The archaeology of ritual and religion in Iron Age Britain

Aims of the course:

1. To familiarise participants with the recent developments in the archaeology of Iron Age Britain.
2. To introduce participants to the critical questions raised by the study of ritual and religion during the Iron Age.
3. To help participants evaluate some of the key debates in Iron Age studies.
4. To enable participants to understand aspects of life and death in the Iron Age.

Course content overview:

This course will be primarily concerned with introducing participants to how and why ritual took place in the Iron Age, which provides a lens for looking at the key themes of daily life and death in the Iron Age, focusing on southern Britain.

The course will begin with an introduction to the problematic concept of 'ritual' and will seek to explore precisely what archaeologists mean by it. We will also consider the radical changes in interpretation of the Iron Age in the early 1990's, when considerations of ritual moved to a central place in understanding the period.

From here we launch our discovery of Iron Age Britain by starting with hillforts, that most visible and well known of Iron Age monuments. We consider various models of interpretation and how they have been influenced by the biographies and personalities of archaeologists who have excavated them.

Next we will examine some of the structures that are found within Iron Age settlements, including houses and shrines. We will be asking to what extent they were structured and oriented according to ritual and cosmological considerations. As part of this session we will look at Iron Age pits - now known to be an important key to understanding rituals in Iron Age society.

In our next stage of exploration of the Iron Age, we focus our attention on Lindow Man, one of the so-called 'bog bodies' of preserved corpses that have been found in bogs across northern Europe. We seek to understand him in comparison with other bog bodies found elsewhere in Europe, and we consider how they should be displayed in museums.

In our final session, we begin to feel the first hints of the encroachment of the Roman world as we head to the later Iron Age and the consideration of changing rituals in this period. We examine the story of the conquest of Britain and how this impacted native ritual and religious belief and consider whether there is any evidence that the 'druids', that most well-knowen of all Iron Age figures, really existed.

Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):

Orientation Week: 27 February-5 March 2017

Teaching Weeks: 6 March-9 April 2017

Feedback Week: 10-16 April 2017

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 reading material, etc., 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 Virtual Learning Environment (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 (discussion boards,etc).

A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.

What our students say - February 2015

"It has really crystallised by knowledge of the Iron Age and given me many avenues to explore and learn more"

Try a free 'taster' version of our online courses >>

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 in order to get the maximum benefit from the course.