Archaeology: the science of investigation.

A Science Short Course

What's in the course?

SA188 Archaeology: the science of investigationArchaeology is about reconstructing the physical past to gain an understanding of how different civilisations and cultures have developed over time. In this course, you'll develop an appreciation of the processes involved in the discovery, investigation and interpretation of different artefacts and archaeological sites, and learn about a range of scientific techniques commonly used in the field and laboratory. This will be achieved by investivating different case-studies within four main topics:

• Reading the archaeological landscape
• From bog bodies, skeletons and mummies, to forensic archaeology
• Making sense of materials
• Our archaeological heritage: protecting finds for the future.

The Hungate excavation team has created a series of specially-designed introductory training films for the course. The films show the work of the archaeologists, as well as an introduction to surveying and excavation techniques, and show finds being excavated and recorded by the archaeologists.

You can view films from previous OU courses on Youtube Education. Click here