MODULE #3: GOALS AND APPROACHES TO ARCHAEOLOGY
2-3 hours
A. Overview: In this module students are introduced to goals of archaeology and how these goals are achieved. Students will learn about how archaeology began as a science and the various approaches to studying archaeology, including culture history, cultural process, reconstruction of past lifeways, and explaining culture change.
B. Objectives:
1. Define the goals of archaeology
2. Describe the concept of culture history.
3. Identify descriptive models of cultural change.
4. Show how analogy is used in archaeology.
5. Describe the value of ethnoarchaeology and experimentation in archaeology.
6. Apply the scientific method to archaeological research.
7. Describe the elements of processual archaeology.
8. Elaborate on the archaeology of the mind (analogy, technology, social systems, and ideology)
C. Principles:
1. Professional ethics and values: how has archaeology changed over the years with regard to the conduct of research, the reporting of archaeological information, and the relationship of archaeologists to indigenous people
2. Diverse interests: how do archaeological theories and approaches relate to diverse interests related to the past
D. Instructional Procedures: This module is primarily lecture and student activity. Throughout the lecture, students are asked questions to ensure they are grasping the concepts introduced. It is important to tie in real world experiences to the content, so the questions ask the students to think of some of the concepts in the context of today’s world. Powerpoint is useful to help identify concepts but the lecture can be taught with traditional technology (whiteboard, etc.).
E. Assessment: Students will complete activity out-of-class and turn in 1-2 page paper.
F. Lecture Outline: Goals of archaeology
1. Define culture history approach
a. Describe how to construct culture history
b. Define the normative model (culture is a set of rules or norms that govern behavior in a particular society; begins with chronology of culture areas)
c. Activity: students apply culture historical approach to the recent past intheir own societies; group activity2. Discuss what is meant by reconstructing ancient lifeways
a. analogy
b. technology
c. social systems
d. ideology
e. Activity: have students identify objects in their own lives that would help define the four attributes above in reconstructing their own lifeway3. What is the culture process approach? (how component parts of a culture function at one point in time and how cultures change over time; looks at culture as adaptation-culture change as a response to shifts in one or another aspect of environment)
a. Define processual archaeology
b. Define cultural systems theory
c. Define cultural ecological models (culture and technology as primary means by which human societies adapt to their environment; Starr Carr, Guila Naquitz examples)
d. Discuss cultural materialism models-biological and psychological needs common to all humans; how these needs are met in different societies provides means for evaluating each society's adaptive efficiency
e. Define multilinear cultural evolution
f. Activity: students work together to define how their own culture has changed over time; apply the different models and theories4. How do we explain culture change
a. culture history
b. descriptive models
c. analogy
d. ethnoarchaeology: Hazda butchering example
e. scientific method
f. postprocessual approach: more dynamic model of culture as continuous flow; looks at small scale behaviors; emic view of world (example, Monte Alban)
G. Examples: Guila Naquitz Cave, Mexico; Starr Carr, England; Monte Alban, Mexico
H. Activities: Students will select an archaeological site to study. They will apply three different theoretical approaches to their study of the site and evaluate their findings with each metho4. Did the different methods result in different interpretations? Turn in 1-2 page paper.
I. Readings: Fagan: pages 29-43; Chapter 4