Learning Outcomes:
ARCH41490 is a UCD Level 4 Module. At this level, students are expected to demonstrate specialized, detailed and advanced theoretical and conceptual thinking and understanding. This will be based on consideration of current debates and innovations at the forefront of the field. This knowledge and understanding provides a basis for expressing originality in developing and/or applying ideas, often within a research context. There is an emphasis on building your capacity to digest, evaluate and present the state of the art in a manner demonstrative of critical, reflective thinking and on going further by presenting original ideas in your treatment of this published research. This is an opportunity to build stronger vocational skills and to build toward conducting original research. With this in mind and with reference to the Mediterranean world, there is an expectation that on completion of this module, you should be able to:
• Identify and describe key categories of material evidence that are routinely used to analyse past social environments.
• Succinctly describe and critically assess the use of a range of contemporary approaches used to analyse material culture, which his defined broadly to include such things as craft products, human remains, special function buildings.
• Display a clear understanding of how these materials and methods have been used to shape our understanding of the Mediterranean world from prehistory to late antiquity.
• Increased confidence to evaluate and express opinions on challenges and opportunities relating to teaching and learning about diverse Mediterranean pasts using the discipline of archaeology.
Indicative Module Content:
This module combines a thematic approach - exploring ancient lifeways - with an opportunity to learn about a suite of analytic and theoretical approaches. In this way, we will use the material record to consider past experiences and beliefs, or more broadly, to explore how they built and experienced their worlds. In this way, we switch our perspective from older conventions that focus on elite level social dynamics and draw upon the wealth of material evidence that provides insight into the lifeways of the majority of the population. We combine a focus on the well-studied areas of the Greek and Roman world and the lesser studied areas that surround them. This is because the richness of the range of human societies living around the Mediterranean from prehistory to Late Antiquity provides an unsurpassed venue in which to explore how different cultures interacted and intersected through the movement of people, things and ideas. To achieve this, we draw upon the rich research history in theoretical archaeology and combine that with cutting edge methods including ancient genetics, stable isotopes, field survey, micro-archaeology methods and more. The module exposes you to the conclusions and major takeaway points from studies in those areas and no prior knowledge of them is expected and you will not be required to develop competency in the associated methods. Through the range of approaches we draw upon, you will build skills that are more broadly relevant across the discipline today.