UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

ARH305F - ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

Lectures: Thursdays 10:00 am - 12 noon; Sidney Smith, Room 2108

Instructor: Professor G. Coupland, SS1034, 978-2442

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This course looks at how archaeologists interpret the archaeological record in terms of the cultural and natural processes that have formed it. We will deal less with general theories of human behaviour, and more with how archaeologists approach sites and make sense of them. In other words, the focus is on middle range theory. We will consider some of the interpretive tools that archaeologists use, including analogy, ethnoarchaeology, and experimental archaeology.

This is something of a 'hands-on" course. In addition to lectures, we will work through examples of the kinds of interpretive problems that archaeologists face during the course of research.

GRADING:

to be announced after classes begin

TEXTBOOK:

Reading package (includes Assignments), available at Quality Control Copy Centre (Bloor Street, west of St. George).

SUGGESTED READINGS:

Binford, Lewis R.

1983 In Pursuit of the Past. Thames and Hudson, London.

Binford's most accessible collection of essays on archaeological inference, site structure, middle range theory, etc.

Gibbon, Guy

1984 Anthropological Archaeology. Columbia University Press, New York.

A science-based approach to the archaeological research process. Challenging but rewarding.

Schiffer, Michael B.

1987 Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Schiffer's major statement on formation processes, both cultural and natural, with some intriguing case studies from the American Southwest.

Lectures: Thursdays, 10 am -12 noon

Office hours: SS1034, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 2-3 pm; 416 978-2442; coupland@chass.utoronto.ca)

Date Lecture Topic and Readings Assignment

Sept. 9 Introduction: The Nature of Archaeological Interpretation Falasia (not for grading)

Flannery, Feder, Binford 1, Wylie, Schiffer

Sept. 16 Research Design

Binford 1964, Gibbon 2

Sept. 23 Culture History: Time-Space Systematics

David and Driver:7-14, Willey and Phillips

Sept. 30 Stratigraphy Nebulosas Chain

Harris

Oct. 7 Seriation

Marquardt, Dunnell

Oct. 14 Formation Processes Petristan

Schiffer, Binford

Oct. 21 Site Structure

Binford 7, Hayden and Cannon

Oct. 28 Regional Settlement

Gibbon 7, Binford 6

Nov. 4 Cultural Interaction Little Bison Basin

S. Plog (two readings)

Nov. 11 Complex Societies

Peebles and Kus

Nov. 18 Context and "Meaning" Neolithic of Arak

Knapp, David et. al.

Nov. 25 Cook Valley and Wrap-up

Dec. 2 END-OF-TERM TEST (30%) Cook Valley


Grading:

Problem Sets (3 of your choice @ 15% each) 45%

Cook Valley (due Dec. 2) 20%

end-of-term test (Dec. 2) 30%

class participation (5%)