This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.

Undergraduate Handbook 2010-2011 (archived)

Module ARCH2121: ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY

Department: Archaeology

ARCH2121: ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY

Type	Level	Credits	Availability	Module Cap	Location
Tied	2	20	Available in 2010/2011	None.	Durham

Tied To

Pre-requisites

Introduction to Archaeology (ARCH1071) OR Scientific Methods in Archaeology (ARCH1041).

Corequisites

None.

Excluded Combinations

None.

Aims

To enable students to appreciate and analyse major debates about the nature of archaeology.
To give students the opportunity to reflect on their Level 1 learning, and the skills they are developing.
To give students an understanding of the way in which the present-day discipline of archaeology has come to exist.
To provide students with the necessary theoretical background in archaeology.

Content

The module will cover a range of general topics in archaeology both theoretical and practical.
These will include: theoretical development in archaeology, from traditional and New Archaeology through to postprocessual and interpretative approaches.
issues and debates in the study of artefacts, of sites and of landscapes.
Students will also enumerate and reflect on the key skills they are developing across their course as a whole.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge

By the end of the module, students will have: Explored in depth a range of ideas and debates that underpin the discipline of archaeology.
Have reflected on the course as a whole, and the knowledge and skills they are gaining from it, at its half way point.
Considered a range of methodological and theoretical issues relevant to the subject, principally through secondary literature.

Subject-specific Skills

Developing a broad range of core interpretive skills pertaining to archaeological analysis by undertaling a report on (a) artefacts, or (b) sites, or (c) landscapes.

Key Skills

Accessing library and WWW resources
Undertaking independent study, reserach and problem solving
Preparation and effective communication of research methods, data, and arguments in written and visual form.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

Lectures will furnish core ideas, information and concepts.
Seminars will facilitate more comprehensive discussion and debate.
They will also produce a summatively assessed seminar write-up in which they engage in critical reflection upon a general debate within archaeology (on one of: artefacts, sites or landscapes).
Students' knowledge of a range of ideas and debates and of methodological issues will be assessed in a short end-of-year unseen examination.
Self guided learning.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total Hours	Attendance Monitored
Lectures	19	1 Per Week	1 Hour	19
				0
Seminars	3	Spread over 2 Terms	2 Hours	6	Yes
Preparation and Reading				175
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Component	Component Weighting	Element	Length/Duration	Element Weighting	Resit Opportunity
Seminar write-up	34%	2000 word seminar write-up		100%
Unseen examination	66%	unseen examination	2 hours	100%

Formative Assessment

Preparation of an essay (c1,500 words); participation in seminar discussion.

Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.