Courses by semester
Courses for
Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .
| Course ID | Title | Offered |
|---|---|---|
| ARKEO2165 |
They Were What They Ate: Food in the Ancient World
"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are," wrote renowned gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1825. Since then, it has become axiomatic within anthropology that social relationships are constructed through food-related practices and embodied in food, from the most basic tasks of acquiring food resources to the social and political contexts of the consumption of food and drink. In this course, we will consider the theoretical and methodological approaches that archaeologists use to study food and eating in ancient societies from a global anthropological perspective. Topics to be addressed include transitions to agriculture; ritual foodways; feasting and politics; gender and identity; colonialism; and food scarcity. Readings will include a range of Old and New World case studies.
Full details for ARKEO 2165 - They Were What They Ate: Food in the Ancient World |
Spring. |
| ARKEO2201 |
Early Agriculture
Throughout most of the human career, people survived by hunting and gathering wild foods. The advent of food production is one of the most profound changes in (pre)history. This course examines the current evidence for the appearance and spread of agriculture (plant and animal domestication) around the world. We will consider definitions of agriculture and domestication, the conditions under which it arises, the consequences for those who adopt it, and why it has spread over most of the world.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO2668 |
Ancient Egyptian 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.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO2743 |
Archaeology/Roman Private Life
What was it like to live in the Roman world? What did that world look, taste and smell like? How did Romans raise their families, entertain themselves, understand death, and interact with their government? What were Roman values and how did they differ from our own? This course takes as its subject the everyday lives of individuals and explores those lives using the combined tools of archaeology, architecture and art, as well as some primary source readings. In doing so, it seeks to integrate those monuments into a world of real people, and to use archaeology to narrate a story about ancient lives and life habits. Some of the topics explored will include the Roman house; the Roman family, children and slaves; bathing and hygiene; food; gardens, agriculture and animals.
Full details for ARKEO 2743 - Archaeology/Roman Private Life |
Spring. |
| ARKEO3000 |
Undergraduate Independent Study in Archaeology and Related Fields
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 |
Fall, Spring. |
| ARKEO3235 |
Bioarchaeology
Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains from archaeological sites. Like forensic scientists at the scene of the crime, bioarchaeologists search for clues embedded in human bone and mummified tissues to reconstruct how ancient peoples lived and died. As a dynamic living system, the human skeleton responds not only to hormones that govern human development but also to physiological stress brought on by disease, malnutrition, and trauma. The human body is also an artifact molded by cultural understandings of gender, prestige, self-expression, and violence. In this course, students will learn the scientific techniques for estimating skeletal age and sex, diagnosing pathology, and reconstructing diet and migration patterns. This course emphasizes the critical integration of biological and cultural evidence for understanding past individuals and societies.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO3588 |
Biblical Archaeology
The purpose of the course is to place the Bible within the context of a larger ancient world that can be explored by systematic excavation of physical remains. Students will become familiar with archaeological excavations and finds from ancient Syria-Palestine from 10,000 bce to 586 bce. We will explore this archaeological evidence on its own terms, taking into consideration factors such as archaeological method and the interpretive frameworks in which the excavators themselves work, as well as the implications of this body of evidence for understanding the complexity and diversity of biblical Israel.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO4235 |
Meaningful Stuff: Interpreting Material Culture
"Res ipsa loquitur" -- the thing speaks for itself. This common expression captures a widespread belief about objects' roles in human lives, but "hearing" what objects have to say is actually a complex cultural process. An object rarely has a single meaning; they are read variously in different cultural settings, and even by different individuals within a cultural system. How does one know -- can one know -- the meanings of an object? How are objects strategically deployed in social interaction (particularly in cross-cultural interactions, where each side may have radically different understandings)? How does one even know what an object is? We will explore the history and variety of ways that material culture and its meanings have been studied, using archaeological and ethnographic examples.
Full details for ARKEO 4235 - Meaningful Stuff: Interpreting Material Culture |
Spring. |
| ARKEO4264 |
Zooarchaeological Interpretation
This course follows from last semester's Zooarchaeological Method. We will shift our emphasis here from basic skills to interpretation, although you will continue to work with archaeological bones. We will begin by examining topics surrounding the basic interpretation of raw faunal data: sampling, quantification, taphonomy, seasonality. We will then explore how to use faunal data to reconstruct subsistence patterns, social structure, and human/animal relations.
Full details for ARKEO 4264 - Zooarchaeological Interpretation |
Spring. |
| ARKEO4268 |
Aztecs and Their Empire: Myth, History, and Politics
Examines the structure and history of the largest polity in ancient Mexico, the "empire" of the Aztecs, using descriptions left by Spanish invaders, accounts written by Aztecs under Colonial rule, and archaeological evidence. Explores Aztec visions of the past, emphasizing the roles of myth, religion, and identity in Aztec statecraft and the construction of history.
Full details for ARKEO 4268 - Aztecs and Their Empire: Myth, History, and Politics |
Spring. |
| ARKEO4460 |
Heritage and its Entanglements: Representing, Collecting, and Preserving Cultural Identity
An exploration of the ways that cultural heritage is embodied in things, particularly archaeological landscapes, sites, and artifacts. Identifying stakeholders in relation to collecting and controlling these things and representing heritage is a key focus: what voices should states and other political entities have? local residents? descendants? How should descendants be identified? Other key topics include looting and the market in smuggled antiquities; repatriation; the ethics of studying and publishing looted objects; community engagement; forces that destroy heritage and strategies for preserving it; re-invented and imagined heritage. These issues will be examined using the collections of the Johnson Museum of Art and through case studies, including Colonial Williamsburg, African Burial Ground, Harriet Tubman House, the ancient Maya, and archaeology in the Third Reich.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO4670 |
Wealth and Power: Political Economy in Ancient Near Eastern States
Early states emerged when select groups gained control over wealth and power and institutionalized that control. How this was accomplished is a question of political economy that we can approach from archaeological, anthropological, and sociological perspectives. The course introduces students to the intellectual development of historical materialism in Smith, Marx, and Weber, among others, and traces their influence on later socioeconomic historians such as Polanyi and Finley. More recent approaches deriving from world-systems, gender studies, post-colonial studies, game theory, and network theory are then applied to case studies that include the emergence of a Mesopotamian state ca. 3400 BC, the Akkadian and Ur III empires, Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian trade, pharaonic Egypt, the international Late Bronze Age world, Aegean palatial civilization, and the Phoenicians. Students are welcome to present and write on other topics also. Monroe will provide context and clarification to assist with the specialist literature, but prior coursework in ancient studies will be advantageous in critically evaluating and writing about all the course readings.
Full details for ARKEO 4670 - Wealth and Power: Political Economy in Ancient Near Eastern States |
Spring. |
| ARKEO4981 |
Honors Thesis Research
Independent work under the close guidance of a faculty member.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ARKEO4982 |
Honors Thesis Write-Up
The student, under faculty direction, will prepare a senior thesis.
|
Fall, Spring. |
| ARKEO6000 |
Graduate Independent Study in Archaeology
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 |
Fall, Spring. |
| ARKEO6235 |
Bioarchaeology
Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains from archaeological sites. Like forensic scientists at the scene of the crime, bioarchaeologists search for clues embedded in human bone and mummified tissues to reconstruct how ancient peoples lived and died. As a dynamic living system, the human skeleton responds not only to hormones that govern human development but also to physiological stress brought on by disease, malnutrition, and trauma. The human body is also an artifact molded by cultural understandings of gender, prestige, self-expression, and violence. In this course, students will learn the scientific techniques for estimating skeletal age and sex, diagnosing pathology, and reconstructing diet and migration patterns. This course emphasizes the critical integration of biological and cultural evidence for understanding past individuals and societies.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO7235 |
Meaningful Stuff: Interpreting Material Culture
"Res ipsa loquitur" -- the thing speaks for itself. This common expression captures a widespread belief about objects' roles in human lives, but "hearing" what objects have to say is actually a complex cultural process. An object rarely has a single meaning; they are read variously in different cultural settings, and even by different individuals within a cultural system. How does one know -- can one know -- the meanings of an object? How are objects strategically deployed in social interaction (particularly in cross-cultural interactions, where each side may have radically different understandings)? How does one even know what an object is? We will explore the history and variety of ways that material culture and its meanings have been studied, using archaeological and ethnographic examples.
Full details for ARKEO 7235 - Meaningful Stuff: Interpreting Material Culture |
Spring. |
| ARKEO7264 |
Zooarchaeological Interpretation
This course is intended to follow on from Zooarchaeological Method in the fall; it is assumed that students have some familiarity with the nature of zooarchaeological material. In this course, we will consider issues related to the interpretation of archaeological animal bones: quantification, seasonality, taphonomy, subsistence, the origins of hunting, animal domestication, modes of consumption, meat sharing, the use of secondary products (milk, wool, traction).
Full details for ARKEO 7264 - Zooarchaeological Interpretation |
Spring. |
| ARKEO7268 |
Aztecs and Their Empire: Myth, History, and Politics
Examines the structure and history of the largest polity in ancient Mexico, the "empire" of the Aztecs, using descriptions left by Spanish invaders, accounts written by Aztecs under Colonial rule, and archaeological evidence. Explores Aztec visions of the past, emphasizing the roles of myth, religion, and identity in Aztec statecraft and the construction of history.
Full details for ARKEO 7268 - Aztecs and Their Empire: Myth, History, and Politics |
Spring. |
| ARKEO7460 |
Heritage and its Entanglements: Representing, Collecting, and Preserving Cultural Identity
An exploration of the ways that cultural heritage is embodied in things, particularly archaeological landscapes, sites, and artifacts. Identifying stakeholders in relation to collecting and controlling these things and representing heritage is a key focus: what voices should states and other political entities have? local residents? descendants? How should descendants be identified? Other key topics include looting and the market in smuggled antiquities; repatriation; the ethics of studying and publishing looted objects; community engagement; forces that destroy heritage and strategies for preserving it; re-invented and imagined heritage. These issues will be examined using the collections of the Johnson Museum of Art and through case studies, including Colonial Williamsburg, African Burial Ground, Harriet Tubman House, the ancient Maya, and archaeology in the Third Reich.
|
Spring. |
| ARKEO7741 |
Methods and Approaches in Current Archaeology
This seminar course aims to provide students with a review of, and encounter with, a key selection of the main methods and techniques used in current archaeological work, and to develop an understanding of the current practice of archaeology. Topics included are: (i) methods and practice in field archaeology (prospection, archaeological excavation and stratigraphy, survey archaeology and landscape), (ii) investigation of the climate and environmental context of the past, (iii) relative and absolute dating methods in archaeology, (iv) artifact analysis in archaeology (ceramics, stone, metals, etc.) and the role of the object in the discipline, and (v) approaches and issues in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological evidence (what questions to ask, and how to ask them).
Full details for ARKEO 7741 - Methods and Approaches in Current Archaeology |
Spring. |
| ARKEO8902 |
Master's Thesis
Students, working individually with faculty member(s), prepare a master's thesis in archaeology.
|
Spring. |