Doing Archeology: Case Studies from Western Asia

Catalog description

Archaeologists 'read' information from artifacts, architecture, and the environment to understand people's lives in the past. Archaeology can tell us about the development of the world's first cities and empires, the beginnings of farming, ancient exchange networks, and other important changes across human (pre)history. This course offers a rich introduction to the ways archaeologists study the past and what these analyses reveal about pre-Islamic Western Asia. Students will be introduced to new ways of seeing the past through a series of hands-on laboratory sessions and activities. The material records of ancient Western Asia, especially Southern Arabia and Central Asia, will serve as case studies for exploring how scientific methods like high-powered microscopy and neutron activation analysis can answer fundamental questions about the past. The semester's coursework culminates in the completion of an individual research project and paper.