Interested in learning how to analyze the material culture of the past and learning archaeological methods? Check out these courses being offering by CNERS and Anthropology.
2021/22
| SUMMER 2021 | ||||||
| Course Code | Title | Term | Day | Time | Instructor | Calendar Description |
| ARCL228 | Forensic Anthropology | 2 | T Th | 2-5 | TBA | The application of methods from biological anthropology and archaeology to the identification, recovery, and analysis of skeletal remains from crime scenes, mass disasters, and unexplained deaths. |
| RELG 502 | Jerusalem in Archaeology and Texts | 2 | MWF | 1-4 | Gardner, Gregg | This seminar will explore ancient Jerusalem from its beginnings as a Canaanite town through the Israelite, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras, up to the dawn of Islam (roughly 1000 B.C.E. to 640 C.E.). This seminar will incorporate close readings of archaeological publications and literary sources, covering the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israel through the formation of Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean world. All texts will be read in English translation. No prerequisites. |
| WINTER TERM 1 | ||||||
| CNRS 104 | Temples, Tombs, and Tyrants: The Archaeology of the Middle East, Greece, and Rome | 1 | MWF | 12-1 | Fisher, Kevin | The rise of civilizations, cultural interconnections, and power dynamics in the ancient Middle East (including Egypt), Greece, and Rome (10,000 BCE – 300 CE). Archaeological methods and interpretation, and analysis of ancient artifacts in UBC collections. |
| ARCL 140 | Bones: the origins of humanity | 1 | MWF | 1-2 | Sessional | The origin and evolution of the human lineage and the emergence of human biological and cultural traits with emphasis on the fossil record before the Pleistocene. Credit will be granted for only one of ARCL 140 or ANTH 225. |
| ANTH 202B | Archaeology of China | 1 | T Th | 9:30-11 | Jing, Zichun | This course presents the thrilling tale of ancient China from its earliest beginnings to the first empire through the iconic excavations and recent archaeological discoveries – from Peking Man to the Terra-Cotta Army, and from enduring jades to enigmatic bronzes. It explores how archaeology has transformed our understanding of what makes the Chinese culture distinct. |
| ARCL 203 | Archaeological Methods | 1 | T TH | 2-3:30 | Martindale, Andrew | Introduces the methods and principles applied in anthropological archaeology and cultural-historical research. |
| ARCL 228 | Forensic Anthropology | 1 | MWF | 3-4 | Weston, Darlene | The application of methods from biological anthropology and archaeology to the identification, recovery, and analysis of skeletal remains from crime scenes, mass disasters, and unexplained deaths. |
| ARCL 235 | Controlling Nature: Plant and Animal Domestication | 1 | MW | 4-5:30 | Speller, Camilla | How, when and why humans became dependent on cultivated foods and domestic animals and the methods used to document plant and animal domestication. |
| RELG 306 | Archaeology and the Bible | 1 | MWF | 2-3 | Cooper, Lisa | The impact of archaeological research on understanding the history and religion of ancient Israel. |
| NEST 318 | Egyptomania | 1 | MWF | 9-10 | Schneider, Thomas | The adaptation and appropriation of ancient Egypt in ancient and modern art, architecture, film, and music; the development of Egyptology since the 19th century. |
| ARCL 325 | Paleoanthropology | 1 | MWF | 10-11 | Sessional | Origin and development of the hominins; the hominin fossil record, and theories relating to hominin evolution. |
| CLST 332/ARTH 332 | Roman Art and Architecture | 1 | MWF | 10-11 | McCarty, Matthew | The visual culture of the ancient Roman world from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE. |
| NEST 402 | Archaeologies of Space and Place. Course name in calendar is ‘Archaeology of the City in the Ancient Near East’ | 1 | Th | 2:30-5:30 | Fisher, Kevin | See NEST 506 Below |
| ANTH 418 | Statistics | 1 | T TH | 2-3:30 | Jing, Zhichun | Applications of statistical techniques to quantitative and qualitative data in Anthropolog |
| ARCL 425 | Paleodiet | 1 | MW | 4-5:30 | Speller, Camilla | The archaeological evidence for the change of human diets over time and the methods used to reconstruct past diets. |
| CNRS 500 | The Global Iron Age: Movement and Identity in an Age of Transformation | 1 | T | 2-5 | Daniels, Megan | This seminar examines the Mediterranean and Near East from a globalized perspective, starting from the dissolution of the Late Bronze Age world (ca. 1200 BCE) to ca. 500 BCE. It encourages students working in various regions and time periods to see their areas of interest against a broader backdrop of human movement and interaction, which drew together individuals and societies in complex social, economic, and political networks that spanned the Mediterranean world and beyond. In particular, we will interrogate and employ various approaches such as globalization theory, network analysis, and object agency to understand the cultural intertwinement of societies, and will question and critique overarching models of this period, including the concept of the Axial Age. |
| NEST 506 | Archaeologies of Space and Place. Course name in calendar is ‘Archaeology of the City in the Ancient Near East’ | 1 | Th | 2:30-5:30 | Fisher, Kevin | This course explores the role of built environments – from single rooms to urban landscapes – in past societies. Through participation in a series of seminar discussions, lectures, “hands-on” labs, and two research projects, students will come away with an understanding of approaches that archaeologists can use to understand built environments. We’ll examine theories linking past built environments to human and material agency, daily practice, power, identity, and social reproduction, as well as concepts such as place, household, community and neighbourhood, cityscape, monumentality and memory. We’ll also emphasize the application of methods that can help us understand how built environments affect human behavior, experience, and interaction by encoding and communicating meanings. This includes an introduction to emerging digital technologies for recording, modeling, and visualizing past built environments in 3D, as well as the use of space syntax, environmental psychology, visibility analyses and other methods that can shed light on people-place relationships. Readings and case studies will be global in perspective and assignments will focus on the application of approaches and methods on local contemporary buildings and archaeological datasets within students’ area of interest. |
| WINTER TERM 2 | ||||||
| ARCL 103 | Intro to World Archaeology | 2 | MWF | 11-12 | Speller, Camilla | Survey of world archaeology, from the emergence of humankind to the beginning of state societies. |
| CNRS 104 | Temples, Tombs, and Tyrants: The Archaeology of the Middle East, Greece, and Rome | 2 | MWF | 9-10 | Daniels, Megan | The rise of civilizations, cultural interconnections, and power dynamics in the ancient Middle East (including Egypt), Greece, and Rome (10,000 BCE – 300 CE). Archaeological methods and interpretation, and analysis of ancient artifacts in UBC collections. |
| ARCL 231 | North American Archaeology | 2 | MWF | 1-2 | New Hire | Introductory survey of North American archaeology comparing the ancient cultures from all major regions of Canada and the US. |
| NEST 301 | Early Empires of the Ancient Middle East | 2 | TR | 12:30-2 | Cooper, Lisa | A history from 3100-333 BC with emphasis on Mesopotamia. |
| ANTH 303B | Sex, Bodies, and Colonialism | 2 | MWF | 9-10 | New Hire | |
| ANTH 303C | Archaeology and Society | 2 | T Th | 11-12:30 | Martindale, Andrew | How are the results of archaeology used in the world today? Who determines what constitutes sound archaeological scholarship? How are archaeological data and interpretations mobilized across society? Join us for an in-depth exploration of the uses, misuses, and influences of archaeology in the modern world. We consider the dynamic history of archaeology in contexts such as museums, Indigenous heritage, government policy and courts through a discussion of case studies and scholarship about archaeology as much as by archaeologists |
| NEST 304/ARTH 325 | Ancient Egypt: The Archaeology of the Land of the Pharaohs | 2 | TR | 11-12:30 | Fisher, Kevin | The material remains of the ancient Egyptians from monumental tombs and temples to the artifacts of daily life; the development of Egyptian civilization from the rise of the first rulers to its incorporation into the Roman Empire. |
| ARCL 305 | Archaeological Interpretation | 2 | T TH | 9:30-11 | Jing, Zhichun | Current theoretical developments explored through the practice of archaeology. Examples drawn from a range of times and places focusing on emerging technologies, food production, colonial encounters and culture contact, materiality and symbolic systems, social inequality and complexity, and human-environmental interactions. |
| CLST 306 | Ancient Technology: Greece and Rome | 2 | MWF | 1-2 | De Angelis, Franco | The origins, achievements, and social impacts of applied technology in the Greek and Roman world from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity (c. 1500 BCE – 400 CE), with special attention to archaeological evidence. |
| CLST 331/ARTH 331 | Greek Art and Architecture | 2 | MWF | 2-3 | Daniels, Megan | The visual culture of the ancient Greek world in the second and first millennia BCE, especially from c. 1000 to 30 BCE. |
| ARCL 345 | Molecular Archaeology | 2 | TTH | 3:30-5 | Speller, Camilla | Molecular techniques in archaeology and their application to anthropological and archaeological research. |
| ARCL 410 | Special Topics: Philosophy and Evidence | 2 | M | 4-7 | Wylie, Allison | |
| ANTH 452 | Inorganic Conservation | 2 | M | 1-4 | Swierenga, Heidi | |
| NEST 501 | The Archaeology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 900-612 BCE) | 2 | T | 2:30-5:30 | Cooper, Lisa | The class focuses on the archaeology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which flourished in northern Mesopotamia between 900-612 BCE and which at its apogee dominated the Near East from Iran to Egypt. The class will address a variety of archaeological topics in order to understand the dynamic ways in which the Assyrians used their material culture to underscore and reflect their powerful ideology of empire, kingship and military ascendancy. Topics include studies of Assyrian palatial architecture and sculpture; transformations of the imperial landscape through large-scale hydraulic technologies and agricultural intensification; the material manifestations of war and violence; and the symbolic marking of imperial territory through stelae and rock reliefs. My own recent research interests will also be brought increasingly to bear on this subject, namely varied local responses (e.g. cooperation, resistance) to Assyrian imperial presence in other parts of the Near East, especially in its eastern provinces (Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran) and subject kingdoms of the west (western Syria and Palestine). The study of the reception of ancient Assyria over the past 200 years, with the varying ideological agendas, will also be covered, from 19th century perspectives that regarded Assyria as the epitome of Oriental despotism; to early 20th century racial perspectives of Assyrians as incapable of innovation and creativity; to the more globalist perspectives of the later 20th century. Finally we will explore the persistent colonial attitude towards Iraq’s cultural heritage, of which the material culture of Assyria is an essential aspect, and how this has played out in the international theatre of war and terrorism in the Middle East in the 21st century. |
| Summer 2022 | ||||||
| ARCL 306 | Field School | Summer 2022 | TBD | Intensive training in excavation techniques and interpretation, including mapping procedures, recording, preliminary analysis, and reporting. Additional Field Trip Fees are charged for this course | ||
| CNRS 335 | Practicum in Classical or Near Eastern Archaeology | Summer 2022 | Fisher, Gardner, McCarty | Field schools in Cyprus (Fisher), Israel (Gardner), and Romania (McCarty) planned for Summer 2022. | ||
| CNRS 535 | Practicum in Classical or Near Eastern Archaeology | Summer 2022 | Fisher, Gardner, McCarty | Field schools in Cyprus (Fisher), Israel (Gardner), and Romania (McCarty) planned for Summer 2022. |
