Syllabus

ARCH 0150: Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology and Art

MWF 10:00-10:50am
Classroom: Solomon 202
Professor: Laurel Bestock, [email protected], 863-6291 Office hours: Wednesday 1-3pm and by appointment, Joukowsky Institute, 70 Waterman St., room 308
TA: Alex Knodell, [email protected] Office hours: Tuesday 1-3 pm and by appointment: Joukowsky Institute, room 302

Course description:
This course is 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.

Objectives:
The goals of this course are two-fold. First, it is intended to provide students with a general understanding of the development of Egyptian material culture over more than three millennia. It is expected that students will demonstrate a basic grasp of the types of objects and buildings made and used by the ancient Egyptians, and how they aid our understanding of social, political, religious and economic structures. Second, the course is intended to provide students with a set of critical thinking skills that are applicable to the study of the ancient world in general. We will continually examine what kinds of evidence are available and what kinds of questions can, and cannot, be answered on the basis of that evidence.

Required texts (available at the Brown Bookstore):
An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Kathryn A. Bard (Bard, hereafter)
The Art of Ancient Egypt, Gay Robins (Robins)
Atlas of Ancient Egypt, John Baines and Jaromir Malek (Atlas)
Additional articles and excerpts will be posted to the website when assigned.

Reading on this syllabus is assigned by week. It is expected that you will do the reading over the course of the week so as to keep pace with developments in class, with the week’s reading to have been completed by class time on Fridays.

Assessment:
50% Writing assignments (2 x 25%) – see below
45% Exams (3 x 15%) – see below
5% Course participation

Writing Assignments:
First Assignment:
Write a 3-4 page paper based on an ancient Egyptian object in a museum that you have visited for the purpose of working on this paper. There is a fairly good selection at the RISD museum, and an excellent selection at the Boston MFA or in New York at the Met or the Brooklyn Museum. In your paper you should identify your object by its museum number and general type, describe it in detail, discuss its medium/media and technique of manufacture, discuss its date or probable date, and discuss how objects of this type were used in ancient Egypt and what contexts they are known from. You should refer to at least two books other than your required texts (websites are not acceptable sources), and you should include both a bibliography and in-text citations rendered in the author-date style described in the Chicago Manual of Style.

Second Assignment:
Wikipedia is a fun and fascinating resource for many things, but many articles on ancient Egypt are riddled with errors. As you are learning about Egypt, you will be increasingly able to catch these errors and to correct them. For this assignment, you will substantially change, expand or create three Wikipedia entries about ancient Egypt. One entry must be about a site or monument in Egypt, one must be about a person or god, and the third can be a topic of your choosing. Your entries should be approximately 300-700 words each. Entries will be posted to the course wiki first and we will critique them as a class before updating Wikipedia itself.

Exams:
All three exams will be of the same format, and all will last 50 minutes and be administered during class time. They will consist of three parts: slide identifications/descriptions, short ID answers, and essay questions. The slides and IDs will not be cumulative, i.e. they will refer only to the material covered since the last exam. The essay questions cover broader topics and in your answers you will be expected to demonstrate knowledge from all time periods covered to that point.

A note on course policy: Make-up exams and paper extensions will not be granted without a valid medical excuse signed by a doctor. Papers submitted electronically must be in by midnight of the due date. Papers submitted in hard copy must be handed in during class on the due date. The University has strict policies on plagiarism and cheating, with which you are expected to be familiar and to comply.

Syllabus:

Week 1: Introduction

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 10-29
Bard, Chapters 1 and 2
Robins, Chapter 1

Sept. 3: Introduction, syllabus
Sept. 5: History of Egyptology

Week 2: Backgrounds and beginnings

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 30-35; sites: Nagada and Tukh; el-Kab; Kom el-Ahmar/Hierakonpolis; Abydos; Tell el-Fara’in/Buto
Bard, Chapters 3-5
Robins, Chapter 2

Sept. 8: Geography, geology, climate and resources
Sept. 10: The archaeology of prehistoric and Predynastic Egypt
Sept. 12: Transition and unification: becoming “Egypt”

Week 3: Early Dynastic and Early Old Kingdom

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 56-64; sites: Saqqara, Meidum, Zawyet el-‘Aryan, Dahshur
Bard, pp. 121-137
Robins, Chapter 3

Sept. 15: Structure of society: Kings, nobles, human sacrifice
Sept. 17: Pyramid! The complex of Djoser at Saqqara and private tombs of the 3rd Dynasty
Sept. 19: Meidum and Dahshur

Week 4: Old Kingdom

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 209-221; sites: Giza, Abu Rawash, Abusir, Saqqara, Abu Ghurab
Bard, pp. 137-162
Robins, Chapter 4

Sept. 22: Giza and Abu Rawash: royal and private art and architecture of the 4th Dynasty
Sept. 24: Abu Sir, Saqqara
Sept. 26: Abu Ghurab and the rise of the cult of the sun

Week 5: Late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 35-40; sites: Saqqara, Aswan, Denderah, el-Mo’alla, Gebelein
Bard, pp. 162-166
Robins, Chapter 5
Lichtheim: assorted Pyramid Texts; autobiographies of Weni and Harkhuf from Ancient Egyptian Literature
Arnold: “Royal Cult Complexes of the Old and Middle Kingdoms”

Sept. 29: Evolving ideas of the afterlife: 6th Dynasty pyramids and Pyramid Texts
Oct. 1: Life and rebirth: private tombs of the late Old Kingdom
Oct. 3: Feast and Famine: political decentralization and regional ascent in the First Intermediate Period

Week 6: Middle Kingdom I

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 40-42, sites: Beni Hassan, el-Lahun, The Faiyum, Deir el-Bersha, Thebes
Bard, pp. 168-194
Robins, pp. 90-109

Oct. 6: FIRST EXAM
Oct. 8: Middle Kingdom royal art
Oct. 10: Egyptians abroad: the fortresses of Nubia

Week 7: Middle Kingdom II

Oct. 13: NO CLASS
Oct. 15: Lahun: a model community of the Middle Kingdom
Oct. 17: Nomarchs and “Democratization”: private tombs and a changing society

Week 8: Second Intermediate Period – Early New Kingdom

Reading:
Atlas, p. 4; sites: Tell el-Yahudiya, el-Khata’na, Tell el-Dab’a and Qantir
Bard, pp. 195-206
Robins, Chapter 7

Oct. 20: The peculiar 13th Dynasty and Foreigners in Egypt
Oct. 22: The 17th Dynasty: reconquest and redefinition
Oct. 24: Overview of New Kingdom chronology; Early 18th Dynasty architecture and art
FIRST PAPER DUE

Week 9: New Kingdom I

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 42-47
Bard, read all of Chapter 8 but class this week will focus on royal material before the move to Amarna, namely 8.2, 8.3, 8.7, and 8.9
Robins, Chapter 8

Oct. 27: Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III
Oct. 29: Early to mid-18th Dynasty private life
Oct. 31: Ideology and archaeology: Amenhotep III to Akhenaten

Week 10: New Kingdom II: Amarna

Reading:
Atlas, el-‘Amarna
Bard, reread Chapter 8, especially 8.4-8.5
Robins, Chapter 9
Kemp, “The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt”, World Archaeology Vol. 9, No. 2 (1977), available on JSTOR

Nov. 3: A new city at Amarna
Nov. 5: After Amarna: proscription, restoration, Tutankhamun
Nov. 7: SECOND EXAM

Week 11: New Kingdom III: archaeology of kings and private people

Reading:
Atlas, pp. 84-105
Bard, pp. 240-262
Robins, pp. 166-177, 181-193
Haeny, “New Kingdom ‘Mortuary Temples’ and ‘Mansions of Millions of Years’”

Nov. 10: Post-Amarna royal burials and mortuary temples
Nov. 12: Home: New Kingdom palaces and cities
Nov. 14: Private tombs from Thebes and Saqqara

Week 12: New Kingdom IV: archaeology of gods

Reading:
Bard, 235-240
Robins, pp. 177-81
Bell, “The New Kingdom ‘Divine’ Temple: The Example of Luxor”

Nov. 17: Luxor and Karnak
Nov. 19: Ordinary people and the gods: domestic scenarios and temple offerings
Nov. 21: Theban landscapes: cosmic maps in space and time
SECOND WRITING ASSIGNMENT DUE

Week 13: Third Intermediate Period and Late Period

Reading:
Kemp Anatomy of a Civilization, excerpt, pp. 345-366
Atlas, pp. 47-52; sites: San el-Hagar/Tunis
Robins, Chapters 11-12
Bard, Chapter 9

Nov. 24: Egypt and the world: foreign rulers, trade contacts, mercenaries
Nov. 26: Inherited and new landscapes: Thebes and Tanis
Nov. 28: NO CLASS

Week 14: Greco-Roman Period

Reading:
Dec. 1: Late temples and animal cults
Dec. 3: Margins: the Faiyum and the Oases
Dec. 5: THIRD EXAM