NES 2610 - Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

(crosslisted) ANTHR 2010, ARKEO 2010
(GHB) (HA-AS) (CU-ITL)

Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

L. Khatchadourian.

The Near East is often defined by “firsts”: the first cities, writing, and complex societies. Archaeology has long looked to the region for explanations of the origins of civilization. The Middle East has also long been a place where archaeology and politics are inextricably intertwined, from Europe’s 19^th century appropriation of the region’s heritage, to the looting and destruction of antiquities in recent wars in Syria and Iraq. This introductory course moves between past and present. It offers a survey of 10,000 years of human history, from the appearance of farming villages to the dawn of imperialism, while also engaging current debates on the contemporary stakes of archaeology in the Middle East. Covering Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus, our focus is on past material worlds and the modern politics in which they are entangled.