Prospectus

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Botany

Course
2019-2020

Year

Bachelor year 2.

Admission requirements

  • Bioarchaeology (or equivalent level) obtained;

  • This is a seminar with a limited amount of participants (20 students), for Archaeology students exclusively.

Description

Archaeo- and palaeobotanical research requires knowledge of collecting, extracting, determining and curating Pleistocene and/or Holocene plant fossils and, in addition, presentation of fossil botanical data and data analysis.

All these aspects will be addressed in detail based on the study of fossiliferous sediments from a Quaternary site that contains archaeology (either lithic artefacts, cut-marked bone of both). The site for study will depend on what is available at the time.

Course objectives

  • Knowledge of and insight into the research methods and techniques and their application possibilities within palaeobotany and archaeobotany (particularly plant macrofossils);

  • Knowledge of and insight into the relevance of these techniques to archaeology;

  • Ability to recognise plant macrofossils from Quaternary deposits that also contain Palaeolithic archaeology;

  • Ability to determine and distinguish characteristic morphological features leading to accurate identification;

  • Ability to present and analyse palaeobotanical data;

  • Ability to conduct archaeobotanical research in a multidisciplinary approach that adds value to archaeological investigations;

  • Ability to write a basic research report based on the practical work completed in the course.

Timetable

Course schedule details can be found in the BA2 time schedule.

Mode of instruction

Practical.

Course load

The course load will be distributed as follows:

  • 36 hours of practical (2.6 ec);

  • 196 pages of literature (1.4 ec);

  • Report of 1,500-1,800 words (1 ec).

Assessment method

  • Report (60%);

  • Practical attendance (40%).

The practical will end at the end of block 4 and the report will be submitted 2 weeks from that date.

All exam dates (exams, retakes, paper deadlines etc.) can be found in the BA2 examination schedule.

Reading list

To be handed out during class and, of course, will be relevant to the site investigated.

Registration

Registration via uSis is mandatory.

  • The Administration Office will register all BA1 students for their tutorials (not lectures; register via uSis!).

  • BA2, BA3, MA/MSc and RMA/RMSc students are required to register for all lectures and tutorials well in time.

  • Start registration for the BA2 seminars:
    Series 1: 16 September 2019, 07:00 hrs
    Series 2: 13 January 2020, 07:00 hrs
    Series 3: 24 February 2020, 07:00 hrs

  • The Administration Office registers all students for their exams, students are not required to do this in uSis.

Contact

For more information about this course, please contact dr. M.H. (Mike) Field.

Remarks

Compulsory attendance.