Unit information: European Iron Age in 2010/11

Unit name	European Iron Age
Unit code	ARCH25013
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Heyd
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will focus on the Iron Age in Continental Europe and Britain (c.1100 BCE - 1 AD). It will introduce and make acquainted students to the archaeology and early history of different Iron Age societies, with special reference to the Celts. Research of the last 40 years and recent fieldwork has altered our views and conception of many topics, such as the emergence of iron technology; Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians of the steppes and their imapact on farming Europe; the Late Hallstatt princely cultures and their engagement with Mediterranean Greeks, Etruscans, and Phoenicians; the Celtic art; the expansion of the Celts and the Celtic migration in to the Mediterranean; the subsequent Oppida civilisation; and finally Germanic pressure and Roman conquest. The course will catch up on all these developments and discuss and analyse them methodologically and at the front of latest research.

Aims:

To give students an wider overview of the European and British Iron Age, c. 1100 BCE  1 AD, and of the archaeology of the Celts ; to explore in a methodical way our key sources, the many graves, hoards and settlements, as well as the social, economic and ritual organisation behind them ; to familiarize students with chronologies, distributions, theories, hypotheses and models relevant for the wider Iron Age; to encourage students to widen their understanding and awareness of the relevant archaeological sources and their interpretations.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful completion of this unit will allow students to gain:

• a wider knowledge of a number of Iron Age sites in Continental Europe and Britain;

• a more detailed view inside relations of the Celtic world with steppe populations, Mediterranean civilisations, as well as Germanic tribes and the Romans;

• a comprehensive and in-depth view on theoretical questions concerning issues such as social hierarchization and formation of elites; burial customs and hoarding practices; acculturation and transmission of innovations and ideas; mobility and migration; and development of territories and formation of tribes in their practical application to Iron Age Europe and Britain.

Teaching Information

A mixture of lectures by the unit director, student led seminars, discussion and revision classes and individual tutorials.

Assessment Information

All the assessment is summative:

One oral presentation: 25% One in-class test: 25% One essay (2500-2750 words) 50%

Reading and References

• B. Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts (London: Penguin, 1999) & The Celts: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: University Press, 2003)  D70 CUN

• B. Cunliffe, Iron Age Communities in Britain: an account of England, Scotland and Wales from the Seventh Century BC until the Roman Conquest (London: Routledge, 2005).  GN780.22.G7 CUN

• M. Diepeveen-Jansen, People, Ideas and Goods: New Perspectives on 'Celtic Barbarians' in Western and Central Europe (500-250 BC) Amsterdam Archaeological Studies 7 (Amsterdam: University Press, 2001)  Oversize D70 DIE

• O. Dickinson, The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age: Continuity and Change between the twelfth and eighth Centuries BC (London: Routledge, 2006).  PADF220 DIC

• K. Kristiansen, Europe before History (Cambridge: University Press, 1998)  GN778.21.A1 KRI

• R. Osborne & B. Cunliffe (eds.), Mediterranean Urbanization 800-600 BC. Proceedings of the British Academy 126 (Oxford: University Press, 2005).  PADE86 MED