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Cranfield University: Archaeomaterials

Institution Cranfield University View institution profile
Department Cranfield Forensics Institute
Web https://www.cranfield.ac.uk
Study type Taught

Summary

In this MSc course, you will learn how archaeological science provides fundamental insights into the ways humans have transformed natural materials, from the Palaeolithic to the Industrial Revolution.

Archaeomaterials is fundamentally concerned with humanity’s engagement with the material world. The study of archaeological remains through the lens of geology, chemistry, and materials science not only illuminates the early development of technologies that are fundamental to the modern world, it also helps us understand how people thought, how their societies were organised, and how they interacted. The techniques of materials analysis are also vitally important in many cases of forensic importance, especially those involving the illicit antiquities trade and the other heritage crimes.

This course is intended to give you a firm grounding in the principles and practice of archaeomaterials research. We cover both the natural science fundamentals necessary for analysing archaeological objects, as well as the research landscape around key archaeological themes relevant to these investigations. Key themes include innovation, technology, exchange, craft production, consumption patterns and interaction.

You will develop hands-on experience with the wide range of approaches scientists use to study the past, from, from the laboratory analysis of artefacts to the experimental recreation of traditional technologies.

Who is it for? The course provides you with wide-ranging exposure to laboratory techniques, analytical approaches, and research topics in archaeomaterials. The course emphasises active, hands-on learning, aiming to produce archaeological scientists with a strong background in both the fundamental science and its application to archaeological questions.

We welcome students interested in archaeological science from a wide range of backgrounds, with first degrees in the social and natural sciences.

Why this course? After completing this MSc course will be able to:

  • Construct an appropriate analytical or experimental strategy to analyse a range of different kinds of archaeological materials

  • Develop practical skills involved in preparing and analysing samples of common organic and inorganic archaeological materials

  • Critically assess published research on archaeomaterials topics, with respect to data quality, research design, and logic of argumentation.

  • Debate key issues in archaeomaterials research, linking these issues with themes of relevance to the broader disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, and history.

  • Collect a wide range of data using both analytical and experimental approaches.

  • Analyse, distil, and present a variety of archaeological data (visual, spatial, numeric) to present compelling arguments

  • Design and implement a research project yielding a publishable paper on an archaeomaterials topic.

MSc

Cranfield is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.

 

We have many world-class, large-scale facilities, including our own global research airport, which offers a unique environment for transformational education and research, living laboratory for testing transformative technologies and new approaches to deliver enhanced social, economic and environmental outcomes. 

Cranfield teaches over 5,000 postgraduate students each year and employs around 1,500 academic and support staff.  Our staff-to-student ratio is one of the best for any university in the UK.

As one of the UK's most business-engaged University, …

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