Humans are unique primates; anatomically peculiar and culturally complex, our 300,000 years on Earth have led us to be a species like no other. This module focuses on the scientific study of what it means to be human, from a combined biological and cultural perspective. The module traces the origins, and subsequent biological and cultural evolution, of modern humans (Homo sapiens) from the late Pleistocene through to the Holocene and modern era, highlighting the concurrent development of diet, cognition, anatomy, behaviour and culture. The proliferation of our species across the breadth of Earth's biogeographic environs will be studied, as will modern human life history, gene-culture co-evolution, variation in growth and biological adaptation – together with their genetic underpinnings – which contribute to our diversity. Our communicative, cultural and technological specialisation will be compared and contrasted with that of other extant primates. The co-dependence and co-evolution of human biology and culture will be assessed using fossil, genetic, artefact, anatomy and primate comparative-based evidence. By the end of the module students will have a thorough grounding in the core principles of biological anthropology as it relates to modern humans, and a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary forces which have shaped our biology, ecology and culture. Laboratory and seminar-based teaching will emphasise practical skills and investigative techniques employed by biological anthropologists in their quest to understand what makes us human.
Total contact hours: 28
Private study hours: 122
Total study hours: 150
This module is:
Compulsory to the following courses:
• BSc Anthropology
• BSc Human Biology and Behaviour
Optional to the following courses:
• BSc Biology
It is also available as an elective module.
Running last time 2024/25.
Popular science report to general public (2500 words) (50%)
Annotated bibliography (1500 words) (30%)
Practical assessment (1 hour) (20%)
Reassessment: Like for Like
The University is committed to ensuring that core reading materials are in accessible electronic format in line with the Kent Inclusive Practices.
The most up to date reading list for each module can be found on the university's reading list pages.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Clearly understand the relationships between biological and cultural processes specifically in relation to modern human evolution and analyse the interplay between human biology, life history processes and human behaviour.
2 Critically discuss biological models and adaptive strategies to understand what makes modern humans distinct from other primates and earlier hominins (particularly with respect to cognition, communication, and culture).
3 Understand modern human variation and diversity, and the evolutionary forces which may have shaped it.
4 Identify artefacts from prehistoric populations key to understanding modern human geographic dispersal.
5 Understand causal and interpretative ideas about life processes and culture in different prehistoric modern-human populations, and the ways in which human identities are socially formed.
6 Identify and interpret the signs of different taphonomic processes on the preservation of human remains across different time scales.
7 Understand how changes in environment and diet contributed to modern human evolution.
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