Unit information: Material Remains of the Past in 2019/20

Unit name	Material Remains of the Past
Unit code	CLAS20059
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Momigliano
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit introduces students to a wide variety of sources available to ancient historians: these sources include archaeological evidence broadly speaking, i.e. material evidence of various cultural practices: from sculpture to potsherds, from buildings to weapons, and from pollen to bones; they also include more specialized evidence related to epigraphy (inscriptions on various media), numismatics (coins), and papyrology (texts written on papyri). Students will also be introduced to the disciplines and sub-disciplines that study material remains, as well as relevant methodological and interpretative issues. They will also explore the contribution of the study of material remains to specific historical questions.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will:

1. demonstrate familiarity with a wide range of evidence provided by the material remains of antiquity, such as those provided by archaeology, epigraphy, numismatic, and papyrology;
2. evaluate some of the ways in which scholars make use of such evidence in studying particular problems in ancient history, and in producing interpretations of pieces of evidence;
3. use the knowledge acquired in lectures and through their own research to construct coherent, relevant and persuasive arguments based on the use of material evidence;
4. demonstrate developed skills in oral and written communication, at a standard appropriate to level I.

Teaching Information

lectures + break-out seminars

Assessment Information

1. Group presentation analysing a material object, with accompanying handout (5 minutes per student). 30% [assessing ILOs 2, 3, & 4]

2. Essay. 3,000 words. 70% [assessing all ILOs]

Reading and References

C. Brunn and J. Edmondson, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015)

M. Crawford ed., Sources for Ancient History (1983)

J. M. Hall, Artifact & Artifice: Classical Archaeology and the Ancient Historian, (2014)

C. Howgego, Ancient History from Coins (1995)