Advanced topics in archaeological theory and methods (PHD801)

The course is designed to provide an overview of current theories and methods in archaeological research and will give the students an advanced understanding of how theoretical frameworks and methodology are implemented in research projects.

Although the course will focus on current theory, the overall aim is to give them a practical understanding of how theory and methodology together play into theoretical research design.

The underpinnings of the theoretical approach and methodologies will be examined to give the students knowledge of the traditions that theories and methods stem from, as well as their epistemological anchoring in either the humanities, natural science or social sciences.

The teachers will present research literature that covers the main topics and

The course covers topics such as:

• The material turn
• The ontological turn
• Actor-network theory and châine operatoire
• Personhood
• The biographical perspective
• Feminist critique
• Sensory archaeology

Knowledge

After completing the course the students should:

• Have an advanced understanding of the current theories used in archaeological research

Skills

After completing the course the students should:

• Have an advanced understanding of the implementation of appropriate methods considering the theoretical approach
• Evaluate which theories and methods that are applicable on different archaeological datasets
• Be able to formulate new research questions that integrate a theoretical understanding with a methodological implementation
• Be able to formulate a theoretical platform that integrates methods and datasets in an appropriate way and to an international standard
• Be able to create an operational theoretical framework that encompasses appropriate methodology

General competence

After completing the course the students should:

• Understand how research is situated within a research field in archaeology and the ramification that the different fields operate within.
• Be able to identify the underpinnings and scientific traditions of theories and methods.
• Be able to engage in academic discourse on advanced theory and methodology within archaeology, both orally and in writing.

Fagperson(er)

Course coordinator:

A combination of lectures, articles presented by teachers and students and classroom discussions.

Coursework requirements

Students need to attend a one-week on-campus study programme. Presence is mandatory (MP). Mandatory requirements: 75% presence. If students do not fulfil the MP requirement, students will have to pass an assignment given by the course coordinators in order to take the course exam.

Book

Archaeological theory in the new millennium : introducing current perspectives Harris, Oliver J.T., Cipolla, Craig N., London, Routledge, XVI, 238 sider, 2017, isbn:978-1-138-88871-5; 978-1-138-88870-8,

Article

Worlds otherwise. Archaeology, anthropology and ontological difference Alberti, B., S. Fowles, M. Holbraad, Y. Marshall and C. Whitmore, Current Anthropology, 6, 52, 2011, 896-912,

Article

On the Fringe: Sheepdogs and Their Status within Bronze Age Ontologies in Scandinavia Armstrong Oma, K., Current Swedish Archaeology, 28, 2020, 99-120,

Article

Multiple Ontologies and the Problem of the Body in History Harris, O. J. T. & Robb, J., American Anthropologist, 4, 114, 2012, 668-679,

Article

Divergent Ways of Relating to the Past in the Viking Age Lund, J., & Arwill-Nordbladh, E, European Journal of Archaeology, 3, 19, 2016, 415-438,

Book Chapter

Death, memory and material culture: catalytic commemoration and the cremated dead Williams, H., Tarlow, Sarah; Stutz, Liv Nilsson, Death, memory and material culture: catalytic commemoration and the cremated dead, Oxford, Oxford University Press, XIX, 849 s., 2013, 195-208, isbn:9780199569069,

Article

Small Things Forgotten Now Included, or What Else Do Things Deserve? Pétursdóttir, Þ., International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 16, 2012, 577-603,

Book Chapter

Indigenous alterity as archaeological praxis Montgomery, L. M., Crellin, Rachel, Cipolla, Craig N.; Montgomery, Lindsay M.; Harris, Oliver J.T.; Moore, Sophie V., Indigenous alterity as archaeological praxis, London New York; London New York, Routledge Taylor & Francis group, xiv, 235 sider, 2021, 51-66, isbn:9780367135478; 9780367135454,

Article

. ‘Rock-art’, ‘Animism’ and Two-way Thinking: Towards a Complementary Epistemology in the Understanding of Material Culture and ‘Rock-art’ of Hunting and Gathering People Porr, M., and H. R. Bell, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 19, 2012, 161-205,

Article

Standpoint theory, situated knowledge and the situated imagination Stoetzler, M., and N. Yuval-Davis, Feminist Theory, 3, 2002, 315-333,

Article

Toward Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of Knowledge Soedirgo, J., and A. Glas, PS: Political Science and Politics, 53, 2020, 527-531,

Article

An Indigenous Feminist’s Take On The Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ Is Just Another Word For Colonialism Todd, Z., Journal of Historical Sociology, 1, 29, 2016,

Article

How interdisciplinary is interdisciplinarity? Revisiting the impact of aDNA research for the archaeology of human remains Ion, A., Current Swedish Archaeology, 21, 2017, 11-20,

Article

A future for archaeology: in defense of an intellectually engaged, collaborative and confident archaeology Nilsson Stutz, L., Norwegian Archaeological Review, 51, 2018, 48-56,

Article

Relational Typologies, Assemblage Theory and Early Bronze Age Burials Fowler, C., Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 27, 2017, 95-109,

Book Chapter

A history in Prehistory: The Making of a Migration Period ‘Technology of Remembrance’ in South-West Norway Fredriksen, P. D. and Kristoffersen, S., Austvoll, Knut Ivar; Eriksen, Marianne Hem; Fredriksen, Per Ditlef; Melheim, Lene; Prøsch-Danielsen, Lisbeth; Skogstrand, Lisbeth; Prescott, Christopher, A history in Prehistory: The Making of a Migration Period ‘Technology of Remembrance’ in South-West Norway, Turnhout, Belgium, Brepols Publishers, 282 sider, [2020], 99-111, isbn:9782503588773,

Article

Innovation and Collapse: Bucket-shaped Pottery and Metalwork in the Terminal Migration Period Fredriksen, P. D., Kristoffersen, E. S., and U. Zimmermann, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 47, 2014, 119-140,

Article

Potted Histories: Cremation, Ceramics and Social Memory in Early Roman Britain Williams, H., Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 23, 417-427,

Book Chapter

Skilled production and social reproduction in prehistory and contemporary archaeology: a personal exegesis on dominant themes and their psychosocial influences Dobres M. A., Apel, Jan; Knutsson, Kjel, Skilled production and social reproduction in prehistory and contemporary archaeology: a personal exegesis on dominant themes and their psychosocial influences, Uppsala, Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis, 453 s., 2006, 25-33, isbn:9197374067,

Book Chapter

Introduction Marsh, E. J., & Ferguson, J. R., Ferguson, Jeffrey R.,, Introduction, Boulder, Colo. :, University Press of Colorado, 1 online resource (281 p.), c2010., 1-12, isbn:1-60732-023-1,

Book Chapter

Theoretical reflections on experimental archaeology and lithic technology: issues on actualistic stone tools analysis and interpretation Nami, H. G., Theoretical reflections on experimental archaeology and lithic technology: issues on actualistic stone tools analysis and interpretation, 91-168,

Article

Introduction to experimental archaeology Outram, A. K., World Archaeology, 1, 40, 2008, 1-6,

Article

How dogs dream: Amazonian natures and the politics of transspecies engagement Kohn, E., American Ethnologist, 1, 34, 2007, 3-24,

Article

Cosmological deixies and Amerindian perspectivism Viveiros de Castro, E., The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 3, 4, 1998, 469-488,

Book Chapter

Chapter 1 Jones, A., Jones, Andrew, Chapter 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, XIII, 258 s., 2007, isbn:9780521837088; 0521837081; 9780521545518, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.uis.no/lib/uisbib/detail.action?docID=325988View online

Article

Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives Joy, J., World Archaeology, 4, 41, 2009, 540-556,

Article

Echoes of the Past: Women, Memories and Disc-on-Bow Brooches in Vendel- and Viking-period Scandinavia Glørstad, Z., & Røstad, I., European Journal of Archaeology, 1, 24, 2021, 89-107,

Article

Archaeology, process and time: beyond history versus memory Harris O. J. T., World Archaeology, 2021, 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.1963833View online

Book Chapter

The promise of non-representational theory Anderson, B., and P. Harrison, Anderson, Ben,; Harrison, Paul., The promise of non-representational theory, London ; New York :; London ; New York :, Routledge, 1 online resource (393 p.), 2016., 1-34, isbn:1-317-04696-X; 1-315-61179-1; 1-317-04695-1; 1-282-61492-4; 9786612614927; 1-4094-0896-5,

Article

Archaeology and fiction Elphinstone, M., and C. Wickham-Jones, Antiquity, 332, 86, 2012, 1-6,

Book

Making : anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture Ingold, Tim, London, Routledge, XII, 163 s., 2013, isbn:9780415567220; 9780415567237,

Book Chapter

Story as Indigenous Methodology Kovach, M., Kovach, M., Story as Indigenous Methodology,

Article

Changing perceptions of rock art: storying prehistoric worlds Nyland, A. J., and H. Stebergløkken, World Archaeology, 1, 53, 2021,

Article

Submerged prehistory and anthropological archaeology: do underwater studies contribute to theory? Lemke, A., The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 16, 2021, 5-26,

Article

The Future of archaeology, interdisciplinarity and global challenges Kerr, S., Antiquity, 94, 2020, 1337-1348,

Article

A great wave: the Storegga tsunami and the end of Doggerland? Walker, J., et al., Antiquity, 94, 2021, 1409-1425,

Article

Inference in Archaeology Watson, R., American Antiquity, 41, 1976, 58-66,

Article

Temporality and the Transition to Cremation in the Late Third Millennium to Mid Second Millennium bc in Britain Appleby, J., Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1, 23, 2013, 83-97, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774313000061View online

Article

Spor Etter Folkevandringstidens håndverkstradisjoner i Sogn Kristoffersen, S., and B. Magnus, Viking, 47, 2015, 119-140, https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/59163View online

Article

Tradition Brought to the Surface: Continuity, Innovation and Change in the Late Formative Period, Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia Roddick, A. P. and C. A. Hastorf, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 20, 2010, 157-178,

Article

Tradisjon og kultur Klepp, A., Norveg, 23, 1980, 195-226,

Article

Roe deer as raw material for Middle Mesolithic fishhooks? An experimental approach to the manufacture of small bone fishhooks Mansrud, A., & Kutschera, M., EXARC Journal, 4, 2020, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2725495View online

Book Chapter

Kroppsteknikkene Mauss, M., Mauss, Marcel, Neumann, Iver B., Kroppsteknikkene, Oslo, Cappelen akademisk forlag, 142 s., cop. 2004, 65-98, isbn:8202232325; 9788202232320,

Book Chapter

Experimental archaeology and (re)-experiencing the senses of the medieval world O’Neill, B., & O’Sullivan, A., Skeates, Robin; Day, Jo, Experimental archaeology and (re)-experiencing the senses of the medieval world, Abingdon, Routledge, XVIII, 576, 16 unummererte sider med plansjer, [2019], 451-466, isbn:9781138676299,