The writing assignment for this class will be a 3-3.5 page paper that either considers how archaeology is portrayed in the popular media or prompts students to create an “archaeologically accurate” narrative about the past. Citations from the book must be used. As well as academic journals/peer reviewed journals.

Book used is Kelly, Robert L., and David Hurst Thomas 2017 Archaeology, 7^thedition. Wadsworth/Cenage Learning.

This is an intro to archeology class and what we are learning is listed below.

(1) be introduced to the methods and theories archaeologists use to learn about the written (historic) and unwritten (prehistoric) past, (2) increase their knowledge of the cultures and peoples who preceded us through the study of culture history and culture process from Pleistocene beginnings to the origins of agriculture and through early civilizations, and (3) learn who owns the past, ways that we might protect it, and why archaeology is important.

This class emphasizes the nuts-and-bolts of archaeology, or how archaeologists do archaeology, rather than focusing on cultural historical reconstruction or the story of the human past told through archaeological findings. Towards the end of the class there is a segment on cultural history from the first tool using peoples through the origins of civilizations; other Anthropology classes focus specifically on cultural historical reconstruction (e.g., Anth 327-Origins of Civilizations; Anth 383—Prehistoric North America).

Answer preview

The media has portrayed archeology in different lights, one of which is the assumed simplicity of the science. Due to the entertainment objective of the media, the portrayal of archaeology exists with the absence of accurate methodologies and processes regarding several aspects of archaeology. Firstly, the identification of an excavation site takes time in research and deliberate dedication to a subject (Kelly, Robert & Thomas, 2017)…

 

(950 words)