Communicating Archaeology - ARC00053I

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Module summary

How do we communicate archaeology and to who? This module will provide students with the skills they need to communicate archaeological research to a variety of audiences. Each skills-based lecture will introduce the students to a critical aspect of communicating archaeology. Each week students will engage with multimedia creation as they learn to present archaeological research.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Autumn Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module aims to encourage students:

• To critically examine media creation in Archaeology

• To develop skills in archaeological interpretation and dissemination through media

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module the students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the use of images to effectively communicate archaeological concepts

• Use social media to disseminate archaeological concepts

• Create basic maps

• Understand the variety of media available for archaeological communication

• Assess various audiences for archaeological communication

• Use digital media to communicate archaeology

Module content

The Communicating Archaeology module will take students through the history of visual interpretation and dissemination in archaeology, examining illustration, photography, map making, and more up-to-date methods in digital archaeology. Students will critically examine representations of archaeology and create their own visual media. We will look at best practices for multiple audiences and consider challenges in ethics, accessibility, and technology. Students will be encouraged to rethink and improve the messages that archaeologists are transmitting, to academic and general audiences.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

Formative: The marker will share written feedback with you and you will have the opportunity to ask further questions about how to improve your work before your summative assessment.

Summative: Written feedback sheets will be uploaded to your e:vision account (your personal University of York online services account) within 20 working days of the submission deadline, along with your overall mark for the module. If you have any questions about your mark and/or your written feedback, you will be able to sign up for office hours with the marker.

Indicative reading

Bonacchi, C. (2017). Digital media in public archaeology. In Moshenska G. (Ed.), Key Concepts in Public Archaeology (pp. 60-72). London: UCL Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1vxm8r7.9

James, S., 2015. “Visual competence” in archaeology: a problem hiding in plain sight. Antiquity, 89(347), pp.1189–1202.

Detailed reading for the module will be available via YorkShare (the University's virtual learning environment). When you have enrolled on a module, you will be able to access the full reading list.