University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2016/17 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Arts > Department of Anthropology and Archaeology > Archaeology and Anthropology (BA) > Specification
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Programme code | 1ARCH001U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Mhairi Gibson
|
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups |
Anthropology (2019) (benchmark statement)
Archaeology (2014) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 3 years (full time) |
This programme aims to provide students with a theoretical and empirical understanding of issues and debates in the three interrelated fields of archaeology, biological anthropology and social anthropology. The degree allows for an increasing degree of specialisation in one or more of these fields, after a basic grounding in all three. A characteristic of the degree scheme will be its combination of theoretical and empirical work. All students will carry out a piece of fieldwork (in Year Two of a full time degree), as well as a 30 credit dissertation (Year Three, for full time students), which will normally involve an original project in one of the three fields, or combining two or more of the fields. The principal aim of the programme is to equip students to understand and interpret human (and primate) social and cultural behaviour, past and present, as studied by archaeologists, social anthropologists, and biological anthropologists, and to learn the practical skills associated with these fields at a level appropriate to undergraduate study. The programme will therefore develop students' interest in and knowledge and understanding of human social behaviour, cultural heritage and biological origins, and help them to appreciate the interconnections between the three approaches to the study of human beings, with a combination of theoretical approaches, practical experience and methodological training.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through seminars, tutorials, fieldwork and directed reading. Independent learning is achieved through written coursework, practical exercises and the dissertation. |
Methods of Assessment | |
The breadth and depth of the student's knowledge base is tested through a variety of formative and summative methods of assessment. These include written coursework , seminar presentations, seen and unseen examinations, a field project and a dissertation. It is anticipated that most dissertations will be based on a small-scale piece of ethnographic, biological or archaeological, research, utilising one approach and methodology or attempting a synthesis of two or more approaches. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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These intellectual skills and attributes are developed through the students' reading, oral presentations, methodology classes, fieldwork in groups and individually undertaken, tutorials and seminars, lectures, written assignments, including essays and dissertations, and through preparation for examinations |
Methods of Assessment | |
Formative assessment takes place in tutorials, seminars, and practical classes and field trips. Summative assessment is through essays, practical exercises, examinations and the dissertation. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Seminars and tutorials are used to develop oral communication by requiring students to engage in class discussions and to make oral presentations. Analytical skills and written communication are developed through written assignments, assessed coursework, examinations and the dissertation. The dissertation in particular develops skills of planning and project management. Practical work will give students the knowledge and skills to undertake further work or research in archaeological excavation, the analysis and cataloguing of finds, an understanding of heritage management, scientific skills associated with biological anthropology and the ability to carry out ethnographic work and analyse the results. The extent to which these skills are developed will depend on the pathway chosen through the degree. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Through the essays and examinations the skills of written communication, presentation and problem solving and analysis will be assessed. Project management is assessed in particular through the dissertation. Oral skills and team working are assessed both formatively and summatively through seminar presentations. Practical skills are developed through the field study, and through method courses in each field. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
The structure of the degree programme has been designed to engage the student in a cumulative process of developing skills and knowledge through a sequence of complementary stages. At Level C, students gain a knowledge of the three fields of study (archaeology, biological and social anthropology), their methods, theories and areas of interest. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
Level I offers a more advanced grounding in each of the three fields, and adds a mandatory field study. This will combine archaeological and ethnographic methods, and will give students an opportunity to begin to put their theoretical knowledge to the test and to design and carry out, as well as present, empirical data. It will also provide an opportunity to raise ethical considerations in carrying out research with human populations. There will be the opportunity for students to begin to specialise on one or more of the three fields if they wish to do so. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
At Level H, students are expected to tackle more advanced work in all three fields. Those who wish to do so can specialise in one or more of the three fields, and gain an advanced level of knowledge and expertise in their chosen field. Alternatively, students can continue to combine their studies so as to give an advanced but more general view of archaeology, biological anthropology and social anthropology. The dissertation acts as the culmination of the student's progress through the degree programme, as s/he applies the appropriate technical, methodological and intellectual skills that have been developed to a piece of research devised in consultation with and supervised by one or more staff advisors. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Workload Statement
In common with the rest of the University, units in the Faculty of Arts
adhere to the credit framework which sets out that 20 credits normally
equates to some 200 hours of student input. Some of this time will be spent
in class, with the remainder divided between preparation for classes and
preparation for, and completion of, the assessment tasks. Some of this
activity may occur within the University’s online learning environment,
Blackboard, which you may use to prepare wikis, to interact with other
students, to download tutorials or to receive feedback.
Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/current/under/assessment.html
The BA is a three year programme. A characteristic of this degree scheme is the fieldwork component. All students take part in an ethnographic and archaeological field school during their second year of study. The degree combines practical work and skills training, methodological training and theoretical work in three interrelated fields of study, i.e. archaeology, biological anthropology and social/cultural anthropology. Students will all be required to take some units in each component at each level, but will have the opportunity to opt for different pathways through the degree, allowing for a considerable degree of specialisation in one or two of the three areas. The dissertation is a piece of academic work with a minimum of 7,000 and not exceeding 9,000 words of text, including footnotes but excluding appendices and the bibliography. It provides students with the opportunity to write at length and in some detail on a topic essentially of their own choice; the subject may be in one of the three fields covered, or combine methods and materials from two or more fields.
For more on the staff involved, please see: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/school-of-arts/people/group/dept/2243e
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Evolution in Action | ARCH10014 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Discovering the Past | ARCH10015 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Archaeological Practice | ARCH10016 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Material Culture (C) | ARCH10013 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Peoples, Culture and Language | ARCH10017 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Select 20 credits from: | |||||
Well-being and Society | ARCH10008 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Comparative World Archaeology | ARCH10003 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Living Religions | ARCH10010 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Choose open units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Anthropological Methods | ARCH20048 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Social Theories | ARCH20057 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Post-Excavation Analysis | ARCH20059 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Select 60 credits from: | |||||
Gender, sexuality and the body | ARCH20053 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Early Human Origins | ARCH20005 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Mediterranean Past | ARCH20055 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Britain BC | ARCH20060 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Africa | ARCH20051 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Anthropology of Islam | ARCH20046 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Independent Study | ARCH20062 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Anthropology of Landscapes | ARCH20063 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Choose open units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Dissertation | ARCH35022 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Working in Cultural Heritage | ARCH30033 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Select 60 credits from: | |||||
Introduction to Forensic Anthropology | ARCH30039 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Anthropology of Childhood and Youth | ARCH30025 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Stimulating Anthropology: Drugs and Society | ARCH30040 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Unlocking Ancient Diet | ARCH30043 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Anthropology and Conservation | ARCH35005 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Independent Study | ARCH20062 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Castle and Church | ARCH30037 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Sociolinguistic Anthropology: Language, Culture, and Society | MODL30016 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Human Challenges | ARCH30034 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Ceramics in context | ARCH30044 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Anthropology of Childhood, Learning and Becoming | ARCH30041 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Choose open units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Archaeology and Anthropology (BA) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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