Practical Aims and Methods in Archaeology
Module code: AR1009
This module will expand upon (and deepen your understanding of) the topics and issues covered in Archaeology: the essentials as well as provide greater practical experience of the archaeological techniques used in excavation, survey and post-excavation analysis. We will begin with some guidance on the structure and organisation of archaeology before considering the practicalities of archaeological research and study. You will gain hands-on experience in a range of practical techniques used to:
- Locate archaeological sites
- Understand their developmental history and biography
- Date them
- Contextualise them within their contemporary environments
- And extract understanding from their material remains.
Topics covered
- Key sites and key figures
- Cultural Value: archaeology and the National Planning Policy Framework (PPG16, PPS5 and beyond)
- Field-walking and remote sensing
- Geophysical survey in practice
- Thinking in a stratigraphic fashion
- Relative dating
- Absolute dating
- Recording standing remains
- Processing and interpreting environmental data
- Archaeologies of archaeology: key themes revisited