ANTHROPOLOGY 09 Rise of Old World Civilizations Spring Semester, 1999 Tuesday and Thursday, 4:00-5:15 p.m. 202 Hold

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. James J. Sheehy
Office Phone (University Park): (814) 865-1142
Voice Mailbox (Altoona): 949-5300, ext. 6094
E-mail: jjs1@email.psu.edu

OFFICE:

109 Birch Complex.
My office hours will be from approximately 10:30 am. to 1:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday.

REQUIRED TEXT:

• Ancient Civilizations by Christopher Scarre and Brian Fagan (CS)

SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS: (Purchase at least one of the following)

1. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
2. The Khmer by J.W. Mabbett and David P. Chandler
3. Everyday Life in Egypt in the days of Ramesses the Great by Pierre Montet
4. The Mycenaean World by John Chadwick
5. Sumer and the Sumerians by Harriet Crawford
6. Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China by K.C. Chang

COURSE DECSRIPTION:

The subject of this course is the development of civilizations in the Old World. Our main focus will be so-called pristine civilizations found in Egypt, Southern Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China, several other important areas of early civilizations will be covered including Anatolia, the Aegean, and Southeast Asia. The main developmental trends in these culture areas will be explored . Lectures will address general topics of anthropological interest in each of the major areas of the Old World. Films and slides will be used to amplify and emphasize various aspects of the lectures and readings.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Looking at the course as a whole, and using the syllabus as a guide, you can see that the course material is divided into several sections, each of which concentrate on a different geographical and cultural region. First is an introductory section dealing with the definition of civilizations and the various theories that have been proposed to explain their rise. Following the introductory section, I begin with Egypt and the ancient cultures along the Nile Valley. I then discuss the evidence of early civilization in Mesopotamia to include developments in the Anatolian plateau. The next region that we will visit is the Aegean cultures of the Mediterrainen basin. The course then shifts its focus to the sub-continent where we consider the rise of the Indus Valley cultures and subsequent developments in India. This is followed by a section on the Ancient Khmer culture in Southeast Asia. Finally, we will turn northward and study the emergence of the first Chinese dynasties and subsequent development up to the Han dynasty.

READING AND LECTURES:

Reading assignments are outlined in the syllabus presented below. All assignments are from the required text. Although the lectures generally follow the flow of the material in the chapters of the text, there will be additional materials that are presented in lecture that might not appear in the text. Students are responsible for the lecture materials as well as the readings. For this reason, it is advisable that students read the assigned material prior to coming to class.

In the past, students have asked how to best study for the course. The best answer I can give is that in the long run it would be advisable to read the assignment several times. A technique that I find helpful for better reading comprehension is to pre-read the assignment. For example, first page through the chapter that is assigned, noting the subdivisions of the chapter. Second, go back and study the diagrams, tables, figures that are found in the chapter. Frequently much of the most important information is summarized in these diagrams, tables, and figures. Third, then go back to the beginning of the chapter and read the first sentence of each paragraph. A good author will frequently provide a good bit of information in the very first sentence in order to attract the attention of the reader. Finally, go back and read the entire chapter. If you know how the chapter is divided, are familiar with the diagrams, tables, and figures referenced in the text, you will have a better comprehension when you ultimately read the entire chapter.

You should also be aware of the procedures for ordering books via LIAS from the main campus at University Park. I urge you to visit the library and become familiar with using LIAS, especially with the procedures for getting books from the main campus library at University Park.

WEB PAGE AND THE WORLDWIDE WEB:

There will be a web page for this course. The world wide web and the internet provide a rich source of information on a wide variety of topics related to the development of early civilizations in the Old World.

The Internet can be very important as a study aide, especially given the fact that the library on the Altoona campus is not very large and has a narrow selection of books on Latin American archaeology. I urge everyone to become familiar with using the internet. If you do not have a current access account that would permit you to utilize the web, I urge you to go to the computer center in the first week and obtain an access account. If you are not familiar with procedures for using the internet, you can obtain the necessary information from the staff in the computer center.

EXAMS:

There will be three exams in the course. Each exam comes at the end of one of the sections mentioned in the syllabus. The third exam is fact the Final Exam and will be giving during the normal Final Exam period. Each exam is worth 100 points. Each exam will cover only the material presented in the texts and lectures up to the date of the exam. The second and third (final) exam may include some material from earlier sections. Some material and some exam questions cannot be understood without reference to earlier material.

The format of the three exams will be varied. There will be short answer questions, multiple choice questions, some true and false questions, some identifications or comparisons, and an essay. The object of this type of exam is to test you employing a variety of different formats.

Additionally, there will be 6 short quizzes on the geography of the main cultural areas we will be covering during the course--The Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, The Mediterranean, the Indus Valley, Southeast Asia, and China. Each quiz will consist of identifying items on a map. Each quiz will be worth 20 points for a total of 100 points (the lowest quiz will be dropped). Students will also be required to write a book review. I will hand out a circular in the first few weeks of the class that will provide detailed information on the book review. You may write the book review on the supplementary text you choose to purchase. The book review will be worth 100 points.

The total number of points that you can accumulate for the course, including both exams and quizzes is 500 points.

Since I am commuting from State College, it is difficult to arrange make-up exams. Therefore, I stress that each student should be sure to take each exam. I will give a make-up exam only for compelling documented medical or legitimate religious events. If one knows ahead of time that he or she will not be able to take an exam on a scheduled date, then you must inform me before the scheduled exam in order to set up a time for the make-up. For those students who fail to take an exam, and have not arranged a make-up before hand, they will receive no points for that exam. There will be no make-ups given for quizzes.

Students frequently ask me at the end of the course "what can I do to improve my grade? The response is simple and will be "nothing". The point is that the time to improve is while you are taking the course. If there are concepts or aspects of the lectures or readings that you don't understand, then use the class or office hours to clarify what you don't understand before you take the exam. If you miss a lecture and cannot get the lecture notes from a fellow student, see me during my office hours and we can go over the material. Since I have a late afternoon class on the same day, I will be found generally in my office at 109 Birch, most of the afternoon. If you have any questions at all, please take advantage of the office hours and come by and ask the questions!

GRADING:

As noted above in the section on exams, each student can accumulate a total of 500 points. The final grade for the class will be based on the percentage of 500 points obtained. For example, A=450-500 points; B=400-450; C=350-400; D=300-350; F= less than 300 points.. Depending on the distribution of total points after the final exam, I might decide to use a curve in which I will take the highest grade in the course and base the percentage breakdown on that grade. I stress that I will use the later procedure only if the final distribution of grades are widely scattered. I also will make adjustments for dramatic improvements in a student's performance.

EXTRA CREDIT:

Students may pick up 100 extra points in the course by doing a voluntary research paper that should be 15 pages long, at minimum. If you choose to do the extra-credit research paper, you will have to adhere to a schedule of deadlines concerning the selection of topic, paper outline, development of a bibliography, and submission of the finished paper. I will provide a handout in the first few weeks that contains the relevant information concerning the possible topics, paper outline and deadlines.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

"Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized prior possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students." (Policies and Rules for Students, Section 49-20).

CONSEQUENCES OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

The penalty for academic dishonestly in less serious cases consists of a failing grade for the work or test where the misconduct occurred. This decision is made by the instructor and could result in a failing grade for the course. In more serious cases of academic dishonesty, the penalties are more severe (including automatic failure for the course, probation, suspension, or expulsion from the University), the formal due process procedures are available for the students and faculty involved. Section 49-20 of the Policies and Rules for Students provides the details on these procedures.

The schedule presented above is a tentative outline. Since I will also be showing films and slides, it is likely that there will be some variation in the time spent on any one topic. Nevertheless, the sequence of lectures and topics will not change. I will try to adhere to this schedule as closely as possible. Quizzes will be announced in class at least 1 week ahead of time. I will try to schedule quizzes so they fall within the middle of the scheduled lectures about each of the six major cultural areas to be covered in the course.