at Australopithecine afarensis and consider the importance of bipedalism. Homo habilis provides us with an opportunity to examine the significance of tool-use. Finally, we look at the increasing complexity evidence in hominids after the migration from Africa. Homo heidelbergensis allows us to consider the importance of hunting, as well as examine some wonderful evidence of stone working. Heidelbergensis also raise the issue of pre-modern symbolic behaviour.
Key phrases and themes: Australopithecine (A. afarensis), slender and robust, bipedalism, Homo n(H. habilis, H. Heidelbergensis), tool-making, Olduwan/Oldovan, Acheulean, symbolic behaviour, climate change, Ice Age Europe

The origins and spread of modern humans and the extinction of the Neanderthals
Here we focus on the two best known species of humans; Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. We begin by outlining evidence for the Neanderthals noting the changing interpretations of their humanity over time. We then examine the origins and migrations of modern humans (Homo sapiens), from ill-understood beginnings in Africa and following movement to all corners of the globe. Finally we turn our attention in detail to the modern human arrival in Europe, and the vexed question of the relationship between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. And the still much debated evidence for the arrival of modern humans in Britain and other parts of northwest Europe.
Key phrases and themes: Homo sapiens, modern human mind, culture, upper palaeolithic, H neanderthalensis, Châtelperronian, extinction, Swanscombe, Boxgrove

Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, technology and lives
In this lecture we examine modern humans living in Europe at the end of the last Ice Age, the during the most recent part of the old stone age, known as the upper palaeolithic period. Here we focus especially on evidence of technology and settlement, highlighting the interplay of symbolism in all aspects of hunter-gatherer life. We will look at chronological and geographic variation within the upper palaeolithic, and review changes over time in their environmental context as well as regional variations.
Key phrases and themes: Upper Palaeolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Ice Age, Late Glacial Maximum, hunter-gatherers, mobility, mega fauna, burial rites, Meizerich

Upper Palaeolithic art
This lecture looks at the world famous ?art? of Ice Age Europe including both cave (or parietal) art and portable art. We review how the art was discovered, and touch on debates about its antiquity, before focusing on the most frequently found motives and how they were expressed. We will examine the competing interpretations of what this art might mean. As this lecture concludes the palaeolithic section of the course we will finish with a brief review of what we have heard and seen so far.
Key phrases and themes: rock art/cave art/parietal art, interpretations, Lascaux, Chauvet, Alta Mira, Creswell, dating, mobiliary art, Venus figurines, Willendorf

Mesolithic Europe: key sites, key sources
This lecture provides a basic introduction to the mesolithic period, or middle stone age, in Europe, with an especial focus on northwest Europe. We will look for definitions for the term mesolithic, and review the important environmental contexts for the period. We will also explore the most characteristic types of evidence of the period, with a focus on the key role of waterlogged sites and underwater archaeology in understanding hunter-gatherer lives. For this lecture we will primarily focus on material from continental Europe, but some comparisons to the British and Irish evidence will also be made as appropriate and important sites such as Star Carr, Oronsay and Mount Sandel will be introduced.
Key words: mesolithic, Holocene, post-glacial, sea level, woodlands, preservation, Star Carr, Oronsay. Mount Sandel

The mesolithic in Ireland
This lecture provides an outline of the mesolithic period in Ireland, examining how settlement in the area might have varied, given the context of a particular and restricted island ecology. We will examine evidence from some of the most important Irish mesolithic sites and introduce some of the themes and debates currently central to the study of the period. In particular, we will focus on questions of technological and settlement change and will also discuss Important new discoveries that challenge our understandings of the period in Ireland.
Key Words: Mouont Sandel, Hermitage, Ferriter?s Cove, fish traps, early and later mesolithic technology, Larnian tradition / Bann flake, wild and domesticated animals