• Offered for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Professor Chris Fowler
• Lecturer: Professor James Gerrard, Professor Andrea Dolfini, Professor Mark Jackson, Professor Lisa-Marie Shillito, Dr Matthew Haysom, Dr Eric Tourigny, Professor Rob Collins, Professor Chantal Conneller

• Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

Introduction
Over the last thirty years or so the archaeology of the body has developed into a complex field of study, combining new theoretical developments and research questions with new methods of analysis. In this module we will examine the changing and varied ways that bodies were constituted and deconstituted, presented and represented, through key activities in the past, and consider the differing ways that archaeologists interpret past bodies. We will explore how past bodies were shaped during daily routines, and transformed through major events in the course of life and death, such as rites of passage. We will compare the significance of different ways of presenting and representing the body, and the role of media such as figurines, statuary, clothing and dress items, tools, pottery and architecture in piecing together a more detailed understanding of past concepts of and experiences of the human body. We will explore the significance of bodily differences in the lives and deaths of people of different ages and sexes, and we will set the treatment of human bodies alongside the bodies of objects, buildings and animals to explore relationships between bodies and personhood. We will focus on communities living in Europe, Anatolia and the Levant between the Mesolithic and the twentieth century.

Aims
1. To provide a thematic and theoretical framework for investigating past bodies
2. To provide an advanced knowledge and understanding of bodies and embodied experience from the Mesolithic to the twentieth century
3. To develop the ability to conduct independent learning and research into the archaeology of the human body

Outline Of Syllabus

The exact regions and periods covered in the middle section of the module will vary from year to year, but the core structure and illustrative content will be as follows:

Introduction: What is the body? What constitutes evidence for past bodies? What methods do we use to analyse these?
Research themes and theoretical approaches to past bodies

Case studies:
Bodies in Mesolithic Europe
Neolithic bodies in Anatolia and the Levant
Neolithic bodies in South-east and Central Europe
Oetzi 'the Iceman' in context: real and represented Chalcolithic bodies in southern Europe
Bodies in the Aegean Bronze Age
The Body in Pieces: Classical Greek, Italic and Etruscan Bodies
Bodies in Roman Britain
Bodies in Byzantium
Post-medieval bodies

Comparative reflection: patterns and diversities
Student presentations and feedback

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

General themes, archaeological evidence and interpretation are introduced by lecture during the first 15 minutes of each 2-hour session, possibly with a second 15-minute lecture at the start of the second hour. Students are asked to complete one or two readings each in advance of each session. C. 1.5 hours of each session will consist of detailed discussion of the set readings. The final session will revolve around student presentations on their chosen assessment topic which will help develop oral communication skills, provide immediate feedback on progress, and develop the specific knowledge of source material required. Two one-to-one meetings between student and supervisor (one before and one after the presentation) will help the student prepare for the assessment.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The written assignment evaluates the student’s knowledge and critical understanding of the module subject, writing skills, and ability to undertake independent research on the topic. Formative student presentations on their chosen assessment topic will provide immediate feedback on progress, and develop the specific knowledge of source material required. Two one-to-one meetings between student and supervisor (one before and one after the presentation) will help the student prepare for the assessment and assist in the development of research skills.

As the content of the presentation feeds directly into the essay it makes sense not to reduce the word length.

Submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing.

Reading Lists

• ARA8394's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• ARA8394's Timetable