Practicalities and Requirements | Archaeologies of the Near East

Practicalities

Tuesday session will usually and primarily be reserved for lectures, while the Thursday meetings will be used for discussion on weekly selected topics and student presentations.

A course wiki site has been created for this course, and all readings and assignments will be posted there. The wiki will also serve as a discussion platform, to be used site interactively for out-of-class discussions, posting of announcements, assignments, and the like. Please familiarize yourself with the wiki, and make sure to check the site regularly, at least before each class meeting. Here is the wiki-site: http://proteus.brown.edu/archaeologiesneareast12/home

Reference Books

You are recommended to purchase the following books although all assigned chapters will be posted on the wiki as well (as pdfs). There are also copies of these books on reserve at the Rock.

Matthews, Roger; 2003. The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: Theories and Approaches. London and New York: Routledge.

Van de Mieroop, Marc; 2004. A History of the Ancient Near East. ca 3000-323 BC. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Kuhrt, Amélie; 1995. The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 B.C. 2 Vols. Routledge: London and New York.

Postgate, J. Nicholas; 1992. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the dawn of history. Routledge: London and New York.

Akkermans, Peter M.M.G. and Glenn M. Schwartz; 2003. The archaeology of Syria: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (ca. 16,000-300 BC). Cambridge World Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Roaf, Michael; 1996. Cultural atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York; Facts on File.

Sagona, Antonio and Paul Zimansky; 2009. Ancient Turkey. Routledge: London and New York.

Course Requirements

Each student is expected to do the weekly readings thoroughly, participate in Thursday discussions and take extensive notes during class lectures and discussions. It is strongly recommended that you keep detailed notes as you do your weekly readings and during lectures and class discussions. It is a hard task to form sustainable memories.

Throughout the semester, students will be asked to acts as discussants of selected articles in class, and posing relevant discussion questions to the class. There will be a take-home exam (a midterm), and a final research project (explained in detail below).

Short writing assignments (20 %)
- Assignment 1- Curious maps of the Midde East (1 page) 5%
- Assignment 2- Museum artifact analysis- cultural biography of things (4-5 pages) 15%
Attendance, participation and class presentations (25 %)
Midterm examination (20 %)
Research project (includes proposal, oral presentation, draft, and final paper- the grade is less on the final product but more on the whole process of developing the project). (35%)

Research project

You are expected to choose a research topic in collaboration with Ömür and turn it into an individual research project. The final paper should involve a critical discussion of an archaeological case study from the Near East, in the light and with the guidance of a theoretically informed approach. The main aim in the research project is the bridge the apparent gap between theoretical discussions in archaeology and the material evidence. It is very essential that you make effective use of the theoretical and material-based readings you will be doing throughout the semester in the final paper. The submissions will include a 1 page proposal with preliminary bibliography, a 5-8 page draft and a 12-15 page final paper (longer for the graduate students).