Introduction to Landscape Archaeology
Course code: L_BABAARC110
Period of time: Period 2+3
Credits: 6.0
Main language: Dutch
Faculty: Faculty of Humanities
Coordinator: dr. S.J. Kluiving
Examiner: dr. S.J. Kluiving
Goal course
The aim of the course is an introduction to landscape archaeology: you understand the distinction between natural and cultural landscape archaeology, and can see how they complement each other. At the end of the course you will be able to understand and reproduce the basic concepts of the processes involved in the formation of the land. In addition, at the end of the course you should understand the importance of all processes and the formation of the land over time in relation to the location of archaeological sites. At the end of the course you will know the characteristics of the formation of the land over time for each geological factor and/or process.
Content of the course
What is Landscape Archaeology? (WIL?): Spatial scale: landscape scale; Landscapes as object of study; The time dimension: the (very) long term; Methods and techniques (the survey; Remote Sensing, GIS); Interdisciplinarity Land Formation (VVHL): Introduction, geological timescale, plate tectonics, vegetation and climate; Land ice (landforms from the penultimate ice age: Saalian); Rivers (filling the delta in the Pleistocene and Holocene); Wind (landforms from the last ice age: Weichselien, incl. periglacial processes); Sea (Pleistocene and Holocene, sea level rise and coastal landforms); Peat formation (Holocene, peat covers the land); Man as a geological factor (Holocene: man intervenes).
Educational form
Lectures and exercises with paleogeographic maps during every lecture and beyond.
Presentations students.
Assessment
Written exam at the end of the course, atlas exercises during the course, and presentations at the end of the course.
Literature
(mandatory) Berendsen, H.J.A. 2011. De vorming van het land – Inleiding in de geologie en geomorfologie. 6e geheel herziene druk. Van Gorcum, Assen.
(mandatory) Bazelmans, J. Meulen, M. van der, Vos, P. & Weerts, H. 2011. Atlas van Nederland in het Holoceen. Uitgeverij Prometheus/ Bert Bakker
(mandatory) Renfrew, C & Bahn, P. 2012 Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice, Thames & Hudson; 6th edition (April 2012)
(choice) De Mulder, E.F.J., Geluk, M.C., Ritsema, I., Westerhoff, W.E. & Wong, T.E., 2003. De Ondergrond van Nederland.
Target audience
1st year students Archeology (compulsory), 1st year students Antiquity (optional).