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ARCHAEOLOGIES OF THE ANCIENT JOUKOWSKY INSTITUTE FOR AND THE ANCIENT WORLD Winter 2010

COURSE: ARCH 0440 TERM: MWF 10:00-10:50 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Morag M. Kersel PHONE: 401-863-2306 CLASS LOCATION: Rhode Island Hall 108 OFFICE: JIAAW 210 EMAIL: [email protected] OFFICE HRS: MW 11:00-12:00 or by appointment Course wiki: http://proteus.brown.edu/ancientmiddleeast10/Home Reading page password: middleeastprivate OCRA password:

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course offers a survey of the prehistoric periods in the Middle East. Students will explore prehistoric and earliest proto-historic archaeology chronologically and examine topics such as evidence for the first hominids and in the region, the transition from small-scale bands of hunter-gatherers to more complex hunter- gatherers, increasing sedentism and the Revolution, and the rise in social inequality. Reference to other contiguous areas of the Eastern Mediterranean will be included. Our objective will be to survey society through the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalclolithic and Early Ages. The latter section will only highlight particular topics for the major methodological and theoretical concerns for Middle Eastern archaeology.

Archaeological excavations have unearthed a wealth of data, information, and interpretations about the human past in the Middle East. The region is excavated each year by scores of major and minor archaeological excavations. After a century of stratigraphic archaeology, a profusion of artifacts, architecture, and human and animal remains have come from the ground. Many have attempted to synthesize the past of the region, and many different individuals and groups compete to narrate the history of the region.

As an archaeology class, we will consider such general questions as: 1) Why do societies change or resist change through time? How might we account for similarities and differences between this place and others around the globe?

2) Why did people abandon -gathering subsistence? Why did sedentary communities form?

3) Where does inequality come from? Is the drive to dominate part of human ? What gives rise to political complexity and social inequality?

4) What can we learn from the study of the past? Why is history contested, and why is archaeology so important in the Middle East? How is knowledge about past societies disseminated?

In this course, we will examine critically the major archaeological sites and the major questions for different eras. The orientation is anthropological, combining both historical and archaeological sources on the past. We will be concerned both with the histories of the peoples and broad problems of socio-cultural evolution.

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 1 COURSE OBJECTIVES • To understand how archaeologists examine and learn more about the past in this region. • To make the connections between questions about human societies and appropriate types of archaeological evidence. • To appreciate the richly textured prehistory and proto-history of the region. • To explore structural elements in societies, such as social differentiation and complexity, gender, urbanism, exchange networks, warfare, and multiculturalism, from anthropological perspectives. • To think critically about knowledge production and the ethics of archaeological practice in this region

COURSE REQUIREMENTS Grades will be based upon two examinations and class participation. • Exam #1 20% WED. MARCH 10 • Map quiz: 10% WED. MARCH 23 • Book/Film Review 20% MON. APRIL 19 • Exam #2 20% FRI. APRIL 30 • In class quiz/reading reactions 10% SURPRIZE!!! • Class participation: 20% ONGOING

ATTENDANCE Attendance is expected and required. There will be in-class assignments and quizzes during the semester, which you will not be allowed to make-up if you miss class (unless you have a doctor’s note or I receive a message from the Dean). Due dates are strictly enforced. Students remain responsible for all material covered whether an absence is excused or unexcused.

REQUIRED READINGS You are not required to buy any of these books. We will read portions of most of them, and all are recommended readings. A copy of each of these books is placed on Reserve at the Rock.

TEXTS Akkermans, P.M.M.G. and G. Schwartz. 2004. The Archaeology of : From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (ca. 16,000-300 BC). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Levy, T.E. 1998. The Archaeology of Society in the . Leicester: Leicester Press. Pollock, S. and R. Bernbeck. 2005. Archaeologies of the Middle East. Critical Perspectives. London: Blackwell Publishing.

OTHER READINGS AS ASSIGNED

Recommended Reading For those unfamiliar with general archaeological methods, a number of textbooks on archaeology will supply that information. One of the better textbooks is by Colin Renfrew & Paul Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. Chapters 1-3. Renfrew, A.C. and P. Bahn. 2008. Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice, 5th edition. London: Thames and Hudson.

Course Format The focus of the class will be on lectures, but discussions will be encouraged and expected. I will introduce key concepts, terms and data; students will be asked to discuss certain sites, time periods and key issues. In this way, everyone presents information and ideas; the instructor provides direction and facilitates discussion. Together we will strive to address the above questions while exploring the development of different societies and cultures through the prehistoric archaeology of the Middle East.

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 2 ▲WEEK 1 INTRODUCTION Wed. Jan. 27: Introduction to the class General remarks and framework for the course.

Fri. Jan. 29: What is archaeology? Key terms, concepts Readings Renfrew and Bahn, 5th edition, 2008 – Chapters 1-3 – ON RESERVE AT THE ROCK Student Study Guide: http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/archaeology/5e/index.html

▲ WEEK 2 ORIGINS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE PRACTICE OF ARCHAEOLOGY Mon. Feb. 1: Emergence of Archaeology, Developing Methods and Theory Readings Renfrew and Bahn, 5th edition, 2008, Chapters 1-3 – ON RESERVE AT THE ROCK Student Study Guide: http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/archaeology/5e/index.html

Wed. Feb. 3: Archaeology as Science, Alternative Interpretations Readings Renfrew and Bahn, 5th edition, 2008, Chapters 1-3 – ON RESERVE AT THE ROCK Student Study Guide: http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/archaeology/5e/index.html

Fri. Feb. 5: FREAKY FRIDAY – BRUCE TRIGGER Readings Oates, D. and J. Oates. 1976. Chapter 3: The birth of Near Eastern Prehistory. In The Rise of Civilization. Elsevier Phaidon. Pp. 26-61 Silberman, N.A. 1998. Whose Game Is It, Anyway? The political and social transformations of American . Archaeology Under Fire. L. Meskell, ed. Pp. 175-88. Trigger, B. G. 1984. Alternative Archaeologies: Nationalist, Colonialist, Imperialist. Man 19(3): 355-370.

*****GRADUATE READING***** Elon, A. 1997. Politics and Archaeology. In The Archaeology of , N.A. Silberman and D.B. Small, eds. Sheffield Academic Press, 34-47. Silberman, N.A. 1998. Power, Politics and the Past: The Social Construction of Antiquity in the Holy Land. In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, T. E. Levy, ed. Leicester University Press. Pp. 9-23. Steele, C. 2005. Who Has Not Eaten Cherries with the Devil? Archaeology under Challenge. . In Archaeologies of the Middle East. Critical Perspectives. S. Pollock and R. Bernbeck eds. Blackwell. Pp. 45-65.

▲WEEK 3 GEOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPE AND EARLY ARRIVALS Mon. Feb. 8: Geography and Environment of the Region Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 1-7. Introduction Rosen, A. 2003. Paleoenvironments of the . In . A Reader. S. Richard, ed. Eisenbrauns. Pp. 10-16.

Wed. Feb. 10: Early Hominids; Models of Hominid Dispersal and the First Humans Readings Brauer, G. 2007. Origin of Modern Humans. Chapter 14 in The Handbook of Paleoanthropology, Henke, Hardt and Tatersall (eds.). Springer. Goren-Inbar, N. 1998. The Lower of Israel. In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. T. E. Levy, ed. Leicester University Press. Pp. 93-109. Ardi

Fri. Feb. 12 FREAKY FRIDAY – At the library with Norine Duncan

*****GRADUATE READING***** Bar-Yosef, O. 1995. The Origins of Modern Humans. In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. T. E. Levy, ed. Leicester University Press. Pp. 141-168.

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 3 Belmaker, M. 2009. Hominin Adaptability and Patterns of Faunal Turnover in the Early to Middle Transition in the Levant. In Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions. M. Camps and P. Chauhan (eds.), pp. 211-227.

▲WEEK 4 ORIGINS OF EARLY HUMANS AND NEANDERTALS Mon. Feb. 15 Where did Levantine populations come from? Readings Olszewski, D.I. 2009. Comparing Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transitions in the Middle East and . In Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions. M. Camps, P. Chauhan, eds. Springer. Pp, 315-332. Shea, J. 2005. Bleeding or Breeding: vs. Early Modern Humans in the Middle Paleolithic Levant. In Archaeologies of the Middle East. Critical Perspectives. S. Pollock and R. Bernbeck eds. Blackwell. Pp. 129-151.

Wed. Feb. 17 Upper Paleolithic Hunter-Foragers Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 14-43, Hunter-gatherers at the end of the Ice Age. Goring-Morris, A. N. 1998 Complex Hunter/Gatherers at the End of the Paleolithic (20,000-10,000 BP). In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. T. E. Levy, ed. Leicester University Press. Pp. 141-168 McBrearty, S. 2007. Down with the Revolution. In Rethinking the Human Revolution. Paul Mellars, Katie Boyle, Ofer Bar-Yosef and Chris Stringer (eds.). McDonald Institute, Cambridge. Pp. 133-151.

Fri. Feb. 19 FREAKY FRIDAY – OBSIDIAN WITH JOHN CHERRY

*****GRADUATE READING***** Shea J. 2007. Behavioral Differences Between Middle And Upper Paleolithic Homo Sapiens in the East Mediterranean Levant. Journal of Anthropological Research 63(4): 449-488. Shea, J. 2008.Transitions or turnovers? Climatically-forced extinctions of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in the East Mediterranean Levant. Quaternary Science Reviews 1–18.

▲WEEK 5 HUNTER-GATHERERS ON THE LANDSCAPE Mon. Feb. 22 Presidents’ Day – CLASS CANCELLED

Wed. Feb. 24 Complex Hunter-gatherers and the Epipaleolithic and the Natufian Readings Belfer-Cohen, A. and Goring-Morris, A. N. 2007. From the Beginning: Levantine Upper Palaeolithic Cultural Continuity. In: Rethinking the human revolution, P. Mellars, K. Boyle, O. Bar-Yosef and C. Stringer, eds. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge, Cambridge. Pp.199-206. Mithen, S. 1989 Ecological interpretations of Upper Paleolithic art. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57:103-14.

Fri. Feb. 26 Expansion of Settlement along the ; The Natufian Readings Bar-Yosef, O. 1998. The in the Levant. Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture. Evolutionary Anthropology 6 (5): 159-177. Sherratt, A. 1997. Climatic Cycles and Behavioral Revolutions: The Emergence of Modern Humans and the Beginning of Farming. Antiquity 71: 271-87.

*****GRADUATE READING***** Bar-Yosef, O. and A. Belfer-Cohen. 1991. From Foraging to Farming in the Mediterranean Levant. In Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory. Gebauer and Price, eds. Monographs in World Archaeology No. 4, Prehistory Press. Pp. 21- 48. Gage, T.B. and S. DeWitte 2009. What do we Know about the Agricultural Demographic Transition? Current Anthropology 50(5): 649-655. Gurven, M. and K. Hill 2009. Why Do Men Hunt? Current Anthropology 50(1): 51-74. Lambert, P.M. 2009. Health versus Fitness. Competing Themes in the Origins and Spread of Agriculture? Current Anthropology 50(5): 603-608.

▲WEEK 6 EARLY FARMING & THE Mon. Mar. 1: Plant and animal domestication, origins of food production Readings

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 4 Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 42-83, A changing perspective: Neolithic Beginnings Gebauer, A. B. and T.D. Price, 1991. Foragers to Farmers: An Introduction. In Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory. Gebauer and Price, eds. Monographs in World Archaeology No. 4, Prehistory Press. Pp. 1-10. Zeder, M. 2006. Central questions in the domestication of plants and animals. Evolutionary Anthropology 15:105-117

*****GRADUATE READING***** Childe, V. Gordon. Man Makes Himself. Current Anthropology readings

Wed. Mar. 3: Movie and Book Madness

Fri. Mar. 5: Movie and Book Madness

▲WEEK 7 Mon. Mar. 8: The Adoption of Agriculture: Models and Evidence Readings Smith, B. 1995. Chapter 4: The Fertile Crescent. In The Emergence of Agriculture. New York: Scientific American Library, pp. 50-89. Plant and Animal Domestication Zeder, M. and B. Hesse. 2000. The initial domestication of (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 years ago. Science 287: 2254-2257.

Wed. Mar. 10: *****EXAM #1******

Fri. Mar. 12 FREAKY FRIDAY ALEX or TOM

*****GRADUATE READING*****

▲WEEK 8 AGRICULTURE, FOOD STORAGE & POPULATION GROWTH Mon. Mar. 15: Early Villages, Food Storage, and Population Growth Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 83-98, The Explorations of New Horizons Banning, E.B. 1998. The Neolithic Period: Triumphs of Architecture, Agriculture and Art. Near Eastern Archaeology 61(4): 188-237. Bar-Yosef, O. 1986. The Walls in Jericho: An Alternative Interpretation. Current Anthropology 27: 157-162. Kohler-Rollefson, I. 1992. A Model for the Development of Nomadic Pastoralism on the Transjordanian Plateau. In Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives, Bar-Yosef and Khazanov, eds. Pp. 11-18. Madison: Prehistory Press

Wed. Mar. 17: The Aceramic Neolithic Village: Households, Architecture and Ritual Readings Bar-Yosef, O. 1998. Chapter 12—Earliest food producers—pre pottery Neolithic (8000- 5500). In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, Second Edition. London: The Leicester University Press, pp. 190-204. Kujit, I. and B. Finlayson 2009. Evidence for food storage and predomestication granaries 11,000 years ago in the Valley. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, June 22, 2009. www.pnas.org�cgi�doi�10.1073�pnas.0812764106 Kujit, I. and N. Goring-Morris 2002. Foraging, Farming, and Social Complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the : A Review and Synthesis. Journal of World Prehistory 16: 361-440.

Fri. Mar. 19: FREAKY FIRDAY – The Rise of Complex Societies: Chiefdoms in the Archaeological Record? Guest Lecture – Dr. Yorke Rowan of the Oriental Institute of the Readings Levy, T.E. et al. 1991. Subterranean settlement and adaptation in the Desert, ca. 4500-3700 B.C. National Geographic Research and Exploration 7(4): 394-413. Levy, T.E. 1998 , Metallurgy and Rank Societies - Period (CA. 4500-3500 BCE). In The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. T. E. Levy, ed. Leicester University Press. Pp. 226-244.

*****GRADUATE READING*****

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 5 Rowan, Y. M. and Golden, J. 2009. The Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant: A Synthetic Review. Journal of World Prehistory 22(1): 1-92.

▲WEEK 9 Mon. Mar. 22: Early Villages and Ritual Practices Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 99-153, the Exploration of New Horizons Kuijt, I. 2001. Place, Death, and the Transmission of Social Memory in Early Agricultural Communities of the Near Eastern Pre-pottery Neolithic. Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals. Archaeological Papers of the AAA, No. 10.

Wed. Mar. 24: Continuity and Change Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 154-180, Continuity and change in the late sixth and fifth millennia BC.

******MAP QUIZ*******

Fri. Mar. 26: FREAKY FRIDAY ALEX or TOM

*****GRADUATE READING*****

▲WEEK SPRING BREAK (MARCH 28 – APRIL 4)

▲WEEK 10 PROTO-HISTORY & THE RISE OF URBANISM Mon. Apr. 5: The Early Bronze Age, Urban Societies and the Mediterranean Economy Readings Cobb, C. 1993 Economic approaches to the political economy of non-stratified societies. In Archaeological Method and Theory Vol. 5, Michael Schiffer (ed), pp. 43-100. Kohl, P.1987 The ancient economy, transferable technologies and the Bronze Age World-system: A view from the northeastern frontier of the ancient Near East. In Centre and Periphery in the Ancient World, edited by M. Rowlands, M. Larsen and K. Kristiansen, pp. 13-24. Philip, G. 2001. The Early Bronze I-III Ages. In The Archaeology of Jordan. B. MacDonald, R. Adams, and P. Bienkowski, eds. Sheffield Academic Press. Pp. 163-232. Ucko, P. 1969 Ethnography and archaeological interpretation of funerary remains. World Archaeology 1:262-280.

Wed. Apr. 7: FREAKY FRIDAY ON A WEDNESDAY AIA LECTURE, Rhode Island Hall Early Sea-Farers in the Mediterranean: Cretan Evidence for Pre-Homo sapiens Mariners Thomas Strasser and Curtis Runnels

Fri. Apr. 9: Egypt: Unification and the Nature of Influence on the Levant Readings de Miroschedji, P. 2002. The Socio-political Dynamics of Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction in the Early Bronze Age. In Egypt and the Levant: Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium BC. E. C. M. van den Brink and T. E. Levy, eds. Leicester University Press. Pp. 39-57. Hendrickx, S. and Bavay, L. 2002. The Relative Chronological Position of Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic Tombs with Objects Imported from the Near East and the Nature of Interregional Contacts. In Egypt and the Levant: Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium BC. E. C. M. van den Brink and T. E. Levy, eds. Leicester University Press. Pp. 58-80.

*****GRADUATE READING*****

▲WEEK 11 PROTO-HISTORY & THE RISE OF URBANISM Mon. Apr. 12 The Early Bronze Age, Mortuary Practices and Community Readings Chesson, M.S. 1999. Libraries of the Dead: Early Bronze Age Charnel Houses and Social Identity at Urban Bab edh- Dhra’, Jordan. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 18: 137-164.

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 6 Chesson, M.S. 2001. Embodied Memories of Place and People: Death and Society in an Early Urban Community. Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals. Archaeological Papers of the AAA, No. 10. Ilan, D. 2002. Mortuary Practices in Early Bronze Age . Near Eastern Archaeology 65(2): 92-104.

Wed. Apr. 14 Movie and Book Madness

Fri. Apr. 16 Movie and Book Madness

*****GRADUATE READING***** Pollock, S. 1999. Chapter 4 Making a Living: Tributary Economies of the Fifth and Fourth Millennia. In Ancient . Pp. 78-114, Cambridge University Press.

▲WEEK 13 EARLY STATE FORMATION Mon. Apr. 19 FREAKY MONDAY – My own freaky work Looting, Ethics and the Archaeological Landscape. Follow the Pots: The Effects of Looting on the Early Bronze Age Mortuary Landscape on the Plain Readings Bisheh, G. 2001. One Damn Illicit Excavation after Another: the Destruction of the Archaeological Heritage of Jordan. In Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World’s Archaeological Heritage. N. Brodie, J. Doole, and C. Renfrew, eds. Pp. 115-118. Cambridge: MacDonald Institute. Kersel, M. 2007. Transcending Borders: Objects on the Move. Archaeologies. Journal of the World Archaeological Congress. 3(2): 81-89. Politis, K. D. 2002. Dealing with the Dealers and Tomb Robbers: The Realities of the Archaeology of the Ghor es-Safi in Jordan. In Illicit Antiquities. The Theft of Culture and the Extinction of Archaeology. N. Brodie and K. W. Tubb, eds. Pp. 258-267. London: Routledge.

Wed. Apr. 21: Models for the Origins of the State Readings Akkermans and Schwartz, pp. 181-210, The Fourth Millennium BC and Uruk Expansion Forest, J-D. The State: The Process of State Formation as Seen from Mesopotamia. In Archaeologies of the Middle East. S. Pollock and R. Bernbeck, eds. Pp. 184-206. London: Blackwell. Redman, C.L. 1978. Chapter 7—The origins of urban society: In search of Utopia. In The Rise of Civilization, From Early Farmers to Urban Society in the Ancient Near East, pp. 214- 248. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company.

Fri. Apr. 23: FREAKY FRIDAY – The First Script - The origins of writing Guest Lecture: Professor Matthew Rutz, Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies

*****GRADUATE READING***** Matthews, R. 2003. Chapter 4 States of Mind. In The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, Theories and Approaches. pp. 93- 126. Routledge Pollock, S. 1999. Chapter 5 The Growth of Bureaucracy, Pp. 141-178. In Ancient Mesopotamia. Pp. 78-114, Cambridge University Press. Zimansky, P. Archaeology and Texts in the Ancient Near East. In Archaeologies of the Middle East. S. Pollock and R. Bernbeck, eds. Pp. 308-326. London: Blackwell. .

▲WEEK 14 WRAP UP, EXAM #2 Mon. Apr. 26 Class summary

Wed. Apr. 28 Exam review

Fri. Apr. 30 FREAKY FRIDAY*****EXAM #2*******

Archaeologies of the Ancient Middle East 7