Anthro 301/304 Syllabus

Introduction to Archaeological Studies I / Honors / Writing
Ant 304 (25555); Ary 301 (25995)
Prof. Samuel M. Wilson (s.wilson@mail.utexas.edu)
 EPS 2.140 (471-0057)    Spring 1998

In the past, this course has concentrated on some of the major changes human beings have undergone through their long history. In particular, we looked at changes that occurred in the last ten-thousand years as people domesticated plants and animals in order to produce their own food, and developed complex social and political systems to organize huge populations. This year we will examine these same themes, but paying more attention to how the field of archaeology has developed and how archaeologists have approached their subject.

This year's honors class will participate in the development of materials on the World-Wide Web. We are going to develop web pages that bring together and synthesize aspects of prehistory, and pay particular attention to issues concerning the history of archaeological thought. At the time this course was devised, there were over 300,000 individual web pages in the world dealing with archaeology in some way. Our task will be to try to make sense of some of this information, and to write useful additions to this diffuse body of material.

This course will be dedicated to making a start in the creation of web materials dealing with the intellectual history of archaeology. A great many other sites have done excellent jobs developing other kinds of resources. Archnet, for instance, at the University of Connecticut, has organized a wide variety of subjects and information that are of interest to practicing archaeologists.

Week of Tuesday
20 Jan Introduction to the Course. Archaeology on the web; structure of the course; where we're heading... Renfrew and Bahn: Introduction; Whittaker, Hard Times at Lizard Man; Flannery, The Golden Marshalltown.
27-Jan The emergence of archaeology since the Renaissance. Archaeology on the web; beginnings of the intellectual history of archaeology; workshop on exploring the web; Renfrew and Bahn: Chapter 1; Hantman and Dunham, The Enlightened Archaeologist; Fagan, Quest for the past; 
03-Feb History of archaeology in the last 100 years. Emergence of the discipline in the 19th century; Early 20th century investigations of human diversity; archaeology and colonialism; workshop on writing for the web; Renfrew and Bahn: Chapter 2 [First assignment, Best of the Web, due 5 Feb] 
10-Feb Where we think we came from. Human origins relationships between hominids and other primates. Miocene through Homo erectus. Workshop showing "best of the web" examples; http://www.indiana.edu/~origins/ and readings to be announced.
17-Feb Human Origins and the argument for the recent emergence of anatomically modern people. Out-of-Africa and multiregional hypotheses. Renfrew Chapter 4; Meltzer, Coming to America; Clottes, Rhinos and Lions and Bears; 
24-Feb [EXAM 24 February] 
The emergence of food production. Read Renfrew Chapter 7 before the exam.
03-Mar The interaction of food production, population growth, and sedentism;
10-Mar workshop on projects; Renfrew and Bahn, Chapter 5 and 6; Higham and Thosarat, Thailand's good mound. [second assignment: Intellectual Biography, due March 12]
17-Mar Spring Break
24-Mar The new archaeology and more recent changes in the field; processual archaeology since the 1960s; Renfrew, chap. 12; Feder How you know what you know; Ehrenreich Integrating the Sciences and the Humanities. 
31-Mar The emergence of complex societies. Renfrew, chap. 9; Gordon, History unearthed; . Paper Topic Due the 2nd
07-Apr States and Empires, cycles of complex society. Alva and Donnan, Tales from a Peruvian Crypt; Fash and Fash, Maya Resurrection; and readings to be announced. 
14-Apr Reinterpretations: topics for which dominant interpretations have changed through time, such as gender in archaeology, the origins of states, the Maya collapse, etc.
21-Apr The trajectories of humanity over the last 1000 years. Discussion of papers and paper topics; critiques of archaeology; Renfrew, chap. 14; readings on the millennium to be announced. [Projects must be complete by Friday, 24 April]
28-Apr Presentations of projects; Archaeology and contemporary social issues; Renfrew Chap. 13
05-May Assessment of our project and planning session for the future. Review.
 

Requirements

The following will make up your grade:
attendance, class participation, active involvement in the creation of UT Anthropology's History of Archaeology web structure.  ongoing 10%
reading assignments and occasional assignments to develop web competence (exploring and authoring); this will entail "show&tell" presentations of relevant web resources you have come across  first assignment 4 Feb., then ongoing 20%
write 2 short (about 1,000 words, plus graphics and links) web pages on topics relevant to our project. TBA 20%
write one longer (about 3,000 words, plus graphics and links) web page dealing with a particular theoretical trend, idea, person, issue, or site. April 24 20%
take 2 exams, covering readings, lectures, and discussions. 24 Feb & Final 30%
 
 

[Obligatory threatening passages]
Students who miss exams without notifying the professor (471-0057), or the Office of the Department of Anthropology (471-4206) in advance will, under most circumstances not be allowed to take the exam and will forfeit that portion of their grade. Late assignments will be penalized in proportion to their lateness. Attendance and class participation are extremely important and make up a significant part of your final grade. Roll will (sometimes) be taken and the exams will cover both the reading material and our discussions in class. Class participation (attendance, discussion of readings, participation in exercises and workshops, occasional assignments, presentations, etc.) will count for about 20% of your final grade (the first two items on the table).
 

Textbooks

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