Compulsory attendance
Yes.
Admission requirements
BA or BSc-degree obtained, admission to the RMA-programme.
Description
This course introduces students to the department’s excavations and lab work at Happisburgh 1, an early Middle Pleistocene (?) site scatter preserved in fine-grained fossiliferous deposits of an early branch of the proto-Thames, at the coast of East Anglia (UK).
A combination of literature study, hands-on experience with lithic and other finds and a 2-week participation in the actual fieldwork on the Norfolk coast in summer will teach participants the ins and outs of fieldwork and interdisciplinary analyses at a (challenging) Palaeolithic site. Students are required to integrate their reading and fieldwork into a 3,000-word paper on the Happisburgh 1 project.
Course objectives
Insights in Palaeolithic fieldwork methods and practice;
Knowledge of the geological context of early European sites;
Knowledge of early lithic technology;
Knowledge of Middle Pleistocene stratigraphy and ecology.
Ects distribution
The course load will be distributed as follows:
7×2 hours of lectures;
280 pages of literature;
Paper.
Timetable
Course schedule details can be found in the RMA time schedule.
Mode of instruction
Lectures;
Seminar with prepared reading;
Reading list;
Practical exercises;
Fieldwork participation.
Assessment method
Essay, to be handed in one month after the end of the fieldwork campaign.
Assessment deadline
The essay needs to be handed in one month after the end of the fieldwork campaign.
Reading list
The reading list will be published on Blackboard.
Registration
Register for this course via uSis.
Instructions for registration can be found in the uSis manual.
Contact information
For more information about this course, please contact prof. dr J.W.M. Roebroeks.