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Ucl Institute of Archaeology UCL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY ARCL0008: INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 2019-20 Year 1 Option module, 15 credits Room 410, Term II, Mondays 11:00 – 13:00 Deadline Essay 1: Friday 21st February 2020 Target return date Essay 1: Friday 20th March 2020 Deadline Essay 2: Wednesday 1st April 2020 Target return date Essay 2: Wednesday 29th April 2020 Co-ordinator: Prof Stephen Shennan [email protected] Room 407 Telephone number: 020 7679 4739 (internal 24739) Additional teachers: Mark Roberts, Borja Legarra, Ulrike Sommer, Andrew Gardner Coordinator’s Office Hours (for regular consultation): Tuesdays from 1 pm to 3 pm. Or email for an appointment 1 1 OVERVIEW Short description Europe is the smallest of the five continents, only a peninsula of Eurasia in geographical terms. It is not a clearly defined area and open to influences from all directions. There are several different macro- regions, but their boundaries shift with changing climates and modes of production. An unequal distribution of mineral resources, diverse and flexible ecologies, major topographic barriers, and distinct topographic axes of communication add to the diversity and unique aspects of past and present Europe, which is the area with the longest tradition of prehistoric research and the densest network of known sites. This module assesses prehistoric Europe from the first peopling of the continent about 1.2 million years ago until the first century AD when the expanding empire of Rome absorbed parts of the continent into its boundaries. Major topics of the module will be: - the earliest occupation of Europe; - European Neanderthals; - the arrival of modern humans in Europe; - late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherers of Europe; - the origins of farming and its spread across Europe; - early European metallurgy - the emergence and development of social hierarchies and long-distance connections; - the growth of states and urban centres in the Mediterranean and Europe north of the Alps; - the impact of Rome on European societies. 2 Week-by-week summary Date Topic lecturer Part 1: Hunters and Gatherers 1 13/01/2020 The peopling of Europe: the early evidence Mark Roberts (MR) 2 The European Neanderthals MR 3 20/01/2020 Introduction: module organisation and objectives. Stephen Shennan (SS) Prehistoric Europe and its time-scales 4 The arrival of modern humans MR 5 27/01/2020 Late Pleistocene hunters and post-glacial developments MR 6 Practical - handling session MR 7 03/02/2020 Mesolithic hunters, gatherers and fishers SS Part 2: early farming communities 8 The origins of farming and the spread of agriculture SS across Europe 9 10/02/2020 The Neolithisation of North-Western Europe SS 10 Early metals and rising inequality SS 17-21/2/2020 READING WEEK (NO TEACHING) 11 24/02/2020 The creation of supra-regional networks: Corded Ware, SS Bell Beakers (and Indo-Europeans?) Part 3: complex agrarian societies 12 The beginnings of the Bronze Age SS 13 02/03/2020 Farmers and chieftains of Bronze Age Europe SS 14 The rise of states in the Mediterranean Borja Legarra Herrero (BLH) 15 09/03/2020 The Iron Age north of the Alps Mike Parker Pearson 16 The Iron Age in the British Isles MPP 17 16/03/2020 Nomads of the Steppe Zone from the early Bronze Age Ulrike Sommer (US) to the Scythians 18 Greeks, Phoenicians and others across the BLH Mediterranean 19 23/03/2020 Practical handling session SS 20 The impact of Rome on European societies Andrew Gardner Basic texts Cunliffe, B. (ed.), 1994. The Oxford Prehistory of Europe. Oxford, Oxford University Press. INST ARCH DA 100 CUN (ISSUE DESK) Cunliffe, B. 2008. Europe between the oceans: themes and variations: 9000 BC-AD 1000. New Haven: Yale University Press. INST ARCH DA 100 CUN Bradley, R. 2019. The prehistory of Britain and Ireland, 2nd edition 3 Methods of assessment This module is assessed by means of two pieces of coursework, which each contribute 50% to the final grade for the module. Teaching methods This handbook contains the basic information about the content and administration of the module. Additional subject-specific reading lists may be found in the Powerpoint presentations uploaded to Moodle. The Module Moodle is the best source of up-to date information and should be consulted if in doubt. If students have queries about the objectives, structure, content, assessment or organisation of the module, they should consult the Module Co-ordinator (Stephen Shennan). This module will be taught by lectures and two practicals (material handling sessions). The lectures will introduce the main issues and themes of the module, and will be concluded with brief discussions. The material handling sessions will provide students with the opportunity of studying typical artefacts from each of the main periods covered by the module. These artefacts will come from a broad range of European contexts and allow students to develop skills of comparative analysis of stylistic types, various technologies, and different raw materials. Workload There will be 18 hours of lectures and 2 hours of practical sessions for this module. Students will be expected to undertake around 48 hours of reading for the module, plus 120 hours preparing for and producing the assessed work. This adds up to a total workload of some 188 hours for the module. 2 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT Aims This module aims at introducing students to the main chronological divisions of prehistoric Europe, and related questions. Particular attention will be paid to the changing nature of the evidence, and how this shapes our interpretations of the past. Objectives On successful completion of this module a student should: Be familiar with the main chronological divisions of European prehistory, and corresponding social and economic developments. Recognise the main artefact types, settlement and funerary practices relating to each makor periods and regions studied Have a basic understanding of the major interpretative themes relating to prehistoric Europe Learning Outcomes On successful completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate/have developed: 4 application of acquired knowledge, and critical assessment of existing methods and interpretations writing skills, including structuring and articulating arguments based on archaeological evidence Coursework Assessment tasks All students must submit two standard essays (2,375 – 2,625 words each), one for section 1, one for section 2 - section 1 submission deadline: Friday 21st February 2020) - section 2 submission deadline: Wednesday 1st April 2020) All coursework must be submitted to Turnitin via Moodle (see instructions below) SECTION 1 Essay 1 Evaluate the evidence for big-game hunting (as opposed to scavenging) in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Europe. Suggested reading Binford, L. R. 1981. Bones: ancient men and modern myths. Orlando, Academic Press. INST ARCH BB 3 BIN (The book that started the discussion) Mellars, P. 1996. The Neanderthal Legacy: an archaeological perspective from Western Europe. Princeton, Princeton University. Chapter 7. INST ARCH. DA 120 MEL Roberts, M. B. 1997/98. Boxgrove: Palaeolithic hunters by the seashore. Archaeology International 1, 8-13. INST ARCH. PERS Scott, K. 1980. Two hunting episodes of Middle Palaeolithic age at La Cotte de Saint Brelade, Jersey (Channel Islands). World Archaeology 12, 137-52. NET Stiner, M. C. N., Munro, D., Surovell, T. A. 2000. The tortoise and the hare. Small-Game use, the broad-spectrum revolution and Palaeolithic demography. Current Anthropology 41, 39-73. Net Thieme, H. 1997. Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385, 807-810. NET Villa, P. 1990. Torralba and Aridos: elephant exploitation in Middle Pleistocene Spain. Journal of Human Evolution 19, 299-310. NET see also 5 Richards, M. B. et al. 2000. Neanderthal diet at Vindija and Neanderthal predation: The evidence from stable isotopes. Proceedings National Academy Science USA 97/13, 7663– 7666. Thieme, H. (ed.), 2007. Die Schöninger Speere: Mensch und Jagd vor 400 000 Jahren. Stuttgart, Theiss. INST ARCH DAD 12 Qto THI excellent illustrations and up-to date information Villa, P., Lenoir, M. 2009. Hunting and hunting Weapons of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of Europe. In: Hublin, J.-J., Richards, M. P. (eds.), The Evolution of hominin Diets: Integrating Approaches to the Study of Palaeolithic Subsistence. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. New York, Springer, 59-85. DOI: 10.1007/978-1- 4020-9699. Essay 2 Outline the process of colonization of Europe by the anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neanderthals. Suggested reading d'Errico, F. 2003. The invisible frontier. A multiple species model for the origin of behavioural modernity. Evolutionary Anthropology 12, 188-202. ONLINE Hoffecker, J. F. 1999. Neanderthals and modern humans in Eastern Europe. Evolutionary Anthropology 7/4, 129-141. ONLINE *Mellars, P. 1994. The Upper Palaeolithic revolution. In: Cunliffe, B. (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 42-78. INST ARCH DA 100 CUN (ISSUE DESK) Mellars, P. 2004. Neanderthals and the modern human colonization of Europe. Nature 432, 461-465. ONLINE Mellars, P. et al. 1999. The Neanderthal problem continued. Current Anthropology 40/3, 341- 364. ONLINE Zilhão, J., d'Errico F.1999. The chronology and taphonomy of the earliest Aurignacian and its implications for the understanding of Neandertal extinction. Journal of World Prehistory 13/1, 1-68. INST ARCH Pers Essay 3 Outline the arguments for the existence of social complexity during the European Mesolithic Suggested reading See reading lists for lecture 7 Also: Bailey, G., Spikins, P. (eds) 2008. Mesolithic Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. INST ARCH DA 130 BAI (edited volume, with several contributions directly discussing the issue of 'complex hunter-gatherers') 6 Conneller, C., Milner, N., Taylor, B & Taylor, M. 2012. Substantial settlement in the European Early Mesolithic: new research at Star Carr. Antiquity 86: 1004-1020. Conneller, J., Warren, G. (eds) 2006. Mesolithic Britain and Ireland: New Approaches.
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