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ARCH20620

Academic Year 2024/2025

People in Prehistory: key themes and problems (ARCH20620)

Subject:
Archaeology
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Archaeology
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Professor Joanna Bruck
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

From the Last Glacial Maximum (c 20,000 years ago) to the Iron Age, people’s relationships with each other and their material worlds (e.g. places, plants, animals, things) changed significantly across the European continent. Archaeological traces indicate that dramatic transitions & transformations relating to migration, exchange, subsistence, technology, monumentality & identity all occurred.

This module introduces you to the archaeology of prehistoric Europe including the main chronological divisions, key concepts and major debates relating to the complexity of hunter-gathers, the adoption of agriculture (the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition), population mobility and cultural interaction, the appearance of metals and associated social changes.

Particular attention is paid to enabling you to think critically about the approaches taken to understanding human societies within the distant past. Following a broadly chronological order, selected case studies will be drawn from northwest and northern Europe. These enable us to consider the tension between overarching grand narratives and the regional diversity of small-scale societies by examining how widespread developments occurred more locally.

There is a compulsory fieldtrip for this module. In 2024, this will be held at the end of Week 4 (Saturday 15th February, 9.30 to 17.00). Warm and waterproof footwear and clothing are recommended. A packed lunch and drinks should be brought by each student. Toilet breaks are at regular, fixed times as there are no on-site facilities. Access to sites is via partly paved, gravel and unpaved pathways on relatively flat, sometimes uneven ground and can take between two and 10-15 minutes on average to reach. Any students with health or access concerns should discuss this with the module coordinator as soon as possible.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

- Be broadly familiar with the deep history of Europe, the main chronological divisions and technological, social and cultural developments (e.g. burials, rituals, settlements, economic developments, social organization), the nature/variety of archaeological evidence and their regional and temporal variations.
-Have a broad knowledge of major interpretative themes and challenges in understanding how people used material culture to shape their world in the distant past.
- Have detailed knowledge and understanding of selected key issues developments/ debates in European prehistory including how and why interpretations of these have changed.
- Have developed and enhanced your competencies in a wide range of transferable skills, such as comparing and contrasting different forms of archaeological information, investigating interpretations and articulating your observations and arguments about these.

Indicative Module Content:

The module is divided into five main blocks. Each block comprises 3 lectures & a discussion seminar
- Introduction, concepts & problems
- Questioning Mesolithic hunter gatherers
- Examining Neolithic Worlds
- Exploring Chalcolithic transitions
- Considering Bronze Age Relationships

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

14

Seminar (or Webinar)

4

Field Trip/External Visits

8

Project Supervision

4

Specified Learning Activities

40

Autonomous Student Learning

30

Total

100


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures that include active/task-based learning.
Critical thinking & writing skills developed through final assessment (essay).

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
ARCH20200 - Stone Age & Megalithic Europe, ARCH20540 - Celtic & Mediterranean Europe


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Individual Project: Use the archaeological evidence to discuss the activities conducted at a specified Neolithic site (1500 words) Week 5 Graded No
40
No
Assignment(Including Essay): Critical Essay: 2000 words Week 15 Graded No
60
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

UCD School of Archaeology uses grading rubrics to provide feedback in Brightspace for all modules. Feed forward details are provided to help you think about how you to improve your approach in future assignments. Self-assessment activities: students complete self-assessment prior to submission of assignments in Weeks 5 & 11. Week 6 Project: written individual feedback & Group/class feedback provided 3 weeks after submission deadline. Week 12 Essay: written individual feedback provided 3 weeks after submission deadline

Cline, E. (ed.). 2010. The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cunliffe, B. 2011. Europe between the Oceans, 9000 BC – 1000 AD. Yale University Press.

Fokkens, H. and Harding, A. (eds). 2013. The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fowler, C., Harding, J. & Hoffman, D. (eds). 2015 The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gosden, C. (2018). A very short introduction to Prehistory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, A. (ed.). 2008. Prehistoric Europe: Theory and Practice. Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology 12, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Lemos, I. and Kotsonas, A. (eds.). 2020. A Companion to The Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean. Chichester; Wiley-Blackwell. (FULL TEXT ONLINE)

Scarre, C (ed.). 2013. The Human Past. World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies. Thames & Hudson, 3rd edition

Name Role
Professor Joanna Bruck Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Barry Molloy Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Rob Sands Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Professor Graeme Warren Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Fri 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Thurs 12:00 - 12:50