ARCH20540 Celtic & Mediterranean Europe

Academic Year 2018/2019

Encompassing the ‘Golden Age’ of European prehistory and the palatial civilisations of the Mediterranean, this module will provide skills to critically evaluate Bronze and Early Iron Age social worlds. In this epoch, wholesale transformations of daily life, warfare, religion, the economy and political power can be found across the continent and neighbouring lands. The wide circulation of metals marked a decisive change in how wealth was procured, stored and utilised. In many places, changes in religious and mortuary practices transform the very cosmological foundation of peoples’ lives and their understanding of their world. Using material culture, the built environment and social landscapes, we will explore regional traditions and preferences in a range of activities that characterised different societies. The evolving role of travel and cultural transmissions will be considered in relation to the development of both shared and regionally distinct social practices. The module broadly divides into analysis of these key issues using temperate European datasets and Mediterranean societies in their “Age of Empires” (including Egypt of the Pharaohs, the Hittites, the Minoans and Mycenaeans, and Troy). Though distinct in many regards, these two wider cultural zones intersect in particular places and ways, which we will explore and address with reference to possible directions of influence and the significant effects these had on the trajectories of societies.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module, you should be able to:
1) Recognise and discuss the basic material culture, settlements and iconography of Bronze and Early Iron Age Europe and the Mediterranean.
2) Critically evaluate developments in social organisation, engagement with landscapes and material culture, and forms of social interaction typical to the periods covered.
3) Have demonstrable knowledge of the performance of basic craft, religious, mortuary, military and economic traditions in each region covered.
4) Identify and write coherently about key archaeological evidence from the periods and cultures in the course.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24

Autonomous Student Learning

76

Total

100

 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

ARCH 10100



 
Description % of Final Grade Timing
Examination: 1 compulsory picture (3 of 5 pictures), plus two essay questions from choice of six.

70

2 hour End of Trimester Exam
Project: Write a report with two case-studies (1000 words each) on artefacts and sites from a list of eight

30

Week 8

Compensation

This module is not passable by compensation

Resit Opportunities

In-semester assessment

Remediation

For semester 1modules:Resits occur in semesters when the failed modulle is not running, and remediation is by essay (as in this case) . It should be submitted no later than the Wednesday of week 8 of Semester 2.Contact the module co-ordinator for details of the remediation task.Repeat mediation occurs in semesters when the module is running and will involve fulfilling all requirements of the module. In both cases the final grade is capped at pass/fail.

Name Role
Ms Angela McAteer Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Meriel McClatchie Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Barry Molloy Lecturer / Co-Lecturer