CENTRE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING – FLEXIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course includes a one-day field trip, which will involve some off-road walking over gentle terrain. The School is committed to making reasonable adjustments for students with mobility issues, and any student with concerns should contact the course coordinator at the beginning of the course? Students will be asked to make a nominal contribution towards the cost of the field trip.

Overview

This course introduces the discipline of archaeology, human origins, and world prehistory. It is structured around three themes:

Being and becoming human. Hominid evolution, early subsistence strategies, tools and social life, the origins of cognition and the human mind, early evidence for ‘art’ and ‘religion’.

Transformations in human society. The global development of human complexity, including the transition to agriculture, the emergence of social complexity, urban life, the fist polities.

Perceptions of the past. Interpretation and dissemination of archaeological knowledge in museums, sites, and visual media, and how these reflect and influence how the past has been perceived.

Structure

4 fortnightly classes of one-and-a-half-hours – times may vary.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written exam (50%) PLUS original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Covering the first essentials of archaeological enquiry, the course is structured around two central themes:

The study of the past. A general overview of the history of archaeological enquiry.
Material culture and archaeological methods. An introduction to the principles of artefact study, chronology, typology and other methods and techniques used by archaeologists in their research.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Resit: Resit exam: 1 two-hour written exam (50%) PLUS original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

Either KL 105H or KL 155H

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 a week with two reading weeks (18 lectures in total) made available on-line and 3 two-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment in the form of a 2,500-word essay (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Detailed essay feed back forms; in-class tutorial feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

Either KL 105H or KL 155H

Overview

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. In particular, the course draws on a series of case-studies to examine:

The earliest human colonisations of northern Eurasia and North America

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 a week with 2 reading weeks (16 lectures in total) which are made available on-line and 3 two-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment in form of an analytical poster (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Detailed poster feedback forms; in-class tutorial feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

Either KL 105H or KL 155H

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 a week with 2 reading weeks (18 lectures in total) made available on-line and 3 two-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment in the form of an analytical poster (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Detailed poster feedback forms; in-class tutorial feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

Either Kl 105H or KL 155H

Overview

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. The course draws on a series of case-studies to examine three interlocking themes:
Human ecology of northern landscapes. Examines the opportunities and constraints that characterise 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, including how societies have responded to frequent periods of severe climate change, and the role of technology in mobility and adaptation.

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 a week with 2 reading weeks (16 lectures in total) made available on-line and 4 two-hour tutorials.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment in the form of a 2,500-word essay (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) plus original in-course assessment carried forward (50%).

Formative Assessment

Detailed essay feedback forms; in-class tutorial feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

45 credits at Level 2 or above.

Overview

This course provides an overview of the key scientific methods that allow field archaeologists to maximize the quantity and quality of the material they can recover from sites, and which enhance the understanding and interpretation of archaeological sites and materials. Using a combination of lectures and practical workshops, the course will cover scientific methods of dating, artefact provenancing and ancient technologies, methods used for the study of diet, health, and movements of humans and animals in the past, and the identification of ancient pollution and other environmental impacts of human activities.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture (Lectures will be made available on-line) each week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); coursework in the form of a critical review of a group of research papers (30%) and practical reports (20%).

Resit: Marks from continuous assessment to be carried forward (50%); 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Feedback

Detailed critical review feedback forms.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

45 credits at Level 2 or above

Overview

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the complex relationships between past human societies and the environments with which they were intimately associated, and covers important issues for the archaeology of all regions and time periods, including:
Different theoretical and methodological approaches to the understanding of past human-environment relations.

Processes of archaeological site formation: the relationships between human activities, natural processes, and the physical characteristics of soils and sediments on archaeological sites

Techniques used to reconstruct past human environments, and the importance of situating past cultural practices in their environmental context

Archaeological case studies from around the world that link past human activities to large-scale landscape changes

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (made available on-line) or 1 two-hour practical per week, excluding reading weeks (20 hours total) and a one-day field trip to examine and sample soils and sediments at a local archaeological site.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%), in the form of a field notebook (10%), a lab notebook (10%), and either a practical project or an essay (30%), depending on the students’ interests and background (3,000 words).

Resit: Marks from continuous assessment to be carried forward (50%); re-sit exam (50%).

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment of essay/project proposals and outlines; detailed essay feedback forms; oral feedback during labs and field trips.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Paterson

Pre-requisites

None although KL 305L Archaeological Science is recommended

Overview

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the complex relationships between past human societies and the environments with which they were intimately associated, and covers important issues for the archaeology of all regions and time periods, including:
Different theoretical and methodological approaches to the understanding of past human-environment relations

Processes of archaeological site formation: the relationships between human activities, natural processes, and the physical characteristics of soils and sediments on archaeological sites

Techniques used to reconstruct past human environments, and the importance of situating past cultural practices in their environmental context

Archaeological case studies from around the world that link past human activities to large-scale landscape changes

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (made available on-line) or 1 two-hour practical per week, excluding reading weeks (20 hours total) and a one-day field trip to examine and sample soils and sediments at a local archaeological site, plus 4 further hours of dedicated Level 4 seminars.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (50%), in the form of a field notebook (10%), a lab notebook (10%), and either a practical project or an essay (30%), depending on the students’ interests and background (3,000 words).

Resit: Marks from continuous assessment to be carried forward (50%); re-sit exam (50%).

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment of essay/project proposals and outlines; detailed essay feedback forms, oral feedback during labs, seminars and field trips.