Maricopa Community Colleges  ASB222   19956-19995 
Official Course Description:   MCCCD Approval:  03/28/95  
ASB222      19956-19995 LEC 3 Credit(s) 3 Period(s)
Buried Cities and Lost Tribes
Introduction to archaeology through a study of a number of discoveries and the researchers who made them. Emphasis on methods of archaeological fieldwork and what these discoveries reveal about human prehistory and history. Subjects will include: the nature of archaeological inquiry, human origins, the origins of agriculture, the origins 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   19956-19995 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 evidence. (I)
3. Describe current scientific theories as to the origins of humans and their behavior. (I)
4. Explain current theory as to the origin and spread of modern humans. (II)
5. Critique various hypotheses regarding the beginnings of reliance on domesticated plants and animals and the implications of a sedentary life style. (III)
6. Describe the social structure, cultural traditions, and subsistence patterns of at least one pre-Columbian North American culture. (III, IV)
7. Review the rise of complex social organizations in different social/geographic contexts. (IV, V)
8. Debate whether social/political processes operating in prehistory and history have been repeated. (V, VI)
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MCCCD Official Course Outline:
 
ASB222   19956-19995 Buried Cities and Lost Tribes
    I. Archaeology discovered
        A. Introduction to the nature of the archaeological record
          1. The nature of the archaeological record
          2. Preservation of archaeological materials
          3. Stratigraphy and dating methods in archaeology
        B. Archaeological methods
          1. The field survey
          2. The excavation
          3. Provenience and context
          4. Examples of archaeological research
        C. Speculation and pseudo-science
          1. The nature of scientific evidence and critical evaluation
          2. Common pseudo-scientific misconceptions
          3. Causes of similarities between distant cultures: common patterns or diffusion?
      II. The human career: our earliest beginnings
          A. Human origins: in pursuit of missing links
            1. The earliest humans
            2. Hunter and gatherer adaptations
            3. The emergence of Homo Sapiens
          B. The spread of humans throughout the world
            1. Spread of Homo Sapiens out of Africa
            2. Origins of people in the New World
        III. New adaptations: the road to the present
            A. The process of settling down: the ability of humans to manipulate their environment
            B. Conflicting theories on the origins of agriculture
            C. The early farming village
            D. A modern ethnographic example
          IV. The first cities
              A. Growing populations and the origins of cities
              B. Integration of people
            V. The rise of complex societies
                A. Principles behind complexity
                B. Various complex adaptations
              VI. Circumscription, autonomy and ethnocentrism: forces at work
                  A. Politics, and the fall of a complex society
                  B. Does history repeat itself?
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