Course Catalogue

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This course covers a series of core practical aspects of archaeology, taking students through the processes of project design, discovery, survey, excavation, post-excavation and dissemination of results, with an emphasis on developing skills related to employability, and promoting critical thinking and reflexive practice.

Typically one 3 hour session per week over 10 weeks.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Archaeology, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None

2 x Practical Skills Set Exercises (each equivalent of 2000 words) each 25%

Reflexive Essay (2000 words) - 25%

Project Output (total equivalent of 2000 words) - 25%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Develop skills in and knowledge of a range of archaeological practices and methods, from survey work to artefact and ecofact analyses;

■ Reflect on aspects of archaeological practice through engagement with various specialists, professionals and experienced practitioners;

■ Consider the important of objective recording ideals, while gaining a greater appreciation of the role of interpretation and subjectivity in archaeological fieldwork;

■ Obtain an overarching view of the archaeological process, learning how different elements are linked together and inform one another, from project design and finding sites, through to final publication of fieldwork results, and stages in between;

■ Acquire knowledge of the structure of archaeology in Scotland, and where appropriate, beyond, and the ethical and social responsibilities of archaeologists within and beyond the profession;

■ Allow students to develop possible dissertation topics and future research interests, in particular related to material culture, and enhance employability.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain how an archaeological project is designed, showing knowledge of the basic elements and appreciation of how they are linked together, from conception to writing-up the final report;

■ Describe and evaluate techniques and methods employed by archaeologists;

■ Appraise the relationship between observation, description and interpretation;

■ Design basic critically informed strategies for the survey, excavation, post-excavation and publication of an archaeological site or group of sites;

■ Question their own practice in a reflexive manner;

■ Contextualise archaeological practice within the current profession, in terms of policy and legislation;

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.