Biological Anthropology module (CA52018)

Biological anthropology is the study of the evolution and biological development of modern humans through analysis of skeletal variation.

In this module, you will learn about various aspects of modern human population analysis including:

• mortality and morbidity
• disease burden, health and stress
• the effects of lifestyle factors on the skeleton

You will also learn about the ethics of working with human remains. This will cover the treatment of the dead by populations including funerary practices.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• learn about the ethics of working with human material
• learn about the key principles of the study of human remains. This will be on the individual and population scale
• learn to identify human variation across populations

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Understand the ethics of working with human material
• Show knowledge of the key principles of the study of human remains on the individual and population scale
• Identify and discuss human variation across populations
• You will also have developed key transferable skills. These will include the ability to evaluate sources of information for reliability, and to critically evaluate evidence to provide logical and supported inferences. These skills will support your professional development. They will also support your learning in the remainder of your course

Assignments / assessment

• written coursework (50%)
• computer marked assessment (CMA) exam (50%)

Teaching methods / timetable

• In-person workshop sessions
• Online resources including key sources for review prior to in-person sessions