NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
ANT 3153 (Section 5113)
SPRING 2008
Florida Gymnasium Building (Flg 260)
Tuesday -- Period 9 (4:05 to 4:55 pm); Thursday Periods 8-9 (3:00 to 4:55pm)_
Instructor: James M. Davidson, Ph.D.
Office: Turlington B128
Email: davidson@anthro.ufl.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00- 2:30 pm (and by appointment)
Course Website: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/davidson/courses.htm
Download a copy of the Syllabus HERE.
Download Exercise No.1 -- Stylistic Seriation (Due Thursday, March 6) HERE
Download Exercise No.2 -- Typology (Due Thursday, April 10) HERE
Description:
This course presents a
survey of the prehistory of North America (i.e., (before A.D. 1492), as
derived through archaeological investigation. We will also cover
the proto-historic and Colonial periods, and the sub-field of
Historical Archaeology, This subject covers an extensive time depth
(some 12,000 years) and is continental in scale.
Equally immense is the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of the continent’s regional prehistories. In this course, you will have an opportunity to learn something about the prehistory in each of the regions within the continental United States and Canada. You will learn how to locate and critically evaluate data on particular aspects of prehistoric life.
You will encounter a vast amount of technical information over the semester. While you are not expected to remember all the minute details, you are expected to understand how this information is used by archaeologists to formulate and evaluate explanations of cultural stability and change.
Through lectures, I will introduce the readings and provide broad overviews of the overarching topics and issues within the discipline. However, you will be responsible for additional textbook content.
Readings are assigned from chapters in the required text. This material must be read prior to the lecture on the date posted.
The specific topics and readings given below may be altered or amended, at my discretion.
Required Text:
Neusius, Sarah and G. Timothy Gross (2007) Seeking Our Past: An introduction to North American Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford [ISBN: 0195173848]
Students are expected to have read the readings for that day, and come to class prepared
to discuss them.
There will be three non-cumulative exams, the format of which will be a mixture of objective questions (e.g., true false, multiple choice, etc), and short answer or essay questions. There will also be a final exam, following this same format, but at least somewhat comprehensive and cumulative.
Review sheets will be distributed for each exam, and final.
Class Format: Because this is a survey course, presentation
is chiefly lecture, accompanied by videos, slide shows, and other
visual media. However, time is reserved for your questions and
commentary, especially during the longer Thursday sessions. Also, you
occasionally will be called upon in class to answer questions about the
readings and other course content. You must attend class
religiously, read the assigned material before each class, and prepare
to comment on the subject matter.
Take-Home Exercise:
During the course of the semester, there will be two take home
exercises. Students are expected to download the exercise materials
from the course web site, and are welcome to brainstorm with their
classmates, but each student is expected to submit their own work.
Submitting a literal copy of a classmate’s work is prohibited and will
be treated as an act of plagiarism.
The take-home exercises are designed to illustrate basic methods of data collection and analysis using paper examples of actual artifacts. They are mock versions of the same analytical methods archaeologists use to measure, organize, and interpret archaeological remains. They are designed to be both instructive and challenging, but also enjoyable.
Full credit will be given to any exercise that is complete, thoughtful, neatly recorded, and submitted on the day it is due. On a five-point scale, one point will be deducted for each day it is late, until the assignment is turned in.
Grading:
Exams 1 thru 3 (20%
each)
60%
Attendance/Class Participation: 10%
Take Home Exercises (5% each) 10%
Final Exam (comprehensive) 20%
A final letter grade will be assigned at the end of the semester, according to this scale:
A (90-100%)
B+ (86-89%)
B (80-85%)
C+ (76-79%)
C (70-75%)
D+ (66-69%)
D (60-65%)
E (59% or below)
Attendance: Regular attendance is expected. Excessive unexcused absences will detract from the student’s final grade (see above).
Make-up Exams:
If an exam is missed, and the absence was pre-arranged, or in the event
of illness accompanied by a physician’s note, a make-up exam will be
given. No make-up exams will be given for students who miss the
testing period due to unexcused absences.
Accommodating Students with Disabilities:
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with
the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will
provide documentation to the student, who in turn must provide this
documentation to me when requesting accommodation.
Academic Honesty:
The University reminds every student of the implied pledge of Academic Honesty:
“on any work submitted for credit the student has neither received nor given unauthorized aid.”
THIS REFERS TO CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM, WHICH WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN THIS CLASS
Consult the Student Guide at www.dso.ufl.edu/stg/ for further information. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings (any pieces of information) that are not common knowledge; quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.
Students caught cheating will be referred to the University administration for disciplinary action, the consequences of which can include failure of this course, and possible expulsion from the University.
Schedule and Topics:
NOTE: specific topics and readings may be altered or amended, at my discretion.
DATE TOPIC READING
How do archaeologists organize & interpret North American Prehistory?
Week 1 (Jan 7 thru Jan 11)
1/8 Course Overview
1/10 NO CLASS: I WILL BE ATTENDING THE SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHAEOOGY MEETINGS, ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Week 2 (Jan 14 thru Jan 18)
1/15 What is Archaeology? Terms and Concepts (Chpt. 1— pages 3-32; just skim the Issues and Debates and Faces in Archaeology sections)
1/17 Field Methodology/Research Questions (Chpt. 2 – pages 43-86)
Week 3 (Jan 21 thru Jan 25)
1/22 Clovis (Chpt. 3— pages 97-112), {CD-ROM Section D.2}
1/24 Pre-Clovis (Chpt. 3— pages 112-143)
Week 4 (Jan 28 thru Feb 1)
1/29 Folsum and Late Paleoindian Environment/Holocene Adaptation (review Chpt. 3)
(Chpt. 11-pages 456-462)
1/31 Archaic: Overview
Week 5 (Feb 4 thru Feb 8)
2/5 ******Exam 1 (Tuesday -- February 5) ******
2/7 Archaic in the Florida and the
Southeast (Chpt. 11— pages 462-473)
Week 6 (Feb 11 thru 15)
2/12 Archaic California Coast (Chpt. 7— pages 270-287)
2/14 Archaic Great Basin (Chpt. 8— pages 310-330)
Week 7 (Feb 18 thru Feb 22)
2/19 Archaic Southwest (Chpt. 9 – pages 364-370)
2/21 Archaic Arctic/Great Plains/Southern Plains (Chpt. 10—pages 406-422)
Week 8 (Feb 25 thru Feb 29)
2/26 Archaic Complexity / Monuments (Chpt. 11—pages 469-471)
2/28 Eastern North America: Adena/Hopewell/Woodland 1 (Chpt. 11— pages 452-
457; 473-482).
Week 9 (March 3 thru March 7)
3/4 ******Exam 2 (Tuesday – March 4) ********
3/6 Eastern North America: Adena/Hopewell/Woodland 2 (Chpt. 12 — pages 523-535)
Week 10 (March 10 thru March 14)
3/11 Spring Break – No Class N/A
3/13 Spring Break – No Class N/A
Week 11 (March 17 thru March 21)
3/18 Eastern North America: Mississippian 1 (Chpt. 11 — pages 482-491; 498-507)
3/20 Eastern North America: Mississippian 2 (Chpt. 12 — pages 535-544)
Week 12 (March 24 thru March 28)
3/25 The Southwest (Chpt. 1—pages 32-42; (Chpt. 9—pages 369-405)
3/27 The Southwest {CD-ROM Section D.4}
Week 13 (March 31 thru April 4)
4/1 Great Plains/Texas
Borderlands
(Chpt. 10—pages 423-441)
4/3
Great Basin/California/Pacific NW
Coast (Chpt. 5—pages 204-221) (Chpt. 7—pages 280-292) (Chpt. 8—pages 330-337)
Week 14 (April 7 thru April 11)
4/8 ******Exam 3 (Tuesday – April 8) ********
4/10 Politics and Ethical Issues in Archaeology (Chpt. 14) (also pages 22-24; 123-125)
Week 15 (April 14 thru April 18)
4/15 Historical Archaeology: The Consequences of Contact and Colonialism
4/17 Historical Archaeology: Case Studies 1
Week 16 (April 21 thru April 25)
4/22 Historical Archaeology: Case Studies 2
Final Exam Period 28B: (Monday – April 28, 2008 – 10:00 am to Noon)
******The Final Exam is at least in part, comprehensive and cumulative******