Key facts

Type	Day and Weekend
Location	Oxford
Address	Rewley House 1 Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JA
Dates	Sat 31 Mar to Sun 1 Apr 2012
Subject area(s)	Archaeology
Fees	From £100.00
Application status	Applications being accepted
Course code	O11P236AHR
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk.

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Overview

Palaeolithic Populations: Coping with the Environmental Challenges of the Pleistocene

The Pleistocene epoch (c. 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago) saw great changes in climate as the world's ice sheets expanded and contracted many times. Against this background of global climate change, the first members of our own genus, Homo, emerged and evolved into several different forms, including, ultimately, our own species. New work continues to contribute to our understanding of the ebb and flow of Palaeolithic populations as climatic and environmental changes took place. Recent investigations at Happisburgh in Norfolk, for example, not only push back the presence of humans in Britain to somewhere between 850,000 and 950,000 years ago, but also show that some early Palaeolithic populations could survive cooler conditions than previously thought, although there is growing evidence to suggest that the Neanderthals were not as cold-tolerant as has been widely supposed. This weekend school brings together a number of researchers to explore how different human populations, particularly in Europe and Africa, coped with the varied environmental challenges that they faced.

* NB The lift at Rewley House is being refurbished and will be out of commission from the 1 February 2012 to the 30 April 2012. There will be no disabled access during this period for courses held in the Lecture Theatre or the first floor.*

Programme details

SATURDAY 31 MARCH 2012

9.30 am Registration

10.00 am Palaeolithic populations and Pleistocene climate change
DR DIANE HOLMES
OUDCE

11.00 am Coffee/tea

11.30 am The age, habitats and developing technology of the earliest humans in northern Europe
DR NICK ASHTON
Curator Palaeolithic Archaeology, The British Museum, London

12.45 pm Lunch

2.00 pm Hunting, handaxes and the earliest origins of the Neanderthals
DR MATTHEW POPE
Senior Research Fellow, University College London

3.00 pm Neanderthals on the edge: environmental change and the development of Levallois technology
DR BECCY SCOTT
Department of Prehistory and Europe, The British Museum, London

4.00 pm Tea/coffee

4.30 pm Social requirements and opportunities for the earliest modern humans dispersing into Europe
DR WILLIAM DAVIES
Lecturer, Archaeology, University of Southampton

5.30 pm Break

7.00 pm Dinner

8.15 pm Recent human evolution: how important were climatic and environmental factors?
PROFESSOR CHRIS STRINGER
The Natural History Museum, London

SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2012

8.15am Breakfast (residents only)

9.15 am Stone age populations and environmental change in the Western Rift of Eastern Africa
DR LAURA BASELL
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Palaeolithic Archaeology,
University of Oxford School of Archaeology

10.15 am Between desert, mountain and sea: late Pleistocene populations and climate fluctuations in southernmost Africa
DR BRIAN STEWART
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge

11.15 am Coffee/tea

11.45 am The terminal Pleistocene and the 10,000 year 'revolution': The long chronology of the origins of agriculture in southwest Asia
DR JAY STOCK
Senior Lecturer in Human Evolution and Development, University of Cambridge

12.45 pm Lunch

2.00 pm Course disperses


* NB The lift at Rewley House is being refurbished and will be out of commission from the 1 February 2012 to the 30 April 2012. There will be no disabled access during this period for courses held in the Lecture Theatre or the first floor.*

Staff

Accommodation

Accommodation for this weekend is at Rewley House for Saturday night only.

Depending on availability it may also be possible to extend your stay, please enquire at the time of booking for availability and prices.

All bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished rooms, all with tea/coffee making facilities, TV, telephone and private bath or shower rooms.

If you wish to book a twin room (£45.00 per person per night), please send in your completed application/enrolment form or contact the Day & Weekend Events Office, Email: ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk; Telephone: + 44 (0) 1865 270380 / 270368.

Refunds

Cancellations and Refunds

Fees will only be refunded in exceptional circumstances and all refunds will be subject to a £20 administration charge. Without exception, the cost of any accommodation and meals booked will be retained according to the following schedule:

• 4-6 weeks before the course begins: 25% accommodation retained
• 1-4 weeks before the course begins: 50% accommodation retained
• Less than 7 days before the course begins: 100% accommodation & catering retained.

If you prefer to take up the option of a transfer or credit note, the accommodation and catering policy above will be applied but no administrative charge will be made.

Refund requests should be made, in writing, to the Manager of Public Programmes, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA, or by emailing ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk. Please indicate in your application whether, if successful, you would prefer a refund, transfer or credit note.

The Department reserves the right to cancel classes e.g. in cases of insufficient enrolments. In such cases students will be refunded in full.

Fee options

Programme Fee

Tuition (includes Coffee/tea): £100.00

Accommodation

Single Room (includes Breakfast): £63.00

Catering

Baguette Lunch (Saturday & Sunday): £6.00

Full Meals (excluding breakfast): £39.00

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