Societies in Transition

Professor Rayner talks about society in the 21st century the impacts of science and technology, particularly cyber-technology and the Internet. He also asks how new technology will change society and what it means to be a person.

Professor Palmer looks at the Industrial Revolution and how it transformed societies. She also examines the idea that the Revolution is as important to civilization as the transition from hunter-gatherers to farming societies thousands of years ago.

Dr Ward-Perkins (Trinity College, Oxford) examines the Roman-made ecological disasters and examines how far the environmental pollution contributed to the fall of Rome and why this matters in today's world.

Lecture on Britain under Roman rule and the incorporation of Britain into the Roman world. Professor Gosden also talks about the significance of our environment, the outside, material world, and how it influences historical events in ancient history.

A lecture on the origins of the classical world: from the growth of Minoan Crete during the Bronze Age, 2000 BCE, where a possible volcanic eruption on Santorini led to the destruction of Minoan Crete and a catalyst to the creation of the Classical world.

Professor David Killick (Dept. Anthropology, University of Arizona) talks about the invention of metallurgy and the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and what the social roles of emerging metallurgy were in societies throughout the world.

Professor Graeme Barker talks about the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming societies in the Stone Age in South East Asian Islands. He discusses the various reasons why this transition took place and the advantages it brought to people.

Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader in the Paleontology department at the Natural History Museum, discusses skeletal, DNA and behavioural evidence that sheds light on the transition between neanderthals and modern humans.