300-level courses

AR305 Paleolithic Archaeology ♣
Introduction to the emergence of culture and the reconstruction of early lifeways from archaeological evidence. Topics include early humans in Africa, Asia, and Europe; Neanderthals; the first Americans; and the prelude to agriculture. (4.0/Lecture)

AR 307 Archaeological Science ♣
Prereq: AR101 or consent of instructor. Natural sciences (biology, chemistry, geology) form an integral part of modern archaeology and are applied to issues of dating, reconstructing past environments and diets, and analysis of mineral and biological remains. Laboratories concentrate on biological, geological, physical and chemical approaches. (4.0/Lec – Lab)

AR310 Prehistoric Greece ♣
The Stone and Bronze Ages in Mainland Greece, Cycladic Islands, and Crete. Particular emphasis on archaeological evidence for early environment and subsistence and for the economic, social, political, and religious development of Minoan and Mycenean civilizations. (Course fulfills department area requirements.) (4.0/Lecture)

AR323 Maya Art and Architecture ♣
This course introduces the styles and iconography of Maya sculpture, painting and architecture from Preclassic origins on the epi-Olmec Gulf coast, and the southern coast and highlands of Guatemala; then north into the south and central lowlands and the Classic Period florescence at Tikal, Copan, and Palenque, followed by the architectural innovations of the North, the hybrid grandeur of Chichen Itza, and finally the “international style” at the peripheries of the Classic Maya regions (AD 100-1400). (4.0/Lecture)

AR330 Greek Archaeology ♣
Archaeology in Greek lands from the Iron Age to the first century BC; aims and methods of Classical archaeology; correlations with anthropology, art history, history and literature. (4.0/Lecture).

AR331 Etruscan and Roman Archaeology ♣
Cultural evolution on the Italian peninsula from the early Iron Age to the fall of Rome (1100 BC to AD 476). Origins and developments of Etruscan civilization; Italic peoples and the rise of Rome; Roman religion, economy, arts, architecture, and social and civic institutions. (4.0/Lecture)

AR332 Greek and Roman Cities ♣
Follows the development of urban centers in the Greco-Roman world from the Late Bronze Age through the Roman period. Topics include state formation, urban architecture and infrastructure, public and private buildings and monuments, and social dynamics of urban culture. (Course fulfills department area requirements.) (4.0/Lecture)

AR 335 Mystery Cults in the Graeco-Roman World ♣
Lectures and discussions on the evolution and nature of mystery cults in the Graeco-Roman World from the 7th c. BC to Late Antiquity. The course will be concerned with the rituals, belief systems, iconography, and sanctuaries of select cults, including Demeter and Kore, Dionysus, Cybele and Attis, Isis, the Syrian deities, and Mithras. Evidence will be drawn from archaeology, art history, literature, and inscriptions. (4.0/Lecture)

AR341 Archaeology of Mesopotamia ♣
An overview of the core area of the ancient Near East from the introduction of agriculture to the Hellenistic era. Emphasis will be on the genesis of urban society and its transformation under the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians. (4.0/Lecture)

AR342 Syro-Palestinian Archaeology ♣
A survey of the archaeology of ancient Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, from the Stone Age to the late Roman Empire, with emphasis on the material remains of the second and first millennium BC. (4.0/Lecture)

AR343 Anatolian Archaeology ♣
An historically oriented survey of the material remains of the ancient cultures of Turkey and northwest Iran from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic Period. Emphasis is on the Hittite Empire and civilizations that succeeded it in the first millennium. (4.0/Lecture)

AR351 Mesoamerican Archaeology ♣
Analysis of major events and processes of the Mesoamerican area. Topics include the arrival of man; development of regional patterns; origin of food, production; the rise of towns, temples, and urbanism; the origin of the state, the development of the empires. (4.0/Lecture)

AR353 Maya Cities ♣
Ancient Maya cities from Preclassic through Post Classic times (200 BC – AD 1400); their varying dynastic histories and characteristic ideologies and styles of planning, architecture, sculpture, painting and inscriptions, and their embodiment of principles of Maya cosmology. (4.0/Lecture)

AR360 The Indus Valley ♣
Course focuses on the archaeological evidence for antecedents of the Indus Civilization and cultural processses leading to its climax and decline (3000-100 BC). Involves in-depth study of socio-economic, political and religious complexities of its organization, technology, settlement patterns, architecture, subsistence, inter-regional trades and relationships with contemporary civilizations. (4.0/Lecture)

AR370 Archaeology of Colonial America ♣
Introduction to the archaeology of American life in the Colonial Period. A consideration of the material culture of early America, including architecture, artifacts, complete sites, and the use of archaeology to confirm or modify the written record. (4.0/Lecture)

AR371 Archaeology of Post-Colonial America ♣
The archaeology of America from the Revolution to the present. Deals with the social history, industry, and the material culture of recent and modern Americans. (4.0/Lecture)

AR372 Archaeology of Boston ♣
Boston’s buried history revealed through excavated artifacts and features. Tours of archaeological laboratories, Boston’s neighborhoods, burying grounds, waterfront, and Harbor Islands. “Big Dig” finds in Charlestown, Mill Pond, North End; Fanueil Hall, Blackstone Block, Boston Common, and Paul Revere House. (4.0/Lecture)

AR375 Oral History and Written Records in Archaeology ♣
A practical introduction to the use of archival and oral sources in text-aided archaeology; surveys the use of oral and documentary sources by archaeologists, giving attention to the type and scope of documents-defined in the broadest sense-available. Critical analysis of documents as a step in constructing anthropological history, historical ethnography, and the “new culture history” as well as the interaction of history, anthropology and material culture studies in historical archaeology. (4.0/Lecture)

AR381 Introduction to Paleoethnobotany ♣
Introduces the method and theory of the study of the uses of plants by humans derived from evidence presented in the archaeological record, the relationship between humans and their environment, and the relationship between the environment, and the Archaeological record. Laboratory sessions concentrate on identification, and a Project using Archaeological samples. (4.0/Lec-Lab)

AR390 The Archaeology of Southeast Asia ♣
Examines the prehistoric and historic cultures of Southeast Asia, including the first arrival of humans, regional neolithic and Bronze Age communities, early states, maritime trading networks, as well as political motivations in archaeology and the illicit Asian antiquities trade. Meets with AR790. (4.0/Lecture)