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Archaeology

Archaeology - Open Courseware and Resources (menus in left sidebar).

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Archaeology

- the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, features, biofacts, and landscapes. Because archaeology's aim is to understand mankind, it is a humanistic endeavor.

The goals of archaeology vary, and there is debate as to what its aims, and responsibilities are. Some goals include the documentation and explanation of the origins and development of human cultures, understanding culture history, chronicling cultural evolution, and studying human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies. Archaeologists are also concerned with the study of methods used in the discipline and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings underlying the questions archaeologists ask of the past. The tasks of surveying areas in order to find new sites, excavating sites in order to recover cultural remains, classification, analysis and preservation are all important phases of the archaeological process - Wikipedia

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History and Archaeology - Resource Page

Prime Sites

  • Institute of Historical Research (UK), The National Centre for History - resources for historians, online articles, free event advertising, MA/PhD study, training courses, open-access library: news & events, resources (bibliography, teachers, theses, websites, digitisation, history in British education), partner sites, study & training, history online, reviews in history

  • Tufts University (US), Perseus Project - evolving digital library, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world, texts, images, datasets & other primary materials, encyclopedias, maps, grammars, dictionaries & other reference works, 75,000 images, 850,000 reference articles provide background on 450,000 people, places, organizations, dictionary definitions, grammatical functions: collections, images, collaborations, publications

Other Sites

The Human Past: Introduction to Archaeology

MIT (US), OpenCourseware

multidisciplinary nature of archaeology, comparative examination of the origins of agriculture and the rise of early civilizations in the ancient Near East and Mesoamerica: readings

Dirt Bro Bob goes to College!

Dirt Brothers

no-frills, all information experiment, notes from 2 introductory, core university courses: Introduction to Anthropology, Introduction to Archaeology (with lab)

Video Archive

Brown University (US), Joukowsky Institute Workplace

Lectures and Workshops (Bringing Things Back to Life, Prehistoric Figurines, Drawing on rocks, gathering by the water, Presentations and discussion responses from a JIAAW workshop/conference, Making Mounds out of Sherd Heaps, Discoveries at Abydos, Shaping Space into Place and Idea, The Archaeology of Cultural Evolution, Archaeology and Ideology in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Rome), Documentaries/Video Diaries

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia

Brown University (US)

analytical survey of social & cultural history of Near East, tracing variety of cultural developments from prehistory to end of Iron age, archaeological evidence & textual sources examined: Early settled communities, Neolithic settlement, social complexities in Mesopotamia, Ceremonial centers, Early Dynastic period, Royal tombs of Ur, city state of Lagash, Gudea & Second dynasty of Lagash, Akkadian kingdom in Southern Mesopotamia, Middle Bronze Age, site of Ebla, Hittite kingdom in Anatolia, Early Iron Age, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Babylon & Neo-Babylonian kingdom, Persepolis & Persian Empire: writing tips, exam essay questions, bibliography

North American Archaeology

California University (US)

development of native cultures in North America from the end of the last ice age (ca. 20,000 BP) up to the time of European contact (ca. AD. 1500), variability of cultural expression in each region, historical continuity between the archaeological record and modern Native Americans, peopling of the New World, development of early foraging societies in the Far West and Far North, origins of agriculture and village life, emergence of politically complex societies in Southwest and Eastern Woodlands.

Introduction to Archaeology

California University (US)

introduction to how archaeology is used to tell stories about the past, especially that part of the human past beyond the scope of written history, Readings, lectures, section discussions, and out-of-class exercises explore the practical and social dimensions of archaeology: Computer Exercises
On-line Quizzes, links, study guide

Human Origins and Evolution

MIT (US), OpenCourseware

examines dynamic interrelations among physical and behavioral traits of humans, environment and culture to provide an integrated framework for studying human biological evolution and modern diversity, morphological evolution and adaptation, fossil and cultural evidence for human evolution from earliest times through the Pleistocene, evolution of tool use and social behavior, modern human variation and concepts of race, stone artifacts and fossil specimens

Introduction to Archaeology

California University (US)

basic methods and theoretical approaches used to reconstruct the past, major developments in human prehistory including human origins, the peopling of the globe, the origins of agriculture, and ancient Egyptian and Maya civilizations: study guide, assignments (video introductions, exercises), midterm and final essay questions, writing guide

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