COURSE UNIT TITLE

: GEOARCHAEOLOGY

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
MTS 3040 GEOARCHAEOLOGY ELECTIVE 2 0 0 3

Offered By

Faculty of Engineering

Level of Course Unit

First Cycle Programmes (Bachelor's Degree)

Course Coordinator

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ÖKMEN SÜMER

Offered to

Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering (Evening)
Faculty of Engineering
Geophysical Engineering
Mining Engineering
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering (Evening)
Geological Engineering

Course Objective

To raise awareness of engineering students intellectually by enhancing their engineering skills in a geological framework with a new field of science such as Geoarchaeology.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   To be able to take a chronological approach within the framework of archaeological and geological concept.
2   To be able to use basic geological terms in archaeological research and evaluation of findings.
3   To establish the relationship between geological formations used in archaeological architecture and materials.
4   To be able to understand archaeometric methods (dating, provenance analysis, sedimentology and soil chemistry, archaeoseismology, archaeovolcanology, archaeogeophysics and archaeogeographic approaches).
5   To be able to evaluate natural and earth science origin (earthquake, climate, volcano, flood and landslide) events in archaeological perspective.
6   Having information about the latest Geoarchaeology applications used in the World and Türkiye.
7   Having idea on their relationships and importance by collating cultural, historical, ecological and earth science subjects together.
8   Expressing yourself, using communication skills effectively, understanding the importance of teamwork.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 General introduction of the course and, given the course materials and presentation related to the main and auxiliary references/resources to be used.
2 Giving general archaeological concepts, emphasizing their relationship with earth science.
3 Giving basic geological concepts used in Geoarchaeology.
4 Definition and introduction of earth science archaeometric methods with examples.
5 Conveying natural and earth science origin (earthquake, climate, volcano, flood and landslide) events, and their importance for archaeology and geoarchaeology.
6 Conveying recent/current geoarchaeology studies both Türkiye and Worldwide.
7 Mid-Term exam
8 Illumination and narratives on main subjects; Separating students for teamwork and distributing relevant Geoarchaeology topics to groups. After this week, the groups will start to present their presentations week by week, based on the topics they receive.
9 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation focusing on properties of geological formations used in archaeological architecture and materials.
10 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation focusing on Geoarchaeological works conducted for archaeoseismological and archaeovolcanological studies.
11 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation focusing on Geoarchaeological works conducted for Archaeogeophysical studies.
12 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation related in Geoarchaeological works conducted for geochemical studies.
13 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation related in Geoarchaeological works focusing to archaeogeographic approaches.
14 All topics covered in the lecture are summarized to students in the light of feedback in their teamwork presentations. The awareness level of students is increased at this point by emphasizing the relations of cultural, historical, ecological and structural geological issues with each other.
15 Final exam

Recomended or Required Reading

Gilbert, A. S., Goldberg, P., Holliday, V. T., Mandel, R. D., & Sternberg, R. S. (2017). Encyclopedia of geoarchaeology. Springer: New York, 1046 p.

Garrison, E. (2016). Techniques in Archaeological Geology, 2nd. Edition, Springer-Verlag: Berlin Heidlherg, 344 p.

Canti, M., Corcoran, J. (2015). Geoarchaeology: Using Earth Sciences to Understand the Archaeological Record, Historic England, 60 p.

Rapp, G. R., Hill, C. L., & Hill, M. C. L. (2006). Geoarchaeology: the earth-science approach to archaeological interpretation. 2nd. Edition, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 339 p.

Goldberg, P., & Macphail, R. I. (2006). Practical and theoretical geoarchaeology. Blackwell publishing: Oxford, 454 p.

Pollard, A. M. (Eds.). (1999). Geoarchaeology: exploration, environments, resources. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 165, Brassmill Lane: UK, 180 p.

Kayan, I. (2002). Arkeoloji, Jeoloji, Coğrafya; Yeni Bir Yaklaşım: Jeoarkeoloji. Toplumsal Tarih, 18/101, 64-66.

Waters, R. (1992). Principles of geoarchaeology: A North American perspective. University of Arizona Press: Tuscon, 401 p.

Leute, U. (1987). Archaeometry: an introduction to physical methods in archaeology and the history of art. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft: Canada, 176 p.

Geoarchaeology, SCI Journal, Online ISSN:1520-6548, Wiley Online Library, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15206548

Other course materials: Seven presentations prepared for the course (the first 6 weeks and for the last week). Geoarchaeology works in Türkiye and worldwide and related current scientific publications will be produced in future.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

1. Lesson / Presentation
2. Teamwork Homework / Assignments will be submitted as a presentation and will be presented by the group in the related course.
3. Document and resource open assessment exam

Geological and archaeological terms and basic concepts used in Geoarchaeology are presented to the student through presentations within the framework of learning outcomes with face-to-face and / or distance learning system. Archaeoseismological studies in certain archaeological sites will be distributed to students as a teamwork concept, and then these related subjects will be provided as a presentation in the course for each week. General knowledge of the student and the level of contribution received from the course will be measured by document and resource open assessment exam.

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 MTE MIDTERM EXAM
2 ASG ASSIGNMENT
3 FIN FINAL EXAM
4 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE MTE * 0.25 + ASG * 0.25 + FIN * 0.50
5 RST RESIT
6 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE * 0.25 + ASG * 0.25 + RST * 0.50


*** Resit Exam is Not Administered in Institutions Where Resit is not Applicable.

Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

With the feedback received from the teamwork presentation, an assignment score is determined by both among the students themselves (50%) and the course coordinator (50%). The team presentations will be delivered at the end of the related course.

Mid-Term and Final / Makeup exams are evaluated by using gap-filling (%10), true/false (%10), pairing (%10), multiple-choice questions (% 20), with open-ended problem solving questions (% 50) methods.

Language of Instruction

Turkish

Course Policies and Rules

Participating in teamwork is essential.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ökmen Sümer; okmen.sumer@deu.edu.tr / 0 232 301 73 53

Office Hours

It will be announced after the lesson plan of the related semester is completed.

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 13 2 26
Preparations before/after weekly lectures 12 2 24
Preparation for midterm exam 1 5 5
Preparation for final exam 1 10 10
Preparing presentations 1 6 6
Midterm 1 2 2
Final 1 2 2
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 75

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12PO.13PO.14PO.15
LO.1
LO.2
LO.3
LO.4
LO.5
LO.6214
LO.744
LO.84