Maricopa Community Colleges  ASB222   19912-19955 
Official Course Description: MCCCD Approval: 06/26/90
ASB222 19912-19955 LEC 3 Credit(s) 3 Period(s)
Buried Cities and Lost Tribes
Introduction to archaeology through a study of a number of discoveriesand the researchers who made them. Emphasis on methods of archaeological fieldwork and what these discoveries reveal about humanprehistory and history. Subjects will include: the nature of archaeological inquiry, human origins, the origins of agriculture, theorigins of settled lifeways, the rise of cities and complex societies;the comparisons of political strife across different cultures; the forces which tend to fragment societies. Examples drawn from a variety of sources from throughout the world. Prerequisites: None.
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MCCCD Official Course Competencies:
 
ASB222   19912-19955 Buried Cities and Lost Tribes
1. Describe the methods and tools archaeologists use to interpret the past. (I, II, III)
2. Describe the logical procedures by which anthropologists distinguish between scientific and pseudo-scientific evident. (I)
3. Discuss current scientific theories as to the origins of man and his behavior. (I)
4. Trace different ways of life and the behavioral implications which can be drawn from each. (II, III, IV, V)
5. Critique the reasons why man began to rely on domesticated plants and animals and the implications of this way of life. (III)
6. Examine the basis for settled living and the formation of tribal social organization. (III)
7. Describe the social structure, cultural traditions, and subsistence patterns of at least one pre-Columbian North American culture. (III, IV)
8. Review the rise of complex social organizations by contrasting different contexts. (IV, V)
9. Compare trends in prehistory and history to recognize patterns. (V, VI)
10. Debate whether processes operating in prehistory and history have been repeated. (V, VI)
11. Integrate broad patterns of human heritage. (II, III, IV, V, VI)
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MCCCD Official Course Outline:
 
ASB222   19912-19955 Buried Cities and Lost Tribes
    I. ARCHAEOLOGY DISCOVERED
          1. Introduction to the nature of the archaeological record
          2. Establishing the antiquity of man
            a. The nature of the archaeological record
            b. Preservation of archaeological materials
            c. Stratigraphy and dating methods in archaeology
          3. The archaeologist as a detective
            a. The field survey
            b. The excavation
            c. Provenience and context
            d. Examples of archaeological research (e.g. Henrich Schiemann in the search of Troy, Gladwin research at Snaketown: in search of mounds, Gordon Willey and prehistoric settlement patterns in Viru Valley)
          4. Speculation and pseudo-science
            a. The nature of scientific evidence and critical evaluation
            b. Outer space contacts as speculation
            c. Causes of similarities between distant cultures: common patterns or diffusion?
      II. THE HUMAN CAREER: OUR EARLIEST BEGINNINGS
            1. Human Origina: In pursuit of missing links
              a. Lucy and Walking on Two Legs
              b. Larger Brains - Language
              c. Hunter and gatherer adaptations
              d. The Emergence of Homo Sapiens
            2. The spread of people
              a. Spread of Homo Sapiens out of Africa
              b. Origins on people in the New World
        III. NEW ADAPTATIONS: THE ROAD TO THE PRESENT
              1. The process of settling down: Man's ability to manipulate his environment
              2. Conflicting theories on the origins of agriculture
              3. The early farming village (e.g. Cayonu, Turkey or early agricultural villages in Mesoamerica
              4. A look at an ethnographic example of a farming tribe (e.g. the Hopi of Arizona)
          IV. THE FIRST CITIES
                1. Growing populations and the origins of cities
                2. Intergration of people (e.g. a case example from Chaco Canyon, New Mexica, Uruk in the Middle East)
            V. THE RISE OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES
                  1. Principles behind complexity (examples from Egypt, Maya, Inca, China, and/or Southeast Asia)
                  2. Contrasts with Fuedal Europe
              VI. CIRCUMSCRIPTION, AUTONOMY AND ETHNOCENTRISM: FORCES AT WORK
                    1. Politics, and the fall of a complex society (e.g. the Egypt, the Classic Maya, Ankor Wat)
                    2. Politics and the fall of Greece and/or Rome
                    3. Does history repeat itself?
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