Temaomtale ARK125

This course is taught in collaboration between AHKR and the Natural History Department at the University Museum and it predominantly takes place at the museum’s lecture and laboratory facilities in Realfagbygget. 

The lectures and workshops aim to introduce and expose students primarily to the fields of Zooarchaeology and Archaeobotany/Palynology. Special emphasis is placed on teaching interested students about basic mammalian, bird and fish anatomy in the classroom and the laboratory. Students will have guided access to the zoology laboratories and the comparative osteological collections to help with learning animal bone anatomy. The course further includes a an archaeobotany and palynology module taught in the classroom and the laboratory.

The course not only introduces students to animal bone and plant remains from Norwegian (and potentially Icelandic) excavation sites. Students will also learn about bone biology and the role the museum has played in the curation of archaeo-osteological remains. The goal of this course is to expose students to activity-based training and to gain an understanding of the enormous potential that organic remains from archaeological contexts can provide to our interpretation of the past.

Students will write a term paper based on a topic introduced during the course.