This module provides the skills that will enable you to design, undertake and document your own experimental research. Through hands-on practical work at the YEAR Centre you’ll get to grips with a range of material and artefact types, setting and testing hypotheses, and developing your own reference collections.
A directed option - students must pick a Practical Skills module and have a choice of which to take (one in Semester 2)
Occurrence | Teaching period |
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A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
The Practical Skills modules seek to introduce you to a range of skills in various diverse areas of archaeological practice and are designed to allow you to gain experience in a 'hands-on' manner.
This specific module aims to:
By the end of the module the students should be able to:
This course introduces students to the theoretical and practical skills required to design, conduct and critique experiments related to material culture. Through lectures, seminars and practical classes, students will develop an awareness of the role that experimental research plays in the archaeological analysis of artefacts.
Working with a variety of materials that are commonly found on archaeological sites (e.g. clay, stone, metal) students will have the opportunity to make a range of artefact types, develop their own reference collections, and undertake functional analysis of common finds. By the end of the module they will have gained the skills that will allow them to plan, carry out and report on their own experimental work.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Formative: written feedback from module leaders
Summative: written feedback within the University's turnaround policy
Ferguson, J. R. (2010). Designing experimental research in archaeology: Examining technology through production and use. University Press of Colorado.
Mathieu, J. R. & Meyer, D. A. (2012). Experimental Archaeology: Replicating Past Objects, Behaviors, and Processes. Oxford, Archaeopress. BAR International Series, 1023.
Millson, D. 2010. Experimentation and Interpretation : The Use of Experimental Archaeology in the Study of the Past, Oxbow Books.