Material Culture and Artefact Studies (Taught)

Material culture and artefact studies combines the archaeological recovery and specialist examination of an object with its presentation, management and understanding within a cultural context.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

• This MSc in Material Culture & Artefact Studies will prepare you to participate at both a practical and theoretical level within the field of specialist artefactual analysis.

• You will be able to undertake a work placement to gain valuable work experience in a museum, archaeological unit or other cultural institution.

• You will benefit from the involvement of staff from Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland and other institutions within Scotland, and will have the opportunity to work with collections from local museums, including the University’s own Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.

• Listen to our podcast: Stories from Glasgow – Archaeology and the Digital Keys to Unlocking the Past with Dr Gareth Beale

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

The taught component consists of core courses and optional courses, running over two semesters.

Assessment is normally focused on written performance, but oral presentation skills and other modes of assessment allow you to develop your writing skills in a number of formats. This is in addition to the practical emphasis on developing your ability to interpret and analyse artefacts.

For the MSc you can opt to do either a dissertation or an extended work placement (assessed by work placement eportfolio and either a research report or a student exhibition design).

Core Courses
Material Culture in Context
The Process of Artefact Studies

Dissertation
You will complete either the:
Archaeology Dissertation
Archaeology Applied Dissertation

Optional courses include modules such as:
British Battlefields: Analysis and Cultural Resource Management
Modern Warfare: 19th and 20th Century Warfare
Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology
Independent Study Project
Cloth and Clothing
Archaeology, Games and Interactive Medi
Landscape Archaeologies
Contemporary and future archaeologies
Kingdoms and societies in northern Britain AD 400-800 Masters
Environmental Archaeology; plants, animals and people
Reassembling the Artefacts
Landscape and Environment in Gaelic Scotland
Heritage Material Science
Pottery Skills: understanding Archaeology's most common material
Decolonising the Heritage of Slavery and Colonialism
Optional courses drawn from Archaeology or from other programmes across the University can be taken by agreement with the programme convener.

The optional courses offer you the opportunity to explore and develop particular areas of more detailed study. These courses draw upon the particular interests and expertise of the contributing staff and therefore the options available may vary slightly depending on staff availability and are also subject to a minimum number of students. Please contact us to confirm likely availability of optional courses in any given year.

You need to choose three options from the range of options offered in Archaeology and from subjects across the the College of Arts & Humanities in agreement with the course convenor.