Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology

Specific skills

Knowledge

• Distinguish the main epistemological, ontological, and methodological debates in the field of archaeological theory (traditional, processual, post-processual, feminist, Marxist archaeologies). 
• To interrelate recent contributions to archaeology made from different disciplines: biology (physical anthropology and forensic archaeology, archaeofauna, archaeobotany, paleopecology), geology (archaeometry), mathematics (statistics), computer engineering (GIS, quantification) and physics (optically stimulated luminescence). 
• Identify the necessary phases in field archaeology: definition of the archaeological project, prospecting, excavation and post-excavation work, through field case studies. 
• Identify and carry out a basic classification of the different types of archaeological remains in the laboratory with collections from archaeological sites of different chronologies. 
• Describe historical processes from a critical perspective, analyzing how archaeological evidence can challenge prior knowledge. 
• Contextualize historical processes based on archaeological materials and structures, so that through the materials specific chronologies, social patterns and cultures are identified, or situations of acculturation or change. 
• Interpret specific documentary sources of archaeology (archaeological intervention reports and reports, archaeological charts, reports on the analysis of archaeological materials, plans and graphic representations of archaeological sites and materials, monographic studies, synthesis publications, specialized articles) critically. 
• Construct inclusive historical narratives that avoid androcentric and Eurocentric perspectives, incorporating content related to diversity (geographical, social and gender) into the understanding of social and historical processes.

Skills

• Develop critical thinking and reasoning in the field of archaeology in order to analyse the processes of inference and generation of archaeological information and provide their own insight.
• To present historical processes in a synthetic way, identifying the circumstances in which these processes occur and their consequences, as well as their archaeological expressions. 
• Infer specific hypotheses about past societies from material remains obtained from prospecting and/or excavation, through the ability to interpret archaeological contexts and materials historically. 
• Evaluate the potential of archaeological sites, based on the monitoring of works (emergency archaeology) or the application of remote sensing, prospecting and excavation methods (preventive or research archaeology).
• Practice the skills necessary for the management, enhancement and dissemination of the historical-archaeological heritage: identify the applicable legislation, interact with the target and potential public, recognize the necessary public or private resources, outline proposals for musealization.
• Apply the main methods, techniques and instruments of analysis in archaeology, taking into account the context and the technical, economic and human resources available
• Apply techniques for the preservation and sustainability of archaeological heritage, through basic notions of how the materials found should be treated and how to act on excavated architectural remains that may suffer from inclement weather and taphonomics.
• Associating material remains from excavation and prospecting to different periods, and knowing how to link them to known findings in a specific place through access to archives and archaeological databases of the administration.
• Use both basic and specialized digital tools in the professional practice of archaeology from the methods of graphic recording, GIS, Lidar, prospecting, cartography, statistics and 3D models of virtual reconstruction.
• To carry out effective written work or oral presentations in the field of archaeology, adapted to the appropriate register in different languages, both at an academic and informative level.

Competences

• Propose changes in the methods and processes of archaeology in order to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society. 
• Identify the social, economic and environmental impact in the past and present of historical processes and archaeological knowledge, which is mainly expressed in public archaeology and the enhancement of heritage.
• Recognize the need for ethical responsibility and respect for democratic values in the practice of archaeology, avoiding their manipulation through the application of ideological biases.
• To assess sex/gender inequalities in the field of archaeology, recognising through material culture the omission of this aspect that has occurred in written documentation.
• Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in a team in the practice of archaeology.