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Monumental Changes: Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland

Module description

The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in Britain and Ireland (4000–1500 BC) saw momentous changes in human history, including the adoption of agriculture, the migration and movement of people, and the emergence of communal building projects, when people altered their landscapes on a grand scale. This module will enable you to explore a range of evidence from across Britain and Ireland, from the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition and shift to farming, to changes in settlement and land management at the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. It will cover current interpretative debates and explore how scientific methods are changing our knowledge about this period.

No pre-requisite modules are required beyond standard Level 1 archaeology modules.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to provide you with up-to-date knowledge of this period of prehistory, a time when the archaeology has few traces of settlement but is instead dominated by ceremonial and ritual activity, burials and artefacts. There will be a focus on the latest research, including exploration of how scientific methods such as ancient DNA, stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating and environmental archaeology are changing the story of this fascinating period. You will learn, through lectures and possibly a field trip, about the major key themes of this period and current interpretative debates, enabling them to critically assess different forms of evidence. While the lectures are broadly chronological, the seminars are more thematic and will stimulate you to discuss and debate broader themes and challenges with archaeological evidence from this period.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Outline the key patterns of social and cultural change in Britain and Ireland, 4000–1500 BC
• 2. Recall the main types of dwellings, monuments, mortuary practices and portable artefacts of the period, and recognise some of the limitations of typologies used to describe them.
• 3. Summarise some of the interpretative arguments relating to this period

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Construct clear and coherent arguments based on the collection and interpretation of various forms of archaeological evidence from prehistory
• 5. Demonstrate some of the scientific techniques that can be applied to the archaeological evidence
• 6. Understand the impact that archaeological debates about the past and methods of communication have on public understanding of the past

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Discuss complex issues, in a variety of forms of communication (oral, written, graphic)
• 8. Examine competing interpretations of the same evidence and reach own reasoned judgements
• 9. Respond to arguments in discussion and ask relevant questions

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The arrival of farming (Mesolithic to Neolithic transition)
• Monuments, settlements and society (Early Neolithic)
• Life and death: passage tombs and cremations (Middle Neolithic)
• Circles of earth, timber and stone; relations with the sky (Middle–Late Neolithic)
• The last hurrah? Mega-monuments (Neolithic to Early Bronze Age transition)
• Barrow builders (Early Bronze Age)
• Flourishing metalworkers (Early–Middle Bronze Age)
• Farmers, fields and hoards (Middle Bronze Age)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Bradley, R. (2019) The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Brück, J. (2019) Personifying Prehistory: Relational Ontologies in Bronze Age Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cooney, G. (2000) Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London: Routledge
Darvill, T. (2010) Prehistoric Britain. London: Routledge

Edmonds, M. (1999) Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscapes, Monuments and Memory. London: Routledge
Ray, K. and Thomas, J. (2018) Neolithic Britain: The transformation of Social Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Thomas, J. (2013) The Birth of Neolithic Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Key words search

Neolithic; Bronze Age; prehistory; farming; monuments; Stonehenge