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I would agree that different intakes of students come with different expectations. I've been brought in for a term's worth of zooarch practicals at a different institution because this particular group of students wanted more practical experience handling bones and learning identification, rather than the more esoteric lab work for isotopes & aDNA. These students actually want to work in the commercial sector as zooarchaeologists (I am trying to tell them the grim realities!) and feel that the MSc is not quite the preparation for this that they need and expected.
What is sadly missing these days is the opportunity to prep skeles from dead bodies because of H&S biohazard concerns. Back in the day, I used to run unofficial after hours sessions to deflesh new specimens for the reference collection, which were popular because of the Ugh! factor. We also used to cut up a sheep or goat carcase on my smallholding, with flints, for a barbecue. I still have former students who vividly remember these experiences as course highlights. My favourite was the vegetarian girl who was enthralled to remove the eyeball from a sheep's head with a flint.
I have been astonished by the recent interest in prepped skeles I have for sale at the cheap and cheerful end of the market. It would appear that my cast offs are an improvement for several teaching institutions, not just in UK. My concern is, who are we training to supply this market when I finally give up. It's not just at university level. I learnt the basics doing dissections for O level Biology, which no longer appears to be the case.
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Umberto Albarella <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 19 March 2019 21:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] zooarchaeology options at masters levelDear Zooarchers,
as many of you will know, about eight years ago we created a masters programme in Sheffield that would allow students to be trained in the study of animal and human bones (and we were certainly not the first or only to do so).
I do believe that the double animal/human expertise can be very valuable and I think it is often required in the archaeology professional world. However, recently I had a couple of enquires from students who - for a variety of reasons - wanted to be trained in zooarchaeology but did not especially want to study human bones. This made me think that what I had probably treaded as obvious may have not been so; namely, that it was possible to train just in zooarchaeology by choosing another masters course, which would still allow you the opportunity to attend no less than four specialised zooarchaeology modules (Archaeozoology; Advanced Zooarchaeology; The History of the Human-Animal Relationship; Osteoarchaeological Assemblage Analysis)
This could be done by choosing one of the following two programmes (the second will also involve some archaeobotany and geoarchaeology):
I would therefore be grateful if you could clarify the situation with any potential students.
I still think that the animal/human combination is a good one, but different people have different interests and they should be aware that alternatives are possible.
I'd also like to take the opportunity to let people know that, from this year, the programme offers the possibility to choose between three different types of dissertations: standard, journal paper style, and work placement.
Finally, please let me reiterate a point I am never tired to repeat. Far from wanting to promote our programmes above others, we are well aware that it is possible to study zooarchaeology at excellent level in many other universities. I won't mention specific institutions for the fear of leaving somebody out, but they are largely well-known
Thank you and best wishes,Umberto
--
Umberto Albarella
Department of Archaeology
University of Sheffield
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield S1 3NJUnited Kingdom
Telephone: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943
Fax: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 25 109
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/people/albarellaFor MSc in Osteoarchaeology see:For Zooarchaeology short courses see:
Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology:
"No one has the right to obey"
Hannah Arendt
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