Anthropology 3
Introduction to Archaeology
Brian M. Fagan


Department of Anthropology
University of California Santa Barbara
© The Regents of the University of California


Schedule

Weekly Lecture: Wednesdays and Fridays 9:00-9:50 Broida 1610. Only the first lecture of the quarter is on Monday.

Sections: as per Schedule of Classes.

WARNING: ATTENDANCE AT SECTIONS IS MANDATORY . ROLL WILL BE TAKEN

Note: This course is 5.0 units of credit. It satisfies writing and non Western culture requirements.


Office Hours

No longer applicable.


Books

The following are essential:

All royalties resulting from the sales of these latter two books in this course are given to the Red Cross . The others are sold to you at the copy shop's cost.


Learning Center and Computer Center Hours

If you do not have access to the Web from home, you can acess the materials from the Web Lab, located in the Learning Center on the second floor of Kerr Hall, or from any of the computers labs on campus. The Web Lab is available on a drop in basis at any time that the Learning Center is open.


The Course Format, Philosophy, and Subject Matter

Anthropology 3 is quite unlike a conventional lecture course, and you will be briefed on this at the first lecture and in your first discussion section. We meet for one lecture a week. The remainder, except for your section, is individual, self-paced learning.

In this introductory archaeology course, we spend three weeks on the basic methods and theoretical approaches used by archaeologists to reconstruct the past, and the remaining seven weeks on major developments in human prehistory. These include human origins, the peopling of the globe, the origins of agriculture, and ancient Egyptian and Maya civilization.

TO LEARN ABOUT THE FORMAT, CONTENT, AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE COURSE, YOU MUST BUY THE ANTHROPOLOGY 3 STUDY GUIDE AND READ THE INTRODUCTION THERETO. THIS PREPARES YOU FOR THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF THE COURSE.


Work Expected of you

There are no tests or examinations in this course, but you will do a great deal of writing. You are expected to turn in two eight-page synthesis essays covering the broad issues of the course and the material. Full information on the specification for the journal and our evaluation procedures are given in the Study Guide introduction.

You turn in work for the course twice:

The first essay, covering the first three weeks of the course . Deadline: Wednesday, February 6, Noon HSSB 1029.

The second essay, covering the entire course. Deadline: Wednesday, March 20, Noon. HSSB 1029.

The Tiresome but Necessary Grades...

Grades are de-emphasized in this course. If you are preoccupied with them, please take another course where they are perceived as important. We grade A,B,C, F (criteria in the Study Guide). Completion of all assigned course work is required to earn an A,B, or C. An F will result for non-completion.

OUR EVALUATION IS SO THOROUGH THAT GRADE COMPLAINTS ARE NOT ENTERTAINED.
PLEASE DO NOT EVEN ASK.

Incompletes are almost never given, and then only for documented serious illness or immediate family bereavement. Please be warned that they are not given retroactively.
We are not preoccupied with grades, but... Please be warned that we are ruthless about deadlines. Late delivery of a journal by more than five minutes results in automatic failure of the course. Also, an F with the first Study Guide submission is grounds for course failure, unless we diagnose you as having learning problems, in which case we will work closely with you, to remedy said problems.
Your evaluation grade for the first three weeks is merely an indication of the level at which you are performing. Your final journal is the basis for your course grade.

IMPORTANT WARNING

YOU ARE WARNED THAT UNIVERSITY REGULATIONS REGARDING CHEATING, PLAGIARISM, AND OTHER FORMS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY ARE STRICTLY ENFORCED IN THIS COURSE. ALL DOCUMENTED CASES WILL BE FORWARDED TO THE DEAN OF STUDENTS OFFICE FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION.


Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation have become a minor industry in recent years. Last academic year I wrote no less than 64 of them. The workload involved, and the necessity of spending time on letters from graduates and upper division students, means that I must, with regret, decline to write letters for people in Anthropology 3, unless you have taken another course from me, and I know you personally from that experience. My apologies. We are talking pure logistics here, and, in any case, a letter from an instructor in a lower division course is effectively meaningless in the context of an application for graduate school or a career position.


PLEASE PROCEED BY BUYING A COPY OF THE COURSE STUDY GUIDE AND READING THE INTRODUCTION PREPARATORY TO STARTING WORK.


WELCOME AND GOOD LUCK!


AND NOW SOME COMMENTS FROM FORMER VICTIMS...

In the first lecture, you'll be told in no uncertain terms that this is a tough and demanding course. Yet we always seem to end up with some people who refuse to take us, the course, or their fellow students seriously, and goof off with disastrous results. The following student comments about the course are taken from an evaluation of previous years' Anthropology 3's. Don't say we (and they) didn't warn you...

"For me it was like learning about self-discipline. And even though it's kind of stressing me out right now, I think it's a really good learning experience."

"It's hard, it's a lot of work."

"A lot of writing. You seem to writing essays all the time, but I got better at it during the quarter."

"Its kind of like a shock. It's a shock when Brian tells us to say "Hi" to our neighbors. You don't feel like a number."

"I got behind in one of the weeks, and it was really hard to catch up."

"It's the level he expects you to think on. It means pulling together all your knowledge... You have to formulate your own ideas and then back it up with support from the course materials."

"I learned a lot! This makes you learn the basics. I would never recommend this like, "Oh yeah, you want an easy GRE! Here, take this class!"

"I definitely learned a lot, not just archaeology but writing skills and study habits and just getting down and doing it. I do procrastinate, but not as bad in this class I would normally do. If you don't care what people did hundreds of thousands of years ago, don't even bother. It's too involved."

"Have I learned anything? Yes, I learned a lot. I've not only grown in my appreciation for the skill that you need for it, but now I feel like I have an understanding for it. And that's what I wanted in the very beginning."

"This really is a University course. You have to think instead of just sitting there listening to the professor."

"The course is damn difficult. Students, on the whole, are forced to learn greater self-discipline. Anthropology 3 is interesting to students and they feel as if they definitely learn a lot in the course."

SO PLEASE -- TAKE WHAT WE SAID IN THE FIRST LECTURE SERIOUSLY


Syllabus