11 Tuesday Dec 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
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This video from the American Museum of Natural History provides a useful synopsis of the different hominin species. Today, our closest living relatives are chimpanzees, but extinct hominins are even closer. Where and when did they live? What can we learn about their lives? Why did they go extinct? Scientists look to fossils for clues.
21 Wednesday Nov 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In our final session of the Human Journey, we looked at Homo floresiensis, also known as the Hobbit. The origins of this species – a human relative only a little over a metre tall – have been debated ever since its discovery in 2004. This video from Nature discusses this question:
If you wish to find out more about this species, the following may be of interest:
15 Thursday Nov 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In our last session of the Human Journey, we looked at how Homo sapiens continued to spread across the globe, reaching as far as East Asia, Australia and the Americas.
In East Asia and Australia, we looked at sites such as Niah Cave and Lake Mungo.
Whilst in the Americas we discussed the evidence for the pre-Clovis and Clovis people. Those interested in finding out more about the latter, may wish to listen to the episode on Clovis Points from the BBC’s History of the World in 100 Objects series.
This short video clip from National Geographic looks at the skeleton of a teenage girl determined to be the one of the oldest and most complete human skeletons ever discovered in the New World.
07 Wednesday Nov 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In our last session of ‘The Human Journey’, we looked at the appearance of our own species, Homo sapiens, and various theories about how we spread around the world.
Further reading on this subject includes:
This short video clip helps to illustrate some of the proposed routes:
05 Monday Nov 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
Following on from the recent post about Neanderthals and Denisovans, comes news of a new virtual, three-dimensional reconstruction of the thorax of an adult, male Neanderthal which is presented in Nature Communications. Analysis suggests that the Neanderthal thorax had a different shape to that of modern humans, leading the authors to propose that Neanderthals may have had a subtly different breathing mechanism.
02 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
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archaeology, Beginners Guide, Britain, education, England, Leicestershire, Loughborough, Scotland, Wales, WEA
In our last session we looked at the Treasure Act 1996, Treasure Trove in Scotland, metal detecting, nighthawking and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
This video is of a lecture entitled “The Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme: experience from South of the Border” that was given by Roger Bland, Keeper of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum joint with the National Museums Scotland, to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2014 on the application of the Treasure Act and the development of the Portable Antiquities Scheme to record discovered artefacts.
26 Friday Oct 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In our last session of ‘A Beginner’s Guide’ we looked at the topic of human remains on archaeological sites.
In this episode of ‘Material World’ from BBC Radio 4, the presenter interviews two archaeologists about the impact of the Burial Act 1857 upon archaeology.
Further reading which may be of interest includes:
24 Wednesday Oct 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In our last session we looked at Neanderthals and Denisovans:
This short video clip summarises recent research published in Cell which showed that remnants of two distinct waves of Denisovan admixture have been identified in modern-day East Asian populations in a new study from Browning and colleagues.
17 Wednesday Oct 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
Tags
archaeology, Britain, Bronze Age, education, Places to Visit, prehistory, stone age, Stonehenge, WEA, Wiltshire
In this episode of Curator’s Corner by the British Museum, Neil Wilkin is joined by Susan Greaney, Senior Properties Historian for English Heritage to discuss the history and importance of Stonehenge. Going into the heart of the monument and looking at some related Bronze Age objects, Neil and Susan explore the connections between Stonehenge, the rest of Britain and the continent.
17 Wednesday Oct 2018
Posted in Archaeology, Education, WEA
In this week’s session, we looked at some of the early species of the genus Homo: Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and Homo naledi.
We also looked at some of the first evidence for tool making with the Oldowan industry. A couple of episodes of the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ series looked at these tools: Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool and Olduvai Handaxe. These podcasts can be listened to online or downloaded to be listened to in your own time.
Other webpages that may be of interest are:
