Archaeology and Geography BA

Archaeologists are interested in all aspects of the human past. This includes everything from ancient landscapes and changing environments, buried settlements and standing monuments and structures, to material objects and evidence for diet, trade, ritual and social life.

This module introduces the discipline of archaeology. It also explores how material remains are discovered, analysed and used to provide evidence for human societies, from prehistory to the present day.

The autumn semester introduces the historical development of archaeology. This is followed by a presentation of current theory and practice in the areas of:

• archaeological prospection and survey
• excavation and post-excavation analysis
• relative and absolute dating
• the study of archaeological artefacts
• frameworks of social interpretation

In the spring semester, you will be taken into the field to gain practical experience of core archaeological methods in field survey and buildings archaeology.

This module is worth 20 credits.

"'Understanding the Past I' has probably been my favourite module so far. We were given a sheet of data and finds on the site and asked to map it out and give our interpretations of what it was and calibrate the dates. We started off with the bare minimum and you’ve just got to build up this database and I found it really interesting. Problem-solving – it was really fun." - Emily LeHegarat, first-year Archaeology

What were our ancestors like? What animals and plants did they eat and use? How did our ancestors shape and interact with their environment? What materials were their possessions made from and how were they made and used?

Human actions and choices are, and always have been, intimately tied to our wider environment and the ways in which we adapt and utilise the resources available to us. In this module students get the chance to explore scientific approaches to understanding fascinating topics about past societies. The module is taught across the whole year and is split between aspects of archaeological materials and environmental archaeology. You will gain first-hand experience of working with and interpreting archaeological assemblages. In the autumn semester we will focus on the environmental evidence for activities in the past. You will be introduced to the examination of plant remains, human skeletal remains and animal bones, while learning how they contribute to our understanding and interpretations of past economies, beliefs and living conditions. During the spring semester we will consider objects and technologies in the past, concentrating on ways of determining the production processes and how people may have interacted with their possessions. Amongst other materials, you will learn about glass, ceramics and metals. 

Small group tutorials during the autumn and spring semesters will include discussion, essay writing and seminar presentations based on topics from your first-year modules. The classes will develop your skills in problem-solving, communication and reasoning. 

Learn how to conduct basic spatial analysis by using a contemporary Geographic Information System (GIS).

You’ll cover:

• What is GIS?
• Applications of GIS
• Spatial data models
• Fundamental spatial analysis
• Cartographic principles behind GIS
• Presenting and sharing the results of GIS analysis

The module will be delivered through theory lectures and practical sessions, and you’ll be provided with associated textbook resources.

This module gives an overview of the archaeology of the British Isles, from the Roman invasion until the industrial revolution.

This was a period of dramatic change in Britain. Using key sites and discoveries, you will be introduced to the challenges of understanding the archaeology of periods partially documented in textual sources.

You will study:

• The Roman invasion and military and civilian life in the Roman province of Britannia
• Anglo-Saxon and Viking incursions and settlement
• Medieval castles, towns and monasteries
• The impact of the Reformation and the growth of the Tudor state
• The role of industry and urbanisation in the making of modern Britain

Teaching is delivered in a mix of lectures, seminars and a museum session. On average, this will be two hours per week across the spring semester.

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module deals with the archaeology of life and death in all its complexity and diversity. You will learn about the major archaeological discoveries that have fundamentally changed our interpretations of past peoples. We also look at the personalities and ideologies that have shaped our discipline, noting how changing perspectives on gender, ethnicity and class have in turn shaped our ideas about the past. The module then turns to the archaeology of death – since, paradoxically, this can tell us a huge amount about the living. The cultural and scientific study of human remains will give you insights into past diets, social status, health and attitudes towards different members of society, while the study of burial practices and rituals cast light on the structure of human societies and their beliefs, from prehistory to the modern era.

This module provides the basic statistical concepts and techniques required for the study of geography. Topics include:

• spreadsheets and statistical packages
• introduction to statistical concepts
• descriptive statistics and distributions
• exploratory data analysis
• parametric and non-parametric tests
• correlation and regression
• ANOVA

You will critically examine the complex relations between people and places through key concepts in human geography.

Themes include:

• cultural
• historical
• medical
• environmental
• economics
• development

The key themes may vary from year to year. This module provides a foundation for more specialised human geography modules at levels two and three.

This four-day residential field trip to the Lake District focuses on the rationale and techniques of field study in both human and physical geography. An emphasis is placed on the design, practice and analysis of research projects based on geographical issues.

Small-group teaching is central to this module. Students work in small groups and much of the teaching involves direct interaction between staff and students. 

This module prepares you for the other field trips and techniques modules that take place in years two and three. 

This module provides an understanding of the history and origins of the Earth and its life and landforms through consideration of the following topics:

• Development of life over geological time
• Environmental changes over geological time
• Field trip to the Peak District (full costs will be supplied nearer the time of the trip)

This module explores some of the key parts of the Earth’s dynamic physical environment. This typically includes issues connected with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceans and land surface. You’ll develop an understanding of global physical systems and how they affect people and the environment. You’ll consider topics such as:

• key processes such as hydrological cycles
• principles of Earth and geomorphological systems
• fluvial geomorphology and biogeomorphology
• biogeography and biodiversity

On Earth and Life explores the deep historical co-evolution of Earth and Life, and emphasises uniqueness of place and historical contingency. The module leads on from and complements Physical Landscapes of Britain in exploring geological, plate tectonic and palaeoenvironmental ideas and research, but at the global scale.

It emphasises the role of life in creating past and present planetary environments, and conversely the role of environment and environmental change in the evolution and geography of life. The module also serves to prepare the ground for and contextualise several second and third year geography modules, especially Environmental Change and Patterns of Life.

This module introduces you to geographical research on place, conveying current research in the field, including that carried out within the School of Geography. You will gain knowledge of key concepts and methodological approaches, with understanding developed through the examination of place-based case studies.

Lectures will outline developments in the geographical study of place in recent decades, and explore key themes such as place and memory, place and knowledge, and place and identity. The challenges and opportunities offered by the digital exploration of place will be outlined, using case studies of digital mapping and the public display of geographical information. Regional case studies will show how the research themes presented in the module can be brought together around the study of specific places and landscapes.

Throughout the module, staff will draw upon their own research as well as wider academic literature, giving students a sense of the possibilities of geographical research exploring place.

This module introduces you to contemporary and historical approaches to understanding economic globalisation and its spatial unevenness. You will develop knowledge relating to globalisation as a set of discourses and practices using case studies relating to key themes of relevance.

Lectures will outline the key debates relating to globalisation as a phenomenon and will interrogate the relevance of the concept through an examination of commodities, labour and work, governance and money and finance.

You will also explore the spatial unevenness of globalisation, and develop understanding of the ways in which globalisation has contributed to an increasingly unequal and differentiated society at a variety of scales. Alternatives to globalisation will also be discussed, focusing upon various counter-globalisation strategies in the forms of localism, activism and protest.

Throughout the module, staff will draw upon their own research as well as wider academic literature, giving you a sense of the complexity, and importance, of globalisation as a set of theories and a set of sited realities.

Archaeological knowledge is built through analysing material remains. We then use theory to create research questions, building interpretations of those remains. Together, these two elements act as evidence for societies in the past and present.

In this module, you will focus on the relationship between concepts, interpretive approaches and analytical frameworks in the design and implementation of archaeological research projects.

We introduce the development of archaeological theory and interpretation. Special attention is given to the paradigms put forward over the last 30 years, and the resulting debates.

Topics include:

• uniformitarianism
• ethnography
• typology
• ‘New Archaeology’
• processualism and post-processualism
• economic archaeology
• neo-Marxist paradigms

You will develop your knowledge further through in-depth studies of key issues and themes. You will also explore archaeological research in a wide range of different areas and projects.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module considers the mechanisms for, and evidence of, global environmental change during the timescale of the Quaternary period. You will evaluate the nature, causes and impacts of change in the context of the available evidence within a range of natural and human environments. Teaching includes lectures, seminars, practicals and computing. 

This module allows you to understand and experience human geography research methods through participation in three practical projects. The module covers methods for: arts and humanities research (such as archival research, visual and textual analysis); social science research (such as interviewing, questionnaires and discussion groups); and quantitative human geography research (such as mapping and visualisation).

This module explores aspects of medical geography, with special reference to the geography of infectious diseases. Topics include:

• the nature of medical geography and the geography of health
• the history of medical geography
• epidemiological concepts 
• the disease record 
• the epidemiological transition 
• spatial diffusion of infectious diseases 
• the geography of disease emergence and re-emergence 
• islands as epidemiological laboratories 
• geography of war and disease 
• disease forecasting and control

This module provides a consideration of the following:

• Introduction to GI science/systems/studies/services 
• Spatial data types and sources 
• Vector processing algorithms 
• Raster processing algorithms
• Spatial analysis and decision making 
• Professional training in ArcGIS 

This module will cover the following topics:

• Changing economic geographies of the world economy during the 20th and 21st centuries 
• Global cities, financial geographies and advanced producer services 
• Alternative economies and labour resistance 
• Economic geographies of the Global South
• Economic geographies of forced labour and migration
• Feminist economic geography

This module introduces you to cultural and historical geography, including the:

• development of cultural and historical geography as sub-disciplines
• key thematic areas of contemporary cultural and historical geography, including landscape, identity, culture, power and knowledge 
• theoretical underpinnings of cultural and historical geography 
• links between cultural and historical geography and other fields of enquiry in the humanities and social sciences 
• methods and sources used in cultural and historical geographical research, including archives, texts and images, and field study 
• work of key figures from the sub-disciplines past and present

This module introduces you to urban geography, including the:

• historical development of urban geography as a sub-discipline
• key thematic areas of contemporary urban geography, including research in the social, economic and cultural and historical geographies of cities
• theoretical underpinnings of approaches to urban geography
• importance of cities in understanding social difference, cultural landscapes and economic development in the Global North and South
• work of key figures from the sub-disciplines past and present

This module is taught by formal lectures, scheduled preliminary fieldwork, and supervision meetings with your dissertation tutor. It covers the following:

• Introduction to the dissertation process and procedures 
• What is a dissertation? 
• Ethics, risk and safety implications when conducting geographical research 
• Preparing a dissertation proposal 
• Writing and presenting a dissertation
• Evaluation of past dissertations

This module will introduce the structure and context of the professional archaeological sector in the UK, and issues and debates in cultural heritage. It will outline the process of working in archaeology and the type of work carried out by commercial units, museums, and local and national government heritage originations, with careers advice from professional archaeologists across the sector. Students will learn how archaeologists plan excavation projects, study the archaeology of standing buildings, and manage the historic environment. In the spring term, you will apply this knowledge and develop your research, presentation and team-working skills through a group multi-media heritage project focused on a local historic or archaeological site.

This module is designed to provide you with a solid understanding of the theory and practice of scientific archaeology, building on what you have learnt in the first year, and covers a series of exciting topics, ranging from bioarchaeology (zooarchaeology and archaeobotany) to ancient technologies. You will learn how to identify, analyse and interpret plant remains and animal bones, and how these can be employed to study diet, economic practices and cultural identities in the past. You will explore how glass, pottery and metal objects were made, used and traded, using a range of different approaches and techniques combining theory, ethnography and scientific analysis. The module includes a combination of lectures and practical sessions which will enhance your understanding and equip you with real skills to increase your employability should you seek a career in archaeology.

This module will examine the archaeology of empire, hegemony and identity in three different historical periods, exploring how archaeological material can shed light on ways in which empires were experienced by both colonisers and colonised. We will start with Rome, arguably the model for many later imperial projects, and assess the evidence for the expansion of the empire and the ways in which Roman and other identities are manifested. We will then consider the medieval empires of northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the relationship between the Islamic world and the Crusader kingdoms of the Latin east. Finally, we will consider the Age of Discovery and the growth of European trans-Atlantic empires in the early modern era, exploring archaeological evidence for early colonial settlements, the growth of slavery, and the impact on native peoples.

What can we learn from the human skeleton? How can we tell the stories of past people from their bones?

In this module, you will handle real archaeological skeletons and learn how to identify their age, sex, stature and pathologies, and how we can reconstruct past populations from burial evidence.

We also take a fieldtrip to one of Nottingham’s oldest and largest cemeteries, to see who is was buried there and the type of monuments they received.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module considers the archaeology of England from the end of the Roman occupation until the Norman conquest. You will explore the question of the Romano-British survival and the formation of new Anglo-Saxon societies, evidence of pagan beliefs and the conversion to Christianity; on the development of town and rural settlement patterns, on the role of the church in society and on the Viking incursions and Danish impact on England. 

This is a 10,000 word individual project based on a geographical topic involving fieldwork and/or secondary data, and agreed by the candidate with their tutor and a specialist supervisor.

This module will introduce you to original archaeological research. It provides you with an opportunity to undertake and write up your own substantial piece of work on an approved topic, under the supervision of an academic member of staff.

For this project, you will work in a way similar to an academic archaeologist, which includes:

• identifying a suitable research topic
• critically evaluating the issues relating to the subject area
• sustaining a coherent and cogent argument.

This undertaking will involve the culmination of the range of core practical and interpretative skills acquired during the first two years of the course.

The below are examples of recent archaeology dissertation topics:

• Skeletal trauma in the Danelaw
• Gender in Viking Age burials
• Archaeology of beauty and cosmetics in Ancient Egypt
• Chinese glass
• Faunal analysis: can we dismiss unstratified material?
• Execution cemeteries: an Anglo-Saxon and Norman comparison
• Analysis of crouch burials
• Georgian architecture and power
• Constructing identities in early medieval Europe through cemetery evidence
• How did medieval England’s punishment compare to punishment in France?

Classics dissertation topics:

• Kingship in the Iliad
• The Huns as ‘barbarians’: identity in Ammianus Marcellinus
• Portrayal of the elderly in Hellenistic sculpture
• Myths and monsters in early Greek art
• Ancient magic in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The changing presentation of imperial women from AD 284-330
• Huns, Picts, vandals and goths as ‘barbarians’
• Comparison of Athenian and Persian 5th Century BC art
• The impact of imagery of Alexander the Great on the Augustan period

An interdisciplinary module which introduces the principles of historical ecology and landscape history, drawing on a wide range of sources including historical maps and documents, field survey of vegetation and landscape features and oral history using Liguria as a case study. This includes a field trip to Liguria, full costs will be supplied nearer the time of the trip.

This module considers the quaternary evolution, environmental and settlement history of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, building explicitly on material covered in Environmental Change. The focus of the course will be evolution of the present climate and environment of the lowland tropics and the interaction between the natural environment and human societies.

The module is based on a 10 day residential field trip to the Yucatan and project work associated with this. Full costs of the field trip will be advised nearer the time of the visit. The main elements are:

• an overview of climate dynamics in the tropics, with particular emphasis on changes in the monsoon, the impact of sea level change and drivers of change from mid-latitudes
• critical review of methods of environmental reconstruction, dating techniques and sampling methods (waters, soils, sediments)
• archives of change relevant to the study area, primarily lakes and cave systems
• quaternary history of the Yucatan
• mesoamerican archaeology and cultural change in the Yucatan
• exploration of the possible role of climate in driving societal change

The module brings together cultural and political geography to examine the connections of politics, culture and landscape. The focus is on England, where landscape has long been central to questions of power and identity, whether at local, regional, national, international or imperial scales. Relations of power shape landscapes, and the identities of those who inhabit them and move through them. From the agricultural and industrial ‘revolutions’ and the empire of trade in the 18th century, down to the political and cultural upheavals of the 21st century, landscape has played a key role in shaping national identity, in England as elsewhere.

The module traces the history of landscape, culture and politics in England, and shows how legacies of the past shape debates today. From political disputes over the UK’s relationship to Europe, to anxieties over our relationship to land and environment, to the ways in which legacies of empire and slavery inform landscape and recast English identity, the module shows how cultural, historical and political geography helps to make sense of a transforming world.

This module explores the economic geographies of money and of contemporary processes of financialisation. Competing theories of money, and the changing landscapes of finance and the financial services industry are explored at a variety of spatial scales.

Spaces examined include the global financial system, the UK retail financial market, the City of London and the emergence of local currency systems. More specifically, the following core topics are covered:

• Financial crisis
• The history and theory of money
• Financial services and financial intermediation
• Globalisation and the international financial system
• The City of London as international financial centre
• Landscapes of retail financial services
• Alternative and imagined landscapes of money

The module covers the following:

• A review of modern climate systems and forcings
• Climate modelling, projections of future climate change and their uncertainty
• Controversies around climate change, the argument between believers and sceptics and the ways in which climate change is communicated to and perceived by the public 
• The impact of climate change on the world's physical and built environments, water and food resources, and human health
• Mitigation and adaptation to future climate change including the role played by policy markers and NGOs

This module will review the history of geography over the past three centuries to provide a deeper understanding of contemporary debates, and provide a cultural and historical analysis of the nature of geography as an academic subject and field of knowledge.

The first semester considers the emergence of geography as a self-consciously 'enlightened' 18th century science and reviews some of the factors that influenced its subsequent development, including cartography and mapping, exploration and field observation, evolutionary and early social scientific theories, the rise of civic education, national and imperial politics, radical and revolutionary ideas, and warfare and geopolitics.

The second semester focuses on the 20th century to consider connections between field cultures and geographical knowledge, the visual cultures of geography, links between geography and Cold War politics, and ideas of geography as spatial science. Attention is given throughout to the biographies of key figures exercising the geographical imagination.

The aim of this module is to provide you with a broad knowledge of the archaeological evidence for the development of cities and urban life in the later medieval period AD 1000-1500, with a focus on English towns and cities in their wider Europe context. The module will explore the integration of varied sources of archaeological evidence including urban landscapes, buildings and material culture, covering key themes such as urban growth, trade and industry, households and daily life, guilds and the Church. 

In this module you will examine the archaeological evidence for the Roman period in Italy and the Mediterranean from 300 BC to AD 550. The major social, cultural and economic changes of the region in this period will be discussed as well as in the context of wider historical and archaeological approaches to the Mediterranean. Through a combination of lectures and seminars you will learn about Rome’s expansion into Italy and the Mediterranean, and the changes that occurred in towns, domestic building, rural settlement, religion, economy and society across the period from the Republic until Late Antiquity.

This module introduces the archaeology of the Mycenaean world. It will familiarise you with the achievements and material culture of one of the greatest European Bronze Age civilizations of the second millennium BC. This will be through discussing the historical, social, cultural and economic context of the period.

You will explore:

• The world of the Mycenaean palaces and citadels, their towns and trading ports
• Warfare
• Religion and cult activities
• Mortuary practices and ancestor worship

We also consider their wider connections across the Mediterranean world.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Archaeology may be focused on the study of the past, but we believe that it is vitally important to help us understand the present and make a contribution to the future. This really exciting module breaks new ground by using archaeology to inform present-day concerns caused by increasing human population, intensification of food production, urbanisation, globalisation, climate change and inter-cultural conflict. None of these issues are purely modern phenomena, and this module brings an archaeological perspective covering 10,000 years of global culture change, using the innovative research being undertaken in our Department, to model bio-cultural dynamics and make a contribution to understanding and meeting the challenges facing the modern world.

Food is not just about nutrition and environment but it has also a strong socio-cultural dimension. This module takes an innovative approach to understanding the social role of food and plants, linking the past to current issues of food security, sustainability, trade and social in/stability. The module tackles issues such as the development of tastes, identity, social status, ethnicity, health and medicine, and feasting and commensality. It will explore the creation of ‘foodscapes’ and the investigation of diet and plants that cross boundaries in space and time from prehistory to the modern era, bringing together perspectives from archaeology, anthropology, sociology and geography.

Ancient glass is a unique and beautiful translucent material. Since it was invented some 5000 years ago, it has been used for everything from luxurious and decorative objects, to vessels and containers for traded liquids, to coloured windows used in medieval churches and cathedrals.

On this module, you will explore how glass:

• is made from raw materials
• was coloured and decorated
• was used in a variety of functional and ritual contexts, from the Bronze Age to the medieval period

We bring together socio-cultural and scientific perspectives, to show how scientific analysis sheds light on glass technology, trade and provenance. During practical sessions, you will handle ancient glass and try out some of the techniques for yourself.

This module is worth 20 credits.