AY4515: MATERIAL CULTURE IN ARCHAEOLOGY: SEEING, USING, UNDERSTANDING (2014-2015)

This course encourages students to make a critical assessment of the use of material culture to interpret life in the past through:

• Consideration of the way in which we make use of the objects around us to understand other people and tell other people about ourselves
• Discussion of the types of material culture that occur in archaeology and the current theories and methods of analysis.
• Critical analysis of the presentation of material culture in museums and heritage centres and how presentation has changed over the years.
• Assessment of the different scales of material culture: from artefact; to site; to landscape.
• The wealth of archaeological material surviving in Scotland will be used to illustrate discussions, but work will also be directed towards the local archaeology of participants.
• This course interprets material culture in its widest sense, from modern gadgetry to ancient flints and helps students to explore how we make sense of it.

This course is taught using web conferencing (ie familiarity with computer and a broadband connection are necessary).

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

View AY4515 Timetable

More Information about Week Numbers

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (40%); 1 essay of 2500 words (30%); 1 written report of 1500 words (10%); 1 spoken presentation (20%)

Resit: Marks from previous classwork to be carried forward (60%); 1 two-hour written exam (40%)

Sessions involve group discussion of questions posed in the course workbook and on the course MyAberdeen site. These discussions enable students to test their knowledge and understanding of the subject.

As the course is delivered flexibly, and students are not present in person, most formative feedback is done by e mail exchanges with the course tutor or programme co-ordinator. Formal feedback from the summative assessments is given in the form of an annotated copy of the student's work and a detailed written critical review feedback sheet; in class tutorial feedback is given verbally. The schedule for feedback is such that students have summative feedback before they need to submit their next piece of work.

• By the end of the course, students will have considered:
  • The concept of 'material culture'.
  • Scales of material culture.
  • Artefacts.
  • Sites.
  • Landscapes.
  • A critical assessment of the role of material culture in the study of the past; ways to analyse material culture.
  • Critical understanding of the importance of material culture in the ways that museums and other media present their versions of the past to the public.
  • Critical analysis of single items and of collections.
  • Landscape interpretation.