Learning Outcomes:
1) Recognise and be able to discuss and write coherently about the main chronological divisions, social and cultural developments, basic material culture, settlements and iconography of ancient Mediterranean societies
2) Critically evaluate the ways in which past engagements with landscapes and material culture shaped, and were shaped by, social interactions in the periods and places covered
3) Have demonstrable knowledge of the performance of basic craft, religious, mortuary, political, military and economic traditions in the societies you will study
4) Present your competencies in a range of transferable skills, including comparing and contrasting different forms of social organisation and the associated archaeological datasets, interrogating past and current trends in how archaeologists link these in their narratives, and articulating your own observations and opinions about this
Indicative Module Content:
In this module we cover over 10,000 years of the human story in the Mediterranean and its hinterlands. We will dip into various periods and places, but will focus in on some key periods and places that provide as springboards to engage with themes that allow us to explore the uniquely important archaeological record of the circum-Mediterranean region. We will look at early Urbanism in southwest Asia, Pharonic Egypt, Minoan and Mycenaean periods in the Aegean, the Central and West Mediterranean in later prehistory, ancient North Africa, Greece and Rome, Crusader and Islamic archaeology. Though diverse in time and space, key themes will link up each session including different ways of organising societies, the character of interaction, how environments and societies intersect and other themes.