ANTH 341
EMERGENCE OF CIVILIZATIONS
Spring 2011

 

Mayan Stela, Copan, Honduras

 

MARGARET PURSER
ANTHROPOLOGY
STV 2054G
margaret.purser@sonoma.edu

 

 

Course Documents:

Syllabus
"Virtual Midterm"
"Virtual Midterm II"
Final Exam Examples (pdf)

Course Reading Rubrics:

Intro Reading Rubric (Weeks 1,2,3)
"Environment" Theme Reading Rubric (Weeks 4,5)
"Social Organization" Theme Reading Rubric (Weeks 6-7)
"Political Organization" Theme Reading Rubric (Weeks 8-10)
"Economic Organization" Theme Reading Rubric (Weeks 11-13)
"Cosmology and Ideology" Theme Reading Rubric (Weeks 13-14)

Course Assignments:

Environmental Theme Assignment: "Embedded Reporter"
Social Organization Theme Assignment: "Paying Your Taxes"
Political Organization Theme Assignment: "Hollywood Scriptwriter"
Economic Theme Assignment: "Bronze Age Monopoly" handout
"Bronze Age Monopology" Game Board
Cognitive and Symbolic Theme Assignment: "Diplomatic Brief"

 

Course lecture PDFs:

WEEK 2
Anth 341 Basic Introduction
Defining "Early Civilizations"

WEEK 3
Chiefdoms and States
Setting the Scene

WEEK 4-5
Mesopotamia
Early Andean States

WEEK 6-7
Social Structure and Organization
Egypt: Land of the Nile
Shang China: Bronze, Rice, and Oracle Bones
Gimme Land, Lotsa Land: Land Tenure in Early States

WEEK 8-10
Highland Mesoamerica
Later Andean States
Sociopolitical Organization in Early States

WEEK 11-13
Quipus and Cacao: Transition to Economic Theme Discussion
Economies of Early States
Craft Production
Trade, Technology and Politics
Aegean Brokering Societies
Northeast African Brokering Societies

WEEK 14-15
Cosmological Systems in Early States
It's What You Know
Lowland Mesoamerica
Harappan Civilization

Links to "Civilization" news articles: UPDATING

Ancient Carthage and Current Tunisian Politics

"Virtual Tours"

Uluburun Shipwreck Website (Bronze Age Aegean)
Mohenjo Daro (Indus River Valley)
Harappa (Indus River Valley)
Maya Rise and Fall Interactive Map
Tikal VR Tour (Lowland Mesoamerica)

"Extra-curricular Activities"

"Uncorking the Past" Lecture, April 10th
Olmec Exhibit at the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco