Phones are off and away, computers are for note taking, and bring relevant reading materials or exercises with you to class.

Transcription

1 A RCHAEOLOGICAL M ETHOD, T HEORY & P RACTICE (ANTH-24) Elizabeth A. Klarich (eklarich@amherst.edu) S PRING 2010, T U/TH 10:00-11:20 AM, J OHNSON C HAPEL 21 O FFICE H OURS: 203C M ORGAN H ALL, T H 12-2 & BY APPT. C OURSE D ESCRIPTION This course focuses on the theoretical foundations of archaeological research, the variety of methods available to analyze material culture, the interpretation of results, and ethical considerations of practicing archaeology in the United States and abroad. Course provides students with a solid foundation for evaluating and contextualizing current methodological and theoretical trends within archaeology. Case studies illustrate the diversity of archaeological thought, interdisciplinary approaches to studying material culture, and innovative directions in the field of anthropological archaeology. Discussions of practice will address the roles and responsibilities of archaeologists in heritage management, museum development, and community outreach. C OURSE L EARNING O BJECTIVES The learning objectives for this course reflect the Seven Principles developed by the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Task Force on Curriculum: (1) foster long-term stewardship of archaeological resources; (2) recognize diverse interests in the past; (3) engage with diverse audiences to explore the various (and sometimes competing) meanings of archaeological remains; (4) promote awareness of the social relevance of archaeological data and its interpretations; (5) infuse the curriculum with professional ethics and values that frame archaeological practice; (6) improve written and oral communication skills; and (7) develop fundamental understandings of archaeological methods, theoretical frameworks, and problem solving [Bender 2000]. R EQUIRED R EADINGS Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods and Practice (Abridged Edition) by Colin Renfew and Paul Bahn (Thames & Hudson 2007) [available at Amherst Books & on reserve at Frost Library] o Additional assigned readings available on E-Reserves. Additional web resources will be assigned throughout the semester. 1

2 C OURSE G RADING The final course grade is based on a variety of assignments throughout the semester. First, each student will complete 5 short exercises, which include a written summary (2-3 pages) and in-class discussion component. Second, students will work in a small group (4-5 students) to develop a class lecture and lead discussion on an assigned journal article. Evaluation is based both on individual contribution and the final group presentation. Third, each student will complete a three part final project that summarizes, analyzes and evaluates two journal articles on a topic/s of his or her choice. Additional details for each assignment will be provided. A SSIGNMENT D UE D ATE % OF F INAL G RADE Exercises (choose 5 of 6 to complete) Varies, see calendar 25% Class Presentation (group/individual) Varies, see calendar 20% (10/10) Final Project, Part I 4/01/10 5% Final Project, Part II 4/08/10 20% Final Project, Part III 5/10/10 (finals week) 30% C OURSE P OLICIES The success of this course depends on student preparation for and participation in class. Students are expected to arrive on time to class, ready to comment on the readings scheduled for that day, answer questions, and actively contribute to discussion with classmates. Three or more absences will take reduce your final course grade (e.g. A to A-, A- to B+, etc.). Please review Amherst College s Academic Honesty guidelines [ /campuslife/deanstudents/acadhonesty]. Use care on all written work to avoid even the appearance of cheating or plagiarism. Discuss any questions with me before a problem arises. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the posted date. Late assignments will be accepted, but marked down one full letter grade if turned in by 5pm the following day. The Final Project is due by 5pm on 5/10, no exceptions. Phones are off and away, computers are for note taking, and bring relevant reading materials or exercises with you to class. Take advantage of office hours. I am happy to brainstorm with you about your projects, suggest readings, review preliminary drafts, etc. I return s as quickly as possible, but I do not answer course-related after 7 pm. In other words, don t wait to ask questions about assignments until the last minute! If you have a disability of any kind, come and speak with me at the beginning of the semester so that we can guarantee your needs are fully met throughout the course. 2

3 T OPICS & R EADING S CHEDULE* Date Readings Class Activities Assignments Due WEEK 1: HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY January 26 Course overview January 28 Renfrew & Bahn, Intro and Ch 1 Trigger, 2006 WEEK 2: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE WHAT WE FIND February 2 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 2 Binford, 1983 Fagan, 2005 February 4 Ur, sites/ Week 3: SURVEY & EXCAVATION February 9 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 3 David, 2006 Glassow, 2005 February 11 WEEK 4: DATING METHODS & CHRONOLOGY February 16 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 4 Gowlett, 2006 Holdaway, 2006 February 18 Film: Questioning the Past (26 mins) Ex 1: Google Earth Ex 2: Cemetery sampling strategies Ex 3: Stratigraphy WEEK 5: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION February 23 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 5 Brumfiel, 1992 Hodder, 2004 February 25 WEEK 6: ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY March 2 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 6 [ ] Rowley-Conwy, 2006 March 4 WEEK 7: PLANTS + ANIMALS = DIET March 9 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 6 [ ] Pearsall, 2004 Hastorf, 1991 March 11 WEEK 8: NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK Mar 16/18 Group 1: Settlement Patterns/ China Group 2: Fauna/ American S. East 3

4 WEEK 9: TECHNOLOGY March 23 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 7 [ ] Miller, 2007 March 25 WEEK 10: TRADE & EXCHANGE March 30 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 7 [ ] David and Kramer, 2001 April 1 WEEK 11: GETTING INTO ANCIENT MINDS April 6 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 8 [ ] Flannery & Marcus, 1993 April 8 Films: The Potters of Buur Heybe, Somalia & Woman the Toolmaker: Hideworking & Stone Tool Use in Konso, Ethiopia (30 mins each) Group 3: Flora, ethnoarchaeology/ E. Africa Group 4: Obsidian/ Maya region Field Trip: Mead Art Museum, Amherst WEEK 12: BIOARCHAEOLOGY April 13 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 8 [ ] Buzon et al April 15 Review NAGPRA website Film: Bones of ( Contention (1 hr) WEEK 13: EXPLAINING CHANGE (& FINISH UP BIOARCHAEOLOGY) April 20 Renfrew & Bahn, Ch 9 Hegmon, 2003 & 2005 Moss, 2005 April 22 Group 5: Bioarchaeology/ Peru Exercise 4: Ethnoarchaeology Films Final Project Part I Final Project Part II Exercise 5: Mead Visit Exercise 6: Bones of Contention WEEK 14: WRAPPING UP April 27 Additional readings TBA Group 6: Ceramics/ American Southwest April 29 Review: Final Project expectations WEEK 15: ARCHAEOLOGY & THE PUBLIC, ETHICS May 4 Renfrew & Bahn, Chapter 10 Price and Feinman, 2001 Sabloff, 1998 May 6 Course overview Short summary of final project by each student *I reserve the right to make changes to the schedule/syllabus for this course as needed, which will be posted to the course web site and announced in class. 4

5 A DDITIONAL R EADINGS, FULL CITATIONS (LISTED BY WEEK): Bruce G. Trigger A History of Archaeological Thought, 2 nd edition. Chapter 1, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Lewis R. Binford Forty-Seven Trips: A Case Study in the Character of Archaeological Formation Process. In Working at Archaeology. Edited by L. R. Binford, pp Academic Press, New York. Brian Fagan Short History of Archaeological Methods, In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Volume 1. Edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale, pp Altamira Press, Lanham. Ur, J. A Google Earth and Archaeology. The SAA Archaeological Record 6 (3): [ Andrew David Finding Sites. In Archaeology in Practice: A Student Guide to Archaeological Analyses. Edited by Jane Balme and Alistair Paterson, pp Blackwell Publishing, Malden. Michael A. Glassow Excavation. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Volume 1. Edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale, pp Altamira Press, Lanham. J.A.J. Gowlett Archaeological Dating. In A Companion to Archaeology. Edited by John Bintliff, pp Blackwell Publishing, Malden. Simon Holdaway Absolute Dating. In Archaeology in Practice: A Student Guide to Archaeological Analyses. Edited by Jane Balme and Alistair Paterson, pp Blackwell Publishing, Malden. Elizabeth M. Brumfiel Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Breaking and Entering the Ecosystem- Gender, Class and Faction Steal the Show. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 94, No. 3 (Sep., 1992), pp Stable URL: Ian Hodder The Social in Archaeological Theory: An Historical and Contemporary Perspective. In A Companion to Social Archaeology. Edited by Lynn Meskell and Robert W. Preucel, pp Blackwell Publishing, Malden. Peter Rowley-Conwy Animal Bones and Plant Remains. In A Companion to Archaeology. Edited by John Bintliff, pp Blackwell Publishing, Malden. Deborah M. Pearsall Plants and People in Ancient Ecuador: The Ethnobotany of the Jama River Valley. Chapter 1, Ethnobotany, pp Case Studies in Archaeology. Thomson-Wadsworth. Christine Hastorf Gender, Space and Food in Prehistory. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory. Edited by Joan Gero and Margaret Conkey, pp Blackwell Basil, Oxford. Heather M.L. Miller Archaeological Approaches to Technology. Chapters 1 & 2, pp Academic Press, Burlington. Nicholas David and Carol Cramer Ethnoarchaeology in Action. Chapter 12, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus Cognitive Archaeology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 3: [Reprinted in Contemporary Archaeological Theory, edited by Robert Preucel and Ian Hodder, pp Blackwell Publishing, Oxford and Cambridge] 5

6 Michele R. Buzon, Jaqueline T. Eng, Patricia Lambert and Phillip L. Walker Bioarchaeological Methods. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Volume II. Edited by Herbert D. Maschner and Christopher Chippendale, pp Alta Mira Press, Lanham. Michelle Hegmon Setting Theoretical Egos Aside: Issues and Theory in North American Archaeology. American Antiquity 68(2): Madonna Moss Rifts in the Theoretical Landscape in the United States: A Comment on Hegmon and Watkins. American Antiquity 70(3): Michelle Hegmon No More Theory Wars: A Response to Moss. American Antiquity 70(3): T. Douglas Price and Gary Feinman The Archaeology of the Future. In Archaeology at the Millennium: A Sourcebook. Edited by Gary Feinman and T. Douglas Price, pp Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York. Jeremy A. Sabloff Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Communication and the Future of American Archaeology. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 100, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp Stable URL: G ROUP P RESENTATIONS A RTICLES (1) Settlement Patterns & Development of Social Complexity in the Yiluo Region, North China Li Liu, Xingcan Chen, Yun Kuen Lee, Henry Wright, Arlene Rosen Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 29, No. 1/2 (Spring, Summer, 2004), pp Stable URL: (2) Patterns of Elite Faunal Utilization at Moundville, Alabama H. Edwin Jackson, Susan L. Scott American Antiquity, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp Stable URL: (3) Griddles, Ovens, and Agricultural Origins: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Bread Baking in Highland Ethiopia Diane Lyons, A. Catherine D'Andrea American Anthropologist, Vol. 105, No.3, p (2003) (4) Commodity or Gift: Teotihuacan Obsidian in the Maya Region Michael W. Spence Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 1996), pp Stable URL: (5) Prehistoric trepanation in the Cuzco region of Peru: A view into an ancient Andean practice Valerie A. Andrushko, John W. Verano American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol 137, Issue 1, Date: September 2008, Pages: (6) Pots, Parties, and Politics: Communal Feasting in the American Southwest James M. Potter American Antiquity, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Jul., 2000), pp Stable URL: 6