ARCH40840 Expt Arch: Principles&Practice

Academic Year 2017/2018

Experimental Archaeology involves the (re)construction of past buildings, technologies, objects, activities and environmental contexts, so that we can think about people's lives and their material culture in practical terms. This module will introduce the history, principles and practice of experimental archaeology and experiential archaeology, and their relationships with ethnoarchaeology, living history, and crafts and making. We will explore how experimental archaeology investigates how houses in the past were constructed, occupied, destroyed by fire and abandoned. We will investigate how experimental archaeology helps us think about how people made things, using different raw materials, tacit knowledge and embodied craft skills, and how people prepared and cooked food and lived in their environments. We will also explore how boats and ships were built and used and how can we learn from modern reconstructions about their performance. This module will involve a series of 12 x 2hour seminars based on assigned readings, with weekly use of the UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture for practical activities.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module, you will be able to

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history of experimental archaeology and its approach to material culture.

2. Be thoughtful about the theoretical and methodological aspects of experimental archaeology as a means of investigating crafts, materiality and material culture in the past.

3. Make presentations, engage in seminar discussions, critically appraise ideas and approaches through seminars and discussions.

4. Explore how to engage with experimental archaeology in an original, creative, and critically insightful way.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

24

Specified Learning Activities

50

Autonomous Student Learning

50

Total

124

 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.



 
Description % of Final Grade Timing
Portfolio: Portfolio lllustrating how experimental archaeology can be used to make, understand and tell stories about an aspect of material culture of your own interest.

60

Week 12
Essay: Essay exploring the potential definitions of what is an experiment, and what is experimental archaeology

40

Week 5

Compensation

This module is not passable by compensation

Resit Opportunities

In-semester assessment

Remediation

Contact module coordinator