The World of the Minoans
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| CLAR3089 | Classics and Archaeology | 3 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- CLAR3089
- School
- Classics and Archaeology
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
In the early 20th century, British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans’s excavations at the site of Knossos on the island of Crete uncovered the remains of the earliest palatial civilisation in Europe. Knossos, the home of the mythical king Minos and the monstrous Minotaur, became the landmark of a new culture termed as ‘Minoan’. Based on a combination of lectures and workshops, this module introduces students to the rise, apogee and fall of the fascinating Minoan palatial, state-level societies of 2nd millennium BC. It investigates the Minoan culture’s long-term transformations using archaeological material, iconography and archival data, and encourages the thematic treatment of major social, cultural, political and economic processes such as tpalace state formation ; production, trade and consumption in and beyond the island of Crete (including: materials, crafts and industries, frescoes and the minor arts, textiles and dyes, perfumed oils, etc.); the introduction and development of administration and early writing in the Bronze Age Aegean; archaeologies of cult and death; the eruption of Thera/Santorini and its effect; and the role of the Minoans within the wider Mediterranean and Near Eastern world during the Bronze Age.
Target Students
Available to Undergraduate level 2 and level 3 students in the Department of Classics and Archaeology, Liberal Arts students, subsidiary and exchange students and Natural Sciences students on the Archaeology pathway.
Classes
- One 1-hour workshop each week for 9 weeks
- One 1-hour practicum
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 100% Coursework 1: essay or project, 4,000 words
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
This module provides a survey of developments on the island of Crete and the Aegean region mainly in the 2nd millennium BC, and considers them within their wider political, economic and social context. By studying and interpreting the surviving archaeological evidence, iconography and written sources, this module will allow students to develop a critical understanding of Minoan culture and Greek prehistory and of the developments that led to the rise and fall of the Minoan palatial system, the earliest of its kind in Europe. By the end of the module, students should have gained an understanding of the broad cultural sequence in the Aegean area, of current interpretations and debates in Aegean prehistory, and of broad diachronic and regional trends in the development of human societies in the region during prehistory.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding:
By the end of the module, which is organised thematically, students should be able to
· demonstrate a broad grasp of the relevant literature;
· identify and appraise critically past and current interpretative approaches, methods, key current issues and debates to the study of the origins and rise of Aegean civilisation;
· balance, critically assess, and contextualise archaeological evidence of various sorts (artefacts, architecture, burials, pictorial and palaeographical data) within a wider understanding of the social, political, cultural and economic worlds of the prehistoric Aegean;
· demonstrate an understanding of how archaeology relates to a range of other disciplines in the study of the Aegean prehistory, and a critical awareness of the diversity of sources used by archaeologists to assess the evidence;
· develop their own interests and knowledge through independent study and research in the form of an assessed essay and participation in workshops.
Intellectual skills:
You will be required to appraise the information presented in lectures and, through their own research, formulate and present ideas about the origins, rise and nature of early European civilisations. This module requires you to develop your skills in argument, presentation and data selection and to formulate written arguments pertaining to critical debates on prehistoric Greece. Discussion in the workshops will encourage facility in scholarly debate.
Practical and professional skills:
You will gain a practical appreciation of the methodological approaches taken to the archaeological evidence and an understanding of the relationship between a series of complex archaeological problems and their environmental context. Appreciation of the circumstances surrounding the emergence of early civilisations is necessary for those wishing to enter a career in archaeology. Research and communication skills will be enhanced through the workshops and the coursework component of the module.
Transferable (Key) skills:
A range of transferable (key) skills will be acquired: the experience of utilising reference texts; to manage and critique information and present it clearly through writing; to develop written and oral communication skills, so as to be able to demonstrate sustained argument through the completion of assessed work and oral presentations in workshops; to accept responsibility for, and to manage, personal learning environments.