Admission requirements
None.
Description
The interactions of people with the natural world generate different landscapes.
This course offers an introduction to the study of the environmental and cultural factors that have influenced human behavior and settlement patterns in the past, thus shaping the lives of peoples as well as the landscape and its evolution over time.
The course provides a description of the methods that archaeologists employ to collect data to study past landscape dynamics, with a special focus on field recording methods, temporality, and spatial data modelling with digital techniques.
This course also explores geomorphological and visibility factors and modern land-use impact affecting the preservation and detection of traces in the field, on which archaeologists base their analysis of past human landscapes.
Several basic definitions of landscape archaeology will be addressed and practiced during this course such as the terms space, scale, territory, palimpsest, pattern, model, spatial archaeology, archaeological record, site distribution mapping, locational analysis, GIS, field survey, remote sensing, geophysics, cartography, geography, geomorphology, topography, interdisciplinary, impact, sustainability, and cultural resource management.
Students will delve into the pros and cons of different ways of approaching data to study past landscape dynamics by combining the study of first-hand literature with the practical experience of working with different (digital) datasets in case studies.
Course objectives
To introduce the discipline of landscape archaeology;
To gain knowledge of the methods and techniques used in archaeology to study past settlement patterns and site location preferences;
To understand how the physical environment and the cultural context have influenced human activities in the past and present.
Upon completion of this course students will have acquired:
Knowledge of a range of tools and methods for the spatial analysis of environmental and archaeological data to study the landscape;
Ability in critically assessing research publications and reports.
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;
Tutorials on case studies, with in-class assignments;
Extensive autonomous study of literature.
You will take part in tutorial sessions, coordinated by Teaching Assistants (TAs). During these tutorials, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in conversations about various research topics. Alongside the TAs, the lecturers will also occasionally participate in the tutorials.
Assessment method
- Written exam (100%).
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.
Individual deadlines for assignments can be found on Brightspace.
Reading list
The reading list will be made available on Brightspace two weeks before the start of the course.
Per class there will be 1-3 chapters or papers to read.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudymap is mandatory.
General information about registration can be found on the Course and Exam Enrolment page.
BA1 (first-year) Archaeology students will be enrolled by the Administration Office. If you are not a BA1 student, but want to take this course, please contact the Administration Office.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Prospective students website for information on how to apply.
All information (costs, registration, entry requirements, etc.) for those who are interested in taking this course as a Contractstudent is on the Contractonderwijs Archeologie webpage (in Dutch).
Contact
For more information about this course, please contact dr. Q.P.J. (Quentin) Bourgeois or dr. A.T. (Letty) ten Harkel.
Remarks
Compulsory attendance.