CLASSART 21Q

Sophomore Preference Seminar. 5 Units.

GER: DB-Hum, WRITE-2

Prerequisite: PWR 1.

This course is an encounter with eight archaeological sites in Europe. A website with key resources (plans, photographs, video, and selections from publications) is the basis for exploration of each archaeological site through its excavation, features, and finds, and arguments over the site's interpretation and place in the archaeological history of Europe. The course draws on the skill sets that are the focus of the IHUM fall quarter sequence and the ancient history and anthropology courses in the winter/spring sequence. It is a taster for Stanford's interdepartmental program in archaeology, but is open to anyone simply interested in archaeology. The eight sites to be studied are Stonehenge, England (stones in a prehistoric landscape); Knossos, Crete (a labyrinthine palace of the Aegean bronze age); Dunstanburgh Castle, England (feudal lords and the archaeology of medieval England); Housesteads Roman fort, England (a bleak outpost on Hadrian's Wall, at the empire's northern edge); Namforsen, Sweden (islands of prehistoric rock carvings); Gavrinis, France (megaliths, ritual, and ceremony in prehistoric Brittany); Olympia, Greece (sanctuary of Zeus and wonder of the ancient world); and Selinous, Sicily (ancient Greek city and colony). These sites will introduce the latest archaeological and anthropological thought and raise questions about our understanding of ancient societies. They were far stranger than we imagine. This course fulfills the second quarter of the Writing and Rhetoric Requirement and will emphasize oral and multimedia presentation.

Previous versions:

2006-2007 - [link]

2005-2006 - [link]