Years 2 and 3 B.A./BSc. Schemes (Part II)

HS2304 - Independent Archaeological Study (10 credits).
The Independent Archaeological Study, and the Independent Science Study (for those taking BSc) is a compulsory module designed to allow students to choose a topic of interest to them and to provide an independent piece of research based around it.  The module is compulsory for all second year students and comprises a 5000 word project.

All members of staff supervise students for this module, and students choose the person who the feel best fits their chosen topic.  I mainly supervise students studying aspects of ancient Egypt, early technology or archaeological science.  However, I also supervise topics on battlefield archaeology, archaeological ethics and other areas by agreement with the students concerned.

HS2312 - Third Year Archaeological Dissertations (20 credits).
The Archaeological Dissertation or Archaeological Science Dissertation (for those taking BSc) is an optional module designed to allow students to research a topic of interest to them.  It builds on the skills gained in the compulsory Independent Archaeologcical Study taken in Year 2 and is particularly attractive to students wishing to pursue postgraduate research in later years, as well as to those who have an interest in a particular area which they would like to examine at greater length.  The word limit for the Dissertation is 10, 000 words.

All members of staff supervise students for this module, and students choose the person who the feel best fits their chosen topic.  I mainly supervise students studying aspects of ancient Egypt, early technology or archaeological science.  However, I also supervise topics on battlefield archaeology, archaeological ethics and other areas by agreement with the students concerned.

HS2376 - Egyptian Funerary Archaeology (20 credits)
This module introduces students to the ancient Egyptian way of death.  It examines the popular misconception that the Egyptians were obsessed with death and shows instead a zest for eternal life.

The development of funerary practices, funerary monuments and afterlife beliefs are all examined along with the archaeological evidence for these. The course draws on my own research in Egypt and dovetails well with other courses on funerary archaeology offered by HISAR, as well as building on the introduction to ancient Egypt provided in Part I of the degree.

The module is assessed by means of an essay (30%), a class test (10%) and an exam (40%).  The purpose of the class test, which is based around images from the module, is to encourage students to read widely around the course and to draw attention to particular areas which might be needed for the exam or essay. As usual at Cardiff – there is one-to-one essay feedback for students after their work has been marked.

Current Lecture Topics

Study/Research Skills For Egyptian Archaeology
Introduction to the key literature for studies in Egyptian Archaeology generally and for funerary archaeology in particular.  Special emphasis will be placed on materials available at Cardiff.  This session will form the essential background for essays and further reading.

Obsessed With Death?
Why do we seem to know so much about Egyptian funerary practices?  How did the Egyptians themselves view death?  How do we interpret the material culture associated with death?

Origins Of Mummification
Egypt’s earliest mummies. 

The Development of Tombs
The earliest tombs and their function.

The Afterlife
‘A boon which the King gives’ : the importance of the King in the afterlife.  The Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Books of the Dead.

More On Mummification
Later mummification.

Coffins And Sarcophagi
The coffin as a house for the body.

Tomb Furnishings
Funerary furniture and offerings.

Sacred Animal Cemeteries
The mummification and burial of Egypt’s Sacred Animals.

HS2400 - Materials and Technology (10 credits)
This module is co-taught with Professor Ian Freestone and examines the use of inorganic archaeological materials and their related technologies from Prehistory to the 19th Century.  It is a compulsory module which can be taken in either year 2 or 3 and is the complement to the compulsory archaeological science module which examines how information on the materials and technology is obtained.

The course is structured so that it runs from stone technology to metals, and so that it can be seen how developments in the technology of one material might relate to those in other materials.

As well as lectures the module uses a practical session in which students handle a range of materials and comment on their findings.  There is normally an optional trip to a relevant site, for example the Gladstone Pottery Museum at Stoke on Trent. This Museum, actually a 19th Century pottery, is particularly well set out for the understanding of the stages in pottery manufacture and has proved popular with student groups.

The module is assessed by an essay (40%) and exam (60%).  As usual at Cardiff – there is one-to-one essay feedback for students after their work has been marked.

Current Lecture Topics
Introduction (Paul Nicholson)
Overview of the course and relevant study skills.  Technology in a social context. Approaches to ancient technology: objects, literary sources, experimental archaeology and ethnographic parallels. From raw materials to objects: prerequisites of technological progress, fundamental techniques in the manufacture of artefacts.

Stone (Paul Nicholson)
Overview of how different types of stone are extracted and worked.  This includes the making of stone implements as well as building stone.

Ceramics – materials formation of shapes  (Paul Nicholson)
The first ceramic lecture looks at what is meant by the term ‘ceramic’ and goes on to examine the materials needed to produce clay ceramics and to form them

Ceramics – firing and maturing (Paul Nicholson)
The second lecture looks at how the clay of these clay ceramics becomes altered from a plastic to an aplastic material, turning it ‘ceramic’.  The concept of non-clay ceramics, notably Egyptian faience, is then introduced.  This latter topic provides a link with the later lecture on glass.

Ceramics – overview of development of ceramic technology 1600 – 1850 (Paul Nicholson)
These lectures trace the development of technology from the birth of the industrial revolution, identifying the important fabrics and glazes of the period. The development and production of stoneware, tin glazed earthenware, ironstone, hard and soft paste porcelain are all examined with emphasis on their popularity, properties and why they succeeded or failed commercially. This is set against the important figures of the era including Dwight, Elers, Wedgewood and Wheildon. Fabrication methods and decorative techniques examined include slip casting, sprigging, impressed ware, moulded ware, slush casting, salt glaze, lead glazes, transfer printing. Inspirations for styles of fabric are also considered.

‘Egyptian’ Faience and related  vitreous material (Paul Nicholson)
What is Egyptian faience?  How does it relate to materials such as Egyptian Blue, and glass?  How are these produced?

Metals – extraction, properties and alloying (Ian Freestone)
Overview of extraction of metals - chemical concepts, ores, smelting, impurities, energy use. Examples of extraction - iron, copper, silver, zinc. General physical properties of metals – melting point hardness, specific gravity, stability, and corrosion. Alloys and their properties– major alloys of antiquity – bronze, brass, pewter, Britannia metal, gunmetal, soft-solders, hard solders, steels.

Metals – fabrication, jointing and coatings (Ian Freestone)
Alloy metallurgy. Casting, forging, cold working, hot working, annealing, case hardening. Some brief examples of construction and use– cast bronze, raised bronze, cast pewter, forged iron, tinning, gilding, rolling, plated metals, electrodeposits. Jointing – brazing, solders, rivets, fire welding. Overview of changes to archaeological materials and the problems of identifying technological features.

Glass (Paul Nicholson)
This lecture looks at the raw materials and processes necessary to produce glass.  It also examines the ways in which glass can be formed into artefacts and the impact that various technological processes have had on the market for glass vessels.  The lecture concentrates on glass from the earliest times until the Roman period.

Artefact Practical (Ian Freestone and Paul Nicholson)
Subject and structure for practical to be announced. It is likely to take the form of groups of students examining objects and reporting back to the class on the technology of the objects and the evidence they used to support their views.

HS2410 - Pharaohs of the Sun   (20 credits)
This module was developed directly from my own research and excavation at Tell el-Amarna and examines the archaeology of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s reign (1352-1336 B.C.) during which he attempted major religious reform.

The module provides students with the relevant historical background, as well as giving the opportunity to examine aspects of urban development, trade and religion during the Bronze Age.  These aspects of the course tie in well with other courses covering the same time period in the Aegean and Europe so that students with an interest in this period are able to make informed comparisons between regions.

The module is assessed by means of an essay (30%), a class test (10%) and an exam (40%).  The purpose of the class test, which is based around images from the module, is to encourage students to read widely around the course and to draw attention to particular areas which might be needed for the exam or essay. As usual at Cardiff – there is one-to-one essay feedback for students after their work has been marked.

The Physical and Symbolic Geography of Ancient Egypt
Importance of environment – brightness and clarity leads to optimistic outlook, aided by security.  Significance of creation, endless repetition so that each day is repetition of the ‘First Time’.  Importance of physical sun – gods Atum, Re, Khepri.  The river, a source of plenty, little rain, annual flood governs though process through its regularity and predictability.  Desert gives rise to duality in thought process – order vs. chaos.

Background to Egyptian History
What is meant by Old, Middle and New Kingdoms?  What are ‘Intermediate Periods’?  Source material for Egyptian history – Manetho, the Turin Canon etc.  Hieroglyphic texts.

Traditional Egyptian Religion
Earliest forms are animism and fetishism which give way to polytheism.  Previous gods are often anthropomorphic but Egyptians do not generally worship animals per se.  Discussion of monotheistic beliefs before the Amarna period.  Discussion of the rise of Amun.

The Reign of Amenhotep III
Egypt at the pinnacle of affluence.  Malkata.  Importance of the Heb sed festival. Changing artistic conventions.

Akhenaten and the Development of the Heresy
Who is Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten?  Possibly co-regency with Amenhotep III, influences from father and mother.  Early evidence for the Aten.  Was the new religion really a heresy?

Karnak and the Early Monuments
Background to Karnak before Akhenaten.  Developments during the reign of Akhenaten – the Aten temple.  Talatat blocks.  Other sites – Memphis (?), Soleb etc.

The Move to Amarna
Reasons for the move.  Why Amarna? The Boundary Stele as sources for the move.  Change of name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten.

Nefertiti
Who was she?  Influence on her husband at Amarna.  Significance of the royal children.  Who was Kiya? 

The City of Amarna
The layout of the city, its main monuments and the surrounding tombs.

Akhenaten’s Religious Teaching
Imposed, not counter-religion in a strict sense.  Main changes from traditional religion.  New solar theology, intolerance of other religions.

Amarna Art
The limits of traditional art.  Changes to the ‘naturalistic style’.  Impact of the new art and its effects on future reigns.  Crafts and industries.

The Amarna Letters and the Empire
The empire at the start of Akhenaten’s reign.  What are the Amarna Letters?  Consequences of Akhenaten’s foreign policy or lack thereof.

The End of Amarna: Abandonment of Atenism
The last years of Amarna.  Changes in sculpture. Return to traditional forms.  Nefertiti’s last years.  Where did the key figures go?

Smenkhare and Tutankhamun
Who were they?  Is Smenkhare actually Nefertiti?  Evidence from mummies.  Tutankhamun, his upbringing at Amarna and subsequent life.  The role of Horemheb.

Ay and Horemheb
Death of Tutankhamun, murder of Zannanza, consideration of the queen’s letter.  Horemheb, his background and role during the heresy.  Destruction of Amarna.

History of Research on the Amarna Period
Rediscovery of Akhenaten 180 years ago.  Subsequent excavations, modern views of the King.