Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers, is often referred to as “The Cradle of Civilization.” While this label is somewhat old fashioned, it is not entirely wrong. The first settlements in the lower Tigris and Euphrates River Valley (modern Iraq) represent the earliest urban centers whose economy, society, and politics were based in the cultivation and exploitation of agricultural resources (plant and animal). From those first settlements grew the first empires, spreading up through the valley, including Babylonia, Assyria, and ultimately the Hittites of central Anatolia. The material remains of those cultures—the art, architecture, texts, and objects of daily life—reflect complex social and religious practices in regard to essential human questions, such as: political organization, the relationship between humans and gods, the right of some to rule over the many, and the social role of gender. Archaeology is a discipline that collects, analyzes, and interprets the puzzle pieces of the human past. In this course we will focus a lens on the material remains recovered in excavations that stretch from southern Iraq (ancient Sumer) to the plateaus of eastern Turkey. We will also consider the long-distance relationships that Mesopotamians civilizations forged with cultures beyond the two rivers. The time period for this course spans the Neolithic to the early Iron Age (ca. 5000-600 BCE). Any course on archaeology must also include an examination of the methodologies employed by previous scholarship. In this case, we will devote some time in the course to understanding how European imperialism in the Near East (aka the Middle East) influences contemporary interpretations of the material.

Student Outcomes

The student will be able to: 1) Demonstrate critical looking skills by describing effectively key details in Mesopotamian art, artifacts, and architecture in order to explain their date, function, and meaning; 2) Use archaeological data to explain how cross-cultural interactions influence change in social, political, and religious institutions; 3) Explain effectively why we should care about the study of the ancient Mesopotamian material world.

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