Download ARCH 1175 Archaeology Matters! Past

ARCH 1175
ARCHAEOLOGY MATTERS!
PAST PERSPECTIVES ON MODERN PROBLEMS
SPRING SEMESTER 2016
SYLLABUS
Class: T Th 2:30 – 3:50 pm, Room 008 Rhode Island Hall
Instructor: Professor John F. Cherry
Phone: 863-6412; e-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: Cherry, Fridays 1–3 pm, Room 105, Rhode Island Hall
Support website: canvas.brown.edu/courses/1023513
Short Course Description:
This is not the first era to face many of today’s global problems — rising
temperatures, sea-level change, sustainability, pollution, fire, water scarcity, urban
blight, social violence, and more. Archaeology is more than the understanding of
peoples long ago and far away, but a discipline whose long-term perspective could
offer potential solutions to current crises. Through case-studies and discussion of key
issues, this class asks how archaeology — and archaeologists — might just change
the world.
Overall Structure of the Class:
This class is enrollment-capped. That is because it will follow a seminar-like format,
in which discussion based on readings, and individual student reports, is to the fore.
In general, we will consider a new theme each week. I will introduce this theme with
a lecture (on Thursdays), in which I will highlight some key issues/questions and
essential background; the following Tuesday there will be a discussion in class, based
on assigned readings, in which you, the students, will report on particular casestudies, or collaborate in leading the discussion.
Grades will be based on:
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2 response papers (10% each)
1 Mid-term writing assignment
1 Final Term paper (~12-15 pages, including references)
Oral reports on case-studies, leading discussion
Very active participation in class discussion
Attendance, visits to office hours
20%
15%
30%
15%
15%
5%
Writing Assignments
Response papers. In about 750 words, you will concisely summarize an article or
chapter, then respond to its evidence and arguments in a critical manner, drawing out
what you see as both strengths and weaknesses. You may choose any piece of writing
assigned for this class, or another chapter in any of the books used in the class, or (after
consulting me) some other publication that is relevant to the main themes of the class.
You may submit your first response paper at any time, but no later than Thursday 25
February; the second is due no later than Thursday 14 April.
Mid-term writing assignment. This will be a 1,000-word essay on a topic I will assign to
the whole class on Thursday 10 March. It will be due on Tuesday 15 March.
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Final Term paper. A short research paper, equipped with relevant scholarly citations, on
any topic of your choice that relates to this class. Term papers are not due until
Wednesday 11 May (the start of the final exam period; there is no final exam for this
class), but each of you will present an oral summary of your research in a series of
classes beginning on Tuesday 19 April — so you will need to begin work on your term
paper even before the Brown Spring Recess that ends on April 3. All students are
required to meet with me to discuss their proposed topic for this paper.
Expectations:
• Regular attendance in class, except where illness or other unavoidable conflicts
intervene.
• Completing assigned readings by the dates indicated in this syllabus, and coming to
class prepared to talk about them.
• Submission of written materials by their due dates.
• Co-operation with other students in leading discussions and contributing to joint inclass reports.
• Willingness to consult with me in office hours about the course, problems you may
be experiencing with lectures or readings, and work towards a term paper.
• In taking this class, as all others at Brown, it is presumed that you have read, are
familiar with, and will abide by Brown’s Academic Code, particularly as they relate to
fair use of sources and avoidance of plagiarism. If necessary, refresh your memory
here:
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_College/curriculum/documents/principles.pdf
Readings:
All materials for this class will be made available on the Canvas site (and in many cases
these are anyway available through JSTOR). There is no assigned textbook for this class.
If there were, it would be Jeremy Sabloff’s Archaeology Matters: Action Archaeology in
the Modern World (2008), and we will indeed read several chapters from this book.
Provisional Course Outline
[The sequence of topics is set, but the readings are not entirely. Please check the online
syllabus for changes to what follows.]
Th 28 Jan
General introduction to the class
T 2 Feb
Can archaeology be useful? The public benefits of archaeology: discussion
Sabloff, J.A. (2008), Archaeology Matters: Action Archaeology in the Modern World, Ch.
1 (“The importance of the past for the present”) and Ch. 2 (“Lessons from the
past?”).
Manning, S.W. (2015) “Archaeology as a vital US strategic interest.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/08/archaeology-as-vital-us-strategicinterest.html
Witmore, C. (2013). “Growing beyond Leviathan,” Anthropology News.
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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.revproxy.brown.edu/doi/10.1111/j.15563502.2013.54406.x/epdf
Dawdy, S.L. (2009). “Millennial archaeology: locating the discipline in the age of
insecurity,” Archaeological Dialogues 16.2: 131-142. [Read Dawdy’s article, plus any
two of the 10 following short commentaries that follow it.]
Th 4 Feb
The concept of the Anthropocene: introduction
T 9 Feb
The concept of the Anthropocene: discussion
Crutzen, P.J. (2002). “Geology of mankind,” Nature 415 (3 January 2002): 23.
Steffen, W., P.J. Crutzen, and J.R. McNeill (2007). “The Anthropocene: are humans now
overwhelming the great forces of nature?”, AMBIO: A Journal of the Human
Environment 36.8: 614-621.
Erlandson, J.M., and T.J. Braje (2013). “Archaeology and the Anthropocene,”
Anthropocene 4: 1-7.
Smith, B.D., and M.A. Zeder (2013). “The onset of the Anthropocene,” Anthropocene 4:
8-13.
Braje, T.J., and J.M. Erlandson (2013). “Looking forward, looking back: humans
anthropogenic change, and the Anthropocene,” Anthropocene 4: 116-121.
Additionally, read any other article from this same special issue of Anthropocene (vol. 4,
2013) and come to class prepared to report on it.
Th 11 Feb
Refuse, waste streams, and garbage disposal: archaeology as the study of trash
T 16 Feb
“Garbology” and the Garbage Project: discussion
Rathje, W.L., and C. Murphy (1992). Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage, Ch. 2
(“Garbage and history”) and Ch. 3 (“What we say, what we do”).
Rathje, W.L. (2002). “The archaeology of fresh garbage,” in B.J. Little (ed.), Public
Benefits of Archaeology, 85-100.
Rathje, W.L. et al. (1992). “The archaeology of contemporary landfills,” American
Antiquity 57.3: 437-447.
Th 18 Feb
Human control (and lack of control) of fire, and its impact on the environment
[Read one or other of these — both if you can]:
Alperson-Afil, N. (2012). “Archaeology of fire: methodological aspects of
reconstructing fire history of prehistoric archaeological sites,” Earth-Science
Reviews 113.3-4: 111-119.
Bliege Bird, R. et al. (2008). “The ‘fire stick farming’ hypothesis: Australian
aboriginal foraging strategies, biodiversity, and anthropogenic fire mosaics,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.39: 14796-14801.
T 23 Feb No Class: Brown Long Weekend
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Th 25 Feb
Sustainable food production and agriculture
Sabloff, J.A. (2008), Archaeology Matters: Action Archaeology in the Modern World, Ch.
3 (“How can the prospects for a sustainable world be improved?”).
Diamond, J. (1987). “The worst mistake in the history of the human race,” Discover
magazine (May 1987).
T 1 Mar
Sustainability case studies, with student reports:
Erickson, C.L. (1992). “Applied archaeology and rural development: archaeology’s
potential contribution to the future,” Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society
20.1-2: 1-16.
Erickson, C.L. (2003). “Agricultural landscapes as world heritage: raised field agriculture
in Bolivia and Peru,” in J.M.Teutonico and F. Matero (eds.), Managing Change:
Approaches to the Conservation of the Built Environment, 181-204.
Mattingly, D.J. (2004). “Surveying the desert: from the Libyan Valleys to Saharan
oases,” in M. Iacovou (ed.), Archaeological Field Survey in Cyprus: Past History,
Future Potentials, 163-176.
Heckenberger, M.J. (2009). “Lost cities of the Amazon: the Amazon tropical forest is not
as wild as it looks,” Scientific American (October 2009): 64-71.
Th 3 Mar
Water availability: clean drinking water, irrigation, dams, future water-wars.
T 8 Mar
Water availability: discussion, with student reports:
Scarborough, V.L. (2003). The Flow of Power: Ancient Water Systems and Landscapes.
We will divide up this book among members of the class, with reports on its various New
World and Old World case-studies.
Th 10 Mar
Sea-level change: human responses
Fagan, B. (2013). The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea
Levels. Ch. 1 (“Minus one hundred twenty-two meters and climbing”).
T 15 Mar
Sea-level change (Read as much as you can, especially the short chapters in Fagan):
(1) Ryan, W.B. et al. (1997). “An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf,” Marine
Geology 138: 119-126.
(2) Bikoulis, P. (2015). “Evaluating the impact of Black Sea flooding on the Neolithic
of northern Turkey,” World Archaeology 47.5: 756-775.
(3) Fagan, B. (2013). The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising
Sea Levels. Chs. 2 (“Doggerland”), 3 (“Black Sea), 12 (“Dilemma of Islands”).
(Optional) Leary, J. (2015). The Remembered Land: Surviving Sea-level Rise After
the Last Ice Age.
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Th 17 Mar
Climate change and global warming
[Joukowsky Institute graduate student Samantha Lash will lead part of the class to talk
about proxies for the study of climatic and environmental changes.]
Kirch, P.V. (2005). “Archaeology and global change: the Holocene record,” Annual
Review of Environment and Resources 30: 409-440.
Fagan, B. (2004). The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization. Ch. 7
(“Droughts and cities, 6200 to 1900 B.C.”) and Ch. 8 (“Gifts of the desert, 6000 to
3100 B.C.”).
T 22 Mar
Climate change: case studies — 1 (student reports)
deMenocal, P.B. (2001). “Cultural responses to climate change during the late
Holocene,” Science 292: 667-673.
Kuper, R., and S. Kröpelin (2006). “Climate-controlled Holocene occupation in the
Sahara: motor of Africa’s evolution,” Science 313: 803-807.
Alley, R.B. et al. (2003). “Abrupt climate change,” Science 299: 2005-2010.
Ruddiman, W. (2003). “The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years
ago,” Climate Change 61:261-293.
Armit, I., G. Swindles, K. Becker, G. Plunkett and M. Blauw (2014). “Rapid climate
change did not cause population collapse at the end of the European Bronze
Age,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.48: 17045-17049.
Th 24 Mar
Climate change: case studies — 2 (student reports)
Staubwasser, M., and H. Weiss (2006). “Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late
prehistoric – early historic West Asia,’ Quaternary Research 66: 372-387.
Weiss, H. et al. (1993). “The genesis and collapse of third millennium north
Mesopotamian civilization,” Science 261: 995-1004.
Butzer, K.W. (2012). “Collapse, environment, and society,” Proceedings of the National
Academy of Science 109.10: 3632-3639.
Beach, T. et al. (2015). “Ancient Maya impacts on the earth’s surface: an early
Anthropocene analog?” Quaternary Science Reviews 124: 1-30.
T 29 Mar No Class: Brown Spring Recess
Th 31 Mar No Class: Brown Spring Recess
T 5 Apr
The Archaeology of Disaster
Gould, R.A. (2007). Disaster Archaeology. Ch. 1 (“What is disaster archaeology?”).
Th 7 Apr [NO CLASS]
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T 12 Apr
The Archaeology of Disaster: case studies — 1 (student reports)
Cooper, J., and P. Sheets (eds.), (2012). Surviving Sudden Environmental Change:
Answers from Archaeology.
We will divide up this book among members of the class, with reports on all its various
New World and Old World case studies.
Th 14 Apr
The Archaeology of Disaster: case studies — 2 (student reports)
T 19 Apr
Student reports on term paper topics — 1
Th 21 Apr [NO CLASS]
T 26 Apr
Student reports on term paper topics — 2
Th 28 Apr
Student reports on term paper topics — 3
W 11 May: TERM PAPERS DUE
Purely for information:
F 29 Apr – T 10 May Reading Period
W 11 May – F 20 May Final Examination Period [there is no final exam for this class]
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