I. ASCRC General Education Form
Group
VI: Historical and Cultural Studies
Dept/Program
Anthropology
Course #
ANTH 351
Course Title
Prerequisite
3
Archaeology of North America
None
Credits
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
John E. Douglas
9/15/08
4246
john.douglas@umontana.ed
u
Program Chair
John E. Douglas
9/15/08
Dean
Gerald Fetz
III. Description and purpose of the course: General Education courses must be introductory
and foundational. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/gened/GEPreamble_final.htm
Instructor
Phone / Email
For at least 15,000 years, Native Americans lived in “North America” (in actuality, the course
covers the territory now occupied by Canada, the U.S., and adjacent northern Mexico—central
Mexico and southward are different enough to require a separate class), but wrote no history.
The are three ways to learn about these substantial and consequential human experiences: (1)
the myths and stories of the Native American descendants of this long “prehistoric” (in the
sense of lacking writing, not in terms of historical processes) period; (2) inferences from
historical and anthropological observations of Native Americans; and (3) the objects, structures,
and landscapes created by Native Americans from this time. Informed by the first two
methods, this is a course presenting the third, archaeological, approach to understanding North
America. It is taught to a wide range of students—this semester, it is 50% non-anthropology
majors—and it introduces what archaeologists can infer about the origins, migrations,
adaptations, social and technological changes, and history, broadly construed, of the Native
Americans of North America. The course battles stereotypes of “The Indian” in American
popular culture by emphasizing the diversity of societies, adaptations, and experiences
contained within the often-ignored place and time, as well as the originality and complexity of
Native American societies.
IV. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
Courses teach students how to: present ideas
and information with a view to understanding
the causes, development, and consequences of
historical events; evaluate texts or artifacts
within their historical and/or cultural contexts;
and analyze human behavior, ideas, and
institutions within their respective historical
and/or cultural contexts.
The course justification should explain the
approach and focus with respect to its
chronological, geographical, and/or topical
content. A methodological component (e.g.
historiography or ethnography) must be
apparent.
Archaeologists begin with sites and artifacts,
and connect these, using inferences and the
scientific method, to past social
organizations and behaviors. That is, the
course looks at how we infer a host of social
parameters from archaeology: How do we
tell prehistoric mobile societies from settled
ones? How do we tell Arctic societies that
hunted seals from the ice from those who
hunted them from boats? How do we tell
egalitarian societies from ranked societies?
These inferences are only the first step: by
looking at societies over thousands of years,
this course examines how and why societies
change in this huge area and time span,
exploring the role of environment (social and
physical), contingency, and cultural
traditions in change, and connecting all these
factors into “big picture” narratives and
explanations of the past.
The course includes both a specific
methodological overview of archaeology,
past and present, which introduces the
course, as well as a constant discussion of
how archaeologists make inferences about
the archaeological record. That is, students
not only learn a narrative about the past of
Native Americans, but they also learn to
“think like an archaeologist” in how data are
used in our interpretations.
V. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
Synthesize ideas and information with a view to This course focuses on “hinge-points” and
understanding the causes and consequences of
critical issues in the prehistoric record: How
historical developments and events.
do we know when people first came to
North America? What conditions lead to the
adoption of agriculture? What are the social
conditions that lead to social ranking? These
kinds of questions (see the syllabus) are
dealt within specific historical contexts and
narratives. Students learn from a textbook,
lectures, PowerPoint presentations, and
videos, and are expected to synthesize their
understandings in exams and papers.
Evaluate texts or artifacts within their historical
and/or cultural contexts.
Artifacts from paleoindian projectile points
to Hopewell burial mounds to Iroquois long
houses are contextualized in a historical and
cultural manner. How these objects were
created, why they were created, and what
cultural values and needs are encapsulated
in such “things” are careful considered. In
addition, a written assignment requires
students to read and interpret a professional
archaeology journal article. The goal of this
exercise is to give them more insight into
the process of taking archaeological
observations and turning them into the
broader narrative that the textbook presents.
Analyze human behavior, ideas, and institutions Most of the course is organized into a time
within their respective historical and/or cultural and space grid: culture “areas” (groups
contexts.
related by shared heritage and adaptations)
are introduced, then the changes and
innovations in the area examined through
time. Thus, there is a strong sense of context
and development. The course also provides
some specific comparisons between these
areas, in order to show differences,
similarities, and trends and contacts that knit
together North America.
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. ⇓ The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus
preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
Syllabus—Anthropology 351
Professor: John Douglas; Office: Social Sciences 233; E-mail: John.Douglas@umontana.edu;
Tel: 243-4246; Office hours: Monday 10-12; Tuesday-Thursday 9-10; Wednesday 1-3;
appointments welcome.
Topics to be covered:
9 How archaeologists know about the past
9 The peopling of the Americas
9 Paleoindians: the hunters of extinct large mammals
9 People of the Arctic
9 Villages and towns in the southwestern United States
9 Eastern hunter-gatherers
9 Early agricultural systems and mound-building in the eastern United States
9 Corn agriculture and political developments in the late eastern United States
9 European contact and the beginning of historic records
Themes and goals:
9 Learning about people at other times and other places is critical to find out what it
means to be human. The Native American past is inherently interesting—and an
important opportunity to observe creative problem solving by other humans. We
should pay attention to both what is shared and what is unique in this story.
Although the methods of archaeology are scientific, many themes of this course are
humanistic and historic. Because most students will bring a contemporary
knowledge of North America, studying the past will be an inherently comparative
process.
9 The interaction between environment and people. We will examine how people
react to climate change, how the population density and organization is affected by
resources, how people affect their environment, and how different kinds of
resources influence groups with different kinds of technologies and social
organizations.
9 The development of leadership and hierarchy. We will examine groups in size from
small bands to towns of 50,000+ people, and think about leadership changes, how
specialization in social roles occurs, and how hierarchies emerge.
9 To provide successful participants a well-anchored framework for human life before
historical records that spans the entire continent, north of central Mexico, that
allows an understanding of the pace, direction, and nature of change in societies.
Prerequisites: None
Required text/other support: Brian Fagan, 4th edition, 2005, Ancient
North America: The Archaeology of a Continent (3rd edition, 2000, OK).
Thames and Hudson, New York. Class PowerPoint files are available
through Blackboard: http://courseware.umt.edu (requires NetID and
password)
Tests: There are three tests. Each test is worth 100 points. A test follows
after a third of the course and covers that third's lecture material and readings. Test taking
requires only a pen or pencil. The test is a combination of roughly 60% objective questions
(may include true-false, multiple choice, and matching), and 40% written (may include
definition and short essay).
Improving your grade: You can give an optional presentation about a site of your choice,
which can add up to 20 points to your semester score (instructions are at the end of the
syllabus). A comprehensive, essay, test will be given after Test 3 in the final exam period (see
schedule). The test may be taken in lieu of ONE regular test or to substitute for a lower grade
on a regular exam. This test cannot lower your grade. No other extra credit is available.
A plea to the wireless crowd: Please turn off you cell phone or mute the ringer during class!
Graduate Student Papers: All graduate students must submit a 4,000 to 5,000 word (16-20
double space pages) original research paper on an approved aspect of North American
archaeology with at least 10 references from professional sources. Graduate papers will be
judged on a 100-point scale, and are due on December 4; it replaces the undergraduate written
assignment.
Disability Accommodations: When requested by the student, learning disabilities recognized
by Disability Student Services (DSS) will be ameliorated with any reasonable accommodation:
copies of notes, special testing environment, extended testing time, and special forms of the
tests.
Incompletes: An incomplete will be considered only when requested by the student. At the
discretion of the instructor, incompletes are given to students who missed a portion of the class
because of documented serious health or personal problems during the session. Students have
one year to complete the course; requirements are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
Undergraduate Written Assignment: This required paper is due December 4, at 5:00 P.M. and
is worth a maximum of 50 points. Select a peer-reviewed archaeological journal article at least
six pages long that focuses on an archaeological site, artifact category, or other topic related to
Native American archaeology as defined in this class. Make sure you are using a peer-reviewed
journal, and check that you have an article, not a book review, news short, or reply. I
recommend the following journals: American Antiquity and Journal of Field Archaeology (the
latter covers North America and beyond), available electronically and on paper; Journal of
World Prehistory, electronic journal only, which has occasional papers on North America; or a
regional journal (these are available on the shelves only): Midcontinental Journal of
Archaeology, Arctic Anthropology, Plains Anthropology, Kiva (southwest archaeology), or
Archaeology in Montana. Topics: answer the following questions: (1) What is (are) the central
question(s) that the author(s) are trying to answer? (2) What information and approaches do
they use to answer the question(s)? (3) How successful were they in answering those questions?
(4) Review what your textbook says about the era/region. How does the journal article you read
add to your understanding of this period of North American archaeology? Grading: Papers are
graded on style, grammar, spelling, understanding of the reviewed research, and creativity in
reviewing the research implications. Mechanics: You must attach a copy of the first page and
abstract for the article that you select in your assignment. Papers must be typed, double-spaced,
stapled, and no more than six pages of text for your essay using standard fonts and margins.
Make sure you provide a full citation of your article, and use the author-date system to cite
quotes and specific facts in your paper. For example, (Douglas 2000:197) provides a citation
for page 197 of a book chapter that I published in the year 2000; the full citation must be
included in the back as a section entitled “references cited.” You should be able to copy the
reference style of the article that you are working on, but for more specific help, see the
Mansfield Library’s guide to APA citation style,
http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/content.php?pid=3183&sid=17365 .
Grade Determination: For undergraduates, there are 350 points possible in the class (400 for
grad students); students with 90% or more of the points will receive an "A" (whole grades
only). The undergrad point system is: A, 315+; B, 280-314; C, 245-279; D or “Credit,” 210244; F or “No Credit,” 209 or lower.
Please note that September 15 (4:30 pm) is the last day to add or drop a course without cost or
transcript consequences; October 6 (4:30 pm) is the last day to drip by petition and fee without
risking a WF (withdraw failing) on your transcript.
Plagiarism and misconduct: All students must practice academic honesty. Students unfamiliar
with the Plagiarism Warning in the catalog are urged to read it. If you are vague on what the
term “plagiarism” might include, look at the resources on this helpful Mansfield Library page
http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/content.php?pid=3860&sid=22703. Plagiarism and Academic
misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by
the University. All students need to be familiar with the Student Conduct Code, available
online at http://life.umt.edu/VPSA/name/StudentConductCode.
Extra Credit Assignment: Class Site Presentation (20 points)
• Choose a site that interests you and there are research materials available. Images on
the internet makes this assignment easier, but you can also scan images from a book
or clip them from PDF files in electronic books and journals. Choose a specific
place where people lived or did other activities: Fajada Butte, not Chaco Canyon;
Cahokia, not Mississippian.
• Sign up with your site choice with me. Because there will be only one presentation
per site, site choice is on a first come basis.
• Prepare a PowerPoint presentation on the site with 8-10 slides. Make sure that all
your images are sized to make it easy to present by going to the “format picture”
controls, then the “Picture” Tab, then the “Compress . . “button, then make sure “all
pictures” in the document checkbox, then compress, followed by clicking OK.
• Turn in a copy of your PowerPoint presentation to me at Blackboard
(http://courseware.umt.edu) by 10 am December 1 using the digital dropbox.
• I’ll load your presentation on my computer and you will give a no more than 7
minute talk about your site on December 2.
Check List of Suggestions and Requirements:
• Your first slide should be a title page with the site name and your name.
• The second slide must be a general site of the region showing the site location.
• Normally, you should include a site map.
• The Notes section of PowerPoint should give the reference for any figures on that
slide.
• The last slide should have your bibliography. Use a standard scheme, such as
http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/content.php?pid=3183&sid=17365 .
• Provide basic information about the site, including: dates, culture that occupied it;
environmental setting; function or activities found at the site; and what makes the
site interesting.
• If relevant or interesting, include excavators, controversies, preservation issues, etc.
• Keep your writing to a minimum; bullet major talking points.
• Use your research skills to find accurate, scientific, and archaeological sources. If
you have questions, ask me.
Schedule
Date Day
Topic
26-Aug
T
Course introduction
Readings/Viewings
—
28-Aug
Th
2-Sep
T
4-Sep
9-Sep
Th
T
11-Sep
Th
16-Sep
T
18-Sep
23-Sep
25-Sep
30-Sep
2-Oct
7-Oct
Th
T
Th
T
Th
T
9-Oct
14-Oct
16-Oct
21-Oct
Th
T
Th
T
23-Oct
28-Oct
Th
T
30-Oct
4-Nov
6-Nov
Th
T
Th
11-Nov
13-Nov
T
Th
18-Nov
20-Nov
25-Nov
27-Nov
2-Dec
T
Th
T
Th
T
Interpreting the
archaeological record
When was the New World
discovered?
The Clovis Culture
Later Paleoindian
adaptations
Hunters and Farmers of the
Plains
Hunters and Farmers of the
Plains
TEST 1
The early Arctic
The later Arctic
Early Pacific Coast
Late Pacific Coast
The Great Basin
The early Southwest
The southern southwest
The northern southwest
The east: early and middle
archaic
TEST 2
Late Archaic Eastern
Woodlands
Early Woodland—Adena
Election Day—Holiday
Middle Woodland—
Hopewell
Veterans Day—Holiday
Middle Woodland
(continued)
Mississippian
Mississippian (continued)
Moundbuilding—Video
Thanksgiving—Holiday
Optional Presentations/
Algonquians and Iroquois
Chapters 2 & 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12; Watch a 27 minute film on the
internet: The Obsidian Trail, at:
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/video/
obsidian.html
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
4-Dec
Th
8-Dec
M
America in 1492/Summary
Papers Due
TEST 3, 10:10-11; Optional
Final:11:10-12:10
Chapter 1 and 22 (p 511-522 only)
*Please note: As an instructor of a general education course, you will be expected to provide
sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.