Overview

The module provides an introduction to the archaeology of the British Isles, from prehistory through to the contemporary period. The British archaeological record provides a fascinating insight into the different ways in which human beings inhabit the world, and it encompasses the three main revolutions in human history: the Upper Palaeolithic revolution and the arrival of anatomically modern humans; the Neolithic farming revolution; and the post-medieval industrial revolution. This covers a period of 40,000 years, and within this there are dramatic changes in technology, social organisation, settlement and burial practice, landscape practices and food technologies, and monument building. Students will become familiar with the British archaeological record, and will develop a good understanding of the way that archaeology is studied at university level.

1.Early origins: The Upper Palaeolithic 2.The Mesolithic: post-glacial hunter-gatherers 3.The agricultural revolution 4.The Late Neolithic: building monuments and Stonehenge 5.Material stories: Early Bronze Age burials 6.Domesticating the landscapes: roundhouses and fields 7.Religion in the first millennium BC 8.Iron Age hillforts 9.Late Iron Age Britain and the arrival of the Romans 10.Roman forts and vici 11.Roman religion and burial 12.Anglo-Saxon Britain 13.The Viking impact 14.The Picts 15.Late Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest 16.Late medieval archaeology – Normans to Richard III 17.Early modern to Victorians 18.The Industrial revolution 19.The Archaeology of the First and Second World War 20.Contemporary Archaeology

Assessment Strategy

Threshold Threshold students (D- and D) will have done only a minimum of reading, and their work will often be based partly on lecture notes and/or basic textbooks. They will demonstrate in their written assessments some knowledge of at least parts of the relevant field, and will make at least partially-successful attempts to frame an argument which engages with archaeological controversies, but they will fail to discuss some large and vital aspects of a topic; and/or deploy only some relevant material but partly fail to combine it into a coherent whole; and/or deploy some evidence to support individual points but often fail to do so and/or show difficulty weighing data (thereby relying on unsuitable or irrelevant data when making a point). Alternatively or additionally, the presentation of the work might also be poor, with bad grammar and/or punctuation, careless typos and spelling errors, and a lack of effective and correct referencing.

Good Good students (B- to B+) will demonstrate a solid level of achievement and depth of knowledge in all the criteria in the C- to C+ range, and will in addition exhibit constructive engagement with different types of archaeological writing and interpretation. Ideas will be communicated effectively and written work will include a good range of reading and demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues and of the existing interpretations expressed in a well-structured, relevant, and focused argument. Students at the top end of this band will engage with and critique the ideas that they come across, and synthesise the various interpretations they find to reach their own considered conclusions. Written work will be correctly presented with references and bibliography where appropriate.

Excellent Excellent students (A- and above) will show strong achievement across all the criteria combined with particularly impressive depths of knowledge and/or subtlety of analysis. In written work, they will support their arguments with a wealth of relevant detail/examples. They will also demonstrate an acute awareness of the relevant historiography and give an account of why the conclusions reached are important within a particular archaeological debate. They may show a particularly subtle approach to possible objections, nuancing their argument in the light of counter-examples, or producing an interesting synthesis of various contrasting positions. Overall, the standards of content, argument, and analysis expected will be consistently superior to top upper-second work. Standards of presentation will also be high.

Another level Students in this band (C- to C+) will demonstrate a satisfactory range of achievement or depth of knowledge of most parts of the module, and will make successful, if occasionally inconsistent, attempts to develop those skills appropriate to the study of archaeology at undergraduate level. In the case of the written assessments, the answers will attempt to focus on the question, although might drift into narrative, and will show some evidence of solid reading and research. The argument might lose direction and might not be adequately clear at the bottom of this category. Written work will be presented reasonably well with only limited errors in grammar, punctuation, and referencing, and not to the extent that they obscure meaning.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the main chronological periods in British archaeology, a range of significant sites and artefacts from these periods, and the different types of social organisation found within these different periods.

• Develop effective study skills such as reading, note-taking and active participating in fieldwork and seminars.

• Explain the changes in the archaeological evidence over time, from prehistory to the present day, and develop skills in critical thinking, by showing an awareness that different interpretations of the evidence may be made.

• Research and interpret archaeological evidence from a range of sources, and present considered assessments which show rationality, clarity, and understanding.