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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: Handling Greek Pottery (PGHC11531)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course offers a holistic exploration of Greek pottery (produced during the 7th and 4th centuries BCE) using case-studies from Corinth, Athens, Sparta and Asia Minor. How can pottery be handled as a source for interpretation of the past? How do we integrate shape and type identification, archaeometric techniques and contextual information into narrative histories of the Greek past? The course aims to develop both theoretical and hands-on skills of pottery analysis.
Course description The archaeological interpretation of ancient ceramics no longer relies only on their contextual, typological or artistic classification. More detailed information on the manufacturing process, the origin and composition of raw materials, craftsmanship and technological skills or the standardization of ancient ceramics can be obtained today with the aid of a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. This course will familiarise students with the corpus of Greek pottery from different regions (e.g. Corinth, Athens, Magna Graecia and Asia Minor) produced during the 7th to 4th centuries BCE as case-studies to develop a fuller understanding of the potential of pottery to inform us about the ancient world. Students will gain an insight into "handling" Greek pottery from current theoretical, methodological, and hands-on perspectives, including via practical classes and relevant field-trips.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Handling Greek Pottery (CACA10041)
Other requirements None
Additional Costs Bus fares (Fieldtrips to Museum and/or pottery Workshop)
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge related to 'Greek Pottery' (e.g. case-studies ranging from the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic periods).
  2. Analyse and critically reflect upon relevant scholarship and primary source material, and conceptual discussions of Greek pottery through material culture.
  3. Understand and apply specialised research on different types of source materials (images, monuments, artefacts).
  4. Develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course.
  5. Demonstrate originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy.
Reading List
- Cook, R. (2002). Greek painted pottery (3rd ed.), London
- Cook, R., P. Dupont (2003). East Greek pottery, London
- Hasaki, E. (2021). Potters at work in ancient Corinth. Industry, Religion, and the Penteskouphia Pinakes, Hesperia Suppl. 51.
- Hunt, A.M.W. (ed.) (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis. Oxford handbooks, Oxford
- Oakley, J.H. (ed.) (2014). Athenian Potters and Painters Vol. 3, Oxford
- Rice, P. (2015). Pottery Analysis: a Sourcebook (2nd ed.)
- Rathje, A., M. Nielsen and B. B. Rasmussen (eds.) (2002). Pots for the Living, Pots for the Dead, Copenhagen
- Rouet, P. (2001). Approaches to the study of Attic vases: Beazley and Pottier, Oxford
- Tite, M.S. (1999). Pottery Production, Distribution, and Consumption: The Contribution of the Physical Sciences, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 6, No. 3, 181-233
- Tsingarida, A. and D. Viviers (2013). Pottery Markets in the Ancient Greek World (8th - 1st centuries B.C.). Proceedings of the International Symposium held at the Université libre de Bruxelles 19-21 June 2008, Bruxelles
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills After successful completion of this course, students will have gained in-depth knowledge of key contexts and objects related to Greek pottery and the ability to critically evaluate theories and methods used by modern scholarship when analysing archaeological evidence. They will have developed a greater understanding for the diversity of evidence from ancient Greece against the background of Greek social, economic and political history.

Skills such as the analysis and interpretation of archaeological objects and contexts, and the effective use of primary and secondary literature will be developed by means of seminar presentations, group discussions, and guided reading. Students will develop skills to effectively evaluate modern scholarship in oral and written form.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Anja Slawisch
Tel: (0131 6)50 6693
Email:
Course secretaryMiss Martina Benkova
Tel: (0131 6)50 3533
Email:
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