Principles of Archaeology (ANT 4114) - Fall 2008
Professor: James M. Davidson Teaching Assistant: Michelle LeFebvre
Office: Turlington B128 Office: Turlington TBA
Office Hours: Mon. 2:00 PM -5:00 PM Office Hours:Wed: 9:00 AM -12:00 PM
Email: davidson@anthro.ufl.edu Email: mjl0201@ufl.edu
Download Course Syllabus: (Word Document)
Class Times:
Lecture: Mon and Wed: Period 6 (12:50 – 1:40 PM) Building: Turlington 2336
Lab sections: Building (B357 Turlington)
Section 1299 – Friday, Period 4 (10:40 – 11:30 AM)
Section 1303 – Friday, Period 5 (11:45 AM -12:35 PM)
Section 8931 – Friday, Period 6 (12:50 – 1:40 PM)
Required Text:
Thomas, David Hurst and Robert L. Kelly
2006 Archaeology (4th edition). Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.
This text is supported by a website that provides review notes, sample essay question, puzzles, web links, and more:
(http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&flag=student&product_isbn_issn=9780155058996&disciplinenumber=15)
Additional required materials for lab and lecture will be distributed via the website as needed
(students are expected to download and print these for use in class or lab)
Course Description
Archaeology is the study of humans from the material evidences of human activity and experience. This course is largely about the methods of archaeological practice, including both the means by which observations about the world are collected and organized, and how archaeologists recognize and interpret patterning in such observations. This course also is about the decisions archaeologists make to garner knowledge about people from the material traces of their existence. By what means do archaeologists find locations of human evidence (e.g., archaeological sites)? How do they know when, where, and how to dig? How much of a sample is enough? What observations are relevant and necessary to answer various questions about the unknown? How are observations meaningfully organized to recognize patterning? What frames of reference are useful for drawing inferences about patterning? How do archaeologists evaluate among competing interpretations of the same observations?
This course is designed for anthropology majors and others with sincere interest in pursuing archaeology as a profession. Although the prerequisite for this course is simply any other course in anthropology, students who have taken introductory archaeology (ANT3140) may have less difficulty than others following the material of Principles. Because we do not cover world prehistory or history in this course (i.e., it is not a survey of archaeological cultures), students with no prior knowledge of prehistory may need to consult additional readings in order to do well. Your T.A. and I will be happy to refer you to appropriate sources.
Course Goals:
(1) Develop working knowledge of archaeological methods in field and laboratory research including survey, excavation, stratigraphic interpretation, dating, inference, analogy, typology, and the reconstruction and interpretation of settlement, subsistence, social relations, and belief systems.
(2) learn how archaeologists make inferences about human behavior and practice by recognizing patterning in the distribution, form, and context of material remains;
(3) understand how archaeological records are created and transformed;
(4) develop a sense of stewardship over the irreplaceable resources of the archaeological record.
Course Format:
The course is divided into lecture and laboratory sections.
Mondays and Wednesday are devoted to lectures based on the chapters of the required text, as scheduled below, supplemented by material from the professor’s own research. Students are responsible for all material covered in lecture, including material not appearing in the text.
Lectures are generally fast-paced and rich in detail so students are expected to have read the assigned material before class and prepared themselves for extensive note taking. Students are encouraged to ask questions at any time during lecture. In addition to lectures, there will be two take-home exercises. These will provide additional opportunities for students to gain practical experience in archaeological method.
Laboratory sections on Fridays are led by the Teaching Assistant and will involve supplementary material from his own archaeological research and that of colleagues working in locations worldwide. Labs provide hands-on experience with artifacts, maps, profile and plan drawings from excavations, and food remains. For each of the ten labs scheduled from Sept. 5 on, students are expected to download and print a worksheet for recording information collected during laboratory exercises.
Grading:
Final grades for this course will be determined by student performance on three in-class exams (equally spaced during the semester), two take-home exercises, and 10 lab exercises. Each of the exams is worth a maximum of 40 points (or 120 total maximum points). The two take-home exercises are worth a maximum of 15 points each (30 total maximum points), and lab exercises are worth a maximum of 5 points each (50 total maximum points). The combined maximum point value of all exams and exercises is 200.
The letter-grade values for numerical point totals in this class are as follows:
>179.9 = A 140.0 - 154.9 = C
175.0 - 179.9 = B+ 135.0 - 139.9 = D+
160.0 - 174.9 = B 120.0 - 134.5 = D
155.0 - 159.9 = C+ <120.0 = E
Exams:
The exams are mostly objective, with combinations of matching, multiple choice, and true-false questions coupled with fill-in-the-blanks and short-answer essays. Missed exams can be made up with valid (e.g., medical) excuses if the student notifies the professor or TA before the exam. All exams are scheduled during class time and are held in the usual classroom.
Take-Home Exercises:
For the two take-home exercises, students are expected to download the materials from the course web site. The take home exercises will be posted on-line no later than the end of the day specified below for each of the exercises, and will include all necessary instructions. Students are welcome to team-up with classmates to work through the exercises, 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.
Take-home exercises are designed to illustrate basic methods of data collection and analysis using paper examples of actual artifacts. The exercises are essentially 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.
Take-home exercises are to be submitted at the beginning of lab sections on the dates listed below. Full credit is given to any exercise that is complete, thoughtful, and neatly recorded. Each take-home exercise is worth 15 maximum points. One point will be deducted each day for worksheets submitted late.
Lab Exercises:
Lab exercises complement the take-home exercises with hands-on experience with actual archaeological objects and records. Students are expected to download and print worksheets from the course web site before each lab. Worksheets for each lab are completed and turned in to the TA at the end of each lab. Each of the 10 lab exercise is worth 5 maximum points. Missed lab exercises cannot be made up, so students cannot miss lab without losing points toward the final grade.
Attendance:
Much of the course content is derived solely through lectures and labs. Missing class will prove detrimental to your understanding of the course material and ultimately to your final grade. If you must miss class, it is your responsibility to obtain the lecture notes from a classmate; the instructor’s lecture notes or power points will not be supplied.
You are expected to come to class having read the assigned text, and be thoroughly prepared for all in-class exercises or discussions. Attendance is not taken during the lectures, for the simple reason that if you don’t come to class regularly, you will not have the notes to do well on the exams, and you will likely fail this course.
Attendance will be taken during Friday lab sections and will figure directly into your grade.
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, AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN THIS CLASS.
Consult the Student Guide at www.dso.ufl.edu/stg/ for further information.
Students caught cheating will be referred to the University administration for disciplinary action, the consequences of which can include (among other things) failure of this course.
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SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Lecture Dates (Mondays and Wednesdays) Lab Dates (Fridays)
Week 1:
Aug 25 Introduction
Aug 27 Situating Archaeology (Chaps 1 & 2) Aug 29 Introduction and Ground Rules
Week 2:
Sept 1 NO CLASS – Labor Day
Sept 3 Doing Archaeology (Chap. 3) Sept 5 What Can We Learn from Things?
Lab Exercise 1
Week 3:
Sept 8 Locating Sites (Chap 4)
Sept 10 Investigating Sites 1 (Chaps 5 & 6) Sept 12 Survey Strategies
Lab Exercise 2 (download here)
Week 4:
Sept 15 Investigating Sites 2 (Chaps 5 & 6)
Sept 17 Site Formation 1 (Chap 7) Sept 19 Excavation Strategies
Lab Exercise 3
Week 5:
Sept 22 Site Formation 2 (Chap 7)
Sept 24 Chronology 1 (Chap 8) Sept 26 Reading Stratigraphy
Lab Exercise 4 (download here)
REVIEW SHEET FOR EXAM 1 (CHPTS 1 THROUGH 7) (DOWNLOAD HERE)
Week 6:
Sept 29 EXAM 1 (covering Aug 25 –Sept 22)
Oct 1 Chronology 2 (Chap 8) Oct 3 Chronology Building
Lab Exercise 5
Seriation exercise issued
Week 7:
Oct 6 Typology 1 (Chap 9)
Oct 8 Typology 2 (Chap 9) Oct 10 Typologizing
Lab Exercise 6
Typology Exercise Issued
Seriation exercise due
Week 8:
Oct 13 Inference and Analogy 1 (Chap 10)
Oct 15 Subsistence 1 (Chap 11) Oct 17 Patterning in Food Remains
Lab Exercise 7
Week 9:
Oct 20 EXAM 2 (Covering Sept 24 – Oct 13)
Oct 22 Subsistence 2 (Chap 11) Oct 24 HOMECOMING --NO LAB
Typology Exercise Due
Week 10:
Oct 27 Bioarchaeology 1(Chap 12)
Oct 29 Bioarchaeology 2 (Chap 12) Oct 31 Patterning in Social Relations
Lab Exercise 8
Week 11:
Nov 3 Social Archaeology 1 (Chap 13)
Nov 5 Social Archaeology 2 (Chap 13) Nov 7 Patterning in Meaning
Lab Exercise 9
Week 12:
Nov 10 Archaeology of the Mind (Chap 14)
Nov 12 Problem and Synthesis 1 (Chap 15) Nov 14 NO LAB – SEAC
Week 13:
Nov 17 Problem and Synthesis 2 (Chap 15)
Nov 19 Historical Archaeology (Chap 16) Nov 21 Archaeological Stewardship
Lab Exercise 10
Week 14:
Nov 24 Historical Archaeology (Chap 16)
Nov 26 NO CLASS – Thanksgiving Nov 28 NO CLASS – Thanksgiving
Week 15:
Dec 1 Historical Archaeology (Chap 16)
Dec 3 Stewardship (Chap 17) Dec 5 NO LAB SCHEDULED
Week 16:
Dec 8 Final Thoughts (Chap 18)/Review for Final Exam
Dec 10 FINAL EXAM