Course content
Year 1 / 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.
Earth, Environment & Society
Key aspects of our physical environment will be explored in this unit, building an understanding of the way in which these interact and impact the human environment. The unit provides a foundation in Earth Sciences and Physical Geography on which detailed knowledge can be built in the second and third year.
Ancient People & Places
You will be introduced to the key thematic studies in archaeology concerning the evolution and development of ancient humans, changing technologies and material culture, and the organisation and development of past societies. You will be introduced to a range of archaeological, fossil, genetic and ethnographic evidence and develop core skills of analysis, interpretation, and reasoning using archaeological data.
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.
Year 2 / 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
Introducing 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.
Post-Excavation Studies
Providing you with practical hands-on post-excavation skills, you will gain an understanding of the planning, management and documentation of post-excavation studies. Practical experience will also be obtained in one of a range of post-excavation specialist skills, focusing on the formulation of a post-excavation research archive, retrieval and analysis of data derived from excavation and field survey, and the preparation of specialist reports. You will also acquire an appreciation of key concepts and methodological approaches including: post-excavation recording and use of archaeological assemblages to address archaeological research questions; analytical approaches; classification systems and typologies; depositional and taphonomic processes; relevant technical skills.
Option units: choose one of the following:
Societies of Prehistoric Europe
You will be introduced to the study of early farming societies in Temperate Europe and the northern Mediterranean (c.6000-800 BC). It seeks to provide you with an opportunity to bring together evidence of settlement patterns; subsistence economies; the production, use and trade of artefacts; ritual and burial practices; and landscape change, to provide a sound understanding of how these societies inhabited and manipulated their environment.
Rome & Barbarian Europe
The unit aims to provide you with a chronological and topographical framework to develop an understanding of the history, archaeological impact, key sites, monuments, belief-systems, artistic expression, political complexity, fashions and environment of the Roman Empire from the 1st Century to the 7th Century AD in its wider European, African and Asian context. The complex interrelationship between the classical world and that of, so-called ‘barbarian’ (Celtic / Germanic / Scandinavian / Slavic) people of north and eastern Europe will, in particular, be studied from the standpoint of history, archaeology and geography. Key to the unit will be the analysis and understanding of and cultural diversification and change.
Plus choose one of the following:
Human Osteology
The basic principles of analysis and interpretation involved in the study of skeletal remains of modern humans will be covered in this unit. 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.
Applied Geospatial Science
You will develop your expertise and knowledge in the area of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geo-spatial science. The unit aims to provide you with an understanding of the principles underpinning spatial information science and its associated technology. This unit will provide you with the ability to manipulate and interrogate spatial data of various kinds whilst developing expertise in GIS and modelling. Emphasis is placed on data capture, analysis and the application of spatial information science for geographic and environmental decision making.
Year 3 / Level H
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.
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 three of the following including at least one Science option:
Science options:
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.
Museums & Collections
For those of you pursuing an interest in museum studies and the curation of collections, this unit will provide you with the knowledge and understanding of the principles and practice of collections care and management.
Remote Sensing of the Environment
The unit develops your expertise and knowledge in the area of environmental remote sensing, providing a detailed understanding of the principles of remote sensing as a source of spatial information. This unit will provide you with the ability to manipulate and interrogate remotely sensed data of various kinds whilst developing expertise in image analysis and integrated Geographical Information Systems. Emphasis is placed on data acquisition, analysis and the application of remote sensing science for environmental assessment and decision making. Indicative topic areas include land cover mapping, climate change monitoring, coastal management, landscape ecology, habitat characterisation, urban modelling, archaeological prospecting, pollution or hazard mapping.
Other options:
Archaeology of Shipwrecks
You will explore the developments of sea faring and ship construction and how this knowledge has allowed a more ‘maritime’ view of the past. This unit will be taught in a combination of lecture and practical workshops. The workshops will be taken around a suitable dry or inter-tidal 'hulk' (remains of an abandoned boat) located within a 15 mile radius of the university campus.
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 Europe
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.
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.
