ARCH42430: Environmental Archaeology

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• To provide an intensive, practical-based introduction to the study of plant and animal remains, and the study of soils and sediments on archaeological sites, and/or the dating context in which these datasets are interpreted.
• To explore the principal analytical approaches to the study of the datasets derived from environmental materials and to furnish students with a firm grounding in their recording, analysis and interpretation.

• Introduction to the theory method and practice of environmental archaeology on a regional and global scale
• Theory and practice of the most fundamental techniques used in the fields of geoarchaeology, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, and/or chronometric dating tecnhiques for the Quaternary Period.
• Practical fieldwork and laboratory work to practice collecting, analysing, and interpreting fundamental geoarchaeological, archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and/or chronometric datasets.
• Integrating archaeological, chronometric and palaeoecological datasets for wider archaeological interpretations.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Familiarity with the range of environmental remains and potential dating samples recovered from archaeological sites.
• Practical understanding of basic identification, recording and analysis of environmental materials from archaeological sites.
• Familiarity with the role of environmental remains in reconstructing past environments and human adaptation to these environments.
• Sound knowledge of contemporary professional principles and good practice relating to palaeoecology and its broader context in archaeology, including ethical considerations and health and safety protocols
• Understanding of the typical structure and content of environmental archaeology reports.
• Familiarity with the critical debates relating to current major international themes within the discipline.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to recognise and identify common environmental remains from archaeological deposits.
• Ability to understand the main techniques of sampling, recording, analysis and interpretation of environmental remains, and of the potential and limitations of these remains.
• Ability to integrate these different datasets into models of environmental change and human behaviour.
• Practical laboratory and analytical skills in archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, geoarchaeological and/or chronometric recording and analyses.
• Writing of environmental archaeology reports.
• Direct experience of a field of importance to professional archaeological practice.

Key Skills:

• A range of communication skills including the ability to synthesize and evaluate information obtained from a variety of sources (e.g. primary datasets, written secondary sources, oral and web sources); communicate relevant information in different ways (e.g. written, oral, tables and graphs) and select the most appropriate method of communication for the presentation of analyses and interpretations.
• A range of numerical skills including the ability to create and read graphs, tables, charts; to organise date; to make inferences from data; to reflect upon the potential and limitations of numerical skills.
• Competence in the use of IT resources (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets and statistical software, web-based resources).
• Ability to relate experience of a field of research to professional practice.
• Capacity to self-evaluate and improve learning and performance, including the ability to manage time effectively, to work safely and effectively in the field and in a laboratory environment, to work to prescribed deadlines, to engage in different ways of learning including independent and directed forms of learning, to gather the necessary information from primary data sets, bibliographic and electronic resources, to seek and use feedback from academic staff, and to monitor and critically reflect upon the learning process.

• Seminars introduce the subject and theme of each field of environmental archaeology, and the practical exercise that will be conducted, and highlight published case studies and debates related to them. They also provide practice in the verbal expression of key concepts and the opportunity for formative feedback.
• Demonstrations and practicals introduce students to the range of materials and techniques used in environmental archaeology.
• Small group fieldwork, practicals and report writing give students the opportunity to practice key skills in environmental archaeology, and improve personal laboratory, analytical, and report writing skills.
• The final seminar is a reflective discussion on how environmental archaeology data is integrated into broader archaeological interpretations.

Formative assessment may take a variety of forms, including oral feedback during practicals and seminars, and checking of laboratory notebooks.

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