Overview
Dawn of Humanity: An Introduction to World History provides an overview of world history to c.1500 CE. In this unit, you will examine early human societies from around the world and the rise of empires in this broad period. Areas of study include ancient Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, Japan, and Meso-America. Students will be introduced to the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of these societies and the historical interactions between them. You will gain a preliminary understanding of historical methods and how to interpret and analyse historical evidence. You will develop both discipline-specific and generic skills. You will require a computer and internet access to complete some assessments for this unit. Together with the optional sequel, The Modern World Emerges: An Historical Overview, Dawn of Humanity: An Introduction to World History provides you with a firm foundation for more specialised history studies offered at CQU.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student feedback comment
Inclusive seminars were conducive to free and open exploration of challenging content
Sustain this approach of delivering inclusive and dialogical seminars
Feedback from Student feedback comment
Inconsistent presentation of assessment information
Overhaul all assessment information to ensure consistency across all points of communication
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500 CE (AD1500)
- Critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions
- Recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems
- Develop essential skills for historians, including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Essay - 35% | ||||
| 2 - Essay - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Presentation - 25% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Turabian
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.collins2@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Future histories or historical futures?
Strategic debates in the study of world history (c. 1780-2026 CE)
Chapter
Study Guide 1 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 1
Module/Topic
Mummies and hanging gardens?
Gift economies, exogamy politics and reciprocity in the Bronze Age (c. 2000-1200 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 2 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 2
Module/Topic
Displaced histories or the history of the displaced?
Invaders, refugees and the collapse of the Bronze Age (c. 1300-1100 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 3 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 3
Module/Topic
Portable alphabets and invisible merchants?
Commerce, culture and brokerage in the Iron Age (c. 1000-600 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 4 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 4
Annotated Bibliography Due: Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Anxious influencers or influential anxieties?
Cultural appropriation and creative destruction in the Archaic period (c. 800 - 500 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 5 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 5
Module/Topic
Barbarian tragedies or tragic barbarism?
Evolving polities and the exclusivity of citizenship in the Achaemenid period (c. 550-330 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 6 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 6
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Extensive assimilation or intensive (dis)integration?
Conquest, inclusion and evolving modalities of social cohesion in the Hellenistic period (c. 323-30 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 7 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 7
Module/Topic
Mythic conquerers or exalted assylum-seekers?
Origins and contradictions of spatial (il)logics in the so-called birth of Rome (c. 1000-300 BCE)
Chapter
Study Guide 8 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 8
Essay Due: Week 8 Wednesday (6 May 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Cosmopolitan empire or provincial mimesis?
Slavish conquests, manumission and imperial integration from the Middle Republic through to High Empire (c. 300 BCE - 200 CE)
Chapter
Study Guide 9 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 9
Module/Topic
Roman barbarians and servile Goths?
Conversion, betrayal and translation from High Empire through Late Antiquity (c. 100-700 CE)
Chapter
Study Guide 10 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 10
Module/Topic
Silk Roads paved with pasta or noodles?
Tributes, nomads and monastics from the Bronze Age through the Tang Dynasty (c. 2000 BCE - 1000 CE)
Chapter
Study Guide 11 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 11
Module/Topic
Lexical vagabonds or aural codex?
Canoe logistics, urbanism and linguistics from agrarian nomads to the so-called age of exploration (c. 2000 BCE - 1500 CE)
Chapter
Study Guide 12 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Seminar 12
Interactive oral presentation Due: Week 12 Wednesday (3 June 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Essay
Students are required to produce a source review document that demonstrates critical engagement with a total of 5 scholarly sources chosen from a selection of learning materials available on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task. Each source requires 5 annotations, with the format of the document detailed in the supplementary material for this assessment task on the Moodle site. The purpose of this assessment task is to provide the research foundation for the essay.
The total word count for the source review document is 1750 words (+ or - 10%). This total is comprised of approximately 350 words of reflection per scholarly source.
This assessment task is worth 35% of the total grade.
Further details on this assessment are included in the Moodle site and guidelines for how to approach the task will be discussed at length in seminar 1 as well as in learning resources made available on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Upload into Moodle as .doc or .docx. Ensure you run a Turnitin plagiarism check.
Week 6 Wednesday (15 Apr 2026)
Source reviews will be returned within two weeks from the date they are submitted
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500 CE (AD1500)
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500 CE (AD1500)
- Critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions
- Recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems
- Develop essential skills for historians, including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
2 Essay
The questions for the essay are available on the HIST11037 Moodle site. You are required to choose ONE question and write an essay in response of 2000 words (a variation of 10% is acceptable in the word count).
Students are expected to follow the essay-writing and Turabian referencing guides provided in Moodle, in addition to the format and style of the sample essay. 2 weeks of essay workshops in weeks 6 and 7 are designated for class discussion whereby the research material furnished by the annotated bibliography is considered alongside essay writing techniques so as to inform the preparation of the essay.
This essay will be graded on the CREW principle (Content, Research, and Essay Writing) which is elaborated in detail on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
Week 8 Wednesday (6 May 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Upload into Moodle as .doc or .docx. Ensure you run a Turnitin plagiarism check.
Week 10 Wednesday (20 May 2026)
Essays will be marked and returned within two weeks of the date they are submitted to the Moodle site.
Content:
- Critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions
- Recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems
3 Presentation
Students are required to prepare and deliver an oral presentation in dialogue with their peers on the topic of their essay feedback. Students will be allocated into groups of 4-6 people, with whom they will record a 10 minute zoom call in which they will discuss at least 2 substantive points of feedback each from AT2. Each student will require at least 5 minutes so the size of the group will determine the maximum length of the zoom recording.
Detailed instructions regarding the group selection, discussion guidelines, assessment criteria, recording and submission instructions are available on the Moodle site.
Week 12 Wednesday (3 June 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Vacation/Exam Week Wednesday (17 June 2026)
1. Clarity - how clearly have the ideas that inform the argument articulated in the presentation been expressed?
2. Coherence - the presentation should entail at least 3 key points that relate to a key thesis, which is to be developed iteratively over the course of the presentation. This assessment criteria evaluates the extent to which the thesis and the 3 key points are logically consistent and coherent.
3. Concision - has the presentation articulated a coherent thesis, constituted by at least 3 key points, using precise language and in an engaging manner with brevity.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
- Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500 CE (AD1500)
- Develop essential skills for historians, including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
