ART 220-01, Archaeological Methods, Fall 2003

Abstract

This class surveys the historiography, practices and contemporary issues seminal to the study of archaeology by the practicing archaeologist. There is a slight bias towards those practices used by archaeologists of the Classical Mediterranean region. The course is divided into three sections. After beginning with a review of the of the origins and rise of archaeology as a scientific discipline and its history, we turn to foundational practices used to gather information on an archaeological site. The course concludes with a look at some of the philosophical questions surrounding contemporary archaeology and its processes. Periodically class will constitute a lab in which you will gain hands-on practice in some of the basic techniques of archaeological analysis.