This introductory course surveys the archaeology of the ancient Greek and Roman world. Each week, we will explore a different archaeological discovery that transformed scholars' understanding of the ancient world. From early excavations at sites such as Pompeii and Troy, to modern field projects across the Mediterranean, we will discover the rich cultures of ancient Greece and Rome while also exploring the history, methods, and major intellectual goals of archaeology. (ARKEO-RMNE)

Full details for ARKEO 1702 - Great Discoveries in Greek and Roman Archaeology

Mesopotamia is often defined by firsts: the first villages, cities, states, and empires. Archaeology has long looked to the region for explanations of the origins of civilization. The modern countries of the region, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey, have also long been places where archaeology and politics are inextricably intertwined, from Europe's 19th century appropriation of the region's heritage, to the looting and destruction of antiquities in recent wars. This introductory course moves between past and present. It offers a survey of more than 10,000 years of human history, from the appearance of farming villages to the dawn of imperialism, while also engaging current debates on the contemporary stakes of archaeology in the southwest Asia. Our focus is on past material worlds and the modern politics in which they are entangled. (ARKEO-RMNE)

Full details for ARKEO 2010 - Archaeology and the Middle East

“Civilization” carries heavy baggage. To “be civilized” is to be part of an admirable version of human culture, to appreciate and foster its finest achievements, to behave with intelligence and grace. The appearance of civilizations is often represented as a watershed in human history. We will examine the earliest societies in several regions – including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Mesoamerica, and the Andes – that have been considered civilizations. We will compare their organization, expansion, and dissolution. Rather than search for a definition that separates civilizations from other kinds of societies, we will emphasize their diversity and their development from simpler predecessors.

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

This course examines the production and exchange of wine, beer, coffee and tea, and the social and ideological dynamics involved in their consumption. We start in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and end with tea and coffee in the Arab and Ottoman worlds. Archaeological and textual evidence will be used throughout to show the centrality of drinking in daily, ritual and political life. (ARKEO-RMNE)

Full details for ARKEO 2522 - Drinking through the Ages: Intoxicating Beverages in Near Eastern and World History

Did ancient Egyptians believe in the existence of souls? Why did they mummify the dead? Was the body of a pharaoh different from that of an ordinary person? This course sets the famous mortuary practices of ancient Egypt alongside treatments of living bodies and their immaterial components. We will read translated excerpts from ancient Egyptian texts?from magical spells recited for ancestors, to poetry on sex and death?while learning about items taken to the grave and monuments set up for posterity. In the process, we will reflect on contemporary representations of the past and evaluate the assumptions behind modern treatments of ancient artifacts and human remains. (ARKEO-RMNE)

Full details for ARKEO 2772 - Body and Spirit in Ancient Egypt

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

Introduction and training in dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) and its applications in archaeology, art history, climate and environment through lab work and participation in ongoing research projects using ancient to modern wood samples from around the world. Supervised reading and laboratory/project work. Possibilities exists for summer fieldwork in the Mediterranean, Mexico, and New York State. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 3090 - Introduction to Dendrochronology

The archaeology of European settler colonialism is a fast growing and increasingly important field of both world history and anthropological archaeology. Drawing upon insights provided by a relatively long period of Historical Archaeological research, scholars are increasingly attempting to understand the origins and effects of European colonialism on a global scale. In this course we will explore the dominant themes in global Historical Archaeology. We will explore how archaeology can contribute to our understanding of the origins and nature of European colonialism and capitalism, as well as the mutual interactions among Europeans, Indigenous peoples, Africans, and their descendants. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 3210 - Historical Archaeology: A Global Perspective

In this course, we will study Asia's kingdoms, states, and empires, and how this past is formulated as national heritage in present-day modern Asian states. We examine how Asian states and their royal traditions first came to be, including Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian kings and emperors, and how the legacy of these glorious pasts is reinterpreted and staged as national heritage. Our examples will include Cambodia's Angkor empire modeled on Indian traditions, as well as Burma, Thailand, Japan, China, and more. We will use readings, films, lectures and in-class student presentations on many topics. The course also serves as a prerequisite to the separate in-country Winter semester course Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia (ANTHR 3590/6590). (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ARKEO 3520 - Kingship, Nation, and Heritage in Asia

An introduction to belief systems in ancient Mexico and Central America, emphasizing the blending of religion, astrology, myth, history, and prophecy. Interpreting text and image in pre-Columbian books and inscriptions is a major focus. (ARKEO-RLAC)

Full details for ARKEO 4256 - Time and History in Ancient Mexico

This advanced seminar focuses on the archaeological study of houses, households, families, and communities. How is the study of domestic life transforming our understanding of ancient societies? How can we most effectively use material evidence to investigate the practices, experiences, identities, and social dynamics that made up the everyday lives of real people in antiquity, non-elite as well as elite? To address these questions, we will survey and critically examine historical and current theories, methods, and approaches within the field of household archaeology. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 4257 - The Archaeology of Houses and Households

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification. We will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels. While we will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America. This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting. You will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones. It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 4264/ARKEO 4264) offered in the spring. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 4263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models. We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 4272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

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. (ARKEO-RMNE)

Full details for ARKEO 4550 - Archaeology of the Phoenicians

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 faculty member(s).

Full details for ARKEO 6000 - Graduate Independent Study in Archaeology

The archaeology of European settler colonialism is a fast growing and increasingly important field of both world history and anthropological archaeology. Drawing upon insights provided by a relatively long period of Historical Archaeological research, scholars are increasingly attempting to understand the origins and effects of European colonialism on a global scale. In this course we will explore the dominant themes in global Historical Archaeology. We will explore how archaeology can contribute to our understanding of the origins and nature of European colonialism and capitalism, as well as the mutual interactions among Europeans, Indigenous peoples, Africans, and their descendants. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 6210 - Historical Archaeology: A Global Perspective

In this course, we will study Asia's kingdoms, states, and empires, and how this past is formulated as national heritage in present-day modern Asian states. We examine how Asian states and their royal traditions first came to be, including Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian kings and emperors, and how the legacy of these glorious pasts is reinterpreted and staged as national heritage. Our examples will include Cambodia's Angkor empire modeled on Indian traditions, as well as Burma, Thailand, Japan, China, and more. We will use readings, films, lectures and in-class student presentations on many topics. The course also serves as a prerequisite to the separate in-country Winter semester course Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia (ANTHR 3590/6590). (ASIAN-SC)

Full details for ARKEO 6530 - Kingship, Nation, and Heritage in Asia

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. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 6620 - Perspectives on Preservation

An introduction to the field of Dendrochronology and associated topics with an emphasis on their applications in the field of archaeology and related heritage-buildings fields. Course aimed at graduate level with a focus on critique of scholarship in the field and work on a project as part of the course. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 6755 - Archaeological Dendrochronology

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. (ARKEO-TM)

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

Explores the ways Mesoamericans understood the world and their place in it, and the ways they constructed history as these are reflected in the few books that have survived from the period before the European invasion. Examines the structure of writing and systems of notation, especially calendars, and considers their potential for illuminating Mesoamerican world views and approaches to history. Primary focus is detailed analysis of five precolumbian books: Codex Borgia, a central Mexican manual of divinatory ritual; Codex Boturini, a history of migration in central Mexico; Codex Nuttall, a Mixtec dynastic history; and two Maya books of astrology and divination, Codex Dresden and Codex Madrid. (ARKEO-RLAC)

Full details for ARKEO 7250 - Time and History in Ancient Mexico

This advanced seminar focuses on the archaeological study of houses, households, families, and communities. How is the study of domestic life transforming our understanding of ancient societies? How can we most effectively use material evidence to investigate the practices, experiences, identities, and social dynamics that made up the everyday lives of real people in antiquity, non-elite as well as elite? To address these questions, we will survey and critically examine historical and current theories, methods, and approaches within the field of household archaeology. This course is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates with some previous background in archaeology, material culture studies, or related fields. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 7257 - The Archaeology of Houses and Households

This is a hands-on laboratory course in zooarchaeological method: the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. It is designed to provide students with a basic grounding in identification of body part and taxon, aging and sexing, pathologies, taphonomy, and human modification. The course will deal only with mammals larger than squirrels. While students will work on animal bones from prehistoric Europe, most of these skills are easily transferable to the fauna of other areas, especially North America. This is an intensive course that emphasizes laboratory skills in a realistic setting. Students will analyze an assemblage of actual archaeological bones. It is highly recommended that students also take the course in Zooarchaeological Interpretation (ANTHR 7264/ARKEO 7264) offered in the spring. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 7263 - Zooarchaeological Method

This seminar uses archaeology to examine engagements between settlers and indigenous peoples throughout world history. Archaeology provides a perspective on settler-indigenous encounters that both supplements and challenges conventional models. We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of cultural engagement, examine methodologies, and explore a series of archaeological case studies, using examples from both the ancient world and the European expansion over the past 600 years. The seminar provides a comparative perspective on indigenous-colonial relationships, in particular exploring the hard-fought spaces of relative autonomy created and sustained by indigenous peoples. (ARKEO-TM)

Full details for ARKEO 7272 - Archaeology of Colonialism and Cultural Entanglement

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

Full details for ARKEO 8901 - Master's Thesis