Archaeology of Seafaring

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Critically analyse complex issues.
• Present research to a range of different audiences, using a range of different output methods.
• Evaluate and synthesise complex bodies of data.
• Undertake research on a specific theme, both pre-defined, and personally defined.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the variety of ways in which we can investigate this form of activity in the past.
• the key theories and sites relating to ancient seafaring
• the different types of evidence that contribute to an interpretation of the patterns of maritime exchange, the form and development of water transport, and the capabilities of the vessels and seafarers from a particular period and region
• the different modes and motivations for people’s engagement with water in the past

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Identify classes of material culture associated with seafaring.
• Synthesise and offer critical analysis of the results of current research in written and oral form
• Apply theoretical models to specific aspects of maritime trade and technological exchange
• Evaluate the arguments of others based on the evidence being cited.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Develop arguments addressing past understandings of space through analysing archaeological evidence
• Describe archaeological assemblages associated with different forms of economic and seafaring activity
• Make connections between sequences, patterns and underlying historical processes
• Integrate the analysis of different kinds of archaeological and historical data

• Introduction to studying seafaring and what we understand the concept of seafaring to be.
• The source material used for studying the archaeology of seafaring including direct archaeological material, as well as other complimentary sources.
• Seafaring and the Maritime Environment to understand the effect that the wind, waves and tide have on seafaring, in addition to longer term environmental changes, such as rising sea-levels.
• The Origins of Seafaring from the earliest periods using case studies drawn from Oceania and the Pacific, as well as the Mediterranean and the Americas.
• Prehistoric seafaring in North-West Europe with an emphasis on the spread of people and technology.
• Seafaring in the Mediterranean spanning Ancient Egypt, the Greco-Roman period and late-antiquity.
• Early Medieval seafaring in North-West Europe with a specific focus on Viking-Age developments, including the evidence from experimental archaeological research.
• Late Medieval and Early Modern seafaring and in particular using the archaeological and historical record to understand how ships changed into symbols of national prestige and power.
• Globalised Seafaring in the 19th century.
• The Indian Ocean as a case study of a single broad geographical location through which we can explore continuity and change in seafaring practice over time.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Lectures
• Student-led discussion in groups

Learning activities include:

• Lecture and class-based activities
• Additional reading supported by reading lists
• Some informal self-learning through Web-based resources
• Student-led work with option for presentations

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Helen Farr (2006). Seafaring as Social Action. Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 1(1), pp. 85-99.

Duncan Garrow, Fraser Sturt (2011). Grey waters bright with Neolithic Argonauts? Maritime connections and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition within the ‘western seaways’ of Britain c. 5000-3500 BC. Antiquity, 85(327), pp. 59-72.

Cemal Pulak (1998). The Uluburun shipwreck: an overview. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 27, pp. 188-224.

Textbooks

Ole Crumlin-Pedersen (2010). Archaeology and the Sea in Scandinavia and Britain. Roskilde: Viking Ship Museum.

David Strachen (2010). Carpow in Context. A late Bronze Age Logboat from the Tay. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries for Scotland.

Lionel Casson (1971). Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. OR.

Jon Adams (2013). A Maritime Archaeology of Ships: Innovation and Social Change in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxbow.

John Mack (2011). The Sea: A Cultural History. London: Reaktion Books.

Assessment strategy

Assessment will be 100% by coursework and will comprise two separate components. The first is a more traditional pieces of written work to test your research and analysis skills, whilst the second assessment allows you to choose how you would like to share your learning.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External