1
Autumn 2013 Maureen E. Marshall
SOAN/CLAS 216 OH: F 10-11am & by appt.
MWF 9-9:50am Hotchkiss 14
Hotchkiss Hall 205 [email protected]
Introduction to Archaeology
From the search for Richard III’s body to Spike TV’s controversial “Digger” TV show, we do not have to go far these days to hear news about archaeological finds. Indeed, from the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb to Schliemann’s famous excavations at Troy, archaeology has often been in the media. Yet, archaeology offers us much more than these singular sensational finds; it offers a unique window onto past worlds and human lives. What was the first empire? How did cities and states develop? What were gender relations like in the Neolithic? What did people eat in prehistoric Sub-Saharan Africa and what can cuisine tell us about Iron Age Europe? Where and when did agriculture develop? How old is beer? Wine? This course offers students an introduction to archaeology, one of anthropology’s most exciting and dynamic sub-disciplines. Students will learn about archaeology’s theoretical underpinnings, its history as a discipline, the nature and limits of its recoverable dataset, the available battery of archaeological methods, and the types of past behaviors that can, and cannot, be reconstructed by archaeological means. In class discussion we will uncover the major themes of archaeological research, as we explore the economy, society, and political organization of past cultures from the fertile crescent of Southwest Asia to the plains of North America and from the Paleolithic to our modern times. Course Objectives:
• Explore the economy, society, political organization, and daily life of past peoples • Gain familiarity archaeological theory, methods, analysis and interpretation • Understand major themes and questions in archaeological research
• Improve critical thinking and analytical skills through class discussions and written projects
Required Texts:
Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn 2012. Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice, 6th edition. New York, Thames & Hudson.
Alcock, Susan and Robin Osborne (eds). Classical Archaeology, 2nd edition. New York, Wiley-Blackwell.
All other required readings will be available on moodle in pdf documents. It is suggested that you print these out and bring them to class for discussion.
Course Requirements
Participation 10%
Exercises & Briefs 20%
Midterm 20%
Research Paper 30%
Final 20%
PARTICIPATION (attendance and active class discussion).
Students are expected to attend all class meetings, to come prepared to engage with the written materials presented, to participate fully in exercises and discussions, and to have completed all required readings listed on the syllabus for that day prior to attending class. Advance notice of unavoidable absences (e.g. illness) is required. Unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your final grade, at my discretion. Habitual absence will result in a failing grade being issued.
2
Over the course of the semester, students will conduct several guided exercises that will then be written up and submitted for a grade. Exercises may include working with materials, evaluating videos, and examining museum collections. You will also need to post 8 discussion “briefs” or questions about the readings to the moodle discussion board. You can choose what days to post based on your own schedule, but make certain that you do no run out of time! Posts are due at 10pm the evening before class and should be about the reading for that day. These posts should be short (~200 words), but clear and well thought out. You can use this space to answer the following questions: What did you find to be the most important part of the text and why? What does this article tell us about past societies? How do the authors shed light on the past (what materials do the authors’ use and how do they analyze them)? What possibilities and limits do you see with the analysis and interpretation? These responses should NOT summarize the readings. If you want, you can incorporate previous student’s posts in to your post.
RESEARCH PAPER
Lastly, you will prepare an 8-10 page research paper that addresses the themes of course by exploring a particular issue in a society, for example, the role of trade in Uruk. You may also pick a site or time period in a region if appropriate. As noted on the schedule of classes, you must select a topic by 7th week and an outline is due for peer review 11th week.
Grading Policy for Papers:
The Research and midterm papers are due in the instructor’s mailbox (digital and material) by the time and date listed in the schedule. Late papers are not accepted unless there is an exceptional circumstance. One letter grade will be deducted per calendar day for late papers. Papers should stick to stated page limits, be double-spaced in 12 point font with 1-inch margins and page-numbers, and must conform to university guidelines on source citations and plagiarism; copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures, or plugging in synonyms from a thesaurus is considered plagiarism. Your work should be independent and original. I reserve the right to request paper notes and earlier drafts of student work. For resources on avoiding unintentional plagiarism see:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
Drafts will not be accepted, but we can talk through your ideas during office hours
The following standards will be used in for the evaluation of students’ performance:
% Class Participation
(attendance, contributions, activities)
Written Work (papers, debate position paper)
100-90
Contribute in a majority of opportunities Demonstrate command of the material Answer/ask informed questions
Productive and engaging Excellent discourse style
Comprehensive presentation of the topic
89-80
Contribute in some opportunities Adequate command of the material Answer direct questions
Acceptable content Good discourse style Fair presentation of the topic
79-70
Contribute rarely
Vague familiarity with the material Inconsistent response to questions
Weak content
Problematic discourse style Limited presentation of the topic
69-60
No contributions
Poor command of the material Inattentive and/or unresponsive
Incoherent content Unacceptable discourse style No understanding of the topic
3
Schedule of Classes
Week 1: Laying out the Unit F 08/30 Introduction
Week 2: What do Archaeologists Study? M 09/02 History of Archaeology
R&B 2012 Chapter 1; Jefferson 1785 (Query XI), Layard 1849 (Ch 3, skim). W 09/04 The Nature of the Archaeological Record I: Objects
Maculay 1979, Kidder TBA, Petrie 1921 (Read 5-6, skim) R&B Ch 2(49-50, 55-70, 119)
F 09/06 The Nature of the Archaeological Record II: Contexts
Rathje and Murphy 2001 (30-52, 59-66, 71, 221-8), R&B Ch2 (50-55) *Exercise 1 due
Week 3: Understanding Sites and their Contexts M 09/09 Survey
R&B Chapter 3: 71-93; * Cherry et al. 2012, *Kvamme 2003. W 09/11 Archaeological Excavation
R&B Chapter 3: 93-118, Simms et al. 2012. F 09/13 Principles of Dating & Chronology
R&B Chapter 4: 121-156, skim 157-166; * Harris 1979, *Childe 1944 (7-24) Week 4: Analyzing materials, Interpreting the Past
M 09/16 Archaeological Analysis
Barnard et al. 2011, Roberts et al. 2013, Peuramaki-Brown 2012. W 09/18 Interpretation
R&B Chapter 12: 463-492, Falconer 2013 F 09/20 Exercise 2 - Materials
Week 5: A Long, Long Time Ago… M 09/23 The Paleolithic
*Bar-Yosef 1998, Leroi-Goarhan 1982, R&B 386-7, 308-24 http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/02_00.xml
W 09/25 The Natufian
Munro 2004, Byrd 1989 (skim), Hayden et al. 2013 (skim). F 09/27 The Neolithic Revolution
4 Week 6: The Neolithic, the Chalcolithic, and ‘Complexity’ M 09/30 The Neolithic – Çatalhöyük
Hodder 2007, Hodder 2005, Hodder and Meskell 2011 (skim) http://www.catalhoyuk.com/history.html
W 10/02 The Chalcolithic & Complexity
Earle 1987, Yoffee 1993, * Matthews 2003 (93-126) F 10/04 The Uruk Debate
Algaze 2001, Stein 2002 Week 7: From States to Empires
M 10/07 Mesopotamian States: Akkad, Sumer
Weiss and Courty 1993, Baasgard 2011, * Matthews 2003 (127-154) W 10/09 The Old Assyrian Trading Network: The karum at Kültepe-Kanesh
Kuhrt 1995 (74-95), Danbez 2005
F 10/11 Empires & Warfare: The Battle of Kadesh (Qadesh)
Weingartner 2010, Liesegang 2013, Santosuosso 1996, * Sagona and Zimansky 2009 Ch 7 (253-90) Week 8: From Bronze to Iron: Into the Classical World
M 10/14 Collapse?
Drews 1992 (3-7, 97-103 209-226), Yoffee 2010 W 10/16 Classical Archaeology
Squire 2012 (A&O Ch 11); *Hamilakis 2013
F 10/18 MIDTERM
Week 9: Ancient Greece
M 10/21 FALL BREAK: NO CLASS
W 10/23 Greece I: Pottery and Society
Snodgrass 2012 (A&O Ch 1:13-29), Topper 2009
*Oakley 2009, *Katzmueller 2009, *Popkin 2012, *Vogeikoff-Brogan 2000 F 10/25 Exercise 3: Art Institute
Week 10: Ancient Greece & Rome
M 10/28 Greece II: Public Spaces and Identity
Hölscher 2012. (A&O Ch 5 170-86), Hall 2012 (A&O Ch 9 350-67*), *Jordan 2000 W 10/30 Rome I: Overview & Founding
Millet 2012 (A&O Ch1: 30-50), *Fentress and Guidi 1999 F 11/1 Rome II: Politics & Empire
5 Week 11: Eurasia – Other Roads
M 11/04 Between the Steppe and the Sown: The Caucasus in the Bronze and Iron Ages Kohl 2009 Ch3 57-121 (86-101)
W 11/06 Nomads/Warriors/Indo-Europeans Anthony 2007 (Ch 13, 15, 16*), Stark 2012
*Kohl 2009 (126-66), *Houle 2009, *Koryakova and Epimakhov 2007 (Ch 9: 316-338). F 11/08 The Silk Road
Waugh 2010, Hansen 2012 (112-139), Mair 2010 Week 12: Another Shore
M 11/11 Southeast Asia
Higham 2012, Harclow et al. 2013, Stone 2006 W 11/13 The Inka I: Politics of State Formation and Empire
Bauer and Covey 2002, *Wernke 2006, *D’Altroy et al. 2000 F 11/15 The Inka II: Mummies, Movement, and Monuments
Andrushko et al. 2011, Turner et al. 2013, *Turner et al. 2009, *Silverman 2002 Week 13: North America Prehistory
M 11/18 Cahokia & Midwest
Milner 2006 (*1-25), Schroeder 2004, * Pauketat et al. 2002
W 11/20 Chaco Canyon
Lekson 2006, *Mills 2002
F 11/22 Exercise 4: The Field Museum
Week 14: Colonial Encounters – Africa & North America M 11/25 Creolization/Hybridity/Ethnogenesis
Sillman 2005, Mullins and Paytner 2000; * Dawdy 2000, *Dawdy and Weyhing 2008, *Dawdy 2010 W 11/27 Africa & the Atlantic
Richard 2010, Monroe 2007
*Nast 1996, *Apoh 2013, *Monroe 2011, *Richard 2013, *Stahl 1999, *Stahl 1994, *Lane 2011 RESEARCH PAPER DUE
F 11/29 THANKSGIVING – NO CLASS!
Week 15: Historical Archaeology & the ‘Recent’ Past
M 12/2 Modernity & Worlds’ Fairs: Guest Lecturer, Dr. Rebecca Graff Graff 2012, Graff 2011
W 12/4 Excavating Race
6 F 12/6 Modern Material Culture Studies
De León 2012 Week 14: Backfilling
M 12/9 Project Presentations & Course Review Exercise (Map) 5 due
W 12/11 READING PERIOD: NO CLASS
Finals Week
