Recommended Courses for
the Interdisciplinary Major in Archaeology
Spring 2013
Students taking the Interdisciplinary Major in Archaeology can take archaeology classes in any of the following departments, after consultation with your faculty advisor or with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Archaeology (Prof. Zoë Crossland - ). Classes may also be taken from departments not listed below, after consultation with Prof. Crossland.
To find other faculty in archaeology at Columbia please start with the list of Associate Directors of the Center for Archaeology. These professors can offer subject-specific advice. You can find this information on the Center for Archaeology web site.
Below is a list of our recommended courses for the Archaeology Major for Spring 2013. Please note that your course of study should also be discussed with your Class Dean as well as with the program advisors.
CORE CLASSES
ANTH V1008 The Rise of Civilization3 pts.
Terence D'Altroy.
M/W 2.40-3.55pm.
The rise of major civilization in prehistory and protohistory throughout the world, from the initial appearance of sedentism, agriculture, and social stratification through the emergence of the archaic empires. Description and analysis of a range of regions that were centers of significant cultural development: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley, China, North America, Mesoamerica. Mandatory Recitations Sections (students must register ANTH V1108) and $25.00 laboratory fee.
ACLG V2028/ANTH 82028
Pasts, Presents, Futures: a critical introduction to 21st century archaeology3 pts.
Zoë Crossland.
T/R 1.10-2.25pm.
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to archaeology. We start with a critical overview of the origins of the discipline in the 18th and 19th centuries, and then move on to consider key themes in current archaeological thinking. These include "time and the past: what is the difference"; what are archaeological sites and how do we "discover" them? How is the relationship between the living and the dead negotiated through archaeological practice? What are the ethical issues? How do we create narratives from archaeological evidence? Who gets written in and out of these histories? Archaeology, film and media. Mandatory Recitations Sections (students must register ACLG V2029) and $25.00 lab fee.
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTH V3007 Holy Lands, Unholy Histories: archaeology before the bible 3pts.
Brian Boyd
M/W 1.10-2.25pm.
This course is divided into two parts. The first few sessions discuss the social and political history of prehistoric and “biblical” archaeology in the Levant. Themes explored include: the dominance of “biblical archaeology” and the implications for Palestinian archaeology; Islamic archaeology; the impact of European contact from the Crusades onwards; the development of prehistoric archaeology. The remainder of the course deals with the current "big issues" in Levantine prehistory. These include: early hominids, Neanderthals and modern humans, landscape and the origins of agriculture, the social domestication of animals and plants, mortuary practices, representation and symbolism.
ART HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY
AHIS W4086 Aztec Art & Architecture 3pts.
Megan O'Neil
MW 2.40-3.55pm.
Open to graduate and undergraduate students. This course focuses on the visual and material culture of the Aztec (Mexica) Empire, from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries CE. We will explore the Mexica civilization through their books, objects, buildings, and festivals, investigating topics such as communication, performance, religion and ritual, sacred landscapes, histories and origin stories, politics and empire, and other facets of society. In addition, we will consider interactions of Mexica and Europeans in New Spain in the sixteenth century and the transformations in arts and culture as a result of their interchange.
AHIS V3250 Roman Art and Architecture3pts.
Francesco de Angelis
MW 2.40-3.55pm.
The architecture, sculpture, and painting of ancient Rome from the 2nd century B.C. to the end of the Empire in the West. Discussion Section Required.
AHIS W3110 The Athenian Acropolis in the 5th and 6th Centuries BCE3pts
Ioannis Mylonopoulos
MW 11.40am-12.55pm.
The course places the architecture and the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon in the centre of the scheduled class sessions. The course also aims at a contextualization of the Parthenon within the broader architectural, artistic, and topographical context of the Athenian Acropolis during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. The chosen chronological frame focuses on the period of the most intensive activity on the Acropolis. Two class sessions will, nevertheless, give a brief overview of the Acropolis after the end of the Peloponnesian war and concentrate on the transformation of the Acropolis into "Greece's museum of the past", an Arcadian topos of human imagination.
AHIS W3812 The Study of Gothic Architecture4pts
Stephen Murray
R 10.10am-12pm.
The seminar has three parts: first, after a brief exploration of issues of mapping and plotting Gothic, we will follow a sequence of readings in some of the giants of older historiography, second, we will study the sea change in the field that began in the 1980s and the work of some of the most dynamic scholars in the subsequent period, and third, students will present their research papers.
AHIS W3230 Medieval Architecture 3pts.
Stephen Murray
T/R 2.10-3.55pm
Medieval Architecture provides an opportunity to study buildings belonging to the one-thousand year period from the fourth century to the Late Middle Ages. We will focus particularly upon issues of representation—how buildings have been described in words and depicted in images, exploring the stories created to link buildings together into a continuous narrative.
AHIS W3879 Medieval Jerusalem: The Making of the Holy (travel seminar)
Avinoam Shalem
W 11-12:50.
The course will examine Jerusalem's changing architectural programme over circa thousand years, as well as its representation in images and texts from Jewish, Christian and Muslim sources. The main focus is the Haram al-Sharif, the temple mount in Jerusalem as well as other spaces in the old city of Jerusalem and its vicinity, in which further sacred spaces were built and designed for pilgrims. Aspects of different rituals and even oral traditions will be brought into discussion to illustrate the varied methods and politics of the space and the continuous contestations over Jerusalem's sacredness till the present day. The course is designed as a preparatory course for an excursion to Jerusalem in March 2014. Students' presentations will be held both in situ, in front of the monuments of Jerusalem, as well as in the class.
CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION
CLCV W4411 Egypt in the Classical World 3pts.
Ellen Morris
M/W 11.40am-12.55pm.
This class traces Egypt's evolving integration into the Classical World from the Saite Dynasty (c. 685 BCE) to the suppression of paganism by the Coptic church. We'll pay close attention to the flashpoints that created conflicts between pagan Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, and Christians and also to integrative aspects of society.
HISTORY
HIST W1020 Romans/Empire 754BC-565AD3pts.
William Harris
MW 4.10-5.25pm.
HIST W4000 Environmental History of the Ancient Mediterranean4pts
William Harris
M 9-10.50am.
ADVANCED CLASSES
The following courses are graduate seminars that may be open to undergraduates. Undergraduates who would like to take one of these courses should contact the faculty members individually and ask about requirements and permissions.
ANTH G4175 Writing Archaeology3 pts.
Zoë Crossland
R 4.10-6pm.
Like fiction archaeology allows us to visit other worlds and to come back home again. In this class we'll explore different genres of archaeological texts. How do writers contribute to the development of narratives about the past, what are the narrative tricks used by archaeologists, novelists and poets to evoke other worlds and to draw in the reader? What is lost in the translationfrom the earth to text, and what is gained? There is an intimacy to archaeological excavation, an intimacy that is rarely captured in archaeological narratives. What enlivening techniques might we learn from fictional accounts, and where might we find narrative space to include emotion and affect, as well as the texture and grain of encounters with the traces of the past? How does archaeological evidence evoke a particular response, and how do novels and poems work to do the same thing? What is the role of the reader in bringing a text to life? Enrollment limit is 15 and instructor's permission is required. Priority: Anthropology graduate students, archaeology senior thesis students.
ANTH G4344 Inka Empire3pts.
Terence D'Altroy
T 2.10-4pm.
The Inka empire was the largest, most complex polity of the independent, pre-European Americas. Ruled by a divine king, and his living and dead relatives, the empire incorporated 12 million people in mountainous western South America, even though the region lacked a written language, money and markets, and efficient transportation. Topics include history; politics; the Inkas’ ideas about life/death, space/time, and the human and non-human actors of the landscape; royal estates such as Machu Picchu; material arts; economics; social and gender relations; and militarism.
ANTH G4002 Controversial Topics in Human Evolution I3 pts.
Ralph Holloway
R 4.10-6pm
Controversial issues that exist in current biological/physical anthropology, and controversies surrounding the descriptions and theories about particular fossil hominid discoveries, such as the earliest australopithecines, the diversity of Home erectus, the extinction of the Neandertals, the evolution of culture, language, human cognition. Prerequisite: Instructor's permission and introductory biological/physical anthropology course. Instructor's permission required. Enrollment limit is 15.
ANTH G4148 Human Skeletal Biology II3 pts.
Ralph Holloway
W 12.10-2pm
Recommended for archaeology and physical anthropology students, pre-meds, and biology majors interested in the human skeletal system. Intensive study of human skeletal materials using anatomical and anthropological landmarks to assess sex, age, and ethnicity of bones. Other primate skeletal materials and fossil casts used for comparative study. Instructor's permission required. Enrollment limit is 15.