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AY5513: EURASIAN ARCHAEOLOGY (2023-2024)

Last modified: 23 Jul 2024 10:43


Course Overview

The Eurasia steppe has been presented as an engine that drove past political, technological and genetic changes in the well-known regions around the periphery of the Eurasian continent. The archaeology and prehistory of this region is not widely or directly known.  The course will provide a detailed introduction of the cultures and datasets that form the bases of a range of grand narratives as well as allowing students to work with the practical and theoretical issues common the archaeology of Eurasia.  Course material will focus on a 5000 year period roughly from the advent of advent of pastoralist and food producing societies to the rise of the medieval Mongol Empire.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term Second Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Joshua Wright

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Postgraduate Programme
  • Archaeology (AY)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The Eurasian landmass is a vast area made up mostly of continental interior.  This ‘steppe belt’ and its adjacent boreal forests and deserts include some of the highest mountain ranges, largest rivers, and driest deserts on earth.  Human adaptation to this region is a balance between adaptation to local conditions and adoption of influences from the continental margins.  The long view of this region has been one looking inward from those margins.  Despite this common ‘view from afar’ Eurasia has always loomed large in the history and pre-history of Europe, East Asia and Arabia and is often seen as an engine driving political, technological and genetic change in those regions. Archaeology provides the main route by which the many of processes and populations of Eurasia have come to be known.

This seminar will cover the major archaeological horizons, cultures and themes of Eurasia archaeology.  It is designed to give the student a foundational knowledge of the region’s archaeology and ‘big questions’ that can then be used to expand further into their own studies.  Topics include the advent of food producing economies and mobile pastoralism, the development of monumental landscape societies, the Andronovo and Scythian horizons, the Xiongnu confederation, the emergence of the Türks, the urbanism of the Bactria-Margiana Complex and Sogdia, the states of the Kitan-Liao and the Mongolian world empire.  The central balance of the material covered can be found between Central Asia east of the Black Sea and the Eastern Steppe and from the Holocene to the Medieval Mongol Empire.  Though students may wish to stretch beyond these regions and time periods in their own work.

A student who successfully completes this course will be conversant in the major archaeological themes and datasets across the region and will have been introduced to the archaeological methods and theories used in their study.  The seminar offers practice in a range of professional outputs — presentations, conference posters, and writing and reviewing academic papers.  The pattern of the course is a weekly seminar format in which students will prepare regular academic readings (c.150 pages per week), present readings to the class, and discuss data, methods, and conclusions.  The major output is a seminar paper that will be developed, drafted and workshopped throughout the term.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Poster Presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks 30 Feedback Weeks 32

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Feedback

Poster and presentation covering broad thematic and environmental aspect of Eurasia archaeology. Feedback will be provided in written form.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseEvaluate archaeological methodologies used to examine specific large scale archaeological questions.
FactualUnderstandGain a broad knowledge of the archaeology and cultural historical sequences of Eurasia over the past 5000 years.
ProceduralAnalyseGain ownership of academic knowledge through presentation, dialogue, and discussion.

Essay (Seminar Paper)

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 70
Assessment Weeks 27,32,35,41 Feedback Weeks 28,35,44

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Feedback

Ongoing writing project throughout the semester. Paper will be drafted, reviewed, workshopped, and submitted.  Feedback will be provided in written form at each stage and feedback fed back into discussions and development.

Assessed: Project stages at weeks: 27, 32, 35, 41

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseEvaluate archaeological methodologies used to examine specific large scale archaeological questions.
FactualUnderstandGain a broad knowledge of the archaeology and cultural historical sequences of Eurasia over the past 5000 years.
ProceduralAnalyseGain ownership of academic knowledge through presentation, dialogue, and discussion.
ReflectionEvaluatePrepare and critique academic papers using a peer-review procedures.

Tutorial/Seminar Participation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Discussion is at the centre of this seminar. Substantial contribution demonstrating knowledge of material essential.  Participation will be tracked weekly using a rubric and running sum or mark will be provided. Feedback also a part of final evaluation.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseEvaluate archaeological methodologies used to examine specific large scale archaeological questions.
ProceduralAnalyseGain ownership of academic knowledge through presentation, dialogue, and discussion.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Word Count 3000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualUnderstandGain a broad knowledge of the archaeology and cultural historical sequences of Eurasia over the past 5000 years.
ConceptualAnalyseEvaluate archaeological methodologies used to examine specific large scale archaeological questions.
ReflectionEvaluatePrepare and critique academic papers using a peer-review procedures.
ProceduralAnalyseGain ownership of academic knowledge through presentation, dialogue, and discussion.

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