Interpreting Archaeological Evidence: Material Culture and Environment

Module code: AR2554

This module will introduce you to some of the main categories of archaeological evidence recovered from archaeological sites. You will learn about raw material procurement, preservation, recovery, scientific and non-scientific methods of analysis, and interpretation. In weekly sections you will learn about basic and scientific approaches to pottery analysis, what animal bones can tell us, plant processing and plant remains, stone materials from lithic tools to building materials, human bodies and burials, and clothing and textiles. There is also a section devoted to basic statistical analyses, to give you the skills to evaluate how others use data, and to manipulate it yourself. Our emphasis in this module is interpretation, and we cover a range of analytical methods to inform and support different interpretative approaches, from ethnographic research to archeometric techniques. 

The aims of this course are to introduce you to:

• Major categories of material culture and environmental archaeological evidence
• Theoretical frameworks used in the interpretation of archaeological material
• Selected key analytical methods and approaches, including scientific and statistical methods
• Academic literature appropriate to this topic