Spring Term

Primarily for Undergraduates

AE0010 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. Alcock. MWF 11:00-11:50 AM (D Hour)

For Undergraduates and Graduates

AE0120 S06 Roman Iberia
The archeology, art and architecture of Iberia during the Roman presence from the Punic Wars to the beginning of the Arab conquest. The artifacts and monuments discussed will not only represent artistic production from Roman administrative expressions, but also a mixture of styles between indigenous art (such as Celtic) or expressions of syncretism or other cultural symbioses. Winkes.
Th 4:00-6:20 PM (Q Hour)

AE0120 S09 Material Worlds: Art and Agency in the Near East & Africa
This course investigates technological processes of artifact production in the material culture of ancient and contemporary Near East and Africa. Archaeological and ethnographic case studies will be explored to understand the social relations behind skilled craftsmanship in architecture and 'art'. Circulation of craft knowledge, cultural biography of artifacts, constitution of cultural identities and memory through material processes will be central topics. Harmansah. M 3:00-5:20 PM (M Hour)

AE0120 S10 City & the Festival: Cult Practices & Architectural Production in the Ancient Near East
This course will explore urbanization, formation of urban space and architectural projects in relation to cult practices and commemorative ceremonies in the Ancient Near East. Investigating case studies from early cities of fourth millennium BC Mesopotamia to Iron Age Syria and Anatolia, we will study processes of the making of urban and extra-urban landscapes in the socio-religious context of festivals. Harmansah. MWF 11:00-11:50 AM (D Hour)

AE0120 S12 Arabia & the Arabs: The Making of an Ethnos
This course will survey the archaeology and history of the Arabs and Arabia from before their emergence in the historical record to the modern period. Our particular focus concerns their relationship with the rise of Islam as well as the imperial politics of the pre-Islamic Near East. A major issue that frames these inquires is the concept of ethnicity and its projection into the past. StraughnMWF 2:00- 2:50 PM (G Hour)

AE0120 S13 Islamic Landscapes: Cities, Frontiers & Monuments
This course will examine the built environments of the Islamic Period Middle East through the growing archaeological and historical record of its cities, frontiers and monuments. How has the landscape of this region become transformed under by its relationship with a dynamic Islamic tradition? Key issues examined are the notion of the 'Islamic city', sacred space, and the spatiality of Muslim/non-Muslim relations. Straughn. T 4:00-6:20 PM (P Hour)

AE0144 Synagogues, Churches, & Mosques
Reviews the discoveries and related scholarship of ancient synagogues, churches, and mosques in ancient Palestine. Focuses on their architectural and decorational as well as their spiritual and religious characteristics, and examines how those institutions influenced each other throughout their history of development. Galor. TTh 10:30-11:50 AM (I Hour)

AE0155 Who Owns the Classical Past?
The purpose of this course is to offer a forum for informed discussion of a variety of difficult questions about access to the classical past, and its modern-day ownership and presentation, seen primarily from the perspective of material culture (archaeology, art, museum displays, etc.). Cherry. TTh 6:30-7:50 PM (L Hour)

Primarily for Graduates

AE0201 Archaeology in the Information Age
Archaeology must circulate the material past in two dimensions. The right combination of image (maps, plans, photographs) and text has long defined professional archaeology. However, the current explosion of digital media has spurred profound shifts in all domains of archaeological practice and documentation.  This course encourages reevaluation of archaeological media, which pertains to information technology across the humanities and sciences. Witmore. F 3:00- 5:20 PM (O Hour)

AE0202 Economy & Trade in the Later Bronze Age Aegean and East Mediterranean
Beginning with an examination of the workings of the Mycenaean palace economy, including the evidence of Linear B documents, this seminar will then turn to a more inclusive consideration of trade and exchange involving Aegean states and their counterparts further east, and of the nature and extent of cultural interaction between them during the later Bronze Age (ca. 1600-1100 BC). Cherry. M 3:00-5:20 PM (M Hour)

AE0203 Topography of Rome
Major monuments of the city of Rome from the Republic to the rise of Christianity. Winkes. W 3:00-5:20 PM (N Hour)

AE0214 Representing the Past: Archaeology through Image & Text
The archaeological past exists for us through intermediaries that may be written or visual. Drawings, descriptions, photographs, graphs, charts and computer visualizations all display a considered image of the past. This seminar takes a critical look at the literature on visualization, and at the strategies by which scholars have re-presented the archaeological past of a range of cultures. Written permission required. Bonde, Houston. W 3:00-5:20 PM (N Hour)

AE0255 Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
This course is structured as a seminar on the archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The site will be examined in its larger geographical, historical and archaeological context. The goal is to become familiar with the different scholarly interpretations of the site. Prerequisites: solid background in at least one of three fields: archaeology, Judaism, and Early Christianity. Galor. Th 4:00-6:20 PM (Q Hour)

 

Fall Term

Please note that AE 120 sections 11 and 12, and AE 190 now have new course numbers.

Primarily for Undergraduates

AE0003 Foundations of Western Art in Antiquity
Examines the art of Greece and Rome for its significance to the modern world and in the context of the diversity of the parent cultures. Includes monuments of antiquity from the pyramids of Egypt to the Athenian Parthenon, the Pantheon in Rome to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Explores Pompeian frescoes and recent archaeological discoveries. A foundation for study of almost any branch of Western humanism. Galor. MWF 11:00-11:50 AM (D Hour)

AE0037 Archaeology of Mesopotamia (See Course Wiki Site)
A cultural and historical survey of Mesopotamia, tracing its origins and developments from prehistory to 6th-century Babylon. Both archaeological sites and literature are examined, as are works of art and sources for social and political history. Prerequisite: AE 3 or equivalent background in archaeology. Harmansah. MWF 12:00-12:50 PM (E Hour)

AE0060 Introduction to Islamic Archaeology (See Course Wiki Site)
This course will survey the archaeology of the regions under the political authority of Muslim states from the seventh century AD until the rise of the Ottoman Empire. We will examine Muslim societies through the archaeological record of their cities, monuments and artifacts. We will consider both the 'core' Islamic lands of the Middle East and its 'periphery' such as Muslim Spain, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent. StraughnMWF 9:00-9:50 AM (B Hour)

AE0077 Food & Drink in Classical Antiquity (See Course Wiki Site)
Everybody eats - but patterns of eating (and drinking) vary dramatically from culture to culture. This course traces the mechanics of food production and consumption in the ancient Mediterranean world, considers how diet marked symbolic boundaries, gender differences, and in general explores the extent to which the ancient Greeks and Romans 'were what they ate.'  Alcock. MWF 2:00-2:50 PM (G Hour)

AE0080 Alexander the Great & the Alexander Tradition (See Course Wiki Site)
This course focuses on a single historical figure, Alexander the Great, using him as a point of departure for exploring a wide range of problems and approaches that typify the field of Classical Studies. How knowledge of Alexander has been used and abused provides a fascinating case study in the formation and continuous reinterpretation of the western Classical tradition. Cherry. MWF 1:00-1:50 PM (F Hour)

For Undergraduates and Graduates

AE0120, S11 Introduction to Islamic Archaeology
Interested students should register for AE 60

AE0120, S12 Archaeology and Religion: Excavating the Sacred from Prehistory to Islam
Interested students should register for AE 201 s3

AE0190 Alexander the Great and the Alexander Tradition
Interested students should register for AE 80

HA0120 The Portrait
Study of portraits from the ancient civilization of the Mediterranean and portraits that were inspired by or reacted to the ancient portrait from the 16th to the 20th century. Also investigates the style, iconography, function, physiognomy, and psychology with which one can look at portraits. Winkes. T 7:00-9:20 PM

Primarily for Graduates

AE0201 S01 Approaches to Archaeological Survey in the Old World (See Course Wiki Site)
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. Cherry.  M 3:00-5:20 PM (M Hour)

AE0201 S02 Architecture, Body & Performance in the Ancient Near Eastern World (See Course Wiki Site)
This seminar investigates the relationship between bodily practices, social performances and production of space, using case studies drawn from ancient Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Syria. Employing contemporary critical theories on the body, materiality and social practices, new theories of the making of architectural spaces and landscapes will be explored with respect to multiple geographical, historical contexts in the Ancient Near East. Harmansah. F 3:00-5:20 PM (O Hour)

AE0201 S03 Archaeology & Religion: Excavating the Sacred from Prehistory to Islam (See Course Wiki Site)
This course explores methodological approaches and theoretical underpinnings of scholarly (and sometimes unpopular) interpretations of the archaeological record as evidence for the religious life of past societies, considering how archaeologists have treated the analytical categories of ritual, religion, ideology and the sacred. These discussions will be examined through Mediterranean case studies as a key region in the archaeology of religion. Straughn. Th 4:00-6:20 PM (Q Hour)

AE 0202 Greek Painting
Major developments in the history of Greek painting with special emphasis on archaic and classical Greek culture as reflected in vase painting. There will be field trips to area museums which may take longer than class time. Winkes. W 3:00-5:20 PM (N Hour)

AE0254 Roman, Byzantine & Early Islamic Jerusalem
Jerusalem constitutes one of the most important archaeological sites connected to the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Early Islam. Early and recent studies and discoveries, as well as old and new theories, will be examined in the seminar with special emphasis on the Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. Prerequisite: knowledge in archaeological methodology. Galor. T 4:00-6:20 PM (P Hour)