Field and Laboratory Archaeology

Code:

ARQU057

Acronym:

ARQCL

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Archaeology

Instance: 2024/2025 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Heritage Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
ARQU	47	ARQU - Study Plan	1	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students
Obs.: Português

Objectives

General.
Teach the student the excavation methods advocated by the protocols of field archaeology.
Specific.
The student should know :a) how to critically discuss an excavation report within the framework of multidisciplinary knowledge applied in intrusive archaeology; b) how to carry out an excavation report; c) how to do the first treatment of the different "materials" in the laboratory; d) how to organize the materials collected in the field, particularly artefacts and samples.

Learning outcomes and competences

The student will be able to participate in archaeological excavation work/programmes, as a licensed technician, directed by a professional (archaeologist). He/she will be able to collaborate in the preparation of an excavation report.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

not applicable

Program

 
1. Basic notions about the process(es) of formation and conservation of the materialities.

2. Excavation: why and for what?
a)The purposes and the social/cultural function of Archaeology, with emphasis on intrusive archaeology.
b) The laws of cultural heritage, with emphasis on those that govern the archaeological activity and also on the registration (conservation by record), the types of conservation and heritage classification of archaeological sites.

3. Framework of the excavation in the context of the History of Archaeology, with emphasis on its main paradigms.

4. Different methodologies of excavation, recording and sampling.
4.1 Preparatory procedures for the excavation.
4.2 Procedures of excavation and recording of structures and stratigraphy
4.3. Most common relative and absolute dating methods used in archaeology and discussion of the question: how to date a particular site?
4.4. processes and strategies for collecting artefacts, micro and macrorest samples and laboratorial treatment

5. Organization and systematization of all documentation collected in an excavation site in order to create the "history" of the site in its spatial and chronological-cultural context — the Excavation Report and the Publication of results.

6.Monitoring, supervision and evaluation, in class, of each student's critical report.

Mandatory literature

Carandini, A.; Historias en la Tierra. Masnual de excavación arqueológica, Critica, 1997. ISBN: 84-7423-764-5
Lucas, G.M.; Critical Approaches to Fieldwork.Historical and Contemporary Archaeological Practice, Routledge, 2001
Bicho Nuno Ferreira 1965-; Manual de arqueologia pré-histórica. ISBN: 978-972-44-1345-7
Colin Renfrew; Archaeology. ISBN: 0-500-28147-5

Comments from the literature

Other documents (texts, papers, books, etc.), will be placed in the documents of this UC (Moodle) or timely indicated in class, especially those which refer to the list of works for the critique of an excavation monograph.

Teaching methods and learning activities

The lessons will be of expositive nature but the debate is also raised. 

keywords

Humanities > History
Humanities
Humanities > History > Archaeology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	75,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	25,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	87,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Trabalho escrito	33,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	1,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

The frequency is achieved with the student's presence in 75% of classes

Calculation formula of final grade

The assessment is distributed without a final exam. It consists of the presentation and discussion of the student's case-study (worth 25%), and a written test — the critical analysis of an excavation monograph (75%) — which must cover all the subjects taught, and may include compulsory questions, previously distributed (according to the specificity of each project).
The two assessments are joint and complementary and the student cannot have a negative assessment in any of them. The project must be submitted through Moodle (submissions by email are not accepted), on a date set by the teacher and that will never go beyond the end of the first week of the examination period of the normal period.Thus, even if the written work submission on Moodle takes place during the exam period, the assessment will continue to be continuous, without a final exam.

Examinations or Special Assignments

not applicable

Internship work/project

not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

 Submission of a Written work, that worth 75% (15 val), being added to this the evaluation, already obtained, from  the oral presentation, in classropom (25%; 2,5 val).The two assessments are joint and complementary and the student cannot have a negative assessment in any of them. 

Classification improvement

 Submission of a Written work, that worth 75% (15 val), being added to this the evaluation, already obtained, from the oral presentation(25%; 5 val).The student must have completed the continuous assessment and have obtained a positive evaluation (equal to or greater than 2.5 val.)