Study plan Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology

Basic skills

Once you have finished this degree you will able to:

• Use your knowledge of the basic concepts of this discipline, of historical archaeological theories and of more recent developments and most relevant historical processes; as well as a global and critical perspective of problems and debates existing in this discipline.
• Apply the skills obtained to the different and ever growing number of professional fields related to both teaching and scientific research as well as those belonging to on site activities and the management, preservation and dissemination of artistic heritages.
• Interpret relevant historical events and assessing archaeological research in terms of theories, methodologies and ethics with the aim of passing judgement on these phenomena by taking into account current problems and critically interpreting the past.
• Transmit to a general and specialist public the information, ideas, reflections and solutions that affect the discipline of archaeology.
• Develop learning skills that will enable you to continue your training and studies with a greater degree of autonomy.

Specific skills

Knowledge

• Distinguish the main epistemological, ontological and methodological debates in the field of archaeological theory (traditional, processual, post-processual, feminist, Marxist archaeologies).
• Interrelate recent contributions to archaeology from different disciplines: biology (physical anthropology and forensic archaeology, archaeozoology, archaeobotany, palaeoecology), geology (archaeometry), mathematics (statistics), computer engineering (GIS, quantification) and physics (optically stimulated luminescence).
• Identify the necessary phases in the field archaeology: definition of the archaeological project, prospecting, excavation and post-excavation work, through case studies in the field.
• Identify and carry out a basic classification of the different ypes of archaeological remains in the laboratory with collections from archaeological sites from different time periods.
• Describe historical processes from a critical perspective, analysing how archaeological evidence can call previous knowledge into question.
• Contextualise historical processes from materialszar procesos históricos a partir de materiales y estructuras arqueológicas, de modo que a través de los materiales se identifiquen cronologías, patrones sociales y culturas concretas, o bien situaciones de aculturación o de cambio.
• Critically interpret documentary sources that are specific to archaeology (reports on archaeological projects, archaeological maps, archaeological material analysis reports, planimetry and graphic representations of archaeological sites and materials, case studies, summary publications, specialised articles).
• Construct historical stories that avoid androcentric and eurocentric persepctives, incorporating in the understanding of social and historical processes content relarted to diversity (geographical, social and gender-related).

Skills

• Develop critical thinking and reasoning in the field of archaeology in order to analyse the processes of inference and generation of archaeological information and offer one’s own views.
• Make summarised proposals of historical processes, identifying the circumstances that coincide in these processes and their consequences, as well as their archaeological expressions.
• Infer specific hypotheses about past societies from material remains obtained from prospecting and/or excavation, exhibiting the ability to historically interpret archaeological contexts and materials.
• Assess the potential of archaeological sites, based on the monitoring of public works (rescue archaeology) or application of remote sensing, prospecting and excavation methods (preventive or research archaeology).
• Practice the necessary skills for the management, promotion and dissemination of historical and archaeological heritage: identify the applicable legislation, interact with the target and potential audience, recognise the required public or private resources, draft musealisation proposals.
• Apply the main methods, techniques and instruments of analysis in archaeology while taking into account the context and the available technical, economic and human resources.
• Apply techniques for the preservation and sustainability of archaeological heritage, drawing on basic notions of how the materials found should be treated and how to act on excavated architectural remains that may have been damaged by climatic and taphonomic effects.
• Associate material remains from excavation and prospection with different periods, and know how to link them to known findings in a specific place through access to public archaeological archives and data bases.
• Use both basic and specialised digital tools in the professional practice of archaeology, including graphic recording methods, GIS, Lidar, prospecting, cartography, statistics and 3D virtual reconstruction models.
• Carry our written work and make oral presentations that are effective and adapted to the appropriate register in different langauges, both at an academic and general informational level.

Competences

• Propose changes to the methods and processes of archaeology to provide innovative responses to society’s needs and demands.
• Identify the social, economic and environmental impact inthe past and the present of historical processes and archaeological knowledge edpressed principally in public archaeology and the value of the heritage.
• Recognise the need for ethical responsiblity and respect for democrative values in the pracice of archaeology, avoiding manipulation a a result of ideological bias.
• Evaluate inequalities for reasons of sex/gender in the area of archaeology, recognising the omission of this aspect where it occurs in written documentation through material culture.
• Demonstrate the ability to work alone and in a team when practicing archaeology.