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Archaeology and the Ancient World Course Offerings

2017-2018

 

Fall Term
(Jump to Spring Term)

Primarily for Undergraduates

ARCH 0033  Past Forward: Discovering Anthropological Archaeology (ANTH 0500)   [CRN: 15872]
Interested students must register for ANTH 0500.
This course offers a broad journey through the human past, from material culture crafted by our evolutionary ancestors to the remnants of the recent historic past. To facilitate this journey, the class explores the methods, concepts, and theories that anthropologists employ in the study of past peoples, places, and things. Case studies stretch across the globe. As a hands-on endeavor, archaeology focuses on tangible evidence. In this course, small-group discussion, laboratory, and field exercises will complement lectures, leading to an understanding of how anthropologists study the past and how that knowledge affects the present. LILE. MWF 10:00-10:50. Instructor: Alyce de Carteret.

ARCH 0100  Field Archaeology in the Ancient World   [CRN: 16459] [Course Website]
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 10:00-10:50. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.

ARCH 0201  Sport in the Ancient Greek World (CLAS 0210 O)   [CRN: 15680] [Course Website]
Interested students must register for CLAS 0210O.
Athletics and sports were as popular and significant in the ancient Greek world as they are today, and so offer an excellent introduction to its archaeology and history. This class will discuss the development of Greek athletics, the nature of individual events, the social implications of athletic professionalism, women and athletics, and the role of sport in Greek education. MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: John F. Cherry.

ARCH 0221  Fake: A History of the Inauthentic (HMAN 0900B)   [CRN: 17086]
Interested students must register for HMAN 0900B.
What is a fake? Are “fake” and “authentic” absolute and antithetical categories? Who gets to decide what is authentic? Greek statues, Chinese bronzes, Maya glyphs—what gets faked and why? Have fakes always existed? Galileo’s moons, a centaur’s skeleton, Buddhas bearing swastikas—are all fakes the same? If not, how are they different? Why do people make fakes? Who wins? Who loses? This course revolves around the history of the inauthentic through a diachronic exploration of art objects and other forms of material culture. We will range widely in time and space, focusing primarily on the pre-modern. FYS. W 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Felipe Rojas.

ARCH 0270   Troy Rocks! Archaeology of an Epic   [CRN: 16462] [Course Website]
What do Brad Pitt, Julius Caesar, Dante, Alexander the Great, and countless sports teams have in common? The Trojan War! This course will explore the Trojan War not only through the archaeology, art, and mythology of the Greeks and Romans but also through the popular imaginings of cultures ever since, to figure out what "really" happened when Helen ran off and Achilles got angry and the Greeks came bearing gifts. FYS. TTh 9:00-10:20.

ARCH 0415  Of Chiefs, Princesses and Warriors: Exploring Different Iron Ages   [CRN: 16710] [Course Website]
This course is about the Mediterranean Iron Age. It examines indigenous communities of the first millennium BC in order to assess critically conventional and often stereotypical representations of Iron Age societies. Themes to be explored include the ever increasing social complexity of chiefdoms and states, princessly burials and warriors, and urban settlements and monumental architecture that allegedly mark the transfer of 'civilization' from East to West. MWF 11:00-11:50. Instructor: Peter van Dommelen.

ARCH 0730  The Secrets of Ancient Bones: Discovering Ancient DNA  [CRN: 16836]
New analyses of ancient DNA preserved for millennia in bones and soils have revolutionized the field of archaeology. Suddenly, archaeologists have gained new insight into human origins and migrations, diseases, agriculture, and even the slave trade. Recent genetic case studies will provide a lens for learning about the archaeology of diverse world regions and time periods, from Oceania to Mesoamerica and from the Paleolithic through recent history. Topics will include: genetic relationships between humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans; the peopling of the globe; diasporas; extinction and de-extinction; and plant and animal domestication. MWF 1:00-1:50. Instructor: Katherine Brunson.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates

ARCH 1150  Cities and Urban Space in the Ancient World   [CRN: 16863] [Course Website]
Using contemporary approaches to cities and urban space, this course will explore cities of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world. What makes a city and how do we define “urban”? How do cities start? Do cities die? What are the primary factors that affect their development? We will analyze not only how the development of cities responded to specific historical and geographical conditions, but also how cities in different times and places were surprisingly similar in form and social activity. TTh 10:30-11:50. Instructor: Margaret Andrews.

ARCH 1162  Anthropology in/of the Museum (ANTH 1901)   [CRN: 17280]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1901.
This course will provide an introduction to the history, purposes, transformations, and internal workings of museums from an anthropological perspective. Students will learn about museums that focus on natural and cultural history related to anthropological studies of archaeology, human evolution, and world ethnography. It will cover the relevance of anthropological training to careers in the museum field, as well as the importance of conducting anthropological investigations in the museum environment. Enrollment limited to 20. T 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Kaitlin McCormick.

ARCH 1233  Ancient Maya Writing (ANTH 1650)   [CRN: 15876]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1650.
Nature and content of Mayan hieroglyphic writing, from 100 to 1600 CE. Methods of decipherment, introduction to textual study, and application to interpretations of Mayan language, imagery, world view, and society. Literacy and Mesoamerican background of script. MWF 12:00-12:50. Instructor: Stephen Houston.

ARCH 1282  Mediterranean Culture Wars: Archaic Greek History, c. 1200 to 479 BC (CLAS 1210)   [CRN: 15682]
Interested students must register for CLAS 1210.
From the end of the Bronze Age to the end of the Persian Wars is a period of considerable change in the Mediterranean and beyond. The Greek polis challenges the powers of the ancient Near East. Over seven centuries we meet Greek writing, Homeric epic, and the first historian (Herodotus). But the Greek world lay on the edges of the Ancient Near East and this course tries to offer a more balanced approach than the typically Hellenocentric perspective of the standard textbooks. CLAS 1210 addresses political, social and economic history. Literary, epigraphical and archaeological cultures provide the evidence. WRIT. MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: Graham Oliver.

ARCH 1543  Decolonizing Classical Antiquity: White Nationalism, Colonialism, and Ancient Material Heritage (MGRK 1220)   [CRN: 17152]
Interested students must register for MGRK 1220.
Why do the material remnants of classical antiquity still attract public attention and exercise symbolic power? Why have such monuments been "used" by authorities and diverse social groups in the service of often totalitarian agendas? What are the cases where these monuments operate as weapons for resistance? How has colonial, racial, and national modernity shaped the way we understand and experience the materiality of the classical? Finally, how can we decolonise classical antiquity? We will use a diversity of global case studies, including modern Greece and Europe, and a variety of sources, from ethnographically derived performances to digital culture. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: Yannis Hamilakis.

ARCH 1600  Archaeologies of the Near East   [CRN: 17402]
Writing, urbanism, agriculture, imperialism: the ancient Near East is known as the place where earliest agriculture flourished, cities were developed and writing was invented. This course offers a detailed examination of the region’s archaeological history and current archaeological practice, in connection with its political engagements including Western colonialism and the formation of nation states. The social and cultural history of the Near East from prehistory to the end of Iron age (300 BC) will also be discussed. TTh 1:00-2:20. Instructor: Carl Walsh.

ARCH 1603   Color and Culture in the Ancient Near East (ASYR 1160)   [CRN: 17294]
Interested students must register for ASYR 1160.
This seminar investigates the meaning of color as a culturally mediated and culturally embedded phenomenon using case studies drawn from the civilizations of the ancient Near East and Aegean. Employing contemporary critical theories from cognition, phenomenology, linguistics and material culture studies, we will explore how human beings perceived, categorized and valued color in ways that vary cross-culturally. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: Shiyanthi Thavapalan.

ARCH 1621   History of Egypt I (EGYT 1430)   [CRN: 15168]
Interested students must register for EGYT 1430.
A survey of the history and society of ancient Egypt from prehistoric times to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 5000-1300 BC). Readings include translations from the original documents that serve as primary sources for the reconstruction of ancient Egyptian history. WRIT. MWF 12:00-12:50. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.

ARCH 1772  The Human Skeleton (ANTH 1720)   [CRN: 17339]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1720.
More than simply a tissue within our bodies, the human skeleton is gateway into narratives of the past--from the evolution of our species to the biography of individual past lives. Through lecture and hands-on laboratory, students will learn the complete anatomy of the human skeleton, with an emphasis on the human skeleton in functional and evolutionary perspective. We will also explore forensic and bioarchaeological approaches to the skeleton. By the course conclusion, students will be able to conduct basic skeletal analysis and will be prepared for more advanced studies of the skeleton from medical, forensic, archaeological, and evolutionary perspectives. Enrollment limited to 20. Not open to first year students. Instructor permission required. MWF 11:00-11:50. Instructor: Alyce de Carteret.

ARCH 1882  Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications (GEOL 1320)  [CRN: 16930 or CRN: 16931]
Interested students must register for GEOL 1320.
Introduction to the concepts of geospatial analysis and digital mapping. The principles of spatial data structures, coordinate systems, database development and design, and techniques of spatial analysis are learned. This is an applied course, primarily using ESRI-based geographic information system software. Focal point of class is the completion of student-selected research project employing GIS methods. Enrollment limited to 10 in each section. Permission by an application provided by the instructor (to be requested through email). S/NC. Instructor: Lynn Carlson.

ARCH 1900  The Archaeology of College Hill   [CRN: 16460] [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 and the John Brown House). M 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Miriam Rothenberg.

 

Primarily for Graduates

ARCH 2006  Principles of Archaeology (ANTH 2501)   [CRN: 15880]
Interested students must register for ANTH 2501.
Examines theoretical and methodological issues in anthropological archaeology. Attention is given to past concerns, current debates, and future directions of archaeology in the social sciences. F 9:00-11:30. Instructor: Robert Preucel.

ARCH 2010B  Approaches to Archaeological Survey in the Old World   [CRN: 16463] [Course Website]
Recent decades have witnessed a marked development of interest in regional approaches to the ancient world and its landscapes. This seminar will explore the history of this development, as well as survey’s impact on the work of both ancient historians and archaeologists. Topics to be covered include survey design and methodology, and the wider implications and lessons of regional analysis. Th 4:00-6:30. Instructor: John F. Cherry.

ARCH 2178  Architectural Reuse: The Appropriation of the Past (HIAA 2440D and HIAA 1440F)   [CRN: 15302 and 17243]
Interested students must register for HIAA 2440D or HIAA1440F.
This seminar will consider the survival, revival and adaptive reuse of older objects, texts and built spaces in the visual and material culture of successor cultures. We will look critically at the literature on the archaeology of memory, "Renaissance and revival, spolia studies and adaptive reuse." The seminar will examine selected case studies, including the reuse of sculptural elements in the Arch of Constantine, the conversion of Pantheon into a church and Hagia Sophia into a mosque, appropriated elements in the Qutb mosque in Delhi and the adaptation of the Bankside Power Station as the Tate Gallery. Limited to 20. M 3:00-5:30. Instructors: Sheila Bonde and Holly Shaffer.

ARCH 2180  Memory and Materiality  [CRN: 16954]
What is the difference between memory, facts, and knowledge? This course uses memory as a lens through which to view recent critical theory and questions how theories of memory and materiality can be used by archaeologists to better understand the past. T 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Sophie Moore.

ARCH 2184  Material Culture and the Bodily Senses: Past and Present  [CRN: 17115]
How do the senses shape our experience? How many senses are there? How do ancient and modern art and material culture relate to bodily senses? What is material and sensorial memory, and how does it structure time and temporality? Using media and objects, including archaeological and ethnographic collections at Brown and beyond, this course will study how a sensorial perspective on materiality can reshape and reinvigorate research dealing with past and present material culture. Furthermore, we will explore how sensoriality and affectivity can decenter the dominant western modernist canon of the autonomous individual. W 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Yannis Hamilakis.

ARCH 2553   Introduction to Public Humanities (AMST 2650)  [CRN: 16916]
Interested students must register for AMST 2650.
This class, a foundational course for the MA in Public Humanities with preference given to American Studies graduate students, will address the theoretical bases of the public humanities, including topics of history and memory, museums and memorials, the roles of expertise and experience, community cultural development, and material culture. Enrollment limited to 20 graduate students. W 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Steven D. Lubar.

ARCH 2620  All Italia: City and Country in Ancient Italy   [CRN: 17401]
This seminar approaches the urban and rural landscapes of peninsular Italy from the Early Iron Age until the Gothic Wars, with the goal being to examine key points of intersection (and departure) between the urban and rural spheres. Overall the seminar aims to contextualize Italian landscapes across both time and space and to that end we will consider issues pertaining to urbanism, economy, production, infrastructure, administration, architecture, and iconography. W 10:00-12:30 (to be confirmed). Instructor: Katia Schorle.

 

Spring Term
(Jump to Fall Term)

Primarily for Undergraduates

ARCH 0203  Who Owns the Past? (ANTH 0066D)   [CRN: 25378]
Interested students must register for ANTH 0066D.
Examines the role of the past in the present. Using examples from the U.S. and other parts of the world, we will look at how archaeological evidence is implicated in contemporary cultural and political issues. Students will learn that the past is not just the focus of archaeologists' interest and scientific inquiries, but is also a subject romanticized by antiquarians, mobilized in nation-building, marketed for profit, re-enacted as entertainment, consumed by tourists, and glorified in commemoration. Understanding these different and competing valuations, claims, and uses of the archaeological past will provide an introduction to why the past matters in the present and to the future. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS. M 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Patricia Rubertone.

ARCH 0303  Material Culture: Material Nature
Each week this course explores a moment in the human experience: childhood and coming of age, marriage and divorce, home-making and transience, grief, death, and burial. In thinking about the material culture of past societies, we will challenge archaeological concepts of acculturation and cultural appropriation. And, in examining our own everyday objects we will contemplate how style impacts identity - or vice versa. Why do you love your phone? We are living in a material world (Madonna, 1984). MWF 11:00-11:50. Instructor: Sophie Moore.

ARCH 0310  Interactions with the Dead: In the Past and Present
Eventually, face it, you are going to die. Death is an inevitable, and an inescapable component of life. There are, however, certain moments that bring the living closer to the dead, which this course will explore by analyzing interactions between the dead and the living in a range of contexts -- including religious, cultural, commercial, legal, and ethical. We will survey the diversity of human reactions to death and dead bodies by considering examples from the ancient and modern world. MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: Pinar Durgun.

ARCH 0678  Underwater in the Mediterranean: An Introduction to Maritime Archaeology   [CRN: 25917]
Shipwrecks, sunken cargoes, coastal ports: all contribute to our understanding of the maritime world of the past, not least that of the Mediterranean Sea. This course will explore the Mediterranean’s ancient seafaring heritage over time, in particular by studying ancient ships and harbors as remarkable examples of social and technological innovation and enterprise. The methodological challenges faced by archaeologists working on underwater and coastal ‘sites’ will also be examined. MWF 1:00-2:00. Instructor: Katia Schorle.

ARCH 0717  Architecture of the House Through Space and Time (HIAA 0081)   [CRN: 24267]
Interested students must register for HIAA 0081.
This undergraduate lecture course focuses on one building type, the house, through time in Mesopotamia, China, Japan, the Islamic world, the African diaspora, India, Britain, Rhode Island, and Germany and France. Houses can be minute or monumental, vernacular or high art, provide minimal shelter or afford the material and psychic satisfaction of home. By studying houses, we can bypass some of architectural history’s biases, and explore some of the major debates in the discipline: What is architecture? Who determines what is included/excluded in this category? And on what basis do they make these claims? WRIT A. MWF 11:00-11:50. Instructor: Itohan I Osayimwese.

 

For Undergraduates and Graduates

ARCH 1175  Archaeology Matters! Past Perspectives on Modern Problems  [CRN: 25113] [Course Website]
This is not the first era to face many of today’s global problems – rising temperatures, sea-level change, sustainability, pollution, fire, water scarcity, urban blight, social violence, and more. Archaeology is more than the understanding of peoples long ago and far away, but a discipline whose long-term perspective could offer potential solutions to current crises. Through case studies and discussion of key issues, this class asks how archaeology – and archaeologists – might just change the world. Enrollment limited to 20. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: John F. Cherry.

ARCH 1213  Architecture of Solitude: The Medieval Monastery (HIAA 1440B and 2440B)   [CRN: 25663 and 25662]
Interested students must register for HIAA 1440B.
The seminar examines the medieval and early modern monastery as a research problem. The course examines the development of the monastery, and investigates the religious and functional aspects of monastic architecture. We will explore historical, art historical and archaeological approaches to monasticism. Instructor permission required. Enrollment limited to 20. F 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Sheila Bonde.

ARCH 1214  The Viking Age (HIST 1031)   [CRN: 24224]
Interested students must register for HIST 1031.
For two centuries, Viking marauders struck terror into the hearts of European Christians. Feared as raiders, Norsemen were also traders and explorers who maintained a network of connections that stretched from North America to Baghdad and who developed a complex civilization that was deeply concerned with power and its abuses, the role of law in society, and the corrosive power of violence. This class examines the tensions and transformations within Norse society between AD 750 and 1100 and how people living in the Viking world sought to devise solutions to the challenges that confronted them as their world expanded and changed. MWF 11:00-11:50. Instructor: Jonathan Conant.

ARCH 1237  Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture: A World That Matters (ANTH 1030)   [CRN: 25326]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1030.
Survey of ancient art and building in ancient America, with a focus on Mexico, Central America, and the Andes. Underlying concepts include: meaning and method, cosmos and kingship, narrative and symbol, personality and authorship, empire and royal court. Rich collections of the Haffenreffer museum will form the focus of work in the class. DPLL LILE.TTh 10:30-11:50. Instructor: Stephen Houston.

ARCH 1481  Environmental History of East Asia (HIST 1820B)   [CRN: 24246]
Interested students must register for HIST 1820B.
This is a lecture course on the environmental history of East Asia from prehistory to the present aimed at students with no background in either Asian or environmental history. Because little has been written about Korean or Vietnamese environmental history, it will mostly concern China and Japan, for which there are good textbooks. The course will also incorporate weekly primary source readings, or analysis of artifacts. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: Brian Lander.

ARCH 1606  Imagining the Gods: Myths and Myth-making in Ancient Mesopotamia (ASYR 1100)   [CRN: 24152]
Interested students must register for ASYR 1100.
Creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel--well-known myths such as these have their origins in ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Using both ancient texts in translation and archaeology, this course will explore categories of Mesopotamian culture labeled "myth" and "religion" (roughly 3300-300 BCE), critically examining the ancient evidence as well as various modern interpretations. Topics will include myths of creation and the flood, prophecy and divination, death and the afterlife, ritual, kingship, combat myths and apocalypses, the nature and expression of ancient religious experience, and representations of the divine. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: Matthew Rutz.

ARCH 1627  Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (EGYT 1465)   [CRN: 24160]
Interested students must register for EGYT 1465.
Ancient Egypt is remembered for its grand temples and enduring tombs. Histories too often favor these examples of grandeur, forgetting the daily lives of non-royal ancient Egyptians. This class will investigate the daily lives of these underrepresented ancient Egyptians - craftsmen, servants, women, children - and address concerns such as illness, status, economy, magic and death. Additionally, we will look at the individual and discuss sexuality, love, style and fashion, religious practice and the family. Class format will include lectures and discussions, presentations, and tours through virtual temples which will enable us to reconstruct the daily lives of Ancient Egyptians. MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: Silvia Stubnova.

ARCH 1630  Fighting Pharaohs: Ancient Egyptian Warfare   [CRN: 25112]
When and why did the ancient Egyptians engage in war? Who was fighting? What were their weapons like and what were their military strategies? What were the political situations that caused them to go to war? How did warfare impact Egyptian society? In studying Egyptian history and society through the pervasive motif of war, we will gain an understanding of the forces that shaped Egyptian culture. TTh 1:00-2:20. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.

ARCH 1720   How Houses Build People   [CRN: 25606]
Archaeologists usually worry about how people in the past built houses. This course will flip the question on its head and ask: how do houses build people? Just what is a 'house'? What is a 'home'? Making use of an array of regional case studies, from different time periods, we will question how cultural values and norms can be extracted from, and explore the idea of the domestication of humans through architecture. TTh 10:30-11:50. Instructor: Margaret Andrews.

ARCH 1768  The Culture of Death in Ancient Rome (CLAS 1420)   [CRN: 25670]
Interested students must register for CLAS 1420.
This course examines the way that death and dying were perceived and managed in ancient Roman culture. Primary source readings will include selections from philosophers, poets, inscriptions, and a variety of prose literature (consolations, epistolography, historiography, novels). Secondary literature will focus on demography and social relations, the anthropology of funerary ritual, and material culture, which will be integrated systematically throughout the course, and which will include consideration of artistic representations and iconography, as well the archaeology of Roman mortuary practices. TTh 2:30-3:50. Instructor: John Bodel.

ARCH 1771  Archaeology of Death (ANTH 1623)   [CRN: 25379]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1623.
Examines death, burial, and memorials using comparative archaeological evidence from prehistory and historical periods. The course asks: What insight does burial give us about the human condition? How do human remains illuminate the lives of people in the past? What can mortuary artifacts tell us about personal identities and social relations? What do gravestones and monuments reveal about beliefs and emotions? Current cultural and legal challenges to the excavation and study of the dead are also considered. MWF 12:00-12:50. Instructor: Patricia Rubertone.

ARCH 1874  The Anthropocene: The Past and Present of Environmental Change (ENVS 1910)   [CRN: 24469]
Interested students must register for ENVS 1910.
Scholars in many disciplines have begun using the term the Anthropocene to signal a geological epoch defined by human activity. This seminar examines the Anthropocene idea from the perspective of environmental history. What activities might have changed the planet – the use of fire thousands of years ago, or agriculture, or fossil fuels? Is the Anthropocene another term for climate change, or does it include pollution and extinction? Is it a useful concept? Drawing on anthropology and the sciences as well as history, we will use the Anthropocene to think through environmental change and the human relationship with the non-human world. WRIT. Th 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Bathsheba Demuth.

ARCH 1883  Global Environmental Remote Sensing (GEOL 1330)   [CRN: 25941]
Interested students must register for GEOL 1330.
Introduction to physical principles of remote sensing across electromagnetic spectrum and application to the study of Earth's systems (oceans, atmosphere, and land). Topics: interaction of light with materials, imaging principles and interpretation, methods of data analysis. Laboratory work in digital image analysis, classification, and multi-temporal studies. One field trip to Block Island. Recommended preparation courses: MATH 0090, 0100; PHYS 0060; and background courses in natural sciences. MWF 2:00-2:50. Instructor: John Mustard.

 

Primarily for Graduates

ARCH 2115  Ancient Mediterranean Scripts: Origins, Contact, Obsolescence   [CRN: 25344]
Writing systems abounded in the ancient Mediterranean: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mesopotamian cuneiform, and the linear scripts of the Aegean are only a few of dozens of systems that people in the region have used to record language over millennia. Who wrote first and why? What “killed” hieroglyphs and cuneiform? What happens when a literate culture comes into contact with another without writing? Why do these questions matter now that the alphabet seems to reign supreme? W 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Felipe Rojas.

ARCH 2141  Biomolecular Approaches in Archaeology
This seminar will focus on the key principles of biomolecular techniques used in archaeological research. Topics will include residue analysis, collagen fingerprinting, stable isotopes, and ancient DNA. We will discuss recent advancements in these scientific methods, best practices for collecting samples, how to build collaborations between archaeologists working in the field and in the laboratory, and new possibilities for using cutting-edge methods to address archaeological and anthropological research questions. T 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Katherine Brunson.

ARCH 2408  Body Arts: The Human Frame as Cultural Expression (ANTH 2011)   [CRN: 25633]
Interested students must register for ANTH 2011.
The body is inescapable: humans live with it and through it, sending messages and instating identity. The body remains, and will remain, our principal means of cultural expression. As its guiding proposition, this seminar affirms that body arts have a history and social setting, whether of gesture, clothing, fashion, tattooing, make-up, hair-styles, cranial deformation, jewelry, perfume, dance or other embellishments and subtractions of the human frame. Those arts involve material equipment and a set of theories and dispositions needing close review and appraisal. These come from varied sources, including anthropology, art history, cultural studies, literature history or archaeology. M 3:00-5:30. Instructor: Stephen Houston.

ARCH 2725  The Making of Egypt   [CRN: 25345]
In the late 4th millennium, a state and culture recognizably pharaonic in structures rose in the Nile Valley. How was Egypt made, and how can we study the process? This seminar will examine this exceptional convergence of the development of monumental architecture, writing, canonical art, and kingship during Egypt’s formative centuries from c. 3200-2600 BC. We will study the rapid changes at the start of the First Dynasty in the context of state formation over the longer span of late-Predynastic to Old Kingdom Egypt. Th 4:00-6:30. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.

 


 

Additional Resources

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For a listing of all courses ever taught in Archaeology and the Ancient World or in Old World Archaeology, please visit the "All Courses" page on this website. To browse the web pages and Canvas sites -- including syllabi -- for most ARCH courses, please see our "Course Websites" page.