Conflict Archaeology is a rapidly developing sub-discipline within the traditional field of archaeology that has emerged in the last few years. It is characterised by an interdisciplinary archaeological and anthropological approach and, typically, investigates 20th-century conflict. Importantly, it involves an interpretation which considers the experience of living through conflict, and how this shapes the archaeological record in specific ways. In addition to the study of the archaeological record, Conflict Archaeology examines the legacy of war as understood and explored through heritage and material culture. It is much more than the excavation of old battlefields!
Course Dates
Course details
Tutors
Key features
Aims of the course
- To introduce students to the concept of Conflict Archaeology.
- To familiarise students with a range of case studies from the archaeology of 20th-century conflict.
- To enable students to work with and evaluate the various resources employed by archaeologists who work with 20th-century material.
Course content overview
This online course will explore many aspects of a period which lies on the edge of living memory: 20th-century warfare. Topics will include an introduction to the discipline, war memorials and memorialisation, trench art, the archaeology of military occupation, and the archaeology, commemoration and memorialisation of internment, labour and concentration camps.
Welcome week (Week 0)
Purpose:
- personal introductions
- introducing the course
- useful reading
- personal objectives
Week 1: What is Conflict Archaeology?
Week 2: The materiality of war: trench art
Week 3: The archaeology of Nazi camps
Week 4: Occupation Archaeology
Week 5: The memorialisation of war
Week 6: what next?
- assessment of student learning
- assessment of student satisfaction
- encouragement of further study
This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.
Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences.
Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course.
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours of self-study time, for example, reading materials, although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the VLE so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (using discussion boards etc).
Fees
The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes.
Concessions
For more information, please see our concessions information page.
Alison Fordham Bursary
University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses.
Application criteria:
- applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
- applicants who can demonstrate financial need
For more information, please see our bursaries information page.
A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.
