ANT 395: Experimental Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology

Instructor: Kathy Kamp

Goodnow 208

Office Hours—Email or talk to me for appointment.

Requirements

1. Regular class attendance and participation—20%. This is a seminar, so you should expect to come prepared and to participate actively every time.

2. Completion of laboratory materials--As requested—10%

3. Literature review for your project—20%

4. Work and discussion session(s) for project—10%

5. Major experimental project--Written report and final presentation—40%

A primary focus of the class will be the planning and execution of a professional-quality experimental project. This can be done either individually or collaboratively in pairs. I will work intensively with you and will provide guidance on project topics, research, and write-up.

I am hoping that most of you will chose to present your projects at the Iowa Academy of Sciences meeting in the spring.

NOTE: The reading assignments will be “front-loaded” to allow you more time later for work on your individual projects. Some days we will not meet as a class in favor of individual lab sessions and/or conferences. Some lab sessions will be devoted to collaboratory work on projects.

Date	Assignment
8/24	Introduction—No assignment
8/29	Historical and Theoretical Background *READ:* Binford, L. 1981 Middle-range Research and the Role of Actualistic Studies. In Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths, pp 21-30. Academic Press, New York. *READ and ANALYZE:* Crown, Patricia L. and W.H. Wills. 1995. Economic Intensification and the Origins of Ceramic Containers in the American Southwest. In The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies, edited by W.K. Barnett and J.W. Hoopes, pp. 241-254.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Note the way each statement/ argument is being supported. Pay attention to citations and check in the bibliography for the references to which they refer.
8/31	Ethnoarchaeological case study *READ:* Kuznar, Lawrence A. 1995. Awatimarka: The Ethnoarchaeology of an Andean Herding Community. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace & Company.
9/5	Ethnoarchaeology, Cultural Comparisons, and Experimental Archaeology: A Comparison *READ:* Heider, Karl. 1967. Archaeological Assumptions and Ethnographic Facts: A Cautionary Tale from New Guinea. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 23:52-64. Coles, John. 1973. Introduction (minus the very last paragraph). Archaeology by Experiment, pp. 14-18. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Making and Using Architecture and Artifacts--I *READ:* Keeley, L. 1977. The Functions of Paleolithic Flint Tools. Scientific American 237:108-126. .
9/7	Project topics due Lab Work Session
9/12	Making and Using Architecture and Artifacts—II *READ:* Reynolds, Peter J. 1979. The Houses. Iron-Age Farm, pp. 29-45. London: British Museums Publication. (Minus the photos.) Skibo, James M. and Michael Brian Schiffer 1995. The Clay Cooking Pot: An Exploration of Women’s Technology. In Expanding Archaeology, edited by James M. Skibo, William H. Walker, and Axel E. Nielson, pp. 80-91. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Hutchings, W. Karl and Lorenz W. Bruchert. 1997. Spearthrower Performance: Ethnographic and Experimental Research. Antiquity 71 (7): 890-897.
9/14	Conferences with instructor—Preliminary Bibliography Due
9/19	The Meaning of Artifacts--I *READ:* Hodder, Ian 1991. The Decoration of Containers: An Ethnographic and Historical Study. In Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology, edited by William Longacre, pp.71-94. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Osborn, Alan J. 1996. Cattle, Co-Wives, Children, and Calabashes: Material Context for Symbol Use Among the Il Chamu of West-Central Kenya. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 15: 107-136.
9/21	The Meaning of Artifacts--II *READ:* Donley-Reid, Linda W. 1990. The Power of Swahili Porcelain, Beads and Pottery. In Powers of Observation: Alternative Views in Archaeology, edited by Sarah M. Nelson and Alice B. Kehoe, pp.47-59. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, No. 2 Lewis-Williams, David Wrestling with Analogy : a Methodological Dilemma in Upper Palaeolithic Art Research. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57, Pt. 1:149-160.
9/26	Social Organization I *READ:* Kramer, Carol. 1979. An Archaeological View of a Contemporary Kurdish Village: Domestic Architecture, Household Size, and Wealth. In Ethnoarchaeology: Implications of Ethnography for Archeology, edited by Carol Kramer, pp. 139-163. New York: Columbia University Press. Naroll, Raoul 1962. Floor Area and Settlement Population. American Antiquity 27: 587-589. Nelson, B. 1981. Ethnoarchaeology and Paleodemography: A Test of Turner and Lofgren’s Hypothesis. Journal of Anthropological Research. 37:107-129.
9/28	Social Organization II *READ:* David, Nicholas, Kodzo Gavua, A. Scott MacEachern and Judy Sterner. 1991. Ethnicity and Material Culture in North Cameroon. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 15: 171-177. Kamp, Kathryn A., Nicole Timmerman, Greg Lind, Jules Graybill, and Ian Natowsky 1999. Discovering Childhood: Using Fingerprints to Find Children in the Archaeological Record. American Antiquity 64 (2): 309-315. Toth, Nicholas, Kathy D. Schick, E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Rose A. Sevik, and Duane M. Rumbaugh 1993, Pan the Tool-maker: Investigations into the Stone Tool-making and Tool-using Capabilities of a Bonabo (Pan paniscus). Journal of Archaeological Science 20:81-91.
10/3	Literature Review for Project Due—Note: Your final paper may well expand upon this review, but you will need to do it in order to intelligently plan your research project. In class short description of project and the context of the project.
10/5	Conferences with Instructor about Research Plan—Experimental Design Due Please prepare a written outline of your research design before the conference. You may well modify it later. If you wish to start on your project earlier (not a bad idea), this conference can be scheduled at an earlier date ( BUT NO LATER than today!)
10/10	The Formation of Archaeological Sites I *READ:* Schiffer, M. B. 1987. Chapter 1: The Nature of Archaeological Evidence. In Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record, pp 3- 23. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Ashbee, Paul and Peter Jewell 1998 The Experimental Earthworks Revisited. Antiquity 72: 485- 504. Sutro, Livingston D. 1991. When the River Comes: Refuse Disposal in Diaz Ordaz, Oaxaca. In The Ethnoarchaeology of Refuse Disposal, edited by Edward Staski and Livingston D. Sutro, pp.13-22. Arizona State University Anthropological Papers No. 42.
10/12	The Formation of Archaeological Sites II *READ:* Vidale, Massimo, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, and Kuldeep Kumar Bhan 1992. A Discussion of the Concept of “chaine operatoire” in the Study of Stratified Societies: Evidence from Ethnoarchaeology and Archaeology. In Ethnoarcheologie: Justification, Problems, Limites, pp. 181-194. XII Recontres Internationales de Archeologie et de Histoire d eAntibes Editions APDCA, Juan-les-Pins.
Fall Break
10/24	In class discussion of project and project work session—Readings to be assigned by project director.
10/26	Project work session
10/31	In class discussion of project and project work session—Readings to be assigned by project director.
11/2	Project work session
11/7	In class discussion of project and project work session—Readings to be assigned by project director.
11/9	Project work session
11/14	In class discussion of project and project work session—Readings to be assigned by project director.
11/16	Project work session
11/21	Individual work sessions and conferences with instructor.
11/23	Thanksgiving
11/28	Written Projects Due
11/30	Student Project Presentation
12/5	Student Project Presentation
12/7	Theoretical Retrospective *READ:* Wylie, Alison 1985. The Reaction Against Analogy. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 8, edited by Michael Schiffer, pp. 63-111. New York: Academic Press. Simms, Steven R. 1992. Ethnoarchaeology: Obnoxious Spectator, Trivial Pursuit, or the Keys to a Time Machine? In Quandries and Quests: Visions of Archaeology’s Future, edited by LuAnn Wandsnider, pp. 186-198.

Fall Break