Funerary Archaeology

The course will be assessed on the basis of a summative essay, of up to 3000 words. (1) Critically assess the contribution and potential of Funerary Archaeology to add to our understanding of SOCIETY in Later Prehistory. You may wish to consider, but are not limited to, themes such as memory, hierarchies and inequalities, social organisation, isotopes/aDNA evidence and mourning and grief. Choose one period, Neolithic Or Bronze Age Or Iron Age. Use case studies to support your arguments.  OR (2) Critically assess the contribution and potential of Funerary Archaeology to add to our understanding of IDENTITY in Later Prehistory. You may wish to consider, but are not limited to, themes such as age, sex, gender, grave goods and the treatment of the corpse. Choose one period, Neolithic Or Bronze Age Or Iron Age. Use case studies to support your arguments. Summative essay advice Two things will make your essay really stand out. Firstly the level of detail. Each case study you use to illustrate your answer should be fully discussed, and plenty of relevant detail given; you have to be very careful not to go into irrelevant detail. Secondly, your essay should have a very strong argument running all the way through it, demonstrating that you have really thought about the question. This is a formal piece of academic writing, and one of your last chances to practice the art before you submit your dissertation. For that reason, it is essential that you understand and apply all the key conventions. Thus, the essay should be written in good, scholarly English, be illustrated where relevant (with illustrations correctly accredited, and referred to in the text), and it must be fully referenced, following departmental guidelines. The difference between a 2.2 and a 2.1 is often whether there is a strong argument (description alone – however detailed – may only get you a 2.2). We are testing you on the breadth and depth of your learning and critical thinking. If you are in any doubt about what we mean by this look at the grade descriptors again, but also have a look at all the learning guides on the VLE on the skills tabs or the Academic Integrity website, which also has a variety of links to academic writing.