• Offered by School of Archaeology and Anthropology
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Course subject Archaeology
  • Areas of interest Archaeology, Classics and Ancient History, Film, Heritage Studies
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Mathieu Leclerc
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Offered in First Semester 2024
    See Future Offerings

From Indiana Jones to Agatha Christie, archaeology and archaeologists are disproportionately well represented in big budget films, and are recurrent subjects in some genres of fictional writing. This course focuses on ideas of archaeology presented in popular culture and will appeal to archaeologically-interested students of film, anthropology, and literature, as well as archaeology students. It is a course in archaeology that deals with the depictions of archaeology by and for non-archaeologists and the implications of those depictions; and it looks at the insights that film and fiction dealing with archaeology might provide about the operation of popular culture. Lectures include film and film commentary.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. identify the themes in the depiction of archaeology across a range of media;
  2. identify and analyse the imaginative appeal of archaeology;
  3. critique and analyse the role representations that archaeology/archaeologists play in authorising various dominant and popular historical and cultural narratives;
  4. identify and analyse the ways in which depictions of archaeology are used to propagate and authorise ethnocentric and gendered understandings of the past; and
  5. analyse the inter-relationship between archaeological practice and its representation in film and other media.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Oral presentation,10 minutes (5) [LO 1,2]
  2. Presentation Summary, 1 page (5) [LO 1,2]
  3. Tutorial portfolio (25) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  4. Film/other media review, 1000 words (25) [LO 1,2,3]
  5. Essay, 2500 words (40) [LO 4,5]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

130 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 46 hours of contact: 12 hours of lectures, 12 hours of discussion seminar and 22 hours of film screening; and
b) 84 hours of independent student research, reading and writing

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Prescribed Texts

None

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
14
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2024 $4080
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2024 $5280
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

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The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

First Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
2975 19 Feb 2024 26 Feb 2024 05 Apr 2024 24 May 2024 In Person View

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