Undergraduate Course: People, landscape change and settlement: the last 15,000 years (GEGR10107)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is intended to provide an integrated palaeoecological approach to the origin and evolution of temperate and arctic environments during the Lateglacial and Holocene, with particular reference to the interplay between human and natural landscapes. |
| Course description |
The intention of the course is to ensure that all participants are familiar with the general principles of reconstruction of past environments and the broad outlines and limitations of the wide range of techniques available, in particular the evidence gained from studies of invertebrate faunas. The objective is to understand how the data used to reconstruct the dynamic Lateglacial and Holocene environment are acquired, how they may be used for the interpretation of past environments and how they may be used to inform decisions on conservation.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This course is open to 3rd and 4th year students. This course is open to all university students, but priority will be given to students on the Geography Degree Programmes. Students from other programmes may be able to join if there is space. Please contact geoset.ug.drummond@ed.ac.uk to check availability. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A comprehensive and integrated knowledge and understanding of the broad pattern of environmental change (both natural and anthropogenic) over the last 15,000 years.
- An understanding of some of the sources of palaeoenvironmental data, and the various palaeoecological techniques, including vertebrate and invertebrate remains which can be applied to the investigation of environmental change and human activity in the landscape.
- An understanding of taphonomy and preservation.
- An understanding of the interaction of human communities with different facets of the environment and the role of humans as agents of landscape change and development.
- Knowledge of the biogeography of disease and an understanding of conservation issues and an understanding of conservation issues.
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Reading List
1. Bell, M. and Walker, M.J.C. (2015). Late Quaternary Environments. Physical & Human Perspectives (2nd ed.). Routledge, London.
2. Butzer K. W. (2005). Environmental history in the Mediterranean world: cross-disciplinary investigation of cause-and-effect for degradation and soil erosion. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 1773-1800.
3. Fitzhugh W. W. and Ward E. I. (2000). Vikings. The North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Institute, Washington.
4. Greenblatt C. and Spigelman M. (Eds) (2003). Emerging pathogens. Archaeology, ecology & evolution of infectious disease. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
5. Hodder K. H., Bullock J. M., Buckland P. C. and Kirby K. J. (2005). Large herbivores in the wildwood and modern naturalistic grazing systems. English Nature Research Report, 648. English Nature, Peterborough.
6. Lowe J. J. and Walker M.J.C. (2014). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments (3rd ed). Routledge, London.
7. Roberts N. (2014). The Holocene. An Environmental History (3rd edition). Wiley Blackwell, Oxford.
Particularly useful Journals: Antiquity, Archaeometry, The Holocene, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Biogeography, Journal of Quaternary Science, Meddelelser om Grønland, Quaternary Research, Quaternary Science Reviews. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1. Basic observation skills in the laboratory.
2. Basic knowledge of how to use a database to collate data and interpret an invertebrate assemblage (using BUGSCEP).
3. Skills in writing a project/essay of their choice (from a list of essays provided in the course).
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| Special Arrangements |
This course is open to 3rd and 4th year students. This course is open to all university students, but priority will be given to students on the Geography Degree Programmes. Students from other programmes may be able to join if there is space. Please contact geoset.ug.drummond@ed.ac.uk to check availability. |
| Keywords | Lateglacial,Holocene,Disease,Human Impact,Climate Change,Biogeography,Extinctions,Palaeoecology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Eva Panagiotakopulu
Tel: (0131 6)50 2531
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Leigh Corstorphine
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: |
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