FF:AEB_A16e Microscopy - Course Information
AEB_A16e Microscopy practice for archaeologists
Faculty of ArtsSpring 2025
- Extent and Intensity
- 2/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
- Teacher(s)
- Mgr. et Mgr. Ludmila Kaňáková Hladíková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
- Guaranteed by
- Mgr. et Mgr. Ludmila Kaňáková Hladíková, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts - Prerequisites
- Course is adequate for students of magister studies. It required advanced knowledge of individual artefact classes, and understanding the debate of its archaeological analysis.
- Course Enrolment Limitations
- The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 8 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/8, only registered: 0/8 - fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
- there are 15 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
- Course objectives
- The aim of the course is to practically educate students in operating of various types of microscopes for individual methods of artefactual analysis.
- Learning outcomes
- After the course will absolved, student will able self-sufficiently and securely operate various types of microscopes and realise analyses including documentation.
- Syllabus
- 1. introduction to microscopy, parts and construction of microscope, configuration of microscope for individual analytical aims, introduction to work in laboratory and microscope operating, sampling, sample manipulation, cleaning and setting into right position
- 2. determination of lithic raw materials by water-immerse method - identification of microfossils in silicite mass
- 3. analysis of ceramic paste by observation of polished-sections and thin-sections
- 4. use-wear analysis on lithic chipped and grinded artefacts, on bone and antler artefacts and byproducts - functional, transport, hafting/prehension wear
- 5. use-wear analysis on metal artefacts - copper, bronze, risks of conservation, manufacture and use traces
- 6. residues on lithic and metal artefacts - identification in situ, risks of apriori mistake, basic types of residues observable in-situ, methods of sampling and identification in vitro
- Literature
- required literature
- QUINN, Patrick S. Ceramic petrography : the interpretation of archaeological pottery & related artefacts in thin section. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2013, 251 s. ISBN 9781905739592. info
- Prehension and hafting traces on flint toolsa methodology. Edited by Veerle Rots. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2010, xix, 273 p. ISBN 9789058678010. info
- PŘICHYSTAL, Antonín. Kamenné suroviny v pravěku východní části střední Evropy (Lithic raw materials in prehistoric times of eastern Central Europe). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2009, 331 pp. Munipress. ISBN 978-80-210-4928-4. info
- GIJN, A. L. van. The wear and tear of flint : principiles of functional analysis applied to dutch neolithic assemblages. [Leiden: Institute of prehistory, University of Leiden, 1990, 182 s. info
- not specified
- GEORGESCU, M. Dan. Microfossils through time : an introduction : first steps in micropaleontology. Stuttgart: Schweizerbart Science Publishers, 2018, xiii, 400. ISBN 9783510654130. info
- MACGREGOR, Arthur. Bone, antler, ivory & horn : the technology of skeletal materials since the Roman period. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, 245 stran. ISBN 9781138814172. info
- GIJN, A. L. van. Flint in focus : lithic biographies in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Leiden: Sidestone, 2010, xxii, 288. ISBN 9789088900334. info
- ARMSTRONG, Howard A. and M. D. BRASIER. Microfossils. Second edition. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, vii, 296. ISBN 9780632052790. info
- JUEL JENSEN, Helle. Flint tools and plant working : hidden traces of stone age technology. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1994, ix, 263. ISBN 8772884541. info
- Teaching methods
- Students of both groups attend a lecture (1.5h) in the classroom in one week and practice in the laboratory in consecutive groups in the second week. The lecture will explain the theoretical foundations of the methods. During practice, the student independently applies the acquired knowledge, identifies features and characteristics of samples, documents them and prepares a standard research report.
- Assessment methods
- Student have to present ability to
1. self-sufficiently choice right microscope and configuration for proposed sample.
2. identify proposed feature of the sample - damage, use-wear, technology, raw-material etc.
3. prepare analytical report - Language of instruction
- Czech
- Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
- The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week. - Teacher's information
- In Spring semester 2024, students alternate in stable groups A and B. Both groups attend together the lectures in classroom, but they attend independenly the practice in the lab. The lecture and the practice alternate weekly. Full attendance in regular terms is strongly recommended, because theory and practice cannot be easily compensated.
Regarding the laboratory regime, own slippers are recommended; shoe covers are to dispose.
- Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
- Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/AEB_A16e