Stonehenge to Skara Brae: the Neolithic of Britain

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, and the social and material changes which occurred over this period. Assessed throughout course, especially in examination.
• general theoretical statements to more specific bodies of evidence. Assessed in Assignment 1.
• the changing historical frameworks of interpretation within which the Neolithic period is discussed. Assessed throughout course, especially in examination.
• the processes by which interpretative statements are made. Assessed in essays and examination.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• apply a general theoretical argument to a specific body of data

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Recognise and identify Neolithic material culture and monuments

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• participate in, chair and direct seminar discussions
• read and write imaginatively
• read critically and evaluate data

This module deals with the Neolithic period in Britain (4000-2300 BC), a period of which traces of domestic activity are scare, and the archaeological record is dominated by large monuments, burials, formal deposits and complex artefacts which circulated in exchange networks. The module shows how we can come to terms with this kind of evidence, while at the same time demonstrating the specific character of the period under study.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

• Lectures
• Classes
• Written assignments

Learning activities include

• Lectures
• Classes
• Written assignments
• Independent study

Innovative or special features of this module

• Student-led presentations

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Bradley, R. (1982). Position and possession: assemblage variation in the British Neolithic. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 1, pp. 27-38.

Smith, I. (1973). The Neolithic. British Prehistory.

Bayliss, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., van der Plicht, J. and Whittle, A. (2007). Bradshaw and bayes: towards a timetable for the Neolithic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 17(1), pp. 1—28.

Thomas, J. (1998). Towards a regional Geography of the Neolithic. Understanding the Neolithic in Northwestern Europe, pp. 37- 61.

Textbooks

Edmonds, M. (1999). Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic. Routledge.

Parker-Pearson, M. (1993). Bronze Age Britain (Chapters 1-3, 7). Batsford.

Cooney, G. and Grogan, E. (1994). Social Perspectives in Irish Prehistory. Wordswell.

Cooney, G. (1999). Landscapes of the Irish Neolithic. Routledge.

Thomas, J. (1991). Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge University Press.

Burgess, C. (1980). The Age of Stonehenge. Dent.

Bradley, R. (2005). Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe. Routledge.

Piggott, S. (1954). Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press.

Whittle, A. (2003). The Archaeology of People: Dimensions of Neolithic Life. Routledge.

Bradley, R. (1998). The Significance of Monuments (Chapters 1-8). Routledge.

Bradley, R (2007). The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press.

Barrett, J.C. (1994). Fragments from Antiquity: an archaeology of Social life in Britain, 2900-1200 BC (Especially chapters 1-4). Blackwell.

Bradley, R. (1993). Altering the Earth: the origins of monuments in Britain and continental Europe (Especially chapters 1-5). Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph No. 8..

Thomas, J. (1999). Understanding the Neolithic (Chapters 1-6). Routledge.

Bradley, R. (1984). The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain (Chapters 1-3). Longman.

Bradley, R. (2000). The Archaeology of Natural Places. Routledge.

Whittle, A. (1996). Europe in the Neolithic: the creation of new worlds (1, 7, l0). Cambridge University Press.

Jones, A. (2007). Memory and Material culture: tracing the past in prehistoric Europe. Cambridge University Press.

Bradley, R. (1991). The Passage of Arms (Chapters 1 and 2 only). Cambridge University Press.

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