ARCHAEOLOGY

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr K Milek

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

Covering the first essentials of archaeological enquiry, the course includes three parallel blocks that will address:

The study of the past. Global history of archaeological enquiry in the context of developing ideas of artistic perspective, scientific reasoning and historical analysis. How the past has been conceptualised and how early antiquarian, poetic interest eventually became a discipline for scholarly research.

Material culture. Basic technologies, the principles of artefactual study, chronology, typology and other tools of an archaeological practice that works to understand the world of past people through the objects they have left behind.

Being human. Hominid evolution, the first humans and their ecology, early subsistence and social life, the origins of cognition and the human mind, development of abstract reasoning, symbolism, early evidence for 'art' and 'religion'.

Structure

3 one hour lectures every week and 1 two hour tutorial in weeks 14, 16 and 18-22. In week 15 there is an archaeological excursion on the Friday afternoon and attendance is compulsory.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two hour written examination (67%) and in-course assessment (33%).

Resit: 1 two hour written examination (67%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (33%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

Covering the deeper foundations of archaeological enquiry, the course includes three parallel blocks that will address:

Introduction to archaeological practice. First principles of archaeological study, including field survey, excavation, analysis and publication.

Transformations: the global development of human complexity. The global development of human society, including the transition to agriculture, the emergence of social complexity and urban life, the rise of polities and social elites.

Introduction to the Archaeology of the British Isles. A chronological overview of human habitation and settlement in what is now Britain and Ireland, from the Paleolithic (early Stone Age) to the beginning of the Medieval period.

Structure

3 one hour lectures every week and 1 two hour tutorial in weeks 32-37. On the Fridays of weeks 41 and 42 there are full-day assessed fieldtrips to archaeological sites in Aberdeenshire. Attendance is compulsory.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two hour written examination (67%) and in-course assessment (33%).

Resit: 1 two hour written examination (67%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (33%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Either AY 1001 or AY 1501

Notes

This course provides students with a detailed introduction to how theory, ethics and politics all play an important role in the archaeological study of human (pre)history. Students completing the course will be able to use a range of theoretical approaches to interpret the material evidence of the past, and will gain understanding of the moral and political implications of archaeological research in a modern global setting.

Overview

As an advanced introduction to theoretical and ethical aspects of archaeological enquiry, the course includes two themes:

• Archaeological theory since 1950. World history of archaeological theory, starting with culture-historical approaches, adaptive and ecological perspectives, and moving on to recent post-processual and gender critiques. Concludes with an exploration of how archaeological theory might develop in the future.


• Archaeological ethics. Explores the political and moral implications of how archaeologists study and represent past societies. Considers issues of cultural heritage, artefact ownership and land-rights, and examines the politics of excavation, interpretation and repatriation.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week. A total of 6 two-hour tutorials (to be arranged).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Either AY 1001 or AY 1501

Notes

This course provides students with a detailed introduction to how archaeologists go about interpreting the material evidence for past societies and long-term culture-change. We will investigate how asking different questions of material culture can generate detailed and often surprising insights into the richness and diversity of past social life.

Overview

As an advanced introduction to archaeological enquiry, the course focuses on the archaeology of social life and examines several inter-locking themes:

• Innovation, production and consumption


• Social identity and material culture


• Ritual and religion


• Personhood, death and the body


• Economic and environmental archaeology


• Settlement archaeology and landscape research

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week. A total of 6 two-hour turorials (to be arranged).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Either AY 1001 or AY 1501

Notes

This course provides students with a detailed introduction to the colonisations and inter-community contacts that are central to the 'Archaeology of the North' (defined here as Scotland, Northern Europe, Siberia, the North Pacific, North America and the North Atlantic). Lectures examine the first colonisations of the North and trace how these earlier populations established the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity that defined later periods. Attention is also directed towards understanding the changing nature of contacts between indigenous peoples and European settlers.

Overview

An introduction to the colonisations and inter-cultural contacts that are central to the 'Archaeology of the North', the course draws on a series of case-studies to examine:

• The earliest human colonisations


• Later migrations and more recent inter-cultural contacts across the northern world.


• The arrival of Vikings and other European settlers into the North.


• The changing interactions between colonists and indigenous peoples.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week. A total of 6 two-hour tutorial (to be arranged).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Either AY 1001 or AY 1501

Notes

This course provides students with a detailed introduction to the ecological, economic and spiritual dimensions to the 'Archaeology of the North' (defined here as Scotland, Northern Europe, Siberia, the North Pacific, North America and the North Atlantic). We will examine the diverse ways in which communities have made the northern world their home. Lectures examine how human socities have responded to frequent periods of severe climate change, the role of technology in mobility and adaptation, and the rich evidence for the spirituality and religious life of northern cultures.

Overview

An introduction to the practical and religious aspects of the 'Archaeology of the North', the course draws on a series of case-studies to examine three inter-locking themes:

• Human ecology of northern landscapes. Examines the opportunities and constraints that characteristics high-latitude environments.


• Living in the North. Investigates some of the creative ways in which northern people have adapted to, and transformed, these ecological settings.


• The Northern Mind. Critically explores the abundant archaeological evidence for ritual, worship and spirituality, focusing on rock art, burial practices, sacred places and other forms of evidence. Ethnographic parallels are widely employed in the interpretation of these datasets.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week. A total of 6 two-hour tutorials (to be arranged).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).