ARA8292 : Graduate Seminar in Lithics Analysis (Inactive)
- Inactive for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Professor Chantal Conneller
- Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This course aims to give students an in-depth knowledge of lithic analysis and equip them with the necessary skills to undertake professional lithic analysis. The module places particular emphasis on learning how to ‘read’ assemblages, in terms of the human activities that generated them, as well as taphonomic issues that may affect their composition. The course also aims to enable students to recognised the techniques used to generate individual artefacts and an assemblage, as well as basic sourcing techniques. Students will also learn how to recognise diagnostic tool types and technologies from each period.
Outline Of Syllabus
1. Introduction to terminology and frameworks of analysis
2. Technology 1: Flake cores and prepared cores. Experimental production
3. Technology 2: Blade technologies. Refitting.
4. Techniques of tool production. Lithic illustration.
5. Reading assemblages. Introduction to assessment.
6. Lower and Middle Palaeolithic
7. Upper Palaeolithic
8. Mesolithic and Early Neolithic
9. Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age
10. The Bronze Age and beyond
11. Assemblage analysis
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 80 | 1:00 | 80:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Practical | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 65 | 1:00 | 65:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 33 | 1:00 | 33:00 | N/A |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Each week has an introductory lecture to introduce students to the key evidence and issues. The remainder is focused on practicals. This is to give students the in-depth experience of handling lithic material which is needed to gain expertise in this field. Teaching by showing is also the best method to permit students to recognise the technological and morphological traits needed to categorise lithic material and assign it to its correct chronological period.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research paper | 2 | M | 100 | 3000 words |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 2 | M | 1000 words |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Both formative and summative assessments are based on the practical analysis and reporting of lithic material. The formative assessment is designed to replicate a real-world commercial lithic report, based on the analysis of a small assemblage. The summative assessment is also based analysis of lithic material, either an assemblage or class of artefacts, but is intended to be more in-depth and research-based, relating the material to the broader context of the material and related literature.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- ARA8292's Timetable