Fall 2023

^{(Jump to Spring 2024)}

ARCH 0167  Mountains and Waters: A History of Chinese Landscape Painting (HIAA 0422) [CRN: 18216]
Interested students must register for HIAA 0422.
For more than a millennium, painters and poets across East Asia have acclaimed soaring peaks astride expansive rivers as the most sublime of all subjects. Often termed “landscape” in modern English, these images of “mountains and waters” (shanshui) offer fascinating insights into the ways in which what we now call “the environment” was conceptualized in premodern East Asia. This course examines these celebrated monuments of East Asian painting as ecological entities, investigating their relationships with the human and nonhuman beings that participated in their reproduction, and interrogating the moral implications of their enduring appeal. Instructor: Jeffrey Moser. TTh 9-10:20am.

ARCH 0270   Troy Rocks! Archaeology of an Epic  [CRN: 18509]
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. TTh 9:00am-10:20am.

ARCH 0524  Art and Architecture of the Roman Empire (HIAA 0032)  [CRN: 17685]
Interested students must register for HIAA 0032.
How did a small city in central Italy grow to become one of the most powerful empires in history? This course explores the art and architecture produced in ancient Rome from its origins in the 6th century BCE to the fourth century CE. It considers a wide variety of media, including reliefs, freestanding sculpture, architectural monuments, mosaics, wall paintings, and daily-life objets. By exploring the role of art and architecture in the formation and expansion of the Empire, considering the experiences of ancient viewers, the course offers a post-colonial reading of ancient Roman history and culture. (A) Instructor: Gretel Rodriguez. MWF 11-11:50am.

ARCH 0679  The Ocean in Global History (HIST 0150J)  [CRN: 17030]
Interested students must register for HIST 0150J
This course plumbs the depths of the ocean's past to investigate how the planetary hydrosphere and its creatures have imprinted themselves upon the social, political, and cultural character of diverse human communities as sources of sustenance and power, cosmology and knowledge, conveyance and death. Topics to be considered include Austronesian seafaring traditions in the ancient Indo-Pacific; maritime empires, piracy and human trafficking in the age of sail; industrial fisheries and the establishment of oceanography as a scholarly discipline; and the political ecology of a warming ocean in the era of climate crisis. Instructor: Gabriel Rocha. TTh -10:20am. 

ARCH 0680  Water, Culture, & Power  [CRN: 18508]
Water is the source of life. In the midst of global climate change, environmental crises over water resources, and increasingly ubiquitous political debates over water, we are beginning to recognize humans' complete dependence on water. This course investigates our long-term attachment and engagement with water using archaeology, environmental history, and visual, literary and historical sources. From sacred spaces around springs to ancient cities by the sea, we will explore the cultural and political aspects of water beginning with the Last Ice Age and ending with late antiquity. Instructor: Tyler Franconi. MWF 1-1:50pm.

ARCH 0683  From Fire Wielders to Empire Builders: Human Impact on the Global Environment before 1492 (HIST 0270A)  [CRN: 17033]
Interested students must register for HIST 0270A.
This is a new lecture course intended to introduce the field of environmental history to students with no previous experience in it. The study of prehistoric, ancient and medieval environments is a heavily interdisciplinary research field, and the course will emphasize the variety of sources available for studying it. We will combine textbook readings with primary source readings from scientific and archaeological reports and, especially, contemporary texts. Instructor: Brian Lander. MWF 11-11:50am. 

ARCH 0771   An Anthropology of Food (ANTH 0680)  [CRN: 16888]
Interested students must register for ANTH 0680.
An exploration of the human experience of food and nutrition from evolutionary, archaeological, and cross-cultural perspectives. The course will review the various approaches employed by anthropologists and archaeologists to understand diet and subsistence in the past and present. Starting with the evolutionary roots of the human diet in Plio-Pleistocene Africa, we will trace patterns of human subsistence to the present, including the social and health implications of the agricultural revolution. We will then explore modern foodways in cross-cultural perspective, focusing on the interplay of ecology, politics, technology, and cultural beliefs. Instructor: Shanti Morell-Hart. MWF 2-2:50pm.

ARCH 0772  Food and Art in the Early Modern World (HIAA 0063​)
Interested students must register for HIAA 0063.
“Taste” is the sensory perception of flavor and the act of judging aesthetic quality. This class asks how the taste for food and for art relate in the early modern world. From the movement of spices, scents, chocolate, and sugar to the vessels that were invented to contain them, we will investigate the trade and circulation of foods and objects across the globe. We will then turn to cities that flourished in the wake of such consumption and their rituals of feasting and fasting. Finally, we will consider the transmission of knowledge about food and eating through recipes, culinary ephemera, a set table, and dinner parties. Instructor: Holly Shaffer. TTh 10:30-11:50am.

ARCH 1051  Archaeology of Settler Colonialism (ANTH 1622)  [CRN: 16900]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1622.
The course uses settler colonialism as a framework for understanding how European colonists attempted to displace and eliminate Indigenous peoples beginning in the 15th century and its historical implications for structural inequalities of race and gender. We will look at how settler colonialism is different from colonialism, and more importantly, at resistances challenging its ambitions. Case studies from North America mostly, but also Australia, South Africa, and other settler colonial societies will focus on historical archaeology’s contributions to illuminating settler colonialist strategies for establishing and maintaining settler sovereignty in light of concerns for decolonizing archaeological practices. We will give special attention to the insights gained about the experiences of dispossessed, enslaved, and marginalized peoples and their descendants, and the many ways their actions critiqued settler colonialism and imagined different futures. Instructor: Patricia Rubertone. TTh 10:30-11:50am

ARCH 1056  Indigenous Archaeologies (ANTH 1125)  [CRN: 16906]
Interested students must register for ANTH 1125.
This course is an introduction to Indigenous archaeology, sometimes defined as archaeology "by, for and with Indigenous peoples." These approaches combine the study of the past with contemporary social justice concerns. However, they are more than this. In addition to seeking to make archaeology more inclusive of and responsible to Indigenous peoples, they seek to contribute a more accurate understanding of archaeological record. They thus do not reject science, but attempt to broaden it through a consideration of Indigenous epistemologies. This course covers topics as the history of anthropological archaeology, Indigenous knowledge and science, decolonizing methodologies, representational practices and NAGPRA. Instructor: Robert Preucel. F 3-5:30pm.

ARCH 1108  Politics and Spectacle in the Arts of Ancient Rome​ (HIAA 1307)  [CRN: 18073]
Interested students must register for HIAA 1307.
This seminar investigates the intersection of politics and spectacles in the artistic production of ancient Rome. We will explore a variety of public monuments to reveal how they codify essential aspects of Roman culture. Topics include the architecture of entertainment spaces such as theaters, amphitheaters, and circuses, as well as the social functions of spectacles such as gladiatorial games and triumphal processions. We will look at expressions of imperial propaganda in monuments such as tombs and honorific arches. The class also considers how these ideas entered the private realm in the form of domestic wall paintings, mosaics, and sculpture gardens. A. Instructor: Gretel Rodriguez. W 3-5:30pm.

ARCH 1109  Games and Spectacles of Ancient Greece and Rome​ (CLAS 1120N)  [CRN: 18586]
Interested students must register for CLAS 1120N.
Will examine games and spectacles of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, from the early Olympic contests to the popular chariot races of late antiquity. By using a variety of sources, including archaeological evidence, we will explore not only the historical development of sports in the classical world, but also its ongoing political, social and cultural importance. By seeking to understand both participants and spectators, we also hope to connect the significance of games to other facets of Greco-Roman society, including women and religion. We will not only discuss the limitations of the primary sources, but also make relevant comparisons to the role of sports in contemporary society. MWF 10-10:50am.

ARCH 1144  Provincial Perspectives: Peopling the Roman Empire (CLAS 1331)
Interested students must register for CLAS 1331.
This course explores the experiences of people living in the Roman Empire through archaeological and textual evidence, seeking to understand how Roman imperialism shaped the daily life of its residents, from Spain to Mesopotamia and from Scotland to Egypt. We will address themes such as imperialism, identity, globalization, and Romanization as we investigate provincial urbanism, economies, rural settlements, the military, art, and religion from a number of different case studies in order to understand how the Roman Empire both shaped and was shaped by those living within its territory. Instructor: Candace Rice. TTh 1-2:20pm.

ARCH 1237  Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture: A World That Matters (ANTH 1030)  [CRN: 16902]
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. Instructor: Stephen Houston. TTh 2:30-3:50pm.

ARCH 1242  Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present (HIST 1360)  [CRN: 17586]
Interested students must register for HIST 1360.
This course merging lecture and discussions will examine the fascinating and contested history of one of the world’s most complex fluvial ecosystems: Amazonia, in equatorial South America, from its pre-human history to the present day. The course will include readings and discussions on the region’s ecological origins; the social history of its diverse Indigenous and immigrant populations, including African-descended peoples; exploration myths and European colonial projects; and more recent efforts to exploit and protect Amazonia’s extraordinary natural and human resources. The course will use tools and resources from archaeology, anthropology, biology, and social and cultural history, and will also examine popular representations of the Amazon through novels, newspapers, podcasts, and film. Instructor: Neil Safier. MWF 2-2:50pm.

ARCH 1621   History of Egypt I (EGYT 1430)
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. Instructor: Laurel Bestock.

ARCH 1868  River Histories: Fishes, Floods and the Transformation of Freshwater Ecosystems (HIST 1974D​)  [CRN: 18607]
Interested students must register for HIST 1974D.
This seminar critically examines the ecological turn in the humanities. Proceeding from close examination of historically-specific artistic practices, it excavates the predispositions and assumptions embodied in particular “geoaesthetics,” and situates these aesthetics in the long history of human efforts to make sense of the earth. Moving from the immanent rocks of Tiantai Buddhism and the thinking forests of the Amazonian Runa to the nature writing of Emerson and the formation of modern geological science, it considers the challenge of a deep history of geo-thinking to recent theorizations of hyperobjects, Gaia, and the Anthropocene. WRIT. Instructor: Brian Lander. F 3pm-5:30pm.

ARCH 1900  The Archaeology of College Hill  [Course Website]  [CRN: 18506]
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).  Instructor: Liza Davis. W 3pm-5:30pm.

ARCH 2006  Principles of Archaeology (ANTH 2501)  [CRN: 16887]
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.  Instructor: Shanti Morell-Hart. M 3pm-5:30pm.

ARCH 2143  Asian Reprographics A Long History of Impression (HIAA 2210)   [CRN: 18490]
Interested students must register for HIAA 2210.
This seminar examines the early history of reprography in East Asia. Defining reprography broadly to encompass all pre-photographic technologies of graphic impression, it explores the transfers that occurred within and between piece-mold bronze casting, ceramic molding, sealing, rubbing, and woodblock printing as they developed in succession and tandem over the past four millennia. In particular, the seminar considers the extent to which technics of transfer facilitated the movement of images across medium and time. Instructor: Jeffrey Moser. M 3-5:30pm.

ARCH 2407  Lived Bodies, Dead Bodies: The Archaeology of Human Remains (ANTH 2560)  [CRN: 16898]
Interested students must register for ANTH 2560.
Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains from archaeological contexts. We will survey the "state of the art" in bioarchaeology, while exploring its relevance and application to the archaeology of complex societies. We will survey a range of bioarchaeological methods and applications, including paleopathology, stable isotope analysis, population affinity/ancient DNA, perimortem trauma, and body modification. In turn, we will explore how bioarchaeology can be used to approach a wide range of archaeological problems relative to complext societies, including subsistence, economy, migration, urbanism, social inequality, conflict and warfare, and identity. Open to graduate students only. S/NC. LILE. Instructor: Andrew Scherer. TTh 9-10:20am.

ARCH 2420  Making Modern Monuments: Race, Coloniality, and the Athenian Acropolis  [CRN: 18650]
How does modernity construct monuments and monumental landscapes, out of the multi-temporal remnants of various pasts? How do coloniality and race shape this process? What is the role of disciplinary apparatuses, especially archaeology, classics, architecture, and history of art? How do modernist sensorial regimes, particularly technologies of vision, co-constitute such “significant” monuments? Exploring these key questions, this seminar takes a close and sustained look at one iconic specimen, a sacred locus of western, racialized modernity: the Acropolis of Athens. Instructor: Yannis Hamilakis. Th 4-6:30pm.

ARCH 2635  An Empire without Bounds: The Roman Empire in Its ‘Global’ Context​ 
The Roman world did not stop at the Empire’s borders; its influence spread through sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, India, central Asia, China, and northern Europe – and these interactions shaped the Roman Empire, in turn. This course aims to de-center the Roman and Mediterranean experience of Antiquity by considering archaeological and historical evidence from places as far-reaching as Parthian Mesopotamia, Kushan India, and Han China, as well as the Saharan oases, the Indian Ocean monsoon routes, and the many intertwined land routes of the ‘Silk Road(s)’ across central Asia. Instructor: Tyler Franconi. F 3-5:30pm.

Spring 2024

^{(Jump to Fall 2023)}

ARCH 0150  Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology and Art
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. Instructor: Laurel Bestock. MWF 11-11:50am.

ARCH 1670  The Beginning of the End? Neolithic "Revolutions" and the Shaping of the Modern World
How did the first farmers and settled human communities live their lives? How did they reshape the landscape, invent new forms of elaborate dwelling, and establish new relationships with plants and animals? And are the roots of some of our contemporary problems, including social inequality and patriarchy, to be found in the Neolithic? These are some of the questions we will be exploring in this course, using material from the European and Anatolian Neolithic and other, global, contexts. Instructor: Yannis Hamilakis.

Additional Course Information

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