Harvard University, Anthropology 1190
Spring 2009
T-TH 1:00-2:30 pm
Peabody Museum 14A
Dr. Matthew Liebmann
Peabody Museum 57i
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2:30-3:30 or by appointment liebmann@fas.harvard.edu
617-496-3125
Course Description: This course examines the effects of the Spanish Conquest on indigenous peoples of the Americas between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, providing an introduction to the archaeology of first encounters in the Caribbean, Southeast and
Southwest US, Mesoamerica, the Amazon basin, and in the Andes. Topics addressed include the roles of disease, indigenous politics, native rebellions, and ecological change in the colonization of the “New” World.
Special emphasis will be placed on the conquest/invasion experiences of the Taino, Aztec, Inca, and Pueblo peoples, based primarily on archaeological and historical evidence. Upon successful completion of this class students will be knowledgeable about indigenous societies of the Americas from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, narratives of Spanish contact and conquest, the impacts of colonization on the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and how we know what we think we know about the archaeology of the Americas immediately pre- and post-contact.
Prerequisites: None, open to all undergraduates.
Grading: All assignments must be completed in order to pass the class. Grades will be based upon the following criteria:
 Attendance and participation (see below): 10%
 Essay: 10%
 Midterm exam: 30%
 Research Paper: 20%
 Final exam: 30%
Students will be evaluated not only on their ability to master the presented material, but also on their ability to critically assess that material. That is, while it is important to demonstrate knowledge of relevant cultures, names, dates, sites, and events, in order to excel students must demonstrate an ability to analyze and evaluate this material in a sophisticated manner.
Attendance and participation policy: Attendance at all lectures is required, and class participation will be emphasized heavily. Missing class can and will have a negative effect on your grade;
more than five (5) unexcused absences will result in failure of this course.

“Participation” is defined as active involvement in class discussions and lectures, including taking part in debates, asking provocative questions, providing considered answers and contributing when given the opportunity. In other words, just showing up will not earn you an A; you must be a dynamic (not passive) participant in this class.
Please note that the instructor will not provide copies of lecture notes to students; it is the student’s responsibility to obtain any lecture notes if they have missed class for any reason. Extensions will not be given for assignments without previous permission from the instructor. Makeup exams will only be allowed for officially excused absences.
Readings: The following books are recommended for purchase at the Harvard COOP
Bookstore:
Lunenfeld, Marvin
1991 1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter. D.C. Heath and Company Lexington, MA.
Restall, Matthew
2003 Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Diaz del Castillo, Bernal
2008 The History of the Conquest of New Spain. Edited by David Carrasco. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Additional readings will be posted on the course website in Adobe .pdf format at least one week prior to the assigned date. These readings must be completed BEFORE class on the day assigned, and students are asked to bring hard-copy printouts with them to class for discussion unless otherwise instructed (alternatively, reading from the digital copy on a laptop is allowable as well).
Papers: There will be two required writing assignments for this class. The first, an essay due
February 19, will be a 3-5 page assessment of the Columbus ‘controversy,’ based on assigned readings for this class. Because we will be discussing your responses in class on February 19, there will be no extensions granted for this paper.
The second paper, due April 21, will be a 1500 word research paper on indigenous material culture of the contact period in the Peabody Museum collections (further instruction to follow).

Schedule of Topics and Readings: Encountering the Conquistadors, Spring 2009
Jan. 29 (Th) Introduction to the course
Feb. 3 (T) The Prehispanic Americas; Pre-Columbian contacts—myth and reality
Reading:
Mann, Charles C.
2005 A View from Above. In 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,
pp. 3-29. Alfred Knopf, New York.
Feb. 5 (Th) Columbus’s First Voyage; Taino archaeology
Readings:
1. Sued-Badillo, Jalil
2003 The Indigenous Societies at the time of Conquest. In General History of the
Carribean, Vol. 1, edited by J. Sued-Badillo, pp. 259-291. Unesco/MacMillan,
London.
2. Cohen, J. M. (editor)
1969 excerpt from "Digest of Columbus's Log-Book on his First Voyage Made" by Bartolome de las Casas. In The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus., pp.
54-76. Penguin Books, New York.
Feb. 10 (T) Caribs, Cannibalism, and Anthropophagi
Reading:
Lunenfeld, “Cannibalism” pp. 275-281
Feb. 12 (Th) Post-Contact in the Caribbean
Reading:
Deagan, Kathleen
2004 Reconsidering Taino Social Dynamics after Spanish Conquest: Gender and
Class in Culture Contact Studies. American Antiquity 69(4):597-626.
Feb. 17 (T) Ecological Change and Exchange
Readings:
1. Denevan, William M.
1992 The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers 82(3), pp. 369-385.
2. Lunenfeld, “From Hemisphere to Hemisphere,” pp. 350-354

Feb. 19 (Th) Debating Columbus
***FIRST WRITING ASSIGNMENT DUE***
Feb. 24 (T) Spanish Views of the Conquest; Yucatan Contact
Readings:
1. Lunenfield, “the Black Legend of Spain,” and “Spanish Debate over the Justice of the
Conquest,” pp. 201-227.
2. Coe, Michael D.
2003 Maya Life on the Eve of Conquest. In The Maya, 7th Ed, pp. 204-209.
Thames and Hudson, New York.
Feb. 26 (Th) The Mexica and their World/Archaeology of the Aztecs
Reading:
Diaz del Castillo, Bernal
2008 [1568-76] “Arrival in the Splendid City of Tenochtitlan,” in The Conquest of New
Spain, edited by David Carrasco, pp. 156-183. University of New Mexico
Press, Albuquerque.
Mar. 3 (T) Aztec Sacrifice
Reading:
Carrasco, David
2008 “The Exaggerations of Human Sacrifice” AND “Human Sacrifice/Debt
Payments from the Aztec Point of View.” In The History of the Conquest of New
Spain, pp.439-447; 458-463. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Mar. 5 (Th) Battles for Tenochtitlan
Readings:
1. Lunenfield, “The Assault on Mexico; The Account by Cortez and The Aztec Account” pp. 165-174.
2. Leon-Portilla, Miguel (editor)
1992 "The Massacre in the Main Temple," "The Night of Sorrows" and "The Seige of Tenochtitlan" in The Broken Spears. Beacon Press, Boston, pp. 70-102.
Mar. 10 (T) Explaining the Fall of the Mexica: Aztec Myths and Apotheosis
Readings:
1. Colston, Stephen A.

1985 “No Longer Will There Be a Mexico”: Omens, Prophecies, and the
Conquest of the Aztec Empire. American Indian Quarterly 9(3): 239-258.
(over)
2. Restall, 108-120
3. Carrasco David
2008 “Spaniards as Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl.” In The History of the
Conquest of New Spain, pp. 466-473. University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque.
Mar. 12 (Th) Disease and Demography
Readings:
1. Lovell, George W.
1990 “Heavy Shadows and Black Night”: Disease and Depopulation in Colonial
Spanish America. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82(3):426-443.
2. Lunenfeld, “Exchanging Diseases” and “Population Decline,” pp. 311-326.
Mar. 17 (T) MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Mar. 19 (Th) The Inca Empire
Mar. 31 (T) Pizarro and Cajamarca
Reading:
Lunenfeld, “The Assault on Peru,” pp. 174-181
Apr. 2 (Th) Post-Conquest Inca Life
Reading:
Wernke, Steven
2007 Negotiating Community and Landscape in the Peruvian Andes: A Trans-
Conquest View. American Anthropologist 109(1):130-152
Apr. 7 (T) Guest Lecture: Dr. Jeff Quilter
The Colonial Era on the Northwest Coast of Peru
Apr. 9 (Th) Exploration of the Amazon
Readings:
1. Muller, Richard (translator and editor)
1937 “Narrative by Fray Gaspar de Carvajal . . .” In Orellana’s Discovery of the
Amazon River, pp. 32-70. Editorial Jouvin, Guyaquil, Ecuador.

2. Mann, Charles C.
2000 Earthmovers of the Amazon. Science (5454): 287 786-789.
Optional:
Heckenburger, Michael et al.
2003 Amazonia 1492: Pristine Forest or Cultural Parkland? Science 301 (5640):1710-
1714.
Meggers, Betty et al.
2003 Revisting Amazonia Circa 1492. Science 302 (5653):2067-2070.
Apr. 14 (T) The Colonizer becomes the Other: The Saga of Cabeza de Vaca
Reading:
Cabeza De Vaca, Alvar
1542 La Relacion (The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza De Vaca), translated by
Fanny Bandelier.
Apr. 16 (Th) Ancestral Pueblo archaeology/Coronado
Reading:
Riley, Carrol L.
1995 “1492 on the Rio Grande” in Rio del Norte: People of the Upper Rio Grande from
the Earliest Times to the Pueblo Revolt, pp. 119-132. University of Utah Press,
Salt Lake City.
Apr. 21 (T) Pueblos under the Mission Bell
***SECOND WRITING ASSIGNMENT DUE***
Apr. 23 (TH) No Class (Society for American Archaeology Meetings)
Apr. 28 (T) Pueblo Revolt
Readings:
1. Gutiérrez, Ramon A.
1991 “Franciscans and the Pueblo Revolt” in When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers
Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846, pp. 127-
37. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
2. Wallace, Anthony F. C.
1956 Revitalization Movements. American Anthropologist 58:264-81.
Apr. 30 (Th) Conclusions
Reading:

Restall, Chapter 7 (pp. 131-145)
FINAL EXAMINATION: Tuesday, May 19