Undergraduate Course: Here comes the war: conflict archaeology and the human past (ARCA10083)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Conflict archaeology is an emerging field of study that is attracting interest from scholars and the general public alike. This course provides a platform for studying conflict in a wide chronological and interdisciplinary framework, ranging from prehistory to the post World War period, and from the study of skeletal remains to the consideration of documentary sources and landscapes of conflict. |
| Course description |
The chronological framework of this course spans all of the human past, from early prehistory up to the post-World War period.
Through a mixture of lectures, in-class discussions, fieldtrips and poster presentations, it investigates the materiality and meanings of violence and considers the latest research and practices within the discipline. The course will be delivered by leading figures in the field, including researchers working in academic as well as commercial environments.
Provisional Syllabus:
1. Introduction: Why violence and conflict?
2. The anthropology of conflict and violence: Why we fight
3. Violence before war: Interpersonal violence in the tribal societies of Neolithic Europe
4. Violence and sacrifice in the Iron Age
5. Imperial violence: The archaeology of the Roman conquest
6. Field Trip - Edinburgh Castle
7. Invasions: Viking age violence
8. The materiality of conflict: Experimental approaches to Bronze Age weapons
9. The age of patriotism: Scottish conflict archaeology
10. Fields of conflict: Battlefield archaeology in Europe
11. Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
12. Class presentations
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Archaeology courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of analytical methods in conflict archaeology
- Demonstrate critical understanding of the issues surrounding the investigation, interpretation and display of conflict in the past
- Demonstrate the ability to assess conflict-related evidence and data and integrate it into wider archaeological analysis
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Reading List
Fibiger, L., Ahlström, T., Bennike, P. & Schulting, R. 2013. Patterns of violence-related skull trauma in Neolithic Southern Scandinavia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 150(2), 190-202.
Fiorato, V., Boylston, A. & Knusel, C. (eds.) Blood red roses. The archaeology of a mass grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461. Oxford: Oxbow.
González-Ruibal, A., Moshenska, G. (Eds.), (2014). Ethics and the Archaeology of Violence. Springer.
Guilaine, J. and J. Zammit (2004): The Origins of War: Violence in Prehistory. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
Keeley, L. H. 1996. War before civilization: The myth of the peaceful savage. New York, Oxford University Press.
Maschner HDG, Reedy-Maschner KL. 1998. Raid, retreat, defend (repeat): The archaeology and ethnohistory of warfare on the North Pacific Rim. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17:19-51.
Morris, I. (2014): War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Otterbein K. F. 2004. How war began. College Station, Texas A&M University Press.
Pollard, T. (2014) Fields of Fire: The Archaeology of Jacobite Battlefields. Pen and Sword: Barnsley, UK. Pollard, T., ed. (2009) Culloden: The History and Archaeology of the Last Clan Battle. Pen and Sword Military: Barnsley.
Roymans, N. and Fernandez-Gotz, M. (2015): Caesar in Gaul: New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Mass Violence. In T. Brindle, M. Allen, E. Durham and A. Smith (eds.), TRAC 2014: Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Reading 2014. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 70-80.
Saunders, N. (2012): Beyond the Dead Horizon: Studies in Modern Conflict Archaeology. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Sutherland, T.L. & Holst, M.R. (2005). Battlefield Archaeology -The Archaeology of Ancient and Historical Conflict.
Guidelines for the British Archaeological Job Resource (BAJR) (http://www.bajr.org/documents/bajrbattleguide.pdf)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- gather and critically assess relevant information
- present their ideas and analyses in a coherent fashion to diverse audiences and in a number of different formats.
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| Keywords | Conflict Archaeology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Manuel Fernandez-Gotz
Tel: (0131 6)51 5223
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Clare Guymer
Tel: (0131 6)50 4030
Email: |
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