Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Potential changes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: Please note that information regarding teaching, learning and assessment Institute of Archaeology in this module handbook endeavours to be as ARCL 0031 Archaeology of Mesoamerica accurate as possible. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, its fluctuating nature, and Term I, 2020-21 possible updates in government guidance, Year 2/3 module option, 0.5 Unit, 15 credits there may need to be changes during the Live stream Tuesdays 4 – 6 p.m. course of the year. UCL will keep current Prof. Elizabeth Graham – Rm 614 students updated on any changes to teaching, With invaluable assistance from Panos Kratimenos learning and assessment on the students’ web [email protected] pages https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/ , which include FAQs. No set office hours. Contact Prof. Graham (Liz) via e-mail or check the Moodle site for the booking link. Refer to the IoA home page (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current - students) for links to the IoA Student Handbook & IoA Study Skills Guide. See Section 2, below, for details. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 2 A page from a Mixtec (Ñudzavui) codex known as the Vienna Codex. http://www.mesolore.org/tutorials/lear n/16/Colored- Lyrics/174/Prose.%20Agosto%202017 A mural fragment from an apartment compound at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Looted originally, but likely from one of the Techinantitla compounds NE of the city centre. Matrícula de Tributos records the geographical extent of the Aztec tribute empire. This is a page showing the names of towns paying tribute/tax, and lists the items: feathers, warrior costumes, jaguar skins, shields, that were sent as tribute (taxes) to Tenochtitlan. Ca. 1519. http://www.mesolore.org/viewer/view/1/ Matrcula-de-Tributos?page=5 Zapotec funerary urn, dated Monte Alban IIIb, A.D. 500-750. Line drawing of Lintel 21 from early in the reign of Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Bird Jaguar IV (Yopaat Bahlam), from the Maya Toronto. site of Yaxchilan in Mexico. Dated 9.0.19.2.4 https://textilemuseum.ca/cloth_cl 2 K’an 2 Yax. This is 9 baktuns, 0 katuns, 19 tuns, 2 ay/resources/zapotec_003.html nd winals, 4 kins on the weekday 2 K’an, the 2 day of the month Yax. In our calendar, 15 October, A.D. 454. Olmec head from the site of Chert (flint) sculptures from the site Villahermosa in Mexico, on the Gulf https://www.peabody.harvard.edu of Altun Ha, Belize /cmhi/detail.php?num=21&site=Ya Coast. xchilan&type=Lintel Moodle is the main software format for this course. Information will be regularly posted by Liz in the News Forum on Moodle (at the top), and you will receive an automatic email notification with her words of wisdom. You cannot reply to these emails via Moodle but you can e-mail Liz (or Panos) directly if you have a question. I’ve also set up an MS Teams ARCL0031 module 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 3 1. MODULE OVERVIEW Module description The best known people of Mesoamerica are the Aztecs and the Maya, but there are hundreds of other culture and language groups in the region. Mesoamerica is one of the world’s culture areas in which urbanism and states arose. This module is intended to familiarise you with the geography of the region, the variety of environments, agriculture, foods, languages, cultures, and achievements. Remarkably, many of the languages and traditions are alive and well in this region, and cultural continuity is strong. Aims I have two primary aims: 1) That you will see value in learning about Mesoamerican cultural traditions and historical experience; 2) That you will learn to be critical about the ways in which archaeologists, other academics, film makers, popular writers, and the media in general synthesise and make sense of information about the civilisations of Mesoamerica, or about ancient civilisations generally. On successful completion of this course: You should be aware of the major environmental zones of Mesoamerica, the resources distinctive to these zones, and the range of human-environmental relationships. You should have a basic understanding of the rise of urbanism across Mesoamerica. You should have some familiarity with the art and architectural styles of Mesoamerica. Learning outcomes: On successful completion of this course you should: Be explicitly aware of how archaeologists acquire, assess, and interpret data. Be able to assess theoretical approaches critically (e.g., climate change, cultural evolution, niche construction) Have acquired a range of research and writing skills. Have learned how to integrate ideas from a variety of sources. Be assiduous in the practice of source citation. Methods of assessment Two essays, each of which is worth 50%. Details are provided in the Assignment section on Moodle. Week-by-week summary T1 = Term 1, T2 = Term 2 Week Date Topic T1, Wk1 06 Oct Introduction – Mesoamerican traits, regional divisions, chronology T1, Wk2 13 Oct Culture areas, environments, Palaeoindian, Archaic T1, Wk3 20 Oct Domesticates, Initial and Early Formative T1, Wk4 27 Oct Terminology, Middle formative T1, Wk5 03Nov Late & Terminal Formative T1, Wk6 READING WEEK 9 to 13 November T1, Wk7 17 Nov Teotihuacan: Overview, and the art of the city T1, Wk8 24 Nov Teotihuacan barrios, and writing - First essay due T1, Wk9 01 Dec The Classic Maya T1, Wk10 08 Dec Collapses and the rise of Postclassic centres T1, Wk11 15Dec The Aztecs and the Spanish conquest T2, Wk2 19 Jan Second essay due Lecturers: Mainly Elizabeth Graham but also Panos Kratimenos, and guest lecturers on Teotihuacan. I will update you via the Forum announcements and the relevant Sections on Moodle. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 4 Weekly module plan Details are provided below in Section 3. Basically, the module is taught through lectures (largely pre-recorded) and tutorial question-and-answer sessions, and discussions. There are readings and pre-class activities to be completed in advance, and you are expected to attend the live tutorial. Workload This is a 15-credit course which equates to 150 hours of learning time including session preparation, background reading, and researching and writing assignments. Weekly live-streamed class/seminar (questions, discussion) = 20 hrs. Self-guided preparation (reviewing weekly pre-recorded lectures) = 30 hrs. Weekly readings = 30 hrs. Preparing discussion questions, short assignments, other online activities = 20 hrs. Required essays = 50 hrs. TOTAL = 150 hrs. 2. ASSESSMENT Given word Allowable Methods of assessment: count First essay: 2,000/2,500 words, due 25 November 2020 50% 5,000 4,750-5,250 Second essay: 2,000/2,500 words, due 20 January 2021 50% 4,500 4,275-4,725 TOTAL 100% 4,000 3,800-4,200 3,500 3,325-3,675 3,000 2,850-3,150 Essay guidance as well as suggested essay questions for the first and second 2,500 2,375-2,625 essays are posted in Moodle in a separate document. You can also come up 2,000 1,900-2,100 with your own essay question, but it must be approved by me (EG) first. 1,500 1,425-1,575 More on this in the live class 1,000 950-1,050 Coursework submission, assessment criteria, & information on late submission can be found in the IoA Student Handbook (Section 12): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-student-handbook . The IoA Study Skills Guide https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-study- skills-guide focuses on writing support—for example, guidance in preparing different types of assignments. Referencing guidelines can also be found here. The IoA Academic Writing Moodle page https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id+10959 provides details of the academic writing support resources at the IoA, including tutorials and workshops run by Dr. Julia Shaw and the academic writing PGTA (Postgraduate Teaching Assistant), Rafie Cecilia. Details on penalties for late submission are in the online UCL Academic Manual, Chapter 4, Section 3.12 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/chapters/chapter-4-assessment- framework-taught-programmes/section-3-module-assessment#3.12 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 5 3. GUIDANCE ON READING, RESOURCES, AND PREPARATION FOR CLASS Here’s the plan: Readings are assigned each week. They are listed below according to the respective week, but can be accessed directly via links in the Reading List under Library Resources in Moodle—the Library block is in the right-hand column on the page. We are not permitted by copyright laws to include links here in the Handbook that are not completely (no cost) open access. So I have included only links that to my knowledge are open access. The library links are both to required readings, and other readings. Lectures with slides on each week’s topic(s) are pre-recorded (Lecturecast Universal Capture Echo360) and available on Moodle under the respective week. These are to be viewed prior to the live tutorial on Tuesday afternoons from 4 to 6 pm. The live sessions are intended mainly for your questions and discussion. During the live class we can go over any of the slides for which you have questions; I have uploaded the slide presentations without voiceover on Moodle to make it easier for you to ‘leaf’ through. There are weekly unmarked quizzes that are designed to help you with the readings. These should be submitted on the day of the relevant class, or earlier. As of 28 September, you will have to e-mail me the quizzes. I download them into a folder right away so don’t be worried about anonymity. If you wish to remain anonymous just put your CN number and not your name at the top.