Postgraduate Course: Space, Place and Time: the archaeology of built environments (PGHC11412)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The public thinks of archaeologists as excavators or museum curators. This course introduces Buildings Archaeology, the analysis and interpretation of three-dimensional structures using archaeological and architectural methods. Taught jointly with the UG honours course 'Archaeology of Architecture', postgraduate students will particularly concentrate on prehistoric and Classical case studies, interpretations of architecture as material culture, and interdisciplinary working in workshops, studios, lab practicals and reconstruction exercises. As the course is taught by staff from the subject areas of Archaeology and Classics as well as commercial archaeologists, it offers particular insight into interdisciplinary academic work and the growing sector of commercial buildings archaeology. |
| Course description |
Buildings archaeology, the discipline analysing 3D-structures with archaeological and architectural methods has become an increasingly important requirement in developer-funded archaeological works. Academically, architectural analysis has been the domain of Classical Archaeology; applying it to prehistoric architectures has demonstrated its wider research potential.
The course introduces Buildings Archaeology, its methods and theory as well as academic and commercial applications. Lectures, seminars, and practicals will equip students with knowledge, skills and techniques necessary to study, interpret and reconstruct buildings from archaeological evidence. The syllabus seeks a balance between practical skills (drawing, photographic recording, digitising, buildings analysis, report writing, etc.) and academic theory to prepare students for academic as well as commercial careers. Studio presentations and discussions will reaffirm the experience from workshops and fieldwork and consolidate knowledge on how collected data feeds into research. Bringing in professional experts allows knowledge exchange and skill transfer to be informed by industry needs. The visit of a commercial company will provide students with industry insight. The intended learning outcomes are designed to foster the students' initiative and increase their employability and research capacities by equipping them with specialist skills and knowledge not offered at most other HEIs.
The course will concentrate on prehistoric (Scottish, British and European) and Classical case studies, complemented by medieval, post-medieval and industrial examples to reflect all aspects of the academic and commercial jobs profile.
This course will also include optional, but strongly recommended, fieldwork participation.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Archaeology of Architecture (ARCA10082)
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Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Travel costs to fieldwork venues (approx £2.50 per student) and workshop materials (approx £15 per student) |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | This PG course cannot be taken if 'Archaeology of Architecture' is also taken as a UG-level course within a Taught MSc programme. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning theory and methodology of Buildings Archaeology and its application, particularly in academia, but also in commercial practice
- Analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning buildings archaeology; its primary source materials such as the archaeological remains of built structures and historical or cartographic documents; and conceptual discussions about architectural and archaeological theory based on key case studies
- Understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the course including primary archaeological records of buildings, and to understand, evaluate and utilise this primary evidence.
- Develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral, written and drawn form by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Demonstrate originality and independence of mind, creativity and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; work and lead in a team; and a considerable degree of autonomy.
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Reading List
Academic monographs:
1. Adam J-P 1999 Roman Building: Materials and Techniques, London and New York.
2. Audouze F, Buchsenschutz O 1992 Towns, villages and countryside of Celtic Europe. London: Batsford. In UoE main library.
3. Drury PJ (ed) 1982 Structural Reconstruction. Oxford: BAR 110.
4. Gerritsen F 2003 Local Identities. Landscape and Community in the Late Prehistoric Meuse-Demer-Scheldt Region. Amsterdam Archaeological Studies 9. Amsterdam: AUP. In UoE main library
5. Hofmann D, Smyth J (eds) 2013 Tracking the Neolithic House in Europe. London: Springer. In UoE main library: online resource.
6. Lancaster LC 2005, Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome: Innovations in Context, Cambridge.
7. Parker Pearson M, Richards C 1994 (Hardback) /1997 (Paperback) Architecture & Order. Approaches to Social Space. London/New York: Routledge. In UoE main library
8. Romankiewicz T 2011 The complex roundhouses of the Scottish Iron Age. BAR Brit Ser 550 (i) and (ii), Oxford: Archaeopress. In UoE main library.
Practical guides:
9. Burra Charter and ICOMOS 1990/1996 Guide to Recording Historic Buildings.
10. English Heritage 2006 Understanding Historic Buildings. A guide to good recording practice. Part 1-3. Free online resource.
11. Historic Scotland various Research Reports and Technical Advice Notes (TAN) - 1 (revised 2005), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 19, 21, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31. Range of publications on use of historic materials and their recording and conservation methods.
12. Swallow P, Dallas R, Jackson S, Watt D 2004 Measurement and Recording of Historic Buildings. 2nd ed. Shaftesbury: Donhead.
Please refer to the Resource List for this course for reading material on fieldwork and further items: https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/research-teaching-staff/resource-lists |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
This course is taught jointly with the level 10 UG course 'Archaeology of Architecture'. However, PG students take part in additional sessions, undergo different assessment and are marked according to the PG Common Marking Scheme. |
| Keywords | Space Place Time Archaeology Environments |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tanja Romankiewicz
Tel:
Email: T.Romankiewicz@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Martina Benkova
Tel: (0131 6)50 3533
Email: Martina.Benkova@ed.ac.uk |
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