Archaeological reports in the historical research 2900-HAMC-K2-ARREP

Archaeology is of widespread interest in today's world because it has the potential to propose a vision of the past of an anthropocentric world and to build references to the present and future. Archaeology, apart from anything else, is many, just as there are many types of history or mathematics. Some archaeologies describe the beginnings of man on Earth, others go hand in hand with documents created by advanced societies of times closer to us. Many of the material sources on which the archaeological method is based today relate to local or national identities, raising questions about the belonging of memories of places or people. Finally, archaeology is a subject of various cultural fields, including the entertainment industry. Invariably, however, from the very beginnings of archaeological thinking, the question of its credibility remains at the heart of reflections on archaeology. For we move too easily from fact to interpretation, blurring the distinctions between the two. As a result, unproven or openly erroneous hypotheses circulate in and close to the scientific world, perpetuated by the seriousness of the authority of their authors. This is why the ability to read archaeological publications is so important for all those working on various aspects of the human past.

This class proposes an in-depth reflection on the nature of archaeological sources, the process of obtaining and processing information and their publication in the form of reports, monographs or specialist archaeological studies. A large proportion of these today take the form of multidisciplinary studies composed of contributions provided by specialists from the worlds of science, earth or life sciences, not to mention the more traditional view of written sources, architecture or art.

During the course of the class, their participants will be introduced to the different stages of data acquisition and processing in archaeology. They will become familiar with the steps involved in preparing various forms of archaeological publications. They will find out what discussions archaeological theorists are having and how they affect the way we interpret sources of knowledge about the past. Together we will go through primary sources of information in the form of journals, publishing series or databases and archives. We will learn how to acquire archaeological data in order to use them effectively in the historian's workshop. Finally, we will devote a lot of attention to practising a critical approach to sources and reading archaeological studies carefully in order to be able to build more reliable historical hypotheses based on them.

The form of these classes is adapted to their purpose. Each class will consist of a short theoretical introduction to then focus on practising the skills of reading sources and interpreting them.

Prerequisites:

Students joining the conversatory should have a good passive and active knowledge of the English language, since the form of work in the course implies students' own studies and active participation in the discussions held during the meetings. It is advisable to have knowledge of other language(s) most frequently used in archaeological publications in addition to English: German, Spanish, French or Italian.