Graduate School Bulletin

Advanced Graduate Certificate in Human Origins

The Advanced Graduate Certificate in Human Origins is a 15-credit field education program in Kenya that can be taken after completion of a bachelor’s or other advanced degree. It is a good option for anyone who would like to hone critical thinking skills, increase personal knowledge, and gain field experience in sciences relating to prehistory. The program addresses the place humans occupy in the natural world and how we came to occupy that place. It is comprised of five sequential two-week 500-level graduate modules in ecology, archaeology, paleontology, physical anthropology, and geology.

Participants will gain hands-on experience in field survey and excavation methods, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, taphonomy, and will take field trips to important paleontological and archaeological sites, diverse ecological settings, and remarkable geological features throughout the Turkana Basin. It combines the excitement and hands-on experiential learning of a field school with the immersion of a full semester study abroad.