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| Unit name |
Aspects of the Aegean Bronze Age |
| Unit code |
ARCH25003 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
I/5
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Momigliano |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
An adequate background knowledge of Aegean Prehistory.
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit examines in some detail specific aspects of the Aegean Bronze Age. Students will study the archaeology of important sites such as Troy, Knossos, Mycenae, Thera, etc. and will be introduced to important current debates in Aegean archaeology on topics such as state formation, chronology, religion, craft specialisation, burials, etc. The specific aspects (and relevant archaeological evidence) to be examined will vary from year to year, depending on the unit director's current research and on the students' own interests.
Aims:
- To introduce students to the development of the discipline of Aegean Prehistory, with special reference to the Aegean Bronze Age and within the broader context of the development of Archaeology.
- To introduce students to a various historical backgrounds and objectives of different scholars, and their contribution to scholarship.
- To introduce students to some of the major discoveries concerning the Aegean Bronze Age in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Successful completion of this unit (involving full participation to seminars and several hours of library work every week by the students) will allow students to demonstrate:
- A fair knowledge of the development of Aegean Bronze Age studies
- A fair knowledge of a number of Aegean sites and their main finds
- Awareness of different types of evidence (archaeological evidence and written sources), and different ways in which they can be evaluated
- Awareness of different theoretical and methodological approaches, and the ability to view them from an historical perspective.
Teaching Information
A mixture of lectures by the Unit Director and student-led seminars, a Museum visit and/or handling or Minoan artefacts from the Bristol University Near Eastern and Mediterranean collections (BUNEM) and individual essay-feedback tutorials, over one teaching block (normally 2 hours per week over 12 weeks).
Assessment Information
Two essays, each of 2500-2750 words (level I/5), of which one should normally be based on an unassessed seminar presentation. Each essay is worth 50% of the total mark. The essays are summative. The seminar presentation is formative.
Reading and References
- Fitton, J.L. (1995) The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age (London: British Museum Press)
- McDonald, W.A. and C.G. Thomas (1990) Progress into the Past: The Rediscovery of Mycenaean Civilisation (2nd edition; Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indiana)
- Cherry, J.F., Margomenou, D. and Talalay, L.E. (2005) Prehistorians Round the Pond: Reflections on Aegean Prehistory as a Discipline. Ann Arbor.
- Darcque, P. , Fotiadis, M., and Polychronopoulou, O. (eds.) (2006). Mythos : La Pr�histoire �g�enne du XIXe au XXIe Si�cle apr�s J.-C. Table Ronde International, Ath�nes, 2123 Novembre 2002, Bulletin de Correspondence Hell�nique, Suppl. 46. Paris: Ecole Fran�aise
- J. Rutter, The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean (Dartmouth, 1996 - updated annually)
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/
