UG EL Electives

Cultural Heritage and Information in the Field (BBED6796)

Project Details

Archaeologists study past cultures through the careful recording of the surveyed or excavated remains of ancient architecture and artifacts. In this class, students will travel to Armenia to participate in summer fieldwork, where they will be exposed to archaeological methods and theories, the digital humanities, and information management in the field. Students will help with digging and digital data collection, and experiment with cutting-edge technologies such as 3D scanning, cloud computing, and high-precision GPS. Students will learn to excavate and will help lead excavation and recording with a team. This work is contextualised by a critical evaluation of current issues in cultural heritage and data sharing. Discussion will also focus on teaching the past and engaging the public in archaeology and tourism. Several fieldtrips to local sites will provide broad familiarity with the past in Armenia and the Near East. Pre-trip meetings prepare students for the field summer programme.

This course introduces foundational archaeological and cultural heritage theories and methods together with a basic outline of the past in the ancient Near East. Students will learn to excavate an archaeological site while participating in teamwork. The class will provide an international context for learning the interdisciplinary information practices used to study the past. Students will be exposed to innovative digital methods for recording and working with cultural heritage, while they learn how cultural heritage impacts contemporary society.

In the case where travel abroad is restricted, students will instead learn about information management and archaeology through undertaking online remote projects involving real archeological data.

Date

  • Semester 2, 2022-23
    • Spring 2023
      • This class will meet three times in the spring on the HKU campus, scheduled according to the availability of the students.  Through brief lectures, these meetings will introduce the basics of cultural heritage and archaeological methods and theories, as well as the history of the ancient Near East and Armenia. The students will need to prepare examples of 3D modeling using photogrammetry. We will discuss these models in the meetings in order to improve student skillsets.
    • Summer 2023
      • The main class will occur over a month in the summer and will take place in Armenia, at the fieldwork site. For logistical reasons, the class will be broken into two groups of students, each traveling to Armenia at different times. The weekly schedules will be the same for both groups, the only difference is that the second group will continue the excavations begun by the first group, and thus uncover and analyse additional data.
      • The students will participate in the project during all weekdays and have weekends off. A typical weekday begins with excavation at the Vedi Fortress site. Students will take turns digging and managing the digital data collection activities that capture what has been dug. The students will work in partnership with local Armenian laborers to facilitate the digging tasks. In the afternoons, students will work with the objects that were uncovered during digging. Some afternoons, a group will drive to different places in the landscape to hike around and search for new sites. Time will be set aside some afternoons to have discussions about the readings or to taking field trips to nearby archaeological sites. Students will be responsible for all their own expenses to participate in this project.
  • In the case where travel abroad is restricted, students will instead learn about information management and archaeology through undertaking online remote projects involving real archaeological data.

Location

Armenia (In the case where travel abroad is restricted, students will instead learn about information management and archaeology through undertaking online remote projects involving real archaeological data.)

Eligibility

Students from all UG programmes

(No. of places: 30)

Application

Register BBED6796 Cultural Heritage and Information in the Field via SIS. Students will earn 6 credits after successful completion of the course.

Application Deadline

Online course add/drop period in Semester 2, 2022-23

Remarks

All Experiential Learning courses offered by the Faculty of Education adopt PASS/FAIL grading basis.

Enquiries

Dr Peter Cobb (Email: pcobb@hku.hk)