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This module introduces students to the nature of written sources for ancient societies and to problems and methods of handling such evidence.

It is an integral part of the first year work for those archaeology degrees that concern societies and periods with written sources, and prepares students to handle archaeological and textual evidence together in years two and three.

The module will use case studies drawn from Egypt, the Middle East and the Mediterranean world, ranging in date from the 4th to 1st millennia BC. Topics explored will include texts as material culture; agency and audience; the impact of writing on society; the relationship between imagery, text, and landscape; and methodological issues of interpretation and use of textual data.

Some specific aims of the module are:

• To introduce students to the nature of written sources for ancient societies
• To examine methods and approaches of working with texts in archaeology
• To consider how textual and non-textual approaches to the past can best be integrated
• To discuss and analyze specific case-studies of texts in archaeology, sampled from a wide range of past literate societies.

The module runs for Term I only. It is taught through a total of 20 hours of lectures and seminars. These are divided into weekly sessions consisting of a one-hour lecture, followed by a one-hour seminar later on the same day.

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