2020-2021

This course is intended as a survey of the regions of the Islamic world from Arabia to North Africa, from Central Asia to the Gulf. The aim will be a comparative stratigraphy for the archaeological periods of the last millennium. A primary focus will be the consideration of the historical archaeology of the Islamic lands, the interaction of history and archaeology, and the study of patterns of cultural interaction over this region, which may also amplify understanding of ancient archaeological periods in the Near East.

This course is an exploration of the cultural patterns in the Levant from the late Byzantine period down to modern times, a span of some 1500 years. While the subject matter will be archaeological sites of this period in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel, the focus will be on the role of medieval archaeology in amplifying the history of economic and social systems. It is this connective quality of Islamic archaeology which contributes to an understanding of the earlier history and archaeology of this region.

This course surveys the archaeology of the Levant from the Stone Age to the early Roman period, with emphasis on the Bronze and Iron Ages. For the periods after the Iron Age, the focus will be on the Southern Levant.

The first part of this course surveys the history of archaeology as a discipline and the methods used by archaeologists to obtain evidence about past human activity via excavations, surface surveys, and remote-sensing technologies; and also surveys the methods used to date, classify, and analyze various kinds of evidence after it has been obtained. The second half of the course surveys the main paradigms in social theory and examines the theoretical concepts and assumptions archaeologists have used to make sense of what they find.

Continutation of Ugaritic I, epigraphy and grammar, readings from prose texts.

Continuation of Intermediate Classical Hebrew I, including strengthening of skills in grammar, introduction to Biblical Hebrew poetry, and continuation of introduction to historical grammar

Continuation of Ugaritic I-II, epigraphy and grammar, readings open

Continuation of Intermediate Classical Hebrew I and II, including strengthening skills in grammar, emphasis on syntax; continuation of study of Biblical Hebrew poetry, selections from prophets; introduction to reading from an original Massoretic text; introduction to reading from the Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical manuscripts; continuation of introduction to historical grammar

An introduction to the Ugaritic language (epigraphy and grammar) and literature from an inductive perspective, readings from a mythological text

Continuation of Elementary Classical Hebrew, including review of grammar, reading new prose texts, and an introduction to historical grammar