Courses

A broad introduction to archaeology-the study of material remains to answer questions about the human past. Case studies highlight the variability of ancient societies and illustrate the varied methods and interpretive frameworks archaeologists use to reconstruct them. This course can serve as a platform for both archaeology and anthropology undergraduate majors.

Full details for ARKEO 1200 - Ancient Peoples and Places

Recent events in the USA and across the globe have drawn attention to the dynamic and highly political role that statues play within public life. But why do so many societies create statues, and why do they set them up in prominent spaces? How do statues work? And why do they loom so large in the public imagination? Looking both to Ancient Greece and Rome and the modern West, this course examines the social, political, religious, and erotic power attributed to statues across diverse periods and contexts, paying special attention to current events in the USA. We will explore topics including the foundational role of statues for political states (from the Athenian Tyrannicides to the Statue of Liberty), the commemorative function of statues (such as victory monuments and war memorials), the destruction of statues (from Christian iconoclasm to Confederate monuments), creative "statue-hacks" (from Rome's Pasquino to Wall Street's "Fearless Girl") and objects of cult (from Olympian Zeus to weeping Madonnas). The course will encourage students to consider statues relevant to themselves and their communities, including the Cornell cast collection, statues on campus, and those in your own home town.

Full details for ARKEO 1704 - Statues and Public Life

These seminars offers an introduction to the humanities by exploring the historical, cultural, social and political themes. Students will explore themes in critical dialogue with a range of texts and media drawn from the arts, humanities, and/or humanistic social sciences. Guest speakers, including Cornell faculty and Society for the Humanities Fellows, will present from different disciplines and points of view. Students will make field trips to local sites relevant to the theme, and visit Cornell special collections and archives. Students enrolled in this seminar will have the opportunity to participate in additional programming related to the Society's annual focus theme and the Humanities Scholars Program for undergraduate humanities research.

Full details for ARKEO 2150 - Introduction to Humanities

The emergence of what has come to be called civilization marks a profound transformation in human culture, society, politics, economy, and psychology. The first civilizations have been variously described as the point of origin for artistic achievement and the genesis of social struggle, a victory over the state of nature and the source of human neurosis, the genealogical root of social inequality and the foundation for the rule of law. In this course we will examine the rise and fall of ancient civilizations at the same time as we interrogate the rise and fall of the concept of civilization itself in modern historical thought. Our primary focus will be a comparative archaeological examination of five pivotal case studies of early civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and the Maya lowlands. Alongside our explorations of these early civilizations, we will undertake a critical examination of current key issues in political anthropology, including the nature of kingship, the origins of cities, and the role of coercion in the formation of early polities. The course will examine the spread of civilization, including the development of secondary states, early empires, and the first world systems. We will conclude the class with an examination of the concept of civilization itself, its historical roots and its current prominence in geopolitical thinking and policy making. The goal of the class is to provide students with an understanding of the nature of the world's first civilizations and the potency of their contemporary legacy.

Full details for ARKEO 2430 - The Rise and Fall of Civilization

The course surveys the history and culture of pharaonic Egypt from its prehistoric origins down to the early first millennium bce. Within a chronological framework, the following themes or topics will be considered: the development of the Egyptian state (monarchy, administration, ideology), social organization (class, gender and family, slavery), economic factors, and empire and international relations.

Full details for ARKEO 2668 - Ancient Egyptian Civilization

With megacities, long-distance trade, and fluid identities, the Roman empire can seem uncannily close to our modern world. This course adopts a thematic approach to explore whether this is a valid parallel, based on archaeological evidence ranging from temples to farms, from wine containers to statues.

Full details for ARKEO 2711 - Archaeology of the Roman World: Italy and the West

An introduction to the story of how human history from the earliest times through to the recent period interrelates with changing climate conditions on Earth. The course explores the whole expanse of human history, but concentrates on the most recent 15,000 years through to the Little Ice Age (14th-19th centuries AD). Evidence from science, archaeology and history are brought together to assess how climate has shaped the human story.

Full details for ARKEO 2729 - Climate, Archaeology and History

This course offers a survey of the art and culture of China from the Neolithic period to the twenty-first century to students who have no previous background in Chinese studies. The course begins with an inquiry into the meaning of national boundaries and the controversial definition of the Han Chinese people, which will help us understand and define the scope of Chinese culture. Pre-dynastic (or prehistoric) Chinese culture will be presented based both on legends about the origins of the Chinese and on scientifically excavated artifacts. Art of the dynastic periods will be presented in light of contemporaneous social, political, geographical, philosophical and religious contexts. This course emphasizes hands-on experience using the Chinese art collection at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art for teaching and assignments. In addition to regular sections conducted in the museum, students are strongly encouraged to visit the museum often to appreciate and study artworks directly.

Full details for ARKEO 2800 - Introduction to the Arts of China

This introductory course explores the roles of amulets, love potions, curse tablets, and many other magical practices in ancient Greek and Roman societies. In this course, you will learn how to invoke the powers of Abrasax, become successful and famous, get people to fall desperately in love with you, and cast horrible curses on your enemies! We will also examine a range of ancient and modern approaches to "magic" as a concept: what exactly do we mean by "magic," and how does it relate to other spheres of activity, like religion, science, and philosophy? When people (in ancient times or today) label the activities of others as "magic," what are the social and political consequences of that act? As we investigate the practices that Greeks and Romans considered "magical," we will also explore what those practices can teach us about many other aspects of life in the past, such as social class, gender, religion, and ethnic and cultural identity.

Full details for ARKEO 2846 - Magic and Witchcraft in the Greco-Roman World

Undergraduate students pursue topics of particular interest under the guidance of a faculty member.

Full details for ARKEO 3000 - Undergraduate Independent Study in Archaeology and Related Fields

In recent years, feminist theory has begun to have an impact on archaeological thought. It is now recognized that gender is likely to have been a relevant dimension of social organization in past societies. Some archaeologists are also trying to take into account the differing interests and experiences of children, adults of reproductive age, and the elderly. This course will not be limited to any period or geographical area, but will range widely in examining how feminist theory has been applied to archaeological data and models. We will consider whether it is necessary to identify women and men, adults and children in the archaeological record in order to take gender and age into account. We will also examine the uses of archaeological data by contemporary feminists.

Full details for ARKEO 3269 - Gender and Age in Archaeology

Various American Indian civilizations as well as diverse European cultures have all exerted their influences on the organization of town and city living. The course considers how each culture has altered the landscape in its own unique way as it created its own built environments.

Full details for ARKEO 3600 - Pre-Industrial Cities and Towns in North America

Students will learn method and theory on museum design and curation. The course also provides hands-on experience in designing and building exhibits for State Parks in the Finger Lakes. For the outreach component, students will work with staff from State Parks and Friends of the Parks.

Full details for ARKEO 4020 - Designing Archaeological Exhibits

What are the historical factors that have led to food insecurity? In this course, we consider examples from around the world to engage with that question. We address both food production, including the sustainability of agriculture and food processing, as well as distribution, including political dynamics and markets. While encouraging interdisciplinarity, this course draws mostly on environmental archaeology and history and examines the role that the humanities and social sciences can play in shaping and promoting solutions to food insecurity. We begin with readings from diverse fields to explore critical concepts, then address case studies in broad chronological order, starting with food and colonialism, and moving into the development of corporate agriculture, international development, and food-related social movements.

Full details for ARKEO 4086 - Histories of Food Insecurity

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ARKEO 4216 - Maya History

The Phoenicians have long been an enigma, a people defined by distant voices. Originating from present-day Lebanon, they were Semitic speakers, renowned seafarers and transmitters of an innovative alphabet that transformed how Mediterranean and Near Eastern folk wrote their languages. Having left us virtually no texts of their own, their history has resembled a patchwork of recollections from Old Testament and Hellenistic times. Recent archaeological discoveries, however, reveal patterns of trade, colonization and socioeconomic transformations that make the Phoenicians less enigmatic while raising new questions. Our class explores the third and second millennium Canaanite roots of the Phoenicians, as well as the Biblical and Greco-Roman perceptions of their early first millennium heyday. We will explore the Phoenician homeland and its colonies, and investigate their maritime economy, language, and religion through both archaeological and textual sources. Temporally the focus is on Phoenician rather than Carthaginian or Punic history, thus up to about 550 BCE. The class has a seminar format involving critical discussions and presentations of scholarly readings, and requires a research paper.

Full details for ARKEO 4550 - Archaeology of the Phoenicians

Curated fashion exhibitions are fabricated sites where research practice, creative design, storytelling, and aesthetics converge in order to convey visual and material narratives for public consumption. In this course, students will learn about curatorial practice more broadly and the display of fashion artifacts more specifically through theory and practice. Students will work collaboratively to curate a fashion exhibition using the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. For additional information visit the Society for the Humanities website.  

Full details for ARKEO 4651 - Curating Fashion Exhibitions

Independent work under the close guidance of a faculty member.

Full details for ARKEO 4981 - Honors Thesis Research

The student, under faculty direction, will prepare a senior thesis.

Full details for ARKEO 4982 - Honors Thesis Write-Up

Graduate students pursue advanced topics of particular interest under the guidance of a faculty member(s).

Full details for ARKEO 6000 - Graduate Independent Study in Archaeology

Students will learn method and theory on museum design and curation. The course also provides hands-on experience in designing and building exhibits for State Parks in the Finger Lakes. For the outreach component, students will work with staff from State Parks and Friends of the Parks.

Full details for ARKEO 6020 - Designing Archaeological Exhibits

This course is an exploration of Maya understandings of their own history as it is reflected in ancient texts. We will begin by looking at episodes in Colonial and recent history to illustrate some of the ways Maya thinking about history may differ from more familiar genres. We will then review basic aspects of precolumbian Maya writing, but we will focus mainly on analyzing texts from one or more Classic period Maya cities.

Full details for ARKEO 6256 - Maya History

In recent years, feminist theory has begun to have an impact on archaeological thought. It is now recognized that gender is likely to have been a relevant dimension of social organization in past societies. Some archaeologists are also trying to take into account the differing interests and experiences of children, adults of reproductive age, and the elderly. This course will not be limited to any period or geographical area, but will range widely in examining how feminist theory has been applied to archaeological data and models. We will consider whether it is necessary to identify women and men, adults and children in the archaeological record in order to take gender and age into account. We will also examine the uses of archaeological data by contemporary feminists.

Full details for ARKEO 6269 - Gender and Age in Archaeology

Introduction to the theory, history, and practice of Historic Preservation Planning in America, with an emphasis on understanding the development and implementation of a preservation project. The course discusses projects ranging in scale and character from individual buildings to districts to cultural landscapes; as well as topics such as preservation economics, government regulations, significance and authenticity, and the politics of identifying and conserving cultural and natural resources.

Full details for ARKEO 6620 - Perspectives on Preservation

Curated fashion exhibitions are fabricated sites where research practice, creative design, storytelling, and aesthetics converge in order to convey visual and material narratives for public consumption. In this course, students will learn about curatorial practice more broadly and the display of fashion artifacts more specifically through theory and practice. Students will work collaboratively to curate a fashion exhibition using the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. For longer description and instructor bio visit http://societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu/courses. For additional information visit the Society for the Humanities website.

Full details for ARKEO 6651 - Curating Fashion Exhibitions

Various American Indian civilizations as well as diverse European cultures have all exerted their influences on the organization of town and city living. The course considers how each culture has altered the landscape in its own unique way as it created its own built environments.

Full details for ARKEO 6660 - Pre-Industrial Cities and Towns in North America

Introduction to core readings in Greek and Roman art and archaeology. 

Full details for ARKEO 6701 - Advanced Readings in Archaeology

An introduction to the story of how human history from the earliest times through to the recent period interrelates with changing climate conditions on Earth. The course explores the whole expanse of human history, but concentrates on the most recent 15,000 years through to the Little Ice Age (14th-19th centuries AD). Evidence from science, archaeology and history are brought together to assess how climate has shaped the human story.

Full details for ARKEO 6729 - Climate, Archaeology and History

Archaeology studies the past through its material remains. In doing so, it builds on wide-ranging theories and methods to develop its own disciplinary toolbox. This graduate seminar explores this toolbox, treating a topic of broad theoretical and/or methodological interest such as emerging topics in archaeological thought, the history of archaeological theory, key archaeological methods, themes that tie archaeology to the wider domain of the humanities and social sciences, or some combination of the above. The seminar is taught by various members of the Archaeology faculty, each of whom offers their own version of the seminar. The seminar is required for incoming CIAMS M.A. students, and needed for CIAMS membership for Ph.D. students.

Full details for ARKEO 7000 - CIAMS Core Seminar in Archaeological Theory and Method

What are the historical factors that have led to food insecurity? In this course, we consider examples from around the world to engage with that question. We address both food production, including the sustainability of agriculture and food processing, as well as distribution, including political dynamics and markets. While encouraging interdisciplinarity, this course draws mostly on environmental archaeology and history and examines the role that the humanities and social sciences can play in shaping and promoting solutions to food insecurity. We begin with readings from diverse fields to explore critical concepts, then address case studies in broad chronological order, starting with food and colonialism, and moving into the development of corporate agriculture, international development, and food-related social movements.

Full details for ARKEO 7086 - Histories of Food Insecurity

The conquests and death of Alexander served as catalysts for major cultural transformation. Throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, Greco-Macedonian dynasties came to rule over foreign populations in places as diverse as Egypt, the Near East, Central Asia, and northwestern India. The resulting interactions, conflicts, collaborations, and entanglements produced new practices, new forms of material culture, and new constructions of "Hellenicity."

Full details for ARKEO 7743 - Archaeology of the Hellenistic Mediterranean

Students, working individually with faculty member(s), prepare a master's thesis in archaeology.

Full details for ARKEO 8901 - Master's Thesis