This biannual course is taught on years 2014-2015, 2016-2017, ...
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The course proposes an overview of scientific methods for characterizing and dating archaeological artefacts. Particular attention is paid to ceramic studies (production techniques, research methods, overview of ceramic categories from Prehistory to Post-Medieval period).
Through this course, students will receive a general introduction to the concepts, methods and techniques commonly employed in archaeological science. A specialised course in ceramic studies is also provided, confronting students with research methods applied to archaeological ceramics.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Written exam.
The course is organised in 2-hour modules, each of them devoted to a particular theme in archaeological science/ceramic studies.
Exercises and visits will complete the teaching programme, to confront the students to the materials (seminars at the Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve), methods and fieldwork (visit of the labs at the Service public de Wallonie) and techniques commonly employed in archaeological science (visit of the archaeometry lab at the Université de Liège).
For each category of materials, the first discussed topic is the concept of "chaîne opératoire" and its different steps, for the production and manufacture of the artefacts.
Particular attention is given to the social context of technological choices.
For the dating of the archaeological objects, techno-morphological developments as well as absolute dating methods will be considered. Other topics of interest include regional variations and the issue of distribution and exchanges of artefacts, as well as the different dimensions of the use of the objects.
These questions will be discussed via different case studies; these will permit to pinpoint some interpretative frameworks, concepts and analytical models for the better understanding of ancient material cultures.
Therefore, more than a presentation of the different techniques commonly employed in archaeological science, the teaching programme aims at underlining the various kinds of questions that one may address to the archaeological objects, in close connection with their contexts (chronology, regionalism, organisation of the modes of production, distribution and use of the different categories of material culture).
Bibliography will be presented at the end of each module.
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