This module provides an advanced introduction to current understandings of hunting and gathering societies, often seen as one of the most significant and long lived forms of human social organisation. Hunter-gatherers are often defined as human groups who subsist on wild foods and plants. They also play an important role in models of social change over time – being perceived as the origin point from which forms of social complexity have developed, especially in terms of the development of agricultural societies. But a wide range of archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that hunting and gathering societies were enormously diverse, and often characterised by significant forms of complexity. This includes large scale management and manipulation of the environment, substantial architectural and monumental projects, as well as rich cultural traditions and developed forms of social inequality. This evidence provides a major challenge to common-place notions of what ‘hunter-gatherers’ are and how human diversity relates to subsistence practice. 
This module explores the diversity of hunter-gatherers over time and space, and examines how and why such communities change, including as they develop or obtain domesticated plants and animals. We will take a global perspective, and use archaeological and anthropological approaches to explore the fascinating worlds of hunter-gatherers. The module uses seminars and class exercises to encourage students to take the lead in this process.