Full notes for every day's slides in James Johnson's class. This document and Google is all you need to get an A in the class without even having to show up for lecture (proven).
Syllabus:
● You should attend all classes but it doesn’t look like he takes attendance
● Grading:
○ All exams are take-home (OPEN BOOK) and will contribute equally to your grade:
○ Early term Exam: 100 pts
○ Midterm Exam: 100 pts
○ Late term Exam: 100 pts
○ Final Exam: 100 pts
○ Exercise 1 50 pts
○ Exercise 2 50 pts
○ Total 500pts/100%
● Extra credit: five video exercises that can be done for 5 points of extra credit each. There is also a
larger extra credit exercise that can be done for up to 25 pts
○ Talk to him about large project first
● Exams:
○ Twelve days before each exam due date (ALWAYS DUE A FRIDAY at 5pm), the exam
will posted so that you have almost two weeks with the exam.
○ You are expected to figure out, define, and memorize what is important for each term.
○ The exams will consist of 50 multiple choice, matching, and True or False questions.
■ He changed his mind, we will be answering the question and then writing a short
answer to justify it (which I prefer personally)
● Then he changed his mind again. But honestly this is a lot easier.
● No late work
● Schedule:
○ Week One – Intro to Syllabus, Instructor, and TA; Chapter 2 – The Structure of
Anthropological - Archaeological Inquiry
■ August 28 – Sept 1
■ Video
○ Week Two – Asking Big Questions; Chapter 13 - Understanding Key Transitions in
World Prehistory
■ Sept 4 – 8 (No class on Monday!!!)
■ Video (Extra Credit worksheet posted Sept 3 – due Sept 10 at 5pm)
,○ Week Three – Asking Big to Medium Size Questions; Chapter 12 – Archaeology of the
Mind
■ Sept 11 – 15; possibly no class on Friday (see below)
■ Possible Outdoor Activity on Friday, Sept 15 (weather dependent)
○ Week Four – Asking Medium to Small Size Questions; Chapter 11 - Reconstructing
Social and Political Systems in the Past
■ Sept 18 - 22; EXAM 1 (Chs. 2, 13, 12, 11) posted on Sept 17 by 8pm
○ Week Five – Bridging the Gap Between Questions and Fieldwork/Designing your
Research; Chapter 7 – The Dimension of Archaeology: Time, Space, and Form
■ Sept 25 - 29
■ Sept 29 – EXAM 1 DUE at 5:00pm Mountain Time (NO LATE EXAMS
ACCEPTED)
■ Video (Extra Credit Worksheet posted Sept 24 – due Oct 1 at 5pm)
■ Large Extra Credit Assignment covered in class
○ Week Six – Doing Fieldwork; Chapter 3 – Survey
■ Oct 2 - 6
■ NO official class on Friday, rather volunteer outdoor exercise!!! (Weather
dependent)
○ Week Seven – Doing Fieldwork; Chapter 4 – Excavation
■ Oct 9 – 13
○ Week Eight – Understanding How Humans Intersect with Their Landscape; Chapter 5 –
Geoarchaeology
■ Oct 16 - 20; EXAM 2 (Chs. 7, 3, 4, 5) open on Oct 15 at 8pm
○ Week Nine – Understanding How Things Happen Over Time; Chapter 6 – Chronology
Building
■ Oct 23 – 27; EXAM 2 DUE on Oct 27 at 5pm Mountain Time (NO LATE
EXAMS ACCEPTED)
■ Assignment 1 posted on Oct 22 and discussed on Oct 27. It is DUE Friday, Nov 3
at 5pm
○ Week Ten – How do People Leave Stuff Behind; Chapter 9 – People, Plants, and Animals
in the Past
■ Oct 30 – Nov 3
○ Week Eleven – How People Die and the Questions You Can Ask; Chapter 10 – Mortuary
Archaeology and Bioarchaeology
■ Nov 6 – 10
■ Video (Extra Credit Worksheet posted Nov 5– due Nov 12 at 5pm)
■ Assignment 2 posted on Nov 5, discussed on Nov 10, DUE on Dec 1 at 5pm
○ Week Twelve – How are We Relatively Sure About Our Conclusions?; Chapter 8
–Taphonomy, Experimental Arch, and Ethnoarchaeology
■ Nov 13 – 17;
■ EXAM 3 (Chs. 6, 9, 10, 8) open at 8pm on Nov 12
■ Video (Extra Credit Worksheet posted Nov 12 – due Nov 19 at 5pm)
○ Week Thirteen – Thanksgiving Break, No Class!!!
■ Nov 20 - 24
, ■ Exam 3 DUE on Nov 23 at 5pm (NO LATE EXAMS ACCEPTED)
○ Week Fourteen – What Happens After Prehistory?; Chapter 14 –Historical Archaeology
■ Nov 27 – Dec 1
■ Video (Extra Credit Worksheet posted Nov 26 – due Dec 3 at 5pm)
○ Week Fifteen – Chapter 15 - Caring for “Our” Cultural Heritage and Chapter 16 -
Archaeology’s Future
■ Dec 4 - 8
■ Final Exam posted on Dec 3 at 8pm
■ Large Extra Credit Assignment DUE on Dec 8 at 5pm
○ Week Sixteen – FINALS WEEK!
■ Dec 11 - 15; FINAL EXAM (Chs. 14, 15, 16) DUE DEC 15 at 5pm (NO LATE
EXAMS ACCEPTED)
August 28th:
● Archaeology employs a “diachronic” perspective
○ How humans changed “over time”
● Looking at human garbage
● Social differentiation
○ How humans differentiate themselves from others
○ Culture
● Individual — society/culture
● Exams are due Friday at 5pm
August 30th:
Chapter 1 and 2
● Archaeology’s alphabet soup
○ BC: before Christ
○ AD: anno Domini “in the year of the Lord” (from the year after the birth of Christ: AD
1066)
■ The earliest AD date is AD 1. There is no AD 0. Double numbering is not
allowed
○ Fun fact: not everyone is Christian. Go figures. So…
■ CE: common era (same as AD)
■ BCE: before common era (same as BC)]
■ OR:
● BP: Before present (with AD as 1950)
○ So: 12000 BP becomes approx 10000 BCE/BC
■ This is because 1950 can be rounded to 2000 years AD
■ People are stupid. Why are we changing the way we
interpret years for crying out loud?
, ■ Lots of words *had* religious connotations that were
lost after heavy usage. Not many people think of the
religious connotations when you say BC or AD, they
think of what the real meaning has become: AD 1 is just
2023 years ago.
○ Radiocarbon dating is also a thing.
■ Archaeologists use this. Makes sense.
■ 45000 BP becomes 14C
■ Can get pretty specific (still margin of error, but like only 25 years)
● This is impressive, apparently
○ Clovis Culture:
■ Thought to be earliest inhabitance in North America
■ Evidence? Radiocarbon Dates
■ It’s around 14000 BP to 9000 BP
■ La Prele: Earliest mammoth killing. Found in Wyoming
● Still under excavation
● Oops! Archaeology is controversial: why people don’t like it when your job is to dig up bodies
○ Okay so not just bodies. Let's talk about the actual issue:
■ Religion.
○ Antiquarians.
■ Sir William Stukeley
● Stonehenge
● That’s a no no.
■ Antiquarian society was dissolved
● Then resurrected!
○ Jesus who?
● But now they’re better kinda better
● Looking to map, record, and preserve national treasures
● 1800s
● Uh oh. They’re stealing things
○ Pyramids are only still there because they’re too big for the
British to steal.
● Antiquarian aesthetic is stealing ancient artifacts to decorate your
drawing room because you’re a sophisticated tea sipping brit with good
tastes and an indiana jones fetish
● Archaeology is Science
● Deep time: Archaeology is blasphemous
○ Pre 18th century followed tradition and studied classical civilizations of the
Mediterranean
■ This did not challenge the bible as authority
○ Ussher figured the earth was about 6000 years old
○ Problems!
■ Stone tools and extinct mammals are found together
● Ancient man existed
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