SFOK20008U Cancelled Health, disease and lifestyle in the past
MSc in Public Health Science - elective summer course
MSc in Global Health - elective summer course
The course goals target a broad group of students from amongst others: Biology, Geology, Public health, Archaeology, History, Social Anthropology, Bioscience, Veterinary medicine, and Medicine
This two-week summer school will provide students with a broad but detailed introduction to scientific methodologies in osteoarchaeology (the scientific study of skeletal material excavated at archaeological sites) to answer questions about our health, disease, and lifestyle in the past. In order to answer such questions, skills to identify skeletal material are required. The course will therefore focus on both human and animal remains. The scientific investigation of human skeletal remains gives unique insights into human history, demographic shifts, environmental changes, living conditions, migrations, pathologies, and the spread of diseases, as these all leave traces on the skeleton. Animal remains provide evidence on human food sources, activities, and the environment and climate in the past.
Population density and migrations have had an impact on spread of vira, bacteria, and parasites through thousands of years. Studying pathogens, proteomics and diet of past peoples are important for our understanding of the development of diseases and health at the individual and the population level.
The course consists of five modules covering various aspects of human and animal remains and how past human and animal populations interacted at a macro- and micro-level with focus on health, disease, lifestyle, and diet.
During the course, the students will learn how to “read” bones including age and sex of the human remains, identify skeletal pathologies, identify animal remains, including species, age and sex.
The students will be introduced to various cross-disciplinary approaches to gain a deeper insight into past health including palaeogenomics, pathogens, palaeoproteomics and ZooMS and isotope analysis.
The course will include group work, oral presentations and group assignments and students will be evaluated individually and in groups during the course.
At the end of the course the students are expected to know the following within the discipline of osteoarchaeology:
Learning outcome
Knowledge
- Demonstrate an overview of the skeletal anatomy of mammals (human and animal) with insights into morphological adaptations and species-specific characters
- Be able to describe osteoarchaeological methods and analyses of disease and causes of disease
- Have theoretical knowledge of the advantages and pitfalls in the use of different biomolecular approaches to species identification and identification of pathogens
Skills
- Be able to carry out species identification of the most common mammalian domesticates
- Can produce biological profile of human remains and identify skeletal pathologies
- Can critically evaluate new methodologies within the areas of osteoarchaeology and archaeological sciences
- Are able critically to evaluate osteoarchaeological questions
and argue for the best possible set of
methods
Competences
- Understand the potential of various osteoarchaeological methodologies
- Evaluate osteoarchaeological results with their strengths and pitfalls
- Enter cross-disciplinary collaborations
- Suggest the best strategy for studies of the health of past populations
Pensum lists will be uploaded in advance of the course start.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 40
- Preparation
- 160
- Exam
- 75
- Total
- 275
Please find application form at the summer course web page: http://healthsciences.ku.dk/education/summercourses/
The application deadline is 1 April 2021.
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Continuous assessmentWritten assignmentEvaluation of 1 written assignment and 2 oral presentations. The evaluation is based on an overall assessment of the two sub-parts.
- Exam registration requirements
The exam has two parts: two oral presentations that the student will give during the course and a written exam that will be written during the course (10.000 characters +/- 10% excluding bibliography) and handed in as digital exam on the last day.
- Aid
- All aids allowed
- Marking scale
- passed/not passed
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
- Exam period
- Re-exam
Criteria for exam assesment
In order to pass the exam, the student must be able to:
Knowledge
- Demonstrate an overview of the skeletal anatomy of mammals (human and animal) with insights into morphological adaptations and species-specific characters
- Be able to describe osteoarchaeological methods and analyses of disease and causes of disease
- Have theoretical knowledge of the advantages and pitfalls in the use of different biomolecular approaches to species identification and identification of pathogens
Skills
- Be able to carry out species identification of the most common mammalian domesticates
- Can produce biological profile of human remains and identify skeletal pathologies
- Can critically evaluate new methodologies within the areas of osteoarchaeology and archaeological sciences
- Are able critically to evaluate osteoarchaeological questions
and argue for the best possible set of
methods
Competences
- Understand the potential of various osteoarchaeological methodologies
- Evaluate osteoarchaeological results with their strengths and pitfalls
- Enter cross-disciplinary collaborations
- Suggest the best strategy for studies of the health of past populations
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- SFOK20008U
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- Placement
- Summer
- Schedule
- Teaching in week 27 and 28. Exam: two oral presentations during the course and paper to be handed in on the Friday in week 28.
- Course capacity
- 40
- Study board
- The Study Board for Public Health Science and Global Health
Contracting departments
- GLOBE Institute
- Department of Forensic Medicine
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Course Coordinators
- Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov (8-7877757a7d767a814b7e80796f397680396f76)
- Luise Ørsted Brandt (12-717a6e786a3367776673697945787a736933707a336970)
- Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen (12-65666b73786a76696877697244777271326f7932686f)
Lecturers
Marie Louise Jørkov (MLJ)
Luise Ørsted Brandt (LØB)
Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen (ABG)
Guest lecturers from the GLOBE Institute and Department of Forensic
Medicine are TBA