Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Recognise the range and types of artefacts from prehistoric and historic Ireland and beyond
2. Assess the main approaches used in artefact research in archaeology and discuss their strengths and weaknesses
3. Appreciate the wide range of symbolic, practical and functional roles that objects have for people, both in the past and the present
4. Demonstrate increased skill in comparing and contrasting different forms of archaeological information, investigating interpretations and articulating their own arguments about these interpretations
Indicative Module Content:
(Note: guest lectures may be subject to change due to faculty sabbaticals)
Topics: Typologies and classifying objects; chipped stone tool technology; Mesolithic and Neolithic stone tools; ground stone tool technology and Neolithic axes (GUEST LECTURE); pottery manufacture; Neolithic and Bronze pottery; metalworking technology; Chalcolithic and Bronze metal objects; metal analysis and object biographies (GUEST LECTURE); deposition and object hoards; ironworking and Iron Age objects; Roman objects and networks (GUEST LECTURE); Viking Age trade and currency; commodity versus gift exchange; dress and identity in Early Medieval Ireland (GUEST LECTURE); relics and shrines in the medieval Irish church
Over the course of the trimester, students will be provided with the opportunity to manufacture a replica archaeological object supported by an on-campus workshop.