Archaeology and Heritage MA

Core modules:

GIS for Humanities Research

This module will introduce you to the principles, methods and data structures employed in the analysis and reconstruction of historic landscapes using spatial technologies. It will provide you with hands-on training in the application of GIS in humanities research and professional practice. Through building skills in interpretation and problem-solving using GIS, you will develop critical understanding of how spatial technologies are used in humanities research.

15 credits

Landscapes in archaeology: methods and perspectives

This unit introduces the ways in which researchers have thought about landscape in archaeology and situates these perspectives within the methods that are commonplace in landscape research. Through a mix of lectures, seminars and practicals we will explore a variety of themes that together reflect the broad range of contemporary issues in landscape studies. These approaches will be applied through an analysis of a specific landscape using skills in observational survey, cartographic analysis, archival research and aerial photography gained during the practical classes. The emphasis is upon grasping both the methods and their application to specific archaeological questions.

15 credits

Digital Mapping for the Humanities

This module will introduce students to digital mapping as sources, as methods and as outputs for humanities research. Digital mapping offers a wide variety of analytical and interpretive methods that are put to use in many humanities disciplines. Maps and mapping allow us to recognise social constructions of place, visualise patterns, gaps, and changes across time and space. By combining spatial and temporal dimensions into visual representation, digital mapping can provide innovative approaches, methods, techniques, interpretive practices, and solutions to different stages of research, from data collection to science communication. The module will be delivered through both discursive and 'hands-on' classes and will draw on case studies from across the arts and humanities. Students will critically engage and analyse multidisciplinary examples in which digital mapping is a core aspect of research. They will also make use of multiple methods and tools on digital mapping platforms to create, visualise, analyse, disseminate, and communicate spatial and temporal data and knowledge.

15 credits

Landscape Survey Project

This module offers advanced field and lab training in aerial mapping, measured and geophysical survey, including the use of total station and GPS instruments. The module is taught through a seven-day field course on a 'live' research project (in previous years this was residential and based in North Wales).

20 credits

Work Placement (Archaeology and Heritage)

This module requires you to undertake a work placement of at least 6 weeks with an external heritage organisation. You will take an active role during the 1st and 2nd semester, with support from the programme director, in developing ideas about the focus of your placement, the organisations you may seek a placement with and, finally, in organising the placement. The placement is an opportunity to develop professional contacts, enhance employability and gain an increased understanding of the career opportunities within the heritage sector. Placements must be with recognised heritage organisations and involve a programme of work which is approved in advance by the placement coordinator and agreed with the placement provider. 

Students will meet with the programme director in classroom sessions and in individual tutorials to develop their ideas for the placement and to develop placement ideas with potential placement providers.

45 credits

Optional modules:

Heritage, History and Identity

This module highlights the diversity of cultural heritage, ranging from cultural and 'natural' landscapes, through monuments to music, dress, cuisine, 'traditional' crafts, and language and dialect. It explores the role of these various forms of heritage in shaping local, regional and national identity; the extent to which they reflect or misrepresent local, regional and national history; the legal and ethical issues surrounding conservation and preservation of heritage; and how study of 'traditional' lifeways may contribute to understanding of history.

15 credits

Digital Cultural Heritage: Theory and Practice

This module examines the theoretical and methodological advances in Digital Cultural Heritage and their broader implications in fields concerned with the interpretation and presentation of the past. We will draw on theoretical readings as well as analyse the potential benefits and drawbacks of certain digital and online approaches. Topics include: principles and theories underlying Digital Cultural Heritage, understanding processes of creating digital surrogates, establishing principles for user experience, and exploring digital narratives for public dissemination. A major component of this module will be a semester-long project that will require the development of a proposal for a digital cultural heritage project.

15 credits

The Museum: Archaeology and Practice

The module introduces, defines and critically appraises the concept and institution of the museum in the modern world. The module considers the development, organisation and use of such places of collective remembering and forgetting. The module considers local museums with small budgets and community responsibilities, national museums with large donors and political responsibilities, and private collections whose collections represent individuals or agendas. The module will engage with local and global concerns and topical conversations around museum collections including the complex issue of restitution, and ethics in modern museum management. This module looks towards the sustainability of the museum sector in a globalising world, and in light of pressures from political and economic directions. 

The module examines museums from the perspective of policy, funding and the day to day management of individual institutions against the background of national government agendas and inter-governmental agreements which underpin large scale developments. It looks at the  provision of such cultural spaces from both the operator and visitor management perspectives and includes site visits within the locality.

15 credits

Stories in Stone - Understanding Built Heritage

Buildings form the most visible elements of our historic environment. Buildings can tell as much about the past as archaeology in the ground and records in archives. What buildings do and the ways in which buildings shape our landscapes is a key facet of understanding what is important about the past in our present (our 'heritage'). Going beyond the individual architects or donors whose names may be etched in keystones or inscribed on plans, building-construction involves skilled workers and artisans, labourers and support systems which are not immediately apparent from surface-level histories. Facades, fenestration, and architectural plans can inform on the dominant ideas and chief concerns of people in the past. Building materials themselves, the bricks and blocks and wooden cores, tell stories of industry and labour, and the myriad skills involved in creating an object of perceived permanence. This module, Stories in Stone, challenges students to engage with the historic built environment, to look up and around and beneath the plasterwork of historic buildings for the stories they tell about the past.  In this module, students will gain an understanding of built heritage through a multi-disciplinary approach including buildings archaeology, architectural history and historic urban development. The module will engage students in Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) towards considering the sustainable use and reuse of the historic built environment. Students will select buildings which reflect their own interests and concerns, and apply the ideas they learn on the module to these structures. Students will learn to critically assess an historic building for its phasing and development, and determine issues and vulnerabilities associated with the building including its sustainable use and reuse. Students will gain skills in reading, understanding, and surveying a building using a variety of methods including digital and photographic survey. Students will learn how to carry out a field survey and prepare a professional report according to the standards of the heritage industry. 

15 credits

Cultural Heritage Today

The aim of this module is to introduce the heritage industry, heritage work in the planning sector, and the frameworks within which heritage professionals operate. The module will encourage debate on issues facing the heritage industry including sustainable use and reuse of historic buildings and quarters, the interpretation of heritage for public audiences, and the role of heritage in government policy. It also offers an opportunity to focus on the historic 'value' of a site or landscape. Students will complete  an evaluation of how heritage is currently managed, and propose strategies for future conservation and presentation. The module is taught through a combination of lectures, workshops, and site visits.

15 credits

Plus the following modules, which may run in either semester depending on availability:

Egypt in the Age of the Empire.

This module provides the student with a detailed knowledge of the archaeology of Dynastic Egypt during the New Kingdom, between 16th and 11th centuries BC (18th - 20th Dynasties).  The module embeds Egypt in its late prehistoric Mediterranean and Near Eastern context and traces the development of Egyptian society, dynastic rule, societal structures and the relationship of Egypt with its neighbours. The module will use archaeological, textual and scientific evidence to explore how society is shaped by ideology, belief, power and conflict alongside the natural world.

15 credits

The Archaeology of Death and Burial

This module provides an advanced level exploration of human responses to death in societies around the world. Delivered through a series of themed lectures and seminars, case studies focus on the nature and interpretation of the burial record, and survey the methods of analysis, theoretical underpinnings and material residues of funerary ritual helping the student to develop a broad knowledge of burial rites and a nuanced understanding of the discipline of funerary archaeology.

15 credits

Plus Languages for All option module.