Module Code and Title:        AFD103 Introduction to Archaeology

Programme:                          BA in Anthropology

Credit:                                    12

Module Tutor:                       Shawn Christopher Rowlands (Coordinator), Anden Drolet 

General Objective: This module will introduce students to the anthropological subdiscipline of archaeology, including background, history, and methods. The study will provide a survey of key archaeological sites around the globe, key theoretical frameworks for analysing findings and the key research methodologies of the sub-discipline. Through the study of human civilizations, this module helps students to critically challenge historic claims to past events, while broadening the scope of history beyond recent memory. Through hands-on exercise and guided reading, the module will provide the necessary foundational knowledge of the field. 

Learning Outcomes – On completion of the module, students will be able to:

1. Define key elements of Archaeology, especially material culture, excavation, survey, and archaeological analysis
2. Identify the historical foundations of Archaeology and its use in this historical context 
3. Outline the collection, identification, and analysis of the various types of archaeological remains
4. Interpret key aspects of Archaeological sites
5. Analyze Archaeology in the Bhutanese context
6. Justify how the Archaeological record can be synthesized to yield relevant data on the human and non-human record
7. Evaluate the ethical considerations of Archaeology
8. Explain the meaning and practice of ethnoarchaeology
9. Engage in practical exercises to supplement learned material.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Assessment Approach:

1. In-class exercises: 15%

Students will undertake five in-class exercises either in small groups (2-3 students) or individually. Doing these activities in-class will allow the tutor to provide immediate and meaningful feedback on the process and not just the final results. The in-class exercises will be evaluated on criteria suitable for each mode of exercise. In many cases, the tutors will use a worksheet to structure the assignment. 

These in-class activities should include (but are not limited to):

• Answering questions based on readings. These questions should guide students towards writing clear and accurate summaries and identifying main arguments as well as how these arguments have been supported 
• Learning to examine and document archaeological artifacts such as stone tools. 
• Additionally, one in-class exercise will include a field-trip to a relevant heritage-related site (this can include archaeological sites like Drugyel Dzong or conservation projects). 

2. Class Tests: 10%

Students will undertake a class test twice during the semester; once before mid-term and once after mid-term (5% each). The written tests will be conducted within the class for a duration of 40-50 min and cover 2-4 weeks of material.

3. Class Participation: Portion of Final Mark 5%

Students will be expected to participate substantially in class discussions, with contributions reflecting adequate preparation for topics under discussion. 2.5% of class participation and preparedness will be assessed before midterm, and the remaining 2.5% post midterm.

4. Field Trip Report: 10%

Students will individually write a report on a field trip made to a relevant archaeological sites like Drugyel Dzong. In the report, students must pick one aspect of the site to focus on and use it to illustrate a key concept or process covered in the module. Students will be provided with a grading rubric that will help to guide the writing of the field report. Reports are expected to be 500-750 words in length.

2    Description of the site and its context/summary of the visit (accuracy and completeness)

5    Quality of analysis (includes an explanation of a key concept or process from the module, and well-supported argument for how their subject illustrates the concept or process) 

1    Organization

1    Language        

1    Referencing

5. Midterm Examination: 20%

Students will take a written exam of 1.5 hr duration covering topics up to the mid-point of the semester.

6. Semester-end Examination: 40%

Students will take a written exam of 2.5 hr duration encompassing all the subject matter covered in the semester. The assessment is comprehensive and summative in nature, and will comprise structured questions from all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Overview of assessment approaches and weighting

Prerequisites: None

Subject Matter:

1. Unit I: Overview of archaeology
   1. Defining archaeology
   2. Questions archaeologists ask and try to answer
   3. Types of evidence archaeologists use
   4. Basics of interpreting archaeological data
   5. The idea of prehistory
   6. Formation and analysis of archaeological sites
2. Unit II:  Foundation and History of Archaeology 
   1. Early archaeology, antiquarians, and religious history
      1. Ancient archaeology: The first archaeologist, King Nabonidus; Song Dynasty archaeology
      2. Humanism and the archaeology of the 15^th and 16^th centuries;
      3. Pompeii and Herculaneum
      4. Napoleon Bonaparte and early French archaeology
      5. Nationalism and colonialism: archaeology for national and ethnic glory, Europe, Africa, and South America
      6. Nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeology: from Schliemann to Carter
   2. Archaeological insights into human civilisations
      1. Prehistory: Acheulian axes; Sahul; the Lascaux caves, Göbekli Tepe
      2. Asia: Mesopotamia, Hydraulic theories and practices of early domestication; Indus River Valley, acephalous leadership and civil engineering
      3. North America: Cahokia, environmental duress and mass culture adaptation
      4. Central and South America: Mesoamerica, Domestication variation, land tenure, and regional political apparatus; Incan Empire, bonded labour, historical contact and over-determination of industrial construction
3. Unit III: Archaeology in Bhutan 
   1. Himalayan archaeology: major sites and findings 
   2. Emergent studies in Bhutanese archaeology: major sites and findings, potential sites and studies 
   3. Prehistoric versus historic archaeology
4. Unit IV: Key Theories in Archaeology 
   1. Charles Lyell: Uniformitarian Stratigraphy
   2. Christian Jürgensen Thomsen and Lewis Henry Morgan: The Three Age System and Unilineal Evolution
   3. Flinders Petrie: The Methods and Theory of Archaeology
   4. Processual Archaeology
   5. Social Archaeology: Understanding the past in its own context; being aware of how the present informs the past
   6. Cognitive Archaeology: inferring the human mind from the artefact and ruin; connecting archaeology to culture and psychology
5. Unit V: How Archaeologists collect data 
   1. Survey: random sampling, intuitive, windshield, gumshoe, and full coverage
   2. Excavation: surface sampling, stratigraphic analysis, uniformitarianism
   3. Dating Techniques: Law of transposition, Carbon Isotope dating, Tree ring samples, Obsidian hydration
   4. Archival data: pottery sherd analysis, repatriation, cataloguing, private collections
   5. Modern innovations: satellite imagery, drone use, lidar scanning, soil analysis, and other contemporary, modern technology-based methods.
6. Unit VI: Ethnoarchaeology
   1. From the material to the immaterial: Linking material culture to the human past and behaviour
   2. Analogy: Applying observed behaviour to non-observed behaviour
   3. The limitations of anthropology for archaeology

List of practical work:

1. Stone tool analysis and categorisation
2. Experimental archaeology (petroglyph creation)
3. Line drawing in archaeology
4. Archaeological mapping
5. Inductive and deductive analysis of archaeological records

Reading List:

Essential Reading

Fux, P., Walser, C., & Tshering, N. (2014). Archaeology in the Kingdom of Bhutan: Exploring the Country's Prehistory. SLSA.

Renfrew, C., & Bahn, P. (2013). Archaeology: the key concepts. Routledge.

Additional Reading

Carpenter, J. P. & Pailes, M. (eds) (2022). Borderlands Histories: Ethnographic Observations and Archaeological Interpretations. University of Utah Press. 

d’Alpoim Guedes, J., & Aldenderfer, M. (2020). The archaeology of the Early Tibetan Plateau: New research on the initial peopling through the Early Bronze Age. Journal of Archaeological Research, 28(3), 339-392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09137-6

Davidson, I. & Noble, W. (1996). Human Evolution, Language, and Mind: A psychological and archaeological inquiry. CUP Archive.

Dietler, M. & Hayden, B. (2010). Feasts: Archaeological perspectives on food, politics, and power. University of Alabama Press.

Division for Conservation of Heritage Sites (Archaeology section). (2014). Archaeology in Bhutan (Heritages Sites Journal 3). Department of Culture, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs. 

Edgeworth, M. (2006). Ethnographies of Archaeological Practice: Cultural Encounters, material transformations. Rowman Altamira.

Feder, K. (2019). Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. (10^th ed) Oxford University Press.

Greenberg, R. & Hamilakis, Y. (2022). Archaeology, Nation, and Race. Cambridge University Press. 

Hamilakis, Y. (2014). Archaeology and the Senses: Human experience, memory, and affect. Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, B., Jurmain, R., & Kilgore, L. (2008). Understanding humans: An introduction to physical anthropology and archaeology (Tenth Edition). Cengage Learning.

Nowell, A. & Davidson, I. (2010). Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition. University of Michigan Press.

Olszewski, D. (2020). Archaeology and Humanity’s Story (2^nd Ed.) Oxford University Press.

Penjore, D. (2017). Digging the past: The state of archaeological study of Bhutan. Journal of Bhutan Studies, 36 (Summer), 40-57.

Renfew, C & Bahn P (2010). Archaeology Essentials Theory. Methods and Practices. 2^nd Edition Thams and Hudson. 

Date: March 2023