Admission requirements
Admission to the Research Master Archaeology programme.
Description
The 'urban revolution’ swept through Europe after 1,000 CE and the Low Countries became, together with Italy, the most urbanised area in pre-industrial Europe. Along with history and cartography, archaeology is essential to understand the transformation that villages underwent in becoming towns and cities.
However, it was only in the 1980s that archaeologists began to systematically record uncovered material remains in medieval towns; urban archaeology as an academic discipline only developed after that. An ambitious new generation of scholars will be welcome.
The focus of the course will be on the archaeology of public health, waste management, water management and ‘smellscape-management’. A ‘whole town approach’ will be advocated.
An ongoing, underlying theme will be that urban archaeology not only deals with archaeological data but also with information from historical sources. In order to assign meaning to uncovered archaeological remains, written records often have to be consulted.
Although interdisciplinary research is an asset, the risks of misinterpretation must be mitigated whenever possible.
A second course theme is that many stakeholders must be taken into account in urban archaeology.
Case studies from the Low Countries and north-western Europe will be used.
Course objectives
Theory
The student will be able to critically reflect on a case study and place, as well as apply it, within a broader academic, philosophical, theoretical and discipline transcending framework and in new multidisciplinary contexts.
Specific knowledge
The student will gain:
Thorough knowledge and understanding of current debates in urban archaeology in general, and the archaeology of public health in particular, as well as the ability to interpret any relevant archaeological data;
Thorough knowledge of golden rules for historical archaeologists (the importance of a historical time line and the concept of ‘Getrennt Marschieren, zusammen schlagen’).
Skills and methods
Multidisciplinary skills: Placing a case study within and critically consider developments in a historical framework;
Ability to develop and apply original creative ideas within one's own archeological research;
Ability to transform concepts into research/field strategies and capability of stepping out of the box to combine alpha beta and gamma applications in a creative and confident way.
Academic skills
Oral presentation skills, ability to present a clear oral report suitable to a public of international specialists and peers;
Ability to independently function in academic networks or teams;
Chairing a stakeholders meeting;
Organising and chairing the poster-session;
Secondary-source research;
Learning from feedback and where necessary revise one's own position, and the ability to review the research of others in the same constructive business-like manner;
Writing skills (e.g., the importance of good headings, weekly essay title competition; becoming familiar with the CARS model);
Ability to properly formulate and present an argument and demonstrate a precise and academic approach to an archaeological issue.
Social orientation
Ability to convey research data and interpretations to an audience of non-specialists;
Ability to reflect on the ethical-social aspects of archaeology and debate the latest archaeological developments and their significance to society, as well as communicate and discuss this from an international perspective.
Timetable
Course schedule details can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button.
Mode of instruction
Lectures;
One-hour feedback prior to the group presentation;
Student presentations;
Specific instructions for organising the poster session.
Course load
7 × 2 hours of lectures (1 ec);
280 pages of readings (2 ec);
Assignments and presentation, including 1 hour feedback prior to the group presentation (2 ec).
Assessment method
Group presentation (10%);
6 assignments: 1 assignment ‘urban archaeology in peer-reviewed papers’, 4 essays and 1 poster. References are required for all assignments (6 × 15% = 90%).
The essays and presentation must be submitted through Turnitin.
More detailed instructions for the essays and the presentation will be available in the course manual on Brightspace.
This course comprises 6 assignments and a group presentation. A retake of an assignment or the presentation is not possible, a fail for an assignment can be compensated by other assignments.
Assessment deadlines
All assessment deadlines (exams, retakes, paper deadlines etc.) can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button. To view the assessment deadline(s), make sure to select the course with a code ending in T and/or R.
Each week there will be either an assignment (essay or poster) or a presentation due. The deadline for the assignments is 11 pm, the Sunday prior to the class. Please note that extensions on assignments will not be given.
Reading list
Readings will be announced throughout the course.
Registration
Registration in uSis is mandatory. You can register for this course until 5 days before the first class.
Registration in uSis automatically leads to enrollment in the corresponding Brightspace module. Therefore you do not need to enroll in Brightspace, but make sure to register for this course in uSis.
You are required to register for all lectures and tutorials well in time. The Administration Office registers all students for their exams, you are not required to do this in uSis.
Contact
For more information about this course, please contact dr. R.M.R. (Roos) van Oosten.
Remarks
Compulsory attendance.