Aims

This course explores the archaeology of Europe from the appearance of the first people more than a million years ago to the end of the Bronze Age. This is a period that witnesses a number of key transformations: changes in human species, social organisation, new relationships with animals and the landscape and the use of new materials such as ceramics and metals. The module aims to give students a broad understanding the emergence of these changes across Europe and how they played out at a regional level. Through this we will address number of major issues and key debates that have arisen in the interpretation of the archaeology of this period. These include the extinction of the Neanderthals and the emergence of spiritual beliefs at the height of the last ice age; the adoption of the Neolithic and monumental architecture; the appearance of metal and associated social changes; population mobility and cultural interaction in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic; changes in understandings of the landscape, identity and death in the Bronze Age and the emergence of Bronze Age civilisations in the Mediterranean.


Aims:
- To introduce students to key themes and debates in an archaeological understanding of European Prehistory.
- To familiarise students with the defining characteristics and the archaeological materials encountered in the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic (& Beaker period), and Bronze Age periods.
- To introduce students to the approaches used by archaeologists to address this material and the problems that these pose.
- To provide students with an awareness of the regional variation involved in the way these key transformations were played out across Europe.
- To develop students’ ability to discuss the relationship between evidence and interpretation

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus may vary slightly from year to year, but the following is broadly indicative of the module structure:

1. The Lower Palaeolithic
Themes: The first people

2. The Neanderthals
Themes: The last days of the Neanderthals and the origins of modern humans

3. The Upper Palaeolithic
Themes: The origins of spirituality, Life in the Ice Age


4. The Mesolithic
Themes: Pioneers in the north, Mesolithic in South-east Europe


5. Early Neolithic 1
Themes: Neolithic settlements and subsistence

6. Early Neolithic 2
Themes Neolithic death and burial

7. The Chalcolithic and the origins of metallurgy

8. Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic
Themes: Cultural change, population mobility and social interaction in the third millennium – Yamnaya, Corded Ware and early Beaker communities, Swiss Lake Villages

9. Bronze Age Mediterranean 1
Themes: Bronze Age exchange, the Minoan civilisation

10. Bronze Age Mediterranean 2
Themes: Akrotiri and Mycenae

11. Bronze Age Central and Northern Europe 1
Themes: Exploring Bronze Age hoarding practices, violence and warfare

12. Bronze Age Central and Northern Europe 2
Themes: Death and cosmology

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

A series of subject-specific lectures will provide a detailed outline of the key features and social changes encountered in European Prehistory. Seminars will provide students with the opportunity to explore key debates in greater depth and interpret archaeological material. A workshop on poster production will enable students to successfully complete assessment 2.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The extended essay will provide experience of discussing subject-specific knowledge, including the relationship between evidence and interpretation, and encourage understanding, time management and literacy skills. The poster will test students' abilities to investigate specific case studies, drawing upon detailed archaeological evidence, and its relation to broader issues. It will test their ability to present evidence concisely and in an engaging manner. The formative assessment allows students to get oral feedback on their poster design, thus making them more confident in an unfamiliar assessment form before they produce the final version of the poster. All submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing.


Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. Where an exam is present, an alternative form of assessment will be set and where coursework is present, an alternative deadline will be set. Details of the alternative assessment will be provided by the module leader.