Results for ARCHLGY

Aims, methods, and data in the study of human society's development from early hunters through late prehistoric civilizations. Archaeological sites and remains characteristic of the stages of cultural development for selected geographic areas, emphasizing methods of data collection and analysis appropriate to each.

The Roman town of Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E., provides information about the art and archaeology of ancient social life, urban technology and production, and ancient spatial patterns and experience. Its fame illustrates modern relationships to the ancient past, from Pompeii's importance on the Grand Tour, to plaster casts of vaporized bodies, to debates about reconstruction, preservation, and archaeological methods.

Introduction to the archaeology of the ancient Roman empire. From Rome to Pompeii, Masada to Vindolanda, we look at Roman warfare and imperialism, cities and religion, households and everyday life. Key themes include the interactions of social structure with built space and objects. Students will learn to analyze archaeological evidence, evaluate arguments, explore political uses of the ancient past, and draw on material data to built broader insights.

Opportunity for students to pursue their specialization in an institutional setting such as a laboratory, clinic, research institute, or government agency. May be repeated for credit.

Methodological issues related to the investigation of archaeological sites and objects. Aims and techniques of archaeologists including: location and excavation of sites; dating of places and objects; analysis of artifacts and technology and the study of ancient people, plants, and animals. How these methods are employed to answer the discipline's larger research questions.

The development of high civilizations in Andean S. America from hunter-gatherer origins to the powerful, expansive Inca empire. The contrasting ecologies of coast, sierra, and jungle areas of early Peruvian societies from 12,000 to 2,000 B.C.E. The domestication of indigenous plants which provided the economic foundation for monumental cities, ceramics, and textiles. Cultural evolution, and why and how major transformations occurred.

Introduction to the history of archaeology and the forms that the discipline takes today, emphasizing developments and debates over the past five decades. Historical overview of culture, historical, processual and post-processual archaeology, and topics that illustrate the differences and similarities in these theoretical approaches.

This course explores the emergence of heritage from within the broader field of modern historical thought. Readings explore how transformations in economic theory and changes in traditional philosophies of history have shaped how the historical event and historical figures are cast and recast within heritage. The distinctive modes by which archaeological sites and heritage sites are spatialized, linked and narrated are explored as these relate to corresponding turns in the modern concepts of freedom, inequality, personhood, sovereignty, community and culture.

Practical, theoretical, and ethical issues which face museums and collections. Practical collections-based work, museum visits, and display research. The roles of the museum in contemporary society. Students develop their own exhibition and engage with the issues surrounding the preservation of material culture.

Academic, contract, government, field, laboratory, museum, and heritage aspects of the profession.

Catalhoyuk as a case study to understand prehistoric social life during the Neolithic in Anatolia and the Near East. Developments in agriculture, animal domestication, material technology, trade, art, religion, skull cults, architecture, and burial practices. Literature specific to Catalhoyuk and other excavations throughout the Anatolian and Levantine regions to gain a perspective on diversity and variability throughout the Neolithic. The reflexive methodology used to excavate Catalhoyuk, and responsibilities of excavators to engage with larger global audiences of interested persons and stakeholders.

Introduces processes of cultural evolution from the Paleolithic to the Three Dynasties in China. By examining archaeological remains, ancient inscriptions, and traditional texts, four major topics will be discussed: origins of modern humans, beginnings of agriculture, development of social stratification, and emergence of states and urbanism.

Roman monumental space was designed to impress. This class will explore the interrelated aesthetics and mechanics of construction that led to one of the most extensive building programs undertaken by a pre-modern state. Through case studies ranging from bridges, domes and machines to road networks, hydraulic engineering and landscape modification, we will investigate not only the materials, methods, and knowledge behind Roman architectural innovation, but the communication of imperial messages through aesthetics of space.

As regularly noted, whether historic or pre-historic, animal bones are often the most commonly occurring artefacts on archaeological sites. As bioarchaeological samples, they offer the archaeologist an insight into food culture, provisioning, trade and the social aspects of human-animal interactions. The course will be taught through both practical and lecture sessions: the `hands-on¿ component is an essential complement to the lectures. The lectures will offer grounding in the main methodological approaches developed, as well as provide case-studies to illustrate where and how the methods have been applied. The practical session will walk students through the skeletal anatomy of a range of species. It will guide students on the identification of different parts of the animal, how to age / sex individuals, as well as recognize taphonomic indicators and what these mean to reconstructing post-depositional modifications.

Fossil, genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that modern humans began to disperse out of Africa about 50,000 years ago. Subsequently, humans have colonized every major landmass on earth. This class introduces students to the data and issues regarding human dispersal, migration and colonization of continents and islands around the world. We explore problems related to the timing and cause of colonizing events, and investigate questions about changing patterns of land use, demography and consumption. Students are introduced to critical relationships between prehistoric population changes and our contemporary environmental crisis.

Due to the dominance of pottery in the archaeological record for the past 10,000 years, its analysis has attracted a great deal of research attention, making it imperative that all archaeologists have at least a working knowledge of ceramics. This course provides classroom and laboratory perspectives for understanding the information about ancient society, economy, and culture that can be plausibly derived from pottery and the visual, structural, and compositional methods that best help obtain that information.

This course explores many aspects of food in human history from an archaeological perspective. We will discuss how the origins of agriculture helped to transform human society; how food and feasting played a prominent role in the emergence of social hierarchies and the development of civilization; and how various foodways influenced particular cultures. We will also conduct experimental studies to understand how certain methods of food procurement, preparation, and consumption can be recovered archaeologically.

Practicum applying a variety of survey techniques to discover, map, and record archaeological sites. Basic cartographic skills for archaeologists and an introduction to GIS tools, GPS instruments, and geophysical techniques. Participants should be able to walk 3 - 4 miles over uneven terrain or make special arrangements with the instructor for transportation.

Archaeobotany, also known as paleoethnobotany, is the study of the interrelationships of plants and humans through the archaeological record. Knowledge and understanding of Archaeobotany sufficient to interpret, evaluate, and understand archaeobotanical data. Dominant approaches in the study of archaeobotanical remains: plant macro-remains, pollen, phytoliths, and starch grains in the identification of diet and environmental reconstruction.

Archaeological studies in contemporary East Asia share a common concern, to contribute to building a national narrative and cultural identity. This course focuses on case studies from China, Korea, and Japan, examining the influence of particular social-political contexts, such as nationalism, on the practice of archaeology in modern times.

While Classical archaeology engages with material remains from the Greco-Roman past, it is embedded within and inseparable from contemporary practice. Through an examination of case studies, legal statutes, professional codes, and disciplinary practices, this seminar discusses ethical dilemmas raised by Classical archaeology in the 21st century. We will focus on broad issues ranging from ownership, looting, reconstruction, and collecting to nationalism, religion, tourism, and media, with an eye toward defining ethical ¿best practices¿ for Classical archaeology.

Why do we care about shipwrecks? What can sunken sites tell us about our past? Focusing primarily on the archaeological record of shipwrecks and harbors, along with literary evidence and contemporary theory, this course examines how and why ancient mariners crossed the ¿wine-dark seas¿ for travel, warfare, pilgrimage, and especially commerce. We will explore interdisciplinary approaches to the development of maritime contacts and communication from the Bronze Age through the Roman era, engaging also with practical techniques of underwater archaeology.

Students conducting independent study and or research with archaeology faculty members.

Independent study with honors faculty adviser.

Due to the dominance of pottery in the archaeological record for the past 10,000 years, its analysis has attracted a great deal of research attention, making it imperative that all archaeologists have at least a working knowledge of ceramics. This course provides classroom and laboratory perspectives for understanding the information about ancient society, economy, and culture that can be plausibly derived from pottery and the visual, structural, and compositional methods that best help obtain that information.

This course explores many aspects of food in human history from an archaeological perspective. We will discuss how the origins of agriculture helped to transform human society; how food and feasting played a prominent role in the emergence of social hierarchies and the development of civilization; and how various foodways influenced particular cultures. We will also conduct experimental studies to understand how certain methods of food procurement, preparation, and consumption can be recovered archaeologically.

Practicum applying a variety of survey techniques to discover, map, and record archaeological sites. Basic cartographic skills for archaeologists and an introduction to GIS tools, GPS instruments, and geophysical techniques. Participants should be able to walk 3 - 4 miles over uneven terrain or make special arrangements with the instructor for transportation.

Archaeobotany, also known as paleoethnobotany, is the study of the interrelationships of plants and humans through the archaeological record. Knowledge and understanding of Archaeobotany sufficient to interpret, evaluate, and understand archaeobotanical data. Dominant approaches in the study of archaeobotanical remains: plant macro-remains, pollen, phytoliths, and starch grains in the identification of diet and environmental reconstruction.

Archaeological studies in contemporary East Asia share a common concern, to contribute to building a national narrative and cultural identity. This course focuses on case studies from China, Korea, and Japan, examining the influence of particular social-political contexts, such as nationalism, on the practice of archaeology in modern times.

nnINDEPENDENT STUDY/RESEARCH

Practical, theoretical, and ethical issues which face museums and collections. Practical collections-based work, museum visits, and display research. The roles of the museum in contemporary society. Students develop their own exhibition and engage with the issues surrounding the preservation of material culture.

Exchange was everywhere in the Mediterranean, from the individual household to the state. Yet the specific models by which goods changed hands were as varied as the ideas and values that moved alongside them. This seminar will explore theoretical approaches to commercial and non-commercial exchange, drawing primarily on the crucial but uneven bodies of archaeological evidence and historical sources in an effort to investigate the simple but hardly straightforward question of how business was undertaken in the Greco-Roman world.

This seminar explores how we can use archaeological sources to build models of Graeco-Roman antiquity. A model is defined as a systematic and schematic representation of the way the ancient world worked, and particularly by using social and cultural theory. We will take in classic works of Marx and Weber, as well as contemporary approaches. A key objective is for class members to connect this most important aspect of social science to their own research project.

The archaeological study of Roman slavery has been severely limited by a focus on identifying the traces of slaves in the material record. This seminar explores a range of newer and more broadly conceived approaches to understanding slavery and slaves' experiences, including spatial analysis, bioarchaeology, epigraphy, visual imagery, and comparative archaeologies of slavery. Students will learn about the current state of research, work with different kinds of evidence and a range of methodologies, and develop original research projects of their own.

The conceptualization of dissertation research problems, the theories behind them, and the methods for exploring them. Participants draft a research prospectus suitable for a dissertation proposal and research grant applications. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

This interdisciplinary research workshop will critically engage the issue of the growing currency of human rights discourse within cultural heritage. Epistemological and practical areas of tension between rights discourse and cultural discourse will be surveyed within the context of current global challenges facing heritage practice, conservation and archaeology. Topics will include the inequities of cultural recognition between North-South globalizations, questions of cultural property and rights, the role of tourism, and the impact of environmental conservation discourse on cultural rights.

The practice of historical archaeology through methodologies including archival research, oral history, material culture analysis, and archaeological excavation. Students use these methods to analyze the history and archaeology of a local park, the Thornewood Open Space Preserve.

Early China from the perspective of material remains unearthed from archaeological sites; the development of Chinese culture from early hominid occupation nearly 2 million years ago through the development of agriculture in the Neolithic period and complex society in the Bronze Age to the political unification of China under the Qin Dynasty. Continuity of Chinese culture from past to present, history of Chinese archaeology, relationships between archaeology and politics, and food in early China.

This course deals with the skeletal biology of past populations, covering both the theoretical approaches and methods used in the study of skeletal and dental remains. Issues surrounding the reconstruction of the individual and population, which include age, sex and other paleodemographic factors, will be explored. The health and disease of teeth and bones, and the biomechanical and chemical analyses of bone will also be explored to illustrate how the variety of methods available to bioarchaeologists can be used to reconstruct past lifeways. While this course will be of primary interest to students interested in skeletal biology and archaeology, it is not exclusive to those pursuing careers in biological anthropology. The emphasis is on critical analysis, research skills, and communication skills that can be useful to students pursuing careers in other sub-disciplines of anthropology, laboratory research, or other lateral health-related fields. Required readings will be selected from current literature, and in some classes there will be practical material/exercises so that students can learn some of these techniques. The class is intended to be an interactive learning process in discussion format, and students are required to take an active part in class along with lectures.

This seminar will explore foundational concepts currently employed within heritage practice and debates. Readings will examine the historically formative context of colonial-era and nationalist discourses on stewardship and culture, as well as postcolonial reformulations of such concepts as cultural property, cultural recognition and public history. The seminar will engage the question of the relationship between foundational concepts and the current cosmopolitan and internationalist vision for heritage, probing the enduring dynamics of North-South divides in heritage development and archaeological practice.

How have ethnographic and archaeological methods been combined in anthropological research? What methodological and theoretical implications do these kinds of projects generate? Seminar topics will include ethnoarchaeology, ethnographies of archaeological practice, public archaeology and heritage ethics. Lecture and discussion.

This course provides a survey of Aegean prehistory (7th-2nd millennium BC), focusing on traditions that were picked up or renegotiated, instead of taking a standpoint that evaluates phenomena as steps leading up to a `state-like¿ `palatial¿ society. It will draw on the region¿s wealth of data, and will be set within a theoretically informed, problem-oriented framework, aiming to introduce students to current interpretations and debates, mainly through discussion of specific case-studies.

This course provides an introductory survey of Africa¿s past from prehistoric times through the 19th-century. The course will challenge Western depictions of Africa as a dark continent `without history¿ by highlighting the continent¿s vibrant cultures, sophisticated technologies, complex political systems and participation in far-reaching commercial networks, all predating European colonization. In tandem, the course explores how these histories are mobilized in the production of negative ideas about Africa in contemporary discourse.

New trends in Roman numismatics (from the late Republic to the early Empire, 3rd-c. BCE-1st-c. CE). Archaeology from coins. Barter, money, and coinage. The introduction of coinage in Rome and the provinces. Making money (coin production), using money (monetary, non-monetary and ritual uses), losing money (coin circulation, hoards, single finds): contextual interpretations. Monetary systems: coins from Rome and coins from the provinces. Coinage and identity. False coinage.

The analysis and interpretation of ceramic remains allow archaeologists to accomplish varied ends: establish a time scale, document interconnections between different areas, and suggest what activities were carried out at particular sites. The techniques and theories used to bridge the gap between the recovery of ceramics and their interpretation within archaeological contexts is the focus of this seminar.

This interdisciplinary research workshop will critically engage the issue of the growing currency of human rights discourse within cultural heritage. Epistemological and practical areas of tension between rights discourse and cultural discourse will be surveyed within the context of current global challenges facing heritage practice, conservation and archaeology. Topics will include the inequities of cultural recognition between North-South globalizations, questions of cultural property and rights, the role of tourism, and the impact of environmental conservation discourse on cultural rights.

This course deals with the skeletal biology of past populations, covering both the theoretical approaches and methods used in the study of skeletal and dental remains. Issues surrounding the reconstruction of the individual and population, which include age, sex and other paleodemographic factors, will be explored. The health and disease of teeth and bones, and the biomechanical and chemical analyses of bone will also be explored to illustrate how the variety of methods available to bioarchaeologists can be used to reconstruct past lifeways. While this course will be of primary interest to students interested in skeletal biology and archaeology, it is not exclusive to those pursuing careers in biological anthropology. The emphasis is on critical analysis, research skills, and communication skills that can be useful to students pursuing careers in other sub-disciplines of anthropology, laboratory research, or other lateral health-related fields. Required readings will be selected from current literature, and in some classes there will be practical material/exercises so that students can learn some of these techniques. The class is intended to be an interactive learning process in discussion format, and students are required to take an active part in class along with lectures.

This seminar will explore foundational concepts currently employed within heritage practice and debates. Readings will examine the historically formative context of colonial-era and nationalist discourses on stewardship and culture, as well as postcolonial reformulations of such concepts as cultural property, cultural recognition and public history. The seminar will engage the question of the relationship between foundational concepts and the current cosmopolitan and internationalist vision for heritage, probing the enduring dynamics of North-South divides in heritage development and archaeological practice.

This course provides a survey of Aegean prehistory (7th-2nd millennium BC), focusing on traditions that were picked up or renegotiated, instead of taking a standpoint that evaluates phenomena as steps leading up to a `state-like¿ `palatial¿ society. It will draw on the region¿s wealth of data, and will be set within a theoretically informed, problem-oriented framework, aiming to introduce students to current interpretations and debates, mainly through discussion of specific case-studies.

New trends in Roman numismatics (from the late Republic to the early Empire, 3rd-c. BCE-1st-c. CE). Archaeology from coins. Barter, money, and coinage. The introduction of coinage in Rome and the provinces. Making money (coin production), using money (monetary, non-monetary and ritual uses), losing money (coin circulation, hoards, single finds): contextual interpretations. Monetary systems: coins from Rome and coins from the provinces. Coinage and identity. False coinage.

The analysis and interpretation of ceramic remains allow archaeologists to accomplish varied ends: establish a time scale, document interconnections between different areas, and suggest what activities were carried out at particular sites. The techniques and theories used to bridge the gap between the recovery of ceramics and their interpretation within archaeological contexts is the focus of this seminar.

Conceptual and theoretical approaches to examine cultural and natural heritage from an interdisciplinary perspective. We ask: What are heritage ecologies? How are natural and cultural heritages interpreted, managed, and defined? Do heritage managers privilege nature and conservation over cultural heritage? This course uses archaeological data, ethnographic methods, archival analysis, and guest lectures to examine case studies representing key issues including conservation, indigenous rights, cultural landscapes, heritage in conflict, international heritage policy, and the use of expert knowledge in heritage contexts.

Early China from the perspective of material remains unearthed from archaeological sites; the development of Chinese culture from early hominid occupation nearly 2 million years ago through the development of agriculture in the Neolithic period and complex society in the Bronze Age to the political unification of China under the Qin Dynasty. Continuity of Chinese culture from past to present, history of Chinese archaeology, relationships between archaeology and politics, and food in early China.

The ways that archaeology is a medium of understanding Classical antiquity. We will selectively and deeply review themes in archaeological theory as they inform the academic study of Graeco-Roman antiquity. The aim is not to acquire comprehensive coverage of contemporary archaeological theory, but to focus on concepts, methodologies and practices that have a strong connection with agendas in contemporary Classics, and to explore interdisciplinary links through social and cultural theory and critique, performance studies, science studies (including the history and sociology of technology), design studies and approaches to material culture.

This seminar will explore foundational concepts currently employed within heritage practice and debates. Readings will examine the historically formative context of colonial-era and nationalist discourses on stewardship and culture, as well as postcolonial reformulations of such concepts as cultural property, cultural recognition and public history. The seminar will engage the question of the relationship between foundational concepts and the current cosmopolitan and internationalist vision for heritage, probing the enduring dynamics of North-South divides in heritage development and archaeological practice.