Course content
Year 1 / Level C
Investigative & Reporting Skills
Providing you with the core skill set necessary for undergraduate study in a science subject, this unit will particularly develop independent learning. By the end of the unit you will have completed a simulated science-based investigation exercise, demonstrating the application of a range of core skills as an investigative scientist.
Topics in Contemporary Science
You will be exposed to a range of contemporary themes in science, either driven by research taking place within the School or by topical science agenda. The unit is delivered by a seminar series covering all aspects of the science relevant to the School of Applied Sciences. Topical or popular issues are examined and the science that underlies them explored.
Practical Skills
The practical and field skills necessary for undergraduate study in a science subject specifically within the fields of archaeology, environment & biological-forensic science will be covered. You will be taught through a series of short courses and self directed learning exercises designed to develop your independent learning skills.
Biology
The fundamental concepts of biology, including cell biology, molecular biology, anatomy and physiology will be studied in this unit. It will explore the molecular basis of life, physiological processes and the function, structure and regulation of the most important organ systems in animals. You will also develop core bioscience skills, such as practical ability, data handling, time management and team work through laboratory classes.
Chemistry
You will be provided with an understanding of some aspects and processes within fundamental chemistry and analytical chemistry and develop your laboratory skills. The unit will predominately be delivered through lectures and practical laboratory sessions. The laboratory sessions will enable reinforcement of the theoretical concepts by dealing with experimentally generated data and will allow for one-to-one and small group discussions.
Ancient People & Places
You will be introduced to the key thematic studies in archaeology concerning the evolution and development of ancient humans, changing technologies and material culture, and the organisation and development of past societies. You will be introduced to a range of archaeological, fossil, genetic and ethnographic evidence and develop core skills of analysis, interpretation, and reasoning using archaeological data.
Year 2 / Level I
Applications of Archaeological Science
This unit will develop your understanding of how thematic archaeological research questions may be addressed through the use of archaeological scientific techniques and approaches. Knowledge of case studies will be developed to promote understanding of the potential applications of archaeological science to investigate the behaviour of past human societies.
Evolution & Wildlife Conservation
Providing you with an understanding of the factors involved in the evolution and long term conservation of species, this unit considers how natural processes and humans have interacted to determine large-scale patterns of biodiversity and evolutionary change.
Biochemistry
This science-based unit is designed to enable you to be conversant with biochemical aspects of modern biological sciences whilst serving to provide a foundation for final level study such as Biomolecules and Toxicology in the third year. Supported by some of the laboratory practical sessions, the unit will deliver the contents of four core parts of modern biochemistry, namely structure of macromolecules, transmission of genetic information, function of proteins, and metabolic pathways.
Human Origins & Evolution
Past and current theories surrounding human origins and evolution will be explored. This unit will consider various lines of evidence including modern human biology, fossil anatomy, genetic studies, primatological evidence and archaeological material. You will be introduced to concepts of evolutionary theory, approaches to understanding specific adaptations and to differing hypotheses regarding human ancestry and how these may be approached critically.
Human Osteology
The basic principles of analysis and interpretation involved in the study of skeletal remains of modern humans will be covered in this unit. It introduces the concepts and uses of biological data in examination and analysis of human skeletal remains from archaeological and forensic contexts and involves the determination of basic bioprofiling characteristics including sex, age at death, ancestry and stature. Attention is also given to considering skeletal data at the level of populations as opposed to that of individuals.
Societies of Prehistoric Europe
You will be introduced to the study of early farming societies in Temperate Europe and the northern Mediterranean (c.6000-800 BC). It seeks to provide you with an opportunity to bring together evidence of settlement patterns; subsistence economies; the production, use and trade of artefacts; ritual and burial practices; and landscape change, to provide a sound understanding of how these societies inhabited and manipulated their environment.
Year 3 / Level H
Applied Anthropology
Introducing you to the wider applications and potential of research in Biological Anthropology, you will explore the analysis and interpretation of skeletal pathology and trauma and examine ways in which the study of disease can inform about health status in past societies. Attention is also given to considering how such pathology can provide important information that may lead to the identification of deceased individuals recovered from forensic contexts. Consideration is also given to the ways data is captured and analysed at the level of populations and of both the problems and prospects such analysis carry.
Biomolecules
By the end of this unit you will be conversant with the concepts and approaches of holism compared with reductionism in modern biological sciences. It will review the principles of biology and modern biotechnologies from molecular levels to systems biology, such as DNA analysis, DNA profiling, functional genomics, gene expression and cDNA microarray, proteomics and protein interactions, epigenetics, bioinformatics, recombinant DNA, and biotechnology.
Primate Behavioural Ecology
The way in which primate behaviour can be interpreted will be explored from an evolutionary viewpoint, and how human and non-human primates’ behavioural strategies are adapted to the environment (social and ecological) in which they live. The unit is aimed at stimulating discussion and the critical analysis of theories.
Independent Research Project
The Independent Research Project provides you with an opportunity to gain experience of research in a topic of your choice relevant to your degree and to demonstrate your ability to report that research. Such experience is considered essential for those students interested in pursuing academic and/or professional research at a higher level of responsibility and achievement.
Option units: choose one of the following:
Emergence & Extinction: Reconstructing Pliocene & Pleistocene Environments
This unit aims to provide you with an understanding of past and current theories surrounding the nature and effects of environmental change during the last 10 million years. Various lines of evidence are considered including geomorphology, palynology, ice cores, fossil flora and fauna and genetics. The course will include aspects of evolutionary theory and will consider theories relating both the emergence and extinction of species to wider environmental change. Consideration will also be given to differing approaches to understanding broad ecological changes and to competing hypotheses regarding both individual and mass extinctions.
Landscape Patterns & Processes
This unit aims to provide you with an understanding of the principles of landscape ecology, current methods of landscape assessment, and strategic and practical managerial techniques available for conserving semi-natural, working, and designed landscapes. Successful completion of the unit will enable you to recognise, assess and analyse changes in landscape pattern resulting from natural processes and human activities, and to understand how such patterns influence key processes influencing biodiversity and the provision of environmental services to people. You will also develop an understanding of the principles of managing natural resources at the landscape scale.
Later Prehistoric Britain
By the end of this unit you will have a detailed critical understanding of the archaeology of the later Bronze Age and Iron Age Britain, broadly 1500BC-AD50, in Britain in its Continental context. The unit will provide a broad knowledge of chronological and regional variations within later prehistoric Britain and also contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the development of archaeological theory. Museums & Collections For those of you pursuing an interest in museum studies and the curation of collections, this unit will provide you with the knowledge and understanding of the principles and practice of collections care and management.
Neolithic & Chalcolithic of Northwest Europe
The main aim of this unit is to provide you with a detailed critical understanding of the archaeology of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, broadly 4000-2000 BC, in the British Isles and the adjacent Continental coastlands from western France to southern Scandinavia. This is one of the most formative periods in the social and economic development of communities occupying northwest Europe and includes both the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming cultures and the introduction of metallurgy. The unit will provide a broad and comparative knowledge of a selected chronological period for a selected geographical region, and contribute to a knowledge and understanding of the origins and development of archaeology as a discipline.
Roman Britain
You will be provided with the opportunity to explore in detail the practical and theoretical problems associated with the study of the material culture and archaeology of a distinct geographical area. The unit seeks to provide you with a solid understanding of the importance of archaeological data in the understanding and interpretation of historical chronologies.
Animals & Society
This unit aims to provide you with a detailed critical understanding of humans’ interactions with animals in Britain from the Palaeolithic through to the early Post-medieval period. These interactions include the exploitation of animals for meat and other products and how animals were incorporated into burial practices and other rituals.
