AEA_01 Introduction to the Study of Archaeology

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2022

The course is not taught in Autumn 2022

Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Petr Dresler, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Martin Hložek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Petr Hrubý, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. Mgr. Jiří Macháček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Vladimír Podborský, DrSc. (lecturer)
Mgr. Renáta Přichystalová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Klára Šabatová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Jiří Macháček, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
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 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Course description: The basic terminology, archaeological sources, the prehistoric system of periods, the history of archaeology, basics of methodology, bibliography and the transfer of information in archaeology and working with specialized literature.
Syllabus
  • 1. Subject and object of the study. Archaeology, prehistory, protohistory, Early and High Middle Ages. Position of archaeology in the system of branches. Specialization in archaeology (Pleistocene, primeval, early historic, medieval, post-medieval, industrial, classical, Mediterranean, biblical; nautical, mountain, montane, aerial, gene, experimental, spatial, acoustic, utopian; A. of death; A. of lost (undiscovered) etc. Auxiliary and boundary branches (speleoarchaeology, petroarchaeology, archaeobotanics, paleozoology, paleoanthropology, paleometallurgy, ethnoarchaeology etc.). Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. – Value of primeval age study. 2. Archaeological sources, their characteristic, content and classification. Field relics (settlement, sepulchral, deposits, the other) and prehistoric movables (stone artefacts, pottery, metals, organic materials, glass, amber, shell material etc.). Raw material in the primeval age. Informative value of AS and their differences from written sources. The “archaeological culture” phenomenon and its spatial and temporal model. 3. The principle of periodization of history. Periodization criteria. The development of technological (archaeological) periodization of the primeval age. Types of periodizations and their specific forms. Basic historical concepts. Idealistic and materialistic approaches to history. Biblical, antique, ethnographic and contemporary philosophical model of the origins of the world. Evolutionistic and creationistic concepts of anthropogenesis and sociogenesis. 4. An outline of European archaeology history. Antiquarian, archaeological (empirical), prehistoric (rational) stages. Contemporary archaeology and its schools of thoughts. History of Czech and Moravian archaeology. Common and diverse development traces. Important persons and their works. Current organization of the Czech archaeology. 5. Fundamentals of the branch methodology. Method; technique; methodology; methodics. 4 degrees of archaeological practise: prospection, excavation, musealia, analytical and synthetic degree and its possible resulting at historiosophic or philosophic level. Fundamentals of the theory of knowledge. General methods of knowledge (induction, deduction, analogy, experiment, questionnaire). Empirical and rational types of knowledge in archaeology. - Expert (destructive and non-destructive) analyses of archaeological relics and their contribution to chronology and technology of the primeval era (X-ray, spectral analyses, chemical analyses, thin sections, neutronography etc.). 6. Strategy of analytical and synthetical degree of archaeological practise: dating, ethnicity, economic structures, spiritual life, social culture. – Methods of dating (chronology) of primeval and early historic eras. Relative and absolute chronology. Calendar systems. 7. Classical methods of relative chronology: stratigraphy, its substance and application in archaeology. Vertical and horizontal stratigraphy (incl. examples). Problems of excavations of tells. Typology, its principles (O. Montelius, his predecessors, contemporaries and pursuers), outcomes, criticism and contemporary usage. Typological association lines. Combination statistics. Cybernetization of the typological method. Typology in the electronic computer era. 8. Comparative methods in archaeology. Principles of analogy. The most significant technical methods of relative chronology determination. – Classical methods of absolute dating determination of archaeological relics: method of estimate, comparative method, chronological “horizons”. 9. Contemporary scientific and technical methods of absolute chronology: radiometry, its emergence, development, problems, outcomes and current situation; calibration procedures. Palaeomagnetism. Thermoluminiscence. Older and newer scientific and linguistic methods (“Milankovič curve” of solar radiation, geochronology, dendrochronology, method of pollen spectrum - palynology, glottochronology etc.). 10. Ethnicity in the primeval and early historic eras. 11. Methods of reconstruction of economic life and economy of the primeval era. 12. Possibilities of understanding the spiritual life of primeval people. 13. Sources of scientific information.
Literature
  • Bouzek, J. a kol., Dějiny archeologie I-II, Praha 1983, 1984
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Teaching: 1 hour lecture + 1 hour seminar per week Assessment: Test, oral examination II
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: Informace ke způsobu ukončení viz sylabus.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Autumn 2000, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2022/AEA_01