ARMPRE: Deep Time Archaeology: Understanding ‘Prehistoric’ Societies

Module code: ARMPRE

Module provider: Archaeology; School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Rob Hosfield, email: r.hosfield@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 27 March 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module provides an introduction to current issues and debates in prehistoric archaeological research, with examples from across the world, and a particular focus on Europe and south-west Asia. The module aims to give you a broad understanding of the contribution of archaeology to understanding the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. We will examine four key themes, contrasting these across different periods and regions:

• Human-environment interactions
• Technologies, innovation and impact
• Creating place, identity and community
• Ritual practice and cultural interaction

The module aims to allow you to develop a systematic understanding and demonstrate a critical awareness of the range of evidence used by prehistoric archaeologists: human/hominin remains, features and structures, artefacts, zooarchaeological and other dietary indicators, and environmental data. Enable you to understand how and why archaeological evidence can be used to investigate key aspects of prehistoric societies: human (hominin) evolution, human-environment interactions (including dietary strategies), creating identity through places and personhood, the nature of community, ritual practice, and cultural interactions. Finally it aims to help you to develop a critical appreciation of the character and quality of the methods and techniques used in prehistoric archaeology, including the character of the professional discipline today.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad understanding of the transformation of human societies from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age.
• Understand how key interpretive themes can be traced across time periods and regional boundaries.
• Critically assess and evaluate archaeological and/or environmental sources and evidence.
• Develop independent interpretations of material through self-directed research.

Module content

The module explores four key themes (Human-environment interactions; Technologies, innovation and impact; Creating place, identity and community; Ritual practice and cultural interaction) through chronologically and/or geographically-specific examples and issues, as outlined below:

• Human-Environment interactions: ‘Ice Age’ worlds and hunter/gatherer diets (e.g. climatic and environmental fluctuations), and Palaeolithic-Neolithic transitions in South-west Asia (e.g. the agricultural ‘revolution’).
• Technologies, innovation and impact: Transforming existing materials (e.g. lithic and organic hunter-gatherer technologies); Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions in NW Europe (e.g. pottery).
• Creating place, identity and community: Creating early settled communities in South-west Asia (e.g. early village settlements); Community and identity in Neolithic burials; Understanding Neolithic monumentality.
• Ritual practice and cultural interaction: Theorising deposition and ‘ritual’ practice; Representing the living world (e.g. hunter-gatherer ‘art’); Connections and complexity in later prehistoric South-west Asia (e.g. material trade and exchanges).

The module introduction explores changing human species and key chronological frameworks, and concludes with an exploration of past & present sustainability, or why prehistory matters.

The module also includes a mid-module trip to the British Museum, to see key examples of prehistoric material culture.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This course is team-taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, group discussions and debates, directed reading, assignments and a museum visit.

There will be 12 main teaching sessions. Each session will last two hours, including lecture material and class discussions.

Study hours

At least 24 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs