Courses
GCHC1086 The Making of Humankind (3 units)
- Medium of Instruction:
- English
The course will present an alternative history demonstrating how non-traditional approaches (archaeological, geological, science archives) can tell stories from the past. An introduction will be given to the history of planet Earth and how events in the distant past have determined the nature of, and limits to, our modern civilizations. A more intensive narrative is developed dealing with human pre-history and the initiation of the earliest human cultures. The main focus will be on understanding our own ancestors and their spread across the world. Their cultural adaptations will be discussed by examining the development of stone tools, the origins of art, the earliest forms of writing, and the shift from hunter-gathering to agricultural and fishing activities and, subsequently, to the rise of the earliest civilizations. Questions will be raised as to what may happen to us in the future, given the evidence of our past.
http://ge.hkbu.edu.hk/course/GCHC-1086/