ANTH 120 -- WORLD PREHISTORY – FALL 2009

Professor: Dr. Peter Peregrine

Office: Briggs 307

Phone: 832-7684 (office) or 730-8094

Office Hours: after class or by appointment

E-mail: peter.n.peregrine@lawrence.edu

Web: http://www.lawrence.edu/fast/peregrip/peregrine.html

TEXT

Wenke, Robert and Deborah Olszewski. 2007. Patterns in Prehistory, 5^th Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

COURSE GOALS

This course tells the story of humanity from two million years ago to the present. Understanding that story requires an understanding of two inter-related concepts: cultural evolution and organic evolution. We will focus on the latter, though we will spend a bit of time on the former in terms of how modern humans evolved and how our primary human adaptations (language and culture, most primary of all) came to be. Our focus on cultural evolution will take us down two related paths: the evolution of new ways of getting food and organizing people, and new ways of adapting to changing environmental and social conditions. These two paths shape the route taken by cultural evolution. You should thus anticipate having four primary goals in the course:

1. You should leave the course understanding the broad patterns of human evolution and how modern humans evolved and spread around the world
2. You should leave the course understanding the patterns and processes of cultural evolution.
3. You should leave the course knowing when and how (and perhaps why) major innovations in cultural adaptation developed.
4. You should leave the course knowing when and how (and perhaps why) major innovations in human economic, social, and political organization developed.

If you are able to achieve these four goals, then your work in the class has been a success.

GRADING

You will have a variety of assignments to test your progress towards achieving the four primary course goals. There will be eight unannounced 5-point quizzes, a mid-term exam worth 20 points, and a comprehensive 40 point final exam. The quizzes will be multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank, while the exams will be short answer and essay format.

Your grade for the course will be determined from the one hundred total points by the following scale:

90-100 = A

80-89 = B

70-79 = C

60-69 = D

<59 = F

I may adjust this scale down but will never adjust it up. Pluses and minuses will be given at my discretion. You also may lose points for failure to attend class (see below).

ATTENDANCE

Attendance is mandatory. You may miss class twice during the term. You will lose 3 points for each additional absence, regardless of the reason (i.e. even if you are sick or on an official Lawrence trip), so plan accordingly.

MAKE-UPS

I will not give make-ups for quizzes or exams. If you miss a quiz you will receive a zero, regardless of the reason (even if you are late to class on the day there is a quiz). You will automatically fail the course if you miss the mid-term or final exam. I will not adjust the time or date of either the mid-term or final because of travel, so plan accordingly.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

I expect all students to adhere to the Lawrence University Honor Code. If I find you are in violation of the Honor Code I am required to report it. One specific thing you should know: I encourage group work in all my classes; I encourage you to talk about assignments outside of class, and even to work together on them. However, all assignments must be written individually and independently—you may work with others to sketch out and discuss possible answers, but what you turn in must be a product of your own thought and effort. This is admittedly a fine line, and if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask.

HOW TO GET AN “A” IN THE COURSE

The material in this course is not that difficult, but the course itself is demanding of your time. The way to get an “A” is to keep up with the reading and come to each class prepared for a quiz. The mid-term and final exam will both be open book and open note, so getting an “A” will require you to make marginal comments and underline important passages in you book, and to take good notes. The class is fairly large, and that can be intimidating, but another thing you’ll need to do to get an “A” is to ask questions and to participate in class discussions. All this, of course, depends on your coming to class every period and on time. If you do all this, you should do well in the course, and you’ll probably get an “A”.

SYLLABUS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

Week #1	Introduction to Archaeology
9/14	Anthropology and Prehistory
9/16	Cultural Evolution and Archaeology(Ch. 1)
9/18	Archaeological Methods (Ch. 2)
Week #2	Human Evolution
9/21	Early Human Ancestors (Ch. 3)
9/23	Later Human Ancestors (Ch. 4)
9/25	The Origins of Modern Humans (Ch. 4)
Week #3	Modern Humans
9/28	The Upper Paleolithic World (Ch. 5)
9/30	Colonization of the Americas (Ch. 5)
10/2	The Origins of Agriculture (Ch. 6)
Week #4	Civilization
10/5	The Rise of Complex Society (Ch. 7)
10/7	Review and Preview
10/9	Mid-term Exam
Week #5	Southwest Asia
10/12	Film: Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River
10/14	Pre-dynastic Mesopotamia (Ch. 8)
10/16	Dynastic Mesopotamia (Ch. 8)
Week #6	South and East Asia
10/19	Indus Valley (Ch. 10)
10/21	China (Ch. 11)
10/23	Reading Period—NO CLASS
Week #7	Egypt
10/26	Film: Egypt: Quest for Eternity
10/28	Pre-dynastic Egypt (Ch. 9)
10/30	Dynastic Egypt (Ch. 9)
Week #8	Mesoamerica
11/2	Film: Maya Lords of the Jungle
11/4	Lowland Mesoamerica (Ch. 13)
11/6	Highland Mesoamerica (Ch. 13)
Week #9	South America
11/9	Pre-Incan Andes (Ch. 14)
11/11	The Incas (Ch. 14)
11/13	Film: Empire of the Sun
Week #10
11/16	Wrap-up and review
Final	Friday, November 20, 6:30pm