I. ASCRC General Education Form (revised 1/27/11)
Use to propose new general education courses (except writing courses), to change existing
gen ed courses and to remove designations for existing gen ed courses.
Note: One-time-only general education designation may be requested for experimental courses
(X91-previously X95), granted only for the semester taught. A NEW request must be
submitted for the course to receive subsequent general education status.
Group
III. Language
VII: Social Sciences
(submit
III Exception: Symbolic Systems * VIII: Ethics & Human Values
separate forms
IV: Expressive Arts
IX: American & European
if requesting
V: Literary & Artistic Studies
X: Indigenous & Global
more than one
VI: Historical & Cultural Studies
XI: Natural Sciences
general
X
w/ lab  w/out lab 
education
group
*Courses proposed for this designation must be standing requirements of
designation)
majors that qualify for exceptions to the modern and classical language
requirement
Dept/Program Anthropology
Course #
ANTY 351H
Course Title
Prerequisite
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
3
Date
2/4/13
Instructor
John E. Douglas
Phone / Email 4246/john.douglas@umontana.edu
Program Chair Gilbert Quintero
Dean
Christopher Comer
III. Type of request
New
One-time Only
Renew X
Change
Remove
Reason for Gen Ed inclusion, change or deletion
Meets criteria
Description of change
No change from status quo
IV. Description and purpose of new general education course: General Education courses
must be introductory and foundational within the offering department or within the General
Education Group. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/archives/minutes/gened/GE_preamble.aspx
A regional course presenting the origins, backgrounds and development of the Pre-Columbian
American peoples and cultures that were located in the current boundaries of the Continental
United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico. Because the course emphasizes a 15,000 year
history within a huge region that most students live in or are at least familiar with, the “breadth,
context, and connectedness” factors for this course are fully in place. See the “Topics” and
“Themes and Goals” section of the syllabus for the details.
V. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
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.
VI. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
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 with for 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.
Analyze human behavior, ideas, and
institutions within their respective 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. An
assignment to look at a specific, important
site reinforces how these interpretations are
created.
Most of the course is organized into a time
and space grid: culture “areas” (groups
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. Justification: Normally, general education courses will not carry pre-requisites, will carry
at least 3 credits, and will be numbered at the 100-200 level. If the course has more than one
pre-requisite, carries fewer than three credits, or is upper division (numbered above the 200
level), provide rationale for exception(s).
The class is 300 level, 3 credits, and no prerequisites. The 300-level allows the use of a richer,
more demanding textbook as well as higher-level presentation of the ideas outlined in the
syllabus and in the discussion of Criteria and Goals above. However, the 300-level, as opposed
to the 400 level, also allows the class to take a more “common sense” look at the data, methods
and theory issues, and to largely avoid the professional literature.
The class is routinely and successfully taken by a range of nonmajors without background in
archaeology or anthropology and has held an H designation for well over two decades.
VIII. 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: Tuesday, Thursday 11-12, Wed 1-2, Thursday 10-11, or
appointments welcome.
Topics to be covered:
 How archaeologists know about the past
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The peopling of the Americas
Paleoindians: the hunters of extinct large mammals
People of the arctic
Coastal adaptations
Western hunter-gatherers
Agricultural villages and towns in the southwestern United Sates
Eastern hunter-gatherers
Early agricultural systems and mound-building in the eastern United States
Corn agriculture and political developments in the late eastern United States
European contact and the beginning of historic records
Themes and goals:
 Learning about people at other times and other places is critical to find out what it
means to be human. The Naïve 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, a core theme of this course is
humanistic and historic. Because most students will bring a contemporary
knowledge of North America, studying the past will be an inherently comparative
process.
 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.
 The development of leadership and hierarchy. We will examine groups in size from
small bands to towns of 15,000+ people, and think about leadership changes, how
specialization in social roles occurs, and how hierarchies emerge.
 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: Brian Fagan, 2005, Ancient North America: The
Archaeology of a Continent (fourth edition—third edition, 2000, OK).
Thames and Hudson, New York. Class PowerPoint files and grades are
available through Moodle:
https://umonline.mrooms3.net/login/index.php (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 that you bring
a Scantron form (⅓ pink sheet size, available in the bookstore) and a soft pencil with an eraser.
Questions may include true-false, multiple choice, and matching.
Improving your grade: You may write an optional paper, which can add up to 15 points to
your semester score (instructions on page 2). 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.
Mobile phones: Please turn off you cell phone or mute the ringer during clclass!
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.
Assignment: Assume that you’ve been asked to present a talk to the public at a library for
Archaeology Month (unusual, I know). You must choose one of these sites/localities to talk
about:
Fort Rock Cave, Oregon
Pictograph Cave, Montana
Head-smashed-in, Alberta, Canada
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Cahokia, Illinois
Poverty Point, Louisiana
In 1,000 words or less, explain “to the general adult public” why the site you chose is
important, why it should be considered an essential part of the cultural heritage of North
America, and why the site should be preserved for future generations. Although you should
assume that your intended audience does not know anything about the site or archaeology, the
emphasis of your talk should not be on “who, what, when, or where,” but on making the case
that the site is an important part of the national patrimony.
Because you are writing for the public, do not put quotations in your paper; you must say it in
your own words. You may include up to 10 images/maps in your presentation. Do include
citations of any specific facts and images that you use and a bibliography of all cited sources
(using any citation style). Citing my lectures and the textbook is a great place to start, but
strong papers will use additional, credible sources. Please make sure that you do not copy down
phrases from your sources—plagiarism in any form will result in an automatic zero for the
paper, and possibly an F for the class (see code of conduct below).
and possibly an F for the class (see code of conduct below).
You should submit the paper in Word (DOC or DOCX), Rich Text Format (RTF), Adobe
(PDF) or PowerPoint (PPT or PPTX) format to the dropbox on the Moddle page (if you must, a
paper version in class is OK). The paper is worth 50 points. It will be graded on how well it
answers the questions poised above, thoroughness, organization and formatting, grammar, and
spelling, in that order. The paper is due on the last day of class.
Grade Determination: For undergraduates, there are 350 points possible in the class; students
with 90% or more of the points will receive an "A" (whole grades only). The point system is:
A, 315+; B, 280-314; C, 245-279; D or “Credit,” 210-244; F or “No Credit,” 209 or lower.
Please note that September 17 is the last day to add or drop a course without penalty; October
27 is the last day to add or drop without a petition (a drop after Sept 17th will cause a W to
appear on transcript).
Plagiarism and misconduct: All students must practice academic honesty. 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,
which can be reviewed at at http://life.umt.edu/vpsa/student_conduct.php. If you are not certain
what “plagiarism” includes, look at the resources on this helpful Mansfield Library page:
http://libguides.lib.umt.edu/plagiarism.
Please note: Approved general education changes will take effect next fall.
General education instructors will be expected to provide sample assessment items and
corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.