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

Last modified: 28 Jun 2018 10:27


Course Overview

The course is taught through Saturday morning sessions that include a brief lecture to review the relevant chapter in the course workbook, followed by a discussion.  Students learn from home, using web-conferencing.  Understanding material culture is central to interpretation of life in the past.  Today we make use of the objects around us to tell other people about ourselves and to understand others. We will consider the types and scales of material culture in archaeology and current theories and methods of analysis. This course explores material culture in its widest sense from modern gadgetry to ancient flints.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Term Second Term Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus None. Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Ms Caroline Wickham-Jones

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

None.

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

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.

Further Information & Notes

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

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

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%)

Formative Assessment

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.

Feedback

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.

Course Learning Outcomes

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