Course director: Prof. Geoff Bailey
The MSc in Coastal and Marine Archaeology offers a wide range of opportunities for those who wish to explore and deepen their understanding and research experience of the varied themes and methods of study associated with human settlement and activity in coastal environments. Students will have an opportunity to explore themes relating to the palaeoeconomy and palaeoecology of coastlines, the geoarchaeology of site formation and landscape context, coastline change and submerged landscapes, and the distinctive patterns of social development and symbolic life often associated with coastal settings. At York we have a large group of researchers with interests in this theme and a number of active field projects in Britain and overseas. In addition to the staff listed below, our wider research community includes Karen Hardy, a Marie Cure Research Fellow, and Caroline Wickham-Jones, an Honorary Fellow, who have both worked on the coastal archaeology of Scotland, Garry Momber, Director of the Hants and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology and one of the leading exponents in this country of underwater survey and excavation of prehistoric material, and Kirsty Penkman an expert in Quaternary geochronology and the amino acid racemization dating of shell:
- Geoff Bailey: specialises in the archaeology of coastlines, and also works on Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, Quaternary landscape history, and palaeoeconomy. He has worldwide interests, experience of working on coastal archaeology in Australia, Europe and South America, and is currently running coastal underwater projects in Britain, the western Mediterranean and the Saudi waters of the Red Sea
- Penny Spikins: works on Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, with interests in cognitive evolution, hunter-gatherer archaeology in Europe and South America, and submerged archaeological landscapes.
- Nicky Milner: specialises in palaeodiet and consumption practices, shell midden studies, and death and burial. She has excavated shell middens in many parts of Europe, a Mesolithic structure at one of Britain's earliest coastal sites at Howick in Northumberland, and is currently excavating at the Mesolithic site of Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering.
- Matthew Collins: heads BioArch and specialises in the use of biomolecular methods. He is one of the world's leading researchers on ancient protein and has pioneered the development of a robust method of amino acid racemization dating of shell.
- Oliver Craig: specialises in the biomolecular analysis of palaeodiets through the development of methods of isotope and residue analysis, with particular interests in the role of marine foods and the transition to farming.
The MSc is structured around core modules on coastal landscape and coastal settlement and students then choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the research interests of the staff within the Department. The teaching is conducted in small groups, seminars and tutorials, giving each student the opportunity to develop within a supportive and friendly environment.
The course includes field trips to the nearby coastline of Northeast England. Bordering the North Sea, this offers a varied geological history of coastal change, submergence, and often-dramatic erosion, with evidence of coastal archaeology extending back to the Mesolithic site of Howick on the Northumberland coast, one of the earliest coastal settlements in Britain, and traces of now submerged archaeology and relict forests elsewhere in the intertidal zone.
Last updated by GNB, November 2008