printer friendly pageARCHLGY 107A: Archaeology as a Profession (ANTHRO 101A)
Academic, contract, government, field, laboratory, museum, and heritage aspects of the profession.
Last offered: Winter 2017
ARCHLGY 108E: Catalhoyuk and Neolithic Archaeology (ANTHRO 108E)
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.
Last offered: Spring 2015
ARCHLGY 110: Environmental Archaeology (ANTHRO 110, ANTHRO 210)
This course investigates the field of environmental archaeology. Its goals are twofold: 1) to critically consider the intellectual histories of environmental archaeology, and, 2) to survey the various techniques and methods by which archaeologists assess historical environmental conditions through material proxies. The course will include lab activities.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Bauer, A. (PI)
ARCHLGY 111: Emergence of Chinese Civilization from Caves to Palaces (CHINA 176, CHINA 276)
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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Liu, L. (PI)
;
Wang, J. (TA)
ARCHLGY 111B: Muwekma: Landscape Archaeology and the Narratives of California Natives (ANTHRO 111B, NATIVEAM 111B)
This course explores the unique history of San Francisco Bay Area tribes with particular attention to Muwekma Ohlone- the descendent community associated with the landscape surrounding and including Stanford University. The story of Muwekma provides a window into the history of California Indians from prehistory to Spanish exploration and colonization, the role of Missionaries and the controversial legacy of Junipero Serra, Indigenous rebellions throughout California, citizenship and land title during the 19th century, the historical role of anthropology and archaeology in shaping policy and recognition of Muwekma, and the fight for acknowledgement of Muwekma as a federally recognized tribe. We will visit local sites associated with this history and participate in field surveys of the landscape of Muwekma.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Wilcox, M. (PI)
ARCHLGY 113B: Religious Practices in Archaeological Cultures (ANTHRO 113B, ANTHRO 213B)
According to Hawkes (1954), religion or ideology is the most difficult part of social life to access archaeologically. Luckily, not all scholars agree; according to Fogelin (2008) 'religion is not something people think about, but something people do¿. Thus, archaeology, an inherently multidisciplinary subject that studies material culture, is well suited to delve into religion and its underpinnings.nThis course will explore religious practices, as they can be defined and interpreted from archaeological contexts spanning the Paleolithic to historic periods. Definitions of religion differ from author to author but they mostly agree that religion is a fully integrated and thus integral part of human social life. Politics, economics, identity and social class influence religion, and religion influences how these forces play out in society. Thus, the course will also examine the significance of ritual and religion in a variety of social contexts.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
ARCHLGY 114A: Introduction to South Asian Archaeolgy (ANTHRO 114A, ANTHRO 214A)
This seminar will survey the archaeology of South Asia, beginning with animal and plant domestication in the early Holocene and ending with the late Medieval Period. Given its chronological breadth and spatial scope, the class will interrogate a variety of social and historical contexts that contribute to a broad range of anthropological research concerns¿including the intersections of authority, ritual, alterity and landscape¿and at the same time critically consider the epistemological bases for their analyses through archaeological remains.
Last offered: Winter 2016
ARCHLGY 115: The Social life of Human Bones (ANTHRO 115, ANTHRO 215)
Skeletal remains serve a primary function of support and protection for the human body. However, beyond this, they have played a range of social roles once an individual is deceased. The processes associated with excarnation, interment, exhumation and reburial all speak to the place that the body, and its parts, play in our cultural as well as physical landscape.n This course builds on introductory courses in human skeletal anatomy by adding the social dynamics that govern the way humans treat other humans once they have died. It draws on anthropological, biological and archaeological research, with case studies spanning a broad chronological and spatial framework to provide students with an overview of social practice as it relates to the human body.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Seetah, K. (PI)
ARCHLGY 117A: Stuff (ANTHRO 117A, ANTHRO 217A)
Never before have humans been engulfed by so much stuff. Stuff is needed to survive giving us the basics of food, clothing, and shelter. But stuff does so much more. Smart phones rule our social interactions. Louis Vuitton handbags display status. Air conditioning masters nature. Picassos inspire beauty. Wedding bands promise eternal love. Crosses connect believers to God. Is stuff really who we are? This seminar explores the science of stuff, past, present and future, investigating deeply-held beliefs about the meaning, value, and purpose of objects. Because our stuff has become such a popular obsession, this course embraces the eclectic intersection of popular and academic knowledge. Students will seek to answer the complex whys of our relationship with objects and understand our future human condition made by the material world.
Last offered: Spring 2017
ARCHLGY 117B: Monuments and Landscapes: An Archaeological Perspective (ANTHRO 117B, ANTHRO 217B)
The landscape is a result of the action and interaction of human and natural factors. Communities have altered their landscapes for a variety of reasons, including the subsistence practices; as a consequence of economic growth; to express a social ideology, and as a consequence of political and religious drivers. Accordingly, landscapes enable physical and provide psychological sustenance to people, and the human need to relate to our surroundings is part of the way in which identities are created and disputed. Within the humanities, landscape is being conceptualized as a process, a practice and as performance, and monuments within a given landscape have an equally important role, not to mention history. They are often the most durable and well-known evidence of the ancient civilizations, and should be observed jointly with the landscape. How did the landscape predefine the monument and how did the monument complement, emphasize or devalue the landscape? What philosophy channeled the construction of the monuments within the landscapes? Whether ephemeral or permanent, the human agency left traces in the landscape; thus, both monuments and landscapes are the key indicators for understanding the ideology of a particular culture. Archaeology, through its interdisciplinary nature, provides a unique perspective, as well as tools, for examining the formation processes of all man-made elements, within both natural and cultural landscapes. nnThe course will address the multifaceted issues of the ways that people have consciously and unconsciously shaped the land around them through time. It will look into diverse, geographically and periodically influenced concepts of a monument and landscape. The course will be divided into two parts, with the first one covering the theory and methodological approaches and the second part the conceptual characteristics, modifications and changeability in various archaeological and historical periods and cultural frameworks.
Last offered: Spring 2016
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