Analysis, interpretation and dissemination of field archaeology data

ARC00021M

Module leader: Steve Roskams

Aims

  • To give students an understanding of how research agendas, organisational factors and IT technologies have affected the changing ways in which field data has been ordered and analysed
  • To acquaint students with the major concepts and methodologies employed in the analysis, dissemination and archiving of archaeological field data
  • In particular, to introduce students to the analysis of stratigraphic and spatial data, and to the potential of assemblage analyses for social interpretation

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this element of the course, the successful student should:

  • Have been to introduced to the variety of management strategies and have some understanding of how these have been applied in professional archaeology and of their merits/demerits
  • Understand the basic ideas behind monitoring archaeological projects and be familiar with the introduction of MAP2, how this has operated and how it may change in the future
  • Be aware of how analytical itineraries are constructed when considering stratigraphic and spatial analysis, and of the computer packages used in such work
  • Have a working knowledge of approaches to artefact provenancing, dating and typological classification, and of the corresponding work when recording plant, insect and animal remains
  • Understand how the process of synthesising the above evidence might be approached
  • Considered how standards in archiving have been developed, and accessibility to archaeological evidence and knowledge enhanced
 

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