The Institute of Archaeology has a long research and training tradition in environmental archaeology, going back to its roots in the 1940s. Zooarchaeology and geoarchaeology have been part of the Institute’s research profile since that time and archaeobotanical research began here in the 1960s. As a result the institute has well-established laboratory facilities and reference collections. This current MSc aims to
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1. To provide participants with a theoretical understanding of research questions and methodologies in the study past human-environment interactions, including subsistence and subsistence change. Background in the study Temporal and spatial patterns and processes of community ecology, landscape change and agricultural systems will be provided.
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2. To provide participants taking the MSc qualification with training in research methods relevant to environmental archaeology, including general familiarity with evidence from archaeobotany, archaeozoology and geoarchaeology.
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3. To provide practical training in laboratory practice of at least one environmental archaeological science (archaeozoology, geoarchaeology or archaeobotany)
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4. To enable degree holders to pursue specialized research on archaeological data relating to past environments and/or subsistence.
Students will gain practical experience in laboratory analysis of samples of at least one of the following: identification of animal bones, identification of plant macro-remains, sedimentological analyses. Students will also be taught to understand stratigraphic formation processes and their implications for developing sampling strategies, in part through archaeological site visit(s). Students will be prepared to collect and analyze data using appropriate methods and to report scientific results to publication standards.
Organization of the course: Students are required to take 3 half-element core courses, 1 half-element practical option from 3 choices, and 1 whole element of additional options. A dissertation, normally based on practical lab-based research, is also required.
Students are required to take 3 half-unit course elements, each with its own required essay topic.
• G180 Cultural Environments
• G187 Resources and Subsistence
• G188 Environmental Archaeology in Practice
G180 Cultural Environments.
An introduction to the major guiding anthropological and archaeological concepts of the relationships between human societies, culture and the natural world. The course will include lectures, readings and discussions on ecological concepts and processes, landscape sustainability, climate change and adaptations, human perceptions and symbolization of their environments, political ecology, and human impacts on the environment.
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G187 Resources and Subsistence
The principal aims of this core course are to develop and understanding of theoretical debates and methodological issues in the archaeological study of subsistence, changes in subsistence and related human modification of environments. This course is intended to provide the theoretical grounding for pratical projects in archaeozoology or archaeobotany examing subsistence, and consider the potential of geoarchaeological approaches to studying past subsistence systems.
G188 Environmental Archaeology in Practice
The principal aims of this core course are to develop a working knowledge of key methods in data analysis for environmental archaeology, including dating and the Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon calibration, sampling strategies on-site and off-site, quantification of biological and geoarchaeological datasets, and approaches to statistical analysis. Problems in taphonomy of environmental datasets will also be introduced. This course is intended to provide the theoretical grounding for practical projects in archaeozoology, archaeobotany or geoarchaeology.
Students must then select at least one of the following practical courses (half elements):
• G101 Archaeobotanical Analysis in Practice (Dorian Fuller)
• G104 Geoarchaeology I (Arlene Rosen)
• G189 Archaeozoology in Practice (Lousie Martin)
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Part Time Students
This MSc is offered part-time, to be completed over two years. In such cases it is recommended that students normally take 2 of the course half units in their first year, and their chosen half-unit practical option. This should allow them to begin their research for the dissertation as soon as possible, starting over the summer between their two years.
Environmental Archaeology Research and Teaching
at the Institute of Archaeology
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An additional 1 unit of MA/MSc options can be selected, this might include any of the following
• Geoarchaeology II. G105 (half element)
• Archaeological Soils and Micromorphology I. MG 102 (half element)
• Archaeological Soils and Micromorphology II G103. (half element)
• Languages, Genetics and Archaeology G182. (half element)
• Evolutionary Archaeology G147 (half element)
• Ethnoarchaeology G168 (half element)
• Archaeological Computing and Statistics G021 (half element)
• Databases and Archaeology G019 (half element)
Or regional cultural history options, such as
• The Aegean Bronze Age G052 (whole element)
• Archaeology of London G135 (whole element)
• Archaeology of Ancient Egypt G002 (whole element)
• Current Research in Western Asiatic Archaeology G150 (whole element)
• Issues in African Archaeology G098 (whole element)
• Seminars in Later European Prehistory G006
• South Asian Art and Archaeology G162
• The Romanization of Italy G167
• Evolution of Palaeolithic and Neolithic Societies in the Near East G181 (half element)
• Archaeology of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Hunter-Gatherers G128 (half element) |
