Key issues in Australian archaeology are examined through a critique of the presented data and an understanding of the context and structure of the debates concerning those issues. Students are asked to undertake critical evaluations of original source material in investigating each issue. Students are asked to undertake critical evaluations of original source material, and contextualize key archaeological issues within wider social perspectives and policy frameworks when investigating selected issues.

Students taking the Masters in Archaeological Science program may undertake professional practice or design internships within this course, or develop field programs of training as personal research projects (PRPs) within this course. Such options may be taught by flexible delivery, and include supervised training in projects located in remote parts of Australia and adjacent areas.  

PRP topics may bridge across natural, cultural and social science policy issues eg conservation of archaeological sites in relation to requirements of key stakeholders or in relation to environmental issues such as salinity, river floodplain management, soil erosion, climate change,  predicted sea level rise,  and storm impacts on shorelines.

• Relate and critically examine key issues in Australian archaeology from an international cross-comparative perspective.
• Contextualise the global impacts of archaeological research in Australia and the region on shifts in archaeological method and theory over the last fifty years.
• When undertaken flexibly as PRPs the course will a) equip students with the necessary skills to define and articulate the significance of specific archaeological data within local. regional and international policy frameworks and b) relate this issues clearly through written delivery and public presentation.