ur aim is to bring you into contact with as wide a range of fossil invertebrates as possible whilst not sacrificing depth of understanding. We will integrate as far as possible the excursion, practical work, lecture material, and the reading of pivotal palaeontological papers in order that you might gain some in-depth appreciation of the sort of problems that palaeontologists are currently coming to grips with. The old approach to palaeontology involved much wading through morasses of terminology, an approach that requires many years for one to become familiar with the gamut of forms and structures in the fossil record only to miss the broad things. Constrained as we are by time, we will plunge in and, as it were, skim over the terminology in order to engender a feel for the 'real world' of palaeontology. It is our hope that the unit will be seen as de-emphasizing 'potted' learning. In some ways we bring a variety of skills (and backgrounds - namely yours: biologic and geologic) to bear on specific questions that we hope will help illuminate much broader areas or specific questions. NEW: Trilobite Chart and Cladistics lecture are both available for downloading