Wednesday 26th August 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel, 4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX
With Dr Fiona Coward.
What does it mean to 'be human', and what is it that makes us unique as a species? Is it even possible to identify a single, critical, and universal human characteristic that explains the essence of our uniqueness?
Charles Darwin’s ground-breaking theory of evolution showed that we share common ancestry with other great apes, and the fossil record and archaeological finds clearly demonstrate that modern humans didn’t emerge from ancestral apes in a single step, so when did populations along the way become distinctively ‘human’?
In recent decades scientists have been surprised to discover that many other animals demonstrate some of the skills we once thought were exclusively 'human', such as making and using tools, living together co-operatively in large groups, communicating in highly complex ways and even using and understanding symbols. In this thought-provoking presentation Fiona Coward will discuss the implications of these findings on how we think about what it means to be human, and will explain when and how some of the most obvious characteristics and behaviours that distinguish us as a species evolved.
“Join us for a highly informative examination of what it means to be human”
Free entry (donations appreciated). Everyone welcome!
Dr Fiona Coward is Senior Lecturer in Archaeological Sciences at Bournemouth University whose research focuses on how and why humans were able to scale up their social lives from the very small social groups we lived in for much of our prehistory to the global social networks which characterise people’s lives today.
(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).
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