Course content
Year One / Level C
Investigative & Reporting Skills
Providing you with the core skill set necessary for undergraduate study in a science subject, this unit will particularly develop independent learning. By the end of the unit you will have completed a simulated science-based investigation exercise, demonstrating the application of a range of core skills as an investigative scientist.
Topics in Contemporary Science
You will be exposed to a range of contemporary themes in science, either driven by research taking place within the School or by topical science agenda. The unit is delivered by a seminar series covering all aspects of the science relevant to the School of Applied Sciences. Topical or popular issues are examined and the science that underlies them explored.
Practical Skills
The practical and field skills necessary for undergraduate study in a science subject specifically within the fields of archaeology, environment & biological-forensic science will be covered. You will be taught through a series of short courses and self directed learning exercises designed to develop your independent learning skills.
Archaeological Practice
The knowledge and skills essential to the aspiring archaeologist practicing within the modern professional discipline of archaeology will be covered in this unit. It will also provide you with an understanding of the interconnectedness of data derived from field situations and that recovered from archived sources in an ongoing analytical process of refinement and reinvestigation. Successful completion of the unit will enable you to understand the context of archaeological data, which will support and enhance aspects of structural, artefactual and palaeo-environmental analysis delivered at all levels in the courses in which it lies.
Chemistry
You will be provided with an understanding of some aspects and processes within fundamental chemistry and analytical chemistry and develop your laboratory skills. The unit will predominately be delivered through lectures and practical laboratory sessions. The laboratory sessions will enable reinforcement of the theoretical concepts by dealing with experimentally generated data and will allow for one-to-one and small group discussions.
Biology
The fundamental concepts of biology, including cell biology, molecular biology, anatomy and physiology will be studied in this unit. It will explore the molecular basis of life, physiological processes and the function, structure and regulation of the most important organ systems in animals. You will also develop core bioscience skills, such as practical ability, data handling, time management and team work through laboratory classes.
Year Two / Level I
Applications of Archaeological Science
This unit will develop your understanding of how thematic archaeological research questions may be addressed through the use of archaeological scientific techniques and approaches. Knowledge of case studies will be developed to promote understanding of the potential applications of archaeological science to investigate the behaviour of past human societies.
Field Research: Archaeology
Providing you with the practical understanding of the aims, strategies, and methods of one or more areas of relevant fieldwork, this unit covers: archaeological excavation, field survey, landscape, underwater investigation, or building recording. Attention is also given to evaluating the significance and meaning of recorded evidence, reinforcing and extending concepts delivered in the first year. In addition, the unit aims to develop team skills, as well the capacity for each individual to carry out practical tasks, solve problems and to lay foundations for more advanced teaching and project work.
Environment Archaeology & Paleoecology
The aim of this unit is to introduce you to the principles and practice of Environmental Archaeology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The unit will provide an overview of site formation processes, the types of environmental evidence encountered in the archaeological record, and the appropriate sampling strategies used to recover them. Examples of the interpretation of environmental evidence will be provided through archaeological case studies. The final lecture will demonstrate how many of the environmental proxies used in Environmental Archaeology are transferable to forensic sciences, focusing on the specific example of palynology.
Human Osteology
This unit provides an introduction to the basic principles of analysis and interpretation involved in the study of skeletal remains of modern humans. It introduces the concepts and uses of biological data in examination and analysis of human skeletal remains from archaeological and forensic contexts and involves the determination of basic bioprofiling characteristics including sex, age at death, ancestry and stature. Attention is also given to considering skeletal data at the level of populations as opposed to that of individuals.
Forensic Science
The basic scientific and analytical principals underlying the practice of forensic science will be explored in this unit. You will be introduced to a range of basic case types and to the analytical techniques commonly employed in forensic casework.
Biochemistry
This science-based unit is designed to enable you to be conversant with biochemical aspects of modern biological sciences whilst serving to provide a foundation for final level study such as Biomolecules and Toxicology in the third year. Supported by some of the laboratory practical sessions, the unit will deliver the contents of four core parts of modern biochemistry, namely structure of macromolecules, transmission of genetic information, function of proteins, and metabolic pathways.
Year Three / Level H
Applied Anthropology
Introducing you to the wider applications and potential of research in Biological Anthropology, you will explore the analysis and interpretation of skeletal pathology and trauma and examine ways in which the study of disease can inform about health status in past societies. Attention is also given to considering how such pathology can provide important information that may lead to the identification of deceased individuals recovered from forensic contexts. Consideration is also given to the ways data is captured and analysed at the level of populations and of both the problems and prospects such analysis carry.
Biomolecules
By the end of this unit you will be conversant with the concepts and approaches of holism compared with reductionism in modern biological sciences. It will review the principles of biology and modern biotechnologies from molecular levels to systems biology, such as DNA analysis, DNA profiling, functional genomics, gene expression and cDNA microarray, proteomics and protein interactions, epigenetics, bioinformatics, recombinant DNA, and biotechnology.
Advanced Forensic Science
You will enhance your knowledge and critical thinking skills associated with the scientific and analytical principals underlying the practice of forensic science in this unit. You will gain in depth knowledge of key areas of forensic science.
Independent Research Project
The Independent Research Project provides you with an opportunity to gain experience of research in a topic of your choice relevant to your degree and to demonstrate your ability to report that research. Such experience is considered essential for those students interested in pursuing academic and/or professional research at a higher level of responsibility and achievement.
Option units: choose one of the following:
Archaeological Management
The principles and practice of conservation and management of the historic environment in the UK will be explored in order to prepare you for professional employment in archaeological and conservation organisations. It will examine the professional environment, legislative background and organisational context of the historic environment sector in the UK.
Later Prehistoric Britain
By the end of this unit you will have a detailed critical understanding of the archaeology of the later Bronze Age and Iron Age Britain, broadly 1500BC-AD50, in Britain in its Continental context. The unit will provide a broad knowledge of chronological and regional variations within later prehistoric Britain and also contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the development of archaeological theory.
Neolithic & Chalcolithic of Northwest England
The main aim of this unit is to provide you with a detailed critical understanding of the archaeology of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, broadly 4000-2000 BC, in the British Isles and the adjacent Continental coastlands from western France to southern Scandinavia. This is one of the most formative periods in the social and economic development of communities occupying northwest Europe and includes both the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming cultures and the introduction of metallurgy. The unit will provide a broad and comparative knowledge of a selected chronological period for a selected geographical region, and contribute to a knowledge and understanding of the origins and development of archaeology as a discipline.
Primate Behavioural Ecology
The way in which primate behaviour can be interpreted will be explored from an evolutionary viewpoint, and how human and non-human primates’ behavioural strategies are adapted to the environment (social and ecological) in which they live. The unit is aimed at stimulating discussion and the critical analysis of theories.
Roman Britain
You will be provided with the opportunity to explore in detail the practical and theoretical problems associated with the study of the material culture and archaeology of a distinct geographical area. The unit seeks to provide you with a solid understanding of the importance of archaeological data in the understanding and interpretation of historical chronologies.
Animals & Society
This unit aims to provide you with a detailed critical understanding of humans’ interactions with animals in Britain from the Palaeolithic through to the early Post-medieval period. These interactions include the exploitation of animals for meat and other products and how animals were incorporated into burial practices and other rituals.
