Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Course Offerings 2008-2009
Fall Term
Primarily for Undergraduates
ARCH 0030 Art in Antiquity: An Introduction [Register] [Course Website]
What went into the creation of the Parthenon? Who lived in the Tower of
Babel? Why do we still care? This course offers an introduction to the
art, architecture, and material culture of the ancient world. Things of
beauty and of power will be explored, from Egyptian pyramids and Near
Eastern palaces, to the 'classical' art of Greece and Rome.
MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: Omur Harmansah
ARCH0150 Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology and Art [Register]
An introductory survey of the archaeology, art and architecture of ancient Egypt, ranging in time from the prehistoric cultures of the Nile Valley through the period of Roman control. While the course will examine famous features and characters of ancient Egypt (pyramids, mummies, King Tut!), it will also provide a wide-ranging review of the archaeology of this remarkable land. MWF 10:00-10:50. Instructor: Laurel Bestock
ARCH0250 Intimate Stories: Narrative in Ancient Visual Culture (First-Year Seminar) [Register] [Course Website]
Images tell stories that carry us to imaginary worlds other than our own. An
arresting story in pictures engages us deeply, opening the doors of fantastic places and times. In antiquity many architectural monuments displayed pictorial narratives that animated public spaces and enthralled broad audiences. This course explores cultural aspects of visual narrative imagery from Western Asian and Mediterranean worlds. TTh 9:00-10:20. Instructor: Omur Harmansah
ARCH0300 13 Things [Register] [Course Website]
The course will explore a range of approaches -- material culture studies, science studies, design studies, the sociology of technology, archaeology -- in dealing with 13 things: the wheel, a Neolithic Megalith, an Ancient Greek perfume jar, the castle of Acrocorinth, Greece, a Moroccan watermill, a map, the pocket watch, barbed wire, the light bulb, a surgical blade, the portable radio, a Leica IIIc 35mm camera, and the personal computer. MWF 1:00-1:50. Instructor: Christopher Witmore
For Undergraduates and Graduates
ARCH 1100 Archaeology in the Age of Augustus [Register]
Rome's first Emperor, Gaius Octavian Augustus, ruled an empire stretching from Spain to Syria, from Britain to Egypt. Students will explore the social, artistic, and political successes and failures of this "golden age" of Rome's past. The course will assess a broad range of topics -- such as the creation of empire, art as propaganda, and the role of women -- within the context of Augustan ideology and history. TTh 10:30-11:50. Instructor: Michelle Berenfeld.
ARCH 1200H Islamic Landscapes: Cities, Frontiers, and Monuments [Register] [Course Website]
This course will examine the built environments of the Islamic Period Middle East through the growing archaeological and historical record of its cities, monuments, and other spaces. We will explore what these landscapes tell us about the diverse nature of Muslim societies, relations between Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants, and ways in which cultures engage with space and place through their physical, emotional, and intellectual resources. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: Ian Straughn
ARCH1250 Greece in the Bronze Age [Register]
This class offers an exploration of the archaeology and art of mainland Greece, Crete, and the Aegean in the third and (especially) the second millennium B.C. The principal emphasis is on when, how, and why the Minoan and Mycenaean palace-based states first arose in this area, with consideration also of their sociopolitical and economic organization, and their interactions with neighboring cultures. TTh 1:00-2:20. Instructor: John F. Cherry
ARCH 1500 Classical Art in the RISD Museum [Register] [Course Website]
The RISD Museum’s collection of Greek, Etruscan and Roman art will be studied firsthand and in light of recent scholarship in art history, archaeology and museum studies. The course will explore original contexts for museum objects; issues of cultural property and museum ethics; conservation and restoration; design and education components of exhibitions; and notions of historical interpretation in museum display. Enrollment limited to 14 students. Must be a concentrator in Archaeology and the Ancient World, or History of Art and Architecture, or request permission from instructor, in order to register. W 2:00-4:20. Instructor: Gina Borromeo
ARCH1900 The Archaeology of College Hill [Register] [Course Website]
A training class in field and laboratory techniques. Topics include the nature of field archaeology, excavation and survey methodologies, archaeological ethics, computer technologies (such as GIS), and site and artifact analysis and conservation. Students will act as practicing archaeologists through the investigation of local historical and archaeological sites in the College Hill area (e.g. the First Baptist Church of America). This course is restricted to advanced undergraduate students, and permission to register will be given by instructor after the first class meeting. M 3:00–5:20. Instructor: Krysta Ryzewski.
Primarily for Graduates
ARCH 2040D Genealogies of Complexity in East Asia (3000-221 BCE) [Register]
Despite East Asia's rich archaeological and historical record, its early political (pre)histories have been more sites for theoretical projection than theoretical innovation. Focusing on mainland East Asia, we will engage political theory and its applications in case studies from the Neolithic to the first Empires. Topics will range from mortuary rituals to practices of social violence and sources include both material culture and text. W 3:00-5:20. Instructor: Roderick Cambell
ARCH 2040E International Cultural Heritage: Creating a Future for the Past [Register]
From the Parthenon to Puccini to pizza, cultural heritage can be defined as places, objects, and ideas from the past that have survived to the present. This course will examine the theories, methods, and questions that shape the effort to protect and interpret cultural heritage today as well as responses to them. We will explore issues such as current threats to cultural heritage, the role of tourism and impacts of development, questions of authenticity and identity, international law, ethics, and emerging and non-traditional areas of the field. Th 4:00-6:20. Instructor: Michelle Berenfeld
ARCH 2040F Public Culture and Heritage in Postapartheid South Africa [Register]
This course examines the complex processes whereby issues of culture, race, identity/ subjectivity, globalization, memory and heritage are being reframed and rethought in post-apartheid South Africa. We will be guided by three broad themes: public histories; archives and knowledges; and questions of performance. Of all possible settings, post-apartheid South Africa may present one of the most challenging – at times troubling – contexts through which to consider such public negotiations and meanings. T 4:00-6:20. Instructor: Nick Shepherd
CLAS 2010M The Archaeology of Empires [Register]
Empires have been among the most influential political and social formations in global history. This seminar will explore general literature on imperial genesis, consolidation and decline, as well as considering the specific and unique contributions archaeology and art history can offer to the understanding of empire. A variety of case studies will be explored, with selections depending on student interest. M 3:00-5:20. Instructor: Susan E. Alcock
EGYT 2510 Social Life in Ancient Egypt [Register]
This course will draw upon recent theoretical developments in anthropology and sociology that seek to explore hierarchies of difference - age, sex, class, ethnicity - providing an opportunity to link theory and data. Taking the lifecycle as its structure, the course covers conception to death and burial, drawing on a range of data sources, such as material culture, iconography, textual data and human remains. Th 4:00-6:20. Instructor: Laurel Bestock
The following courses, listed in other departments, may be of interest to students concentrating in Archaeology and the Ancient World and may fulfill certain concentration requirements. Please check the course listings of the sponsoring department for times and locations.
ANTH 0500: Intro to Archaeology & Prehistory (Gould)
ANTH 1156: Archaeology of Asia (Anderson)
ANTH 1610: Nautical Archaeology (Gould)
ANTH 1621: Material Culture (Rubertone)
ANTH 1650: Ancient Mayan Writing (Houston)
ANTH 2400: Museums & Material Culture (Krech)
ANTH 2500A: Problems in Archaeology: Culture Contact (Rubertone)
ANTH 2501: Principles of Archaeology Core
CLAS 0660: The World of Byzantium (Papaioannou)
CLAS 0810A: Alexander the Great and the Alexander Tradition (Cherry)
CLAS 2010M: The Archaeology of Empires (Alcock)
COLT 1810I: Gates of Asia (Levy)
COLT 2540B: Modernism and Its Others (Pourgouris)
EGYT 1420: Ancient Egyptian Religion & Magic
HIAA 0080: Introduction to the History of Photography (Nickel)
HIAA 0110A: Ancient China: Art and Archaeology (Bickford)
HIAA 1040H: Topics in East Asian Art: The Shape of Good Fortune (Bickford)
HIAA 1120B: Topics in Pre Modern Architecture: History of Urbanism (Zerner)
JUDS 1440: Ancient Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques in Palestine (Galor)
Spring Term
Primarily for Undergraduates
ARCH 0100 (Formerly AE10) Field Archaeology in the Ancient World
Always wanted to be Indiana Jones? This course, focusing on the Mediterranean world and its neighbors in antiquity, interprets field archaeology in its broadest sense. In addition to exploring “how to do” archaeology – the techniques of locating, retrieving and analyzing ancient remains – we will consider how the nature of these methodologies affects our understanding of the past. MWF 11:00–11:50. Instructor: Susan E. Alcock
ARCH0325 "Dead White Guys": Greco-Roman Civilization and American Identity
Why does classical antiquity matter? How did a group defined as white and European come to represent America's ancestors? And by emphasizing this "heritage," who do we exclude? This course looks at film, popular non-fiction, education policy, public art, architecture, and archaeology, to understand how the myth of Greco-Roman origins was adopted by America's founders, and how this affects issues of race and belonging today. TTh 1:00-2:20. Instructor: Lyra Monteiro
ARCH 0650 Islamic Civilizations
This introduction to early Islamic civilization will examine the interrelationship between the emerging Islamic religious tradition and the development of specifically Muslim social institutions, the role of ethnic and religious minorities, and the flowering of Islamic thought and material culture. Students will study archaeology, political and social histories, visual arts, and textual traditions to explore the evolution and institutionalization of Islam from Spain to Central Asia. MWF 2:00–2:50. Instructor: Ian Straughn
For Undergraduates and Graduates
ARCH 1200B Pompeii
Pompeii is a dead city. Or is it? This course will explore what we can learn from Pompeii, and the neighboring communities also destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. We will look at art, architecture (public and domestic), and all the many remains of ‘daily life’ so uniquely preserved in these buried, but not forgotten, places. TTh 2:30-3:50.
ARCH 1625 Egyptian Religion and Culture
Religion was central to life in ancient Egypt, and in this course students will study Egyptian religion through its intellectual and material culture. Students will explore the Egyptian understandings of gods and goddesses, Egyptian cosmology and mythology, temples and their priesthoods, and the roles and uses of magic. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" will provide an entry-point into understanding Egyptian afterlife beliefs and funerary practices. Th 4:00-6:20. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.
ARCH 1710 Architecture and Memory
Buildings and monuments have been mediators of the past, with their powerful
presence and often turbulent histories. Stories cling to their stones, which become visible residues of the human lives that shapee them.
Memories, imaginations and experiences, collectively shared or individual,
give meaning to architectural spaces. This course explores the intersections
of memory and architecture through various archaeological case studies from
the ancient world. TTh 10:30-11:50. Instructor: Omur Harmansah
Primarily for Graduates
ARCH 2160 The Archaeology of Democracy: Social Transformations in Ancient Greece
Between 900 and 600 BCE, profound social transformations took place in Greece, setting the stage for a revolution in political form: by 500, Athens was collectively governed by its citizen body. This course engages with the everyday materialities underlying Greek democracy of this era. Focusing on relationships among people and things, students will reassess of the composition of the demos from the ground up. T 4:00-6:20. Instructor: Christopher Witmore.
ARCH 2350 Archaeology of the Caucasus
The goal of this seminar is to provide students with an overview of the long-term archaeological record from the Caucasus and its near neighbors, as well as an understanding of the history of research in this area during Imperial Russian, Soviet, and contemporary times. Readings will cover a range of periods, prehistoric and historic, following the interests of the class. W 3:00-5:20. Instructor: John F. Cherry.
ARCH 2410 Archaeologies of Place
The concept of place, as a site of human practice in and with the material
world, has become foregrounded in humanities and social sciences. This
course explores how archaeological and ethnographic research addresses
material complexities and cultural meanings of places in the broader context
of landscapes. We will investigate critical theories of place and landscape,
while working with fieldwork data from the ancient Near East.
M 3:00-5:20. Instructor: Omur Harmansah
The following courses, listed in other departments, may be of interest to students concentrating in Archaeology and the Ancient World and may fulfill certain concentration requirements. Please check the course listings of the sponsoring department for times and locations.
ANTH 0520: Classic Mayan (Houston)
ANTH 1121: Nations within States (Anderson)
ANTH 1570: No. American Archaeology (Anderson)
ANTH 1620: Global Historical Archaeology (Rubertone)
ANTH 1710: Biological Issues (Gould)
ANTH 2410: Exhibitions in Museums (Krech)
ANTH 2520: Mesoamerican Seminar (Houston)
CLAS 0210L: Who Owns the Classical Past? (Cherry)
EGYT 1510: Ancient Egyptian Art II
HIAA 0200: Chinese Scholar Ink Painting (Bickford)
HIAA 0560: The Visual Culture of Early Modern Rome (Lincoln)
HIAA 0750: Imagining Nation and Empire in Early 19th Century Europe (Kriz)
HIAA 1040G: Topics in East Asian Art: The Garden of China (Bickford)
HIAA 1440D: Topics in Medieval Architecture: The Gothic Cathedral (Bonde)
HIAA 1850C: Topics in 20th Century: The City of Paris Urbanism and Architecture (Zerner)
JUDS 1400: The Archaeology of Palestine (Galor)
You may also visit http://www.brown.edu/banner for up to date information on courses and room assignments. Check under: Area of Study: "Archaeology and the Ancient World”