Island Worlds: prehistoric societies in the western Mediterranean from Malta to Minorca (U04023)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : HCA-3-U04023

The course investigates connections and disconnections between island cultures and larger continental landmasses in the western Mediterranean in selected prehistoric periods (ranging from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age). With particular reference to Malta, Sicily, the Aeolian archipelago, Pantelleria, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics, it surveys the earliest human colonisation of Mediterranean islands, and proceeds with case studies that focus primarily on certain periods of conspicuous cultural development or florescence: e.g. the temple period on Malta, the Nuraghic and Talayotic phases in Sardinia and the Balearics, the Late Bronze Age in Sicily. A range of evidence is considered, primarily from archaeological sites, including monumental architecture, while considering explanations for cultural change in the light of theoretical propositions and debates about island worlds as specific and potentially divergent entities, or laboratories, variously stimulated by isolation or contact.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Archaeology 2A and 2B, or Honours entry to degrees in Classics, or equivalent

? Costs : None.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Archaeology, (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
15/01/2009	11:10	13:00	Room 1.F01, Old High School	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	13:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : N.B. timetable is arranged annually. The above time is for session 2008/9

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the course successfully will be able by the end of the course to demonstrate in written examination and course work as well as in class discussion:
? knowledge and understanding of island archaeology in the prehistoric periods and of relevant theoretical debates surrounding questions of the first colonisation of islands and processes of cultural evolution in island or isolated societies
? the ability to utilize and evaluate critically a range of different categories of archaeological, environmental and visual evidence
? an understanding of the geographical characteristics of the region

Transferable Skills:
Students will also demonstrate that they can:
? gather material independently on a given topic and organise it into a coherent data set;
? compare differing sets of data from varying situations and draw conclusions from them;
? evaluate different approaches to and explanations of material, and make critical choices between them;
? express clearly ideas and arguments, both orally and in writing;
? organise complex and lengthy sets of arguments and draw these together into a coherent conclusion;
? organise their own learning, manage their workload and work to a timetable.