Artefacts, objects and remains: Making sense of archaeological sites

Archaeologists understand archaeological sites by the artefacts they contain. The unit examines how archaeologists analyse collections of different kinds of artefacts excavated or collected from archaeological sites, and how histories of the past can be written from these finds. Such objects can include the spectacular, such as status objects and religious icons; and more mundane objects such as ancient food remains, stone artefacts and domestic pottery such as cooking wares. You will work with real archaeological artefact assemblages and be shown how these can be made sense of as evidence of past cultural practices. They will compare archaeological artefacts with reference materials and systematically apply established methods of analysis developed internationally. These methods, and their implications for understanding the past, will be discussed through case studies drawn from current archaeological projects in the Australia-Pacific region. You will be expected to attend a weekly 2 hour seminar that includes hands-on discussions of archaeological materials. A film of an archaeological excavation will be shown in one of those seminars, after which you will discuss how artefacts have enabled the archaeologists to work out that site's history.