Difference between revisions of "Archaeology"

From RealCTY
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(24 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
Archaeology is a really fun course. It involves lots of hands on activities and lots of time outside the classroom. At the Lancaster site you take three field trips to downtown Lancaster, The Penn Archaeology museum and to  an actual dig site.
+
{{Infobox
There is one research project and one midterm. The curiculum included the book ''In Small Things Considered'' which is extremely boring. But overall the class is very entertaining.
+
| title  = Archaeology
 +
| header1 = Science Course
 +
| label2 = Course Code | data2 = [[Archaeology|ARCH]]
 +
| label3 = Years of Operation | data3 = 1983-2008
 +
| label4 = Sites Offered | data4 = [[CAR]], [[LAN]], [[NOR]], [[SAR]], [[STM]]
 +
}}
 +
{{CTY Courses}}
 +
==Course Description==
  
----
+
Archaeology is a very anti-classroom course.  It involves lots of hands-on activities and lots of time outside the classroom.  The class is offered only at Lancaster, and includes several field trips, such as to The Penn Archaeology museum and to an actual dig site.  The course often includes a research project and a midterm.
  
[[Category:Courses]]
+
==Class History==
 +
*05.1 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Claire Sadar
 +
*05.2 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Claire Sadar
 +
*06.1 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Rosanna
 +
*06.2 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Rosanna
 +
*07.1 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Nathan Browne
 +
*07.2 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Nathan Browne
 +
 
 +
===Activities===
 +
 
 +
At the beginning of the second week of Session 2, Molly took a survey and found out two things:
 +
* We don't like to read the textbook stuff. (Skim, yes. Read, huh?)
 +
* We don't like to write papers. (Bullet points, sure. Complete sentences, what?)
 +
* WE LOVE ACTIVITIES!
 +
 
 +
The class therein involved more activities.  We went to the public park next to F&M and made a Wheeler box grid in the grass with string and nails.  We they pretended to be skeletons and had other people plot where our heads, feet, knees, etc. were.  We also had to plot where Molly and Rosanna had hidden marbles in our box grids.  Another activity involved taking about ten scraps of paper with pictures of different pottery vessels and how they evolved over time and putting them in order.
 +
 
 +
We also got to make things out of clay.  We made little pots with two methods: the pinch pot and the coil.  Any clay we didn't use we got to make into anything we wanted.  The table in the side of the room filled up very quickly with random pottery items.
 +
 
 +
We also did an activity where we made jewelry out of beads and twine and string and did this Kula-ring trade.
 +
 
 +
We also watched a few movies.  One was 45 minutes of a man sitting and chipping away at a rock trying to teach us to make Oldowan Clovis spearpoints.  Even if everyone hadn't fallen asleep, we probably wouldn't have been able to do much better in the following lab where we had to make spearpoints and arrowheads from chunks of obsidian and flint.  There is an actual very intelligent and difficult method to this.  It's very frustrating and takes a lot of skill that no one possessed and everyone's hands were bloody by the end because we had stupidly ditched our gloves (and safety goggles).  But it was exhilarating getting all prehistoric and smashing rocks together.  Cavemen must have been easily amused.
 +
 
 +
We also watched a documentary about the Maya during the last week and <i>Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark</i> on the last day while drinking Root Beer Floats.
  
CAN YOU SAY HOMINID 10 TIMES FAST?
+
We also learned about Howard Carson's discoveries in <i>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395284252/sr=1-1/qid=1155788647/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9580700-4823813?ie=UTF8&s=books Motel of the Mysteries]</i>, a great, entertaining book that you should read.
  
Session 2 '06 ARCH classes had Molly as the instructor and Rosanna as the T.A.  During session 1, there was a different instructor (Jenny?), but the same T.AWe were not required to read <u>Small Things Considered</u> but we had two or three excerpts from it to skim through.  The following information is relevant to 06.2.
+
We also did independent research projects on a civilization of our choice, and spent a lot of time lugging books back and forth from the library and making postersThen we got to "type up information for our posters and Google pictures", so we got to go on AIM.
  
First of all, the performance that the Paleobiology kids did about hominid evolution and culture at the closing ceremony was really mostly about archaeology (study of past cultures and their artifacts), not paleobiology (a branch of paleontology that deals with the origin, growth and structure of fossil animals and plants as living organisms).  The overwhelming majority of physical remains of hominids have been artifacts, not fossils, and most paleontologists stick to their own turf-- other animal and plant species that have mostly fossil remains-- dinosaurs, much??  They're mooching off of our syllabus!
+
We also had to conduct interviews and write ethnographies of CTY to demonstrate the point of ethnoarchaeology, which is to make inferences about past cultures based on the customs of the modern people who live in the geographical area or are direct descendants of the past band, tribe, chiefdom, or state.
  
The first field trip we took was to the [http://www.museum.upenn.edu UPenn Museum of Anthropology & Archaeology].  It was a great museum and our tour guide was overly helpful.  The Etruscan, Chinese, and Egyptian exhibits were particularly interesting.  For lunch, we got to choose between ham and cheese sandwiches, turkey rolls, and spinach veggie wraps.  In case anyone plans on choosing this course in the future: DO NOT GET THE VEGGIE WRAPS.  They were nauseating.  We also had to go to the museum auditorium and listen to a balding, scantily dressed old man who talked like a walrus educate us about Roman warriors and weaponry.  The auditorium was full of kids from day care on a field trip, and the only point during the presentation that wasn't a waste of time was the part where little kids got to go on stage and play with the weapons and fight each other, and one of them accidentally drew blood.
+
===Field Trips===
 +
University of Pennsylvania museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
  
The second field trip was to the Shenk's Ferry American Indian (We learned it's incorrect to say Native American because no people are native to America because australopithecus originated in Africa-- unless you believe the whole Noah and the flood shpiel-- don't want to offend anyone) dig site in LancasterWe had some archaeologists show us artifacts they found and tell us about their excavation methods and mapping techniques.  They had build a palisade around the settlement and reconstructed a longhouse, but most of the area looked like this:
+
Shenk's Ferry American Indian dig site in Lancaster (We learned it's incorrect to say Native American because no people are native to America since australopithecus originated in Africa-- unless you believe the whole Noah and the flood spiel).  This site is mainly post-holes (dark spots of soil where a post once stood) but they have reconstructed a long-house on the site.
  
<center>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3117.jpg</center>
+
Muncy, Pennsylvania, a town that had thrived during the Revolutionary and Civil War periods thanks to their elaborate canal system and their strong mules.  Our first stop was at the [http://www.muncyhistoricalsociety.org/ Muncy Historical Museum], which turned out to only have one toilet, but was otherwise very intelligently designed, once due consideration was given to the fact that it was inside somebody's crumbling colonial house.  Afterwards, we went to a dig site on the Susquehanna Riverbed and got to dig and sieve through some dirt (and worms). Pictures are linked to in the "External Links" section.
  
I have other pictures, but I also have a strong feeling I'm getting too caught up into this.
+
Quilt and Textile Museum in Downtown Lancaster with a stop at the Farmers Market to buy yummy things.
  
The third trip was to Muncy, Pennsylvania, a town that had thrived during the Revolutionary and Civil War period thanks to their elaborate canal system and their strong mules.  Our first stop was at the [http://www.muncyhistoricalsociety.org/ Muncy Historical Museum], which turned out to only have one toilet, but was otherwise very intelligently designed.  Then we went to a dig site on the Susquehanna Riverbed and got to dig and sieve through some dirt (and worms). Here's one of the displays in the museum:
+
Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Sometimes classes will go for a special exhibit (such as the titanic exhibit on 05) often includes time to hang out on the harbor and eat real food.
  
<center>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3129.jpg</center>
+
==External Links==
  
We watched a few movies.  One was 45 minutes of a man sitting and chipping away at a rock trying to teach us to make Oldowan Clovis spearpoints.  Even if everyone hadn't fallen asleep, we probably wouldn't have been able to do much better in the following lab where we had to make spearpoints and arrowheads from chunks of obsidian and flint.  There is an actual very intelligent and difficult method to this.  It's very frustrating and takes a lot of skill that no one hand and everyone's hands were bloody by the end because we had stupidly ditched our gloves (and safety goggles).
+
Dig Pictures:
We also watched a documentary about the Maya during the last week and "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc" on the last day while drinking Root Beer Floats.
 
  
We also learned about Howard Carson's discoveries in [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395284252/sr=1-1/qid=1155788647/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9580700-4823813?ie=UTF8&s=books Motel of the Mysteries], a great entertaining book that you should read.
+
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3117.jpg Picture 1]
 +
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3116.jpg Picture 2]
 +
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3115.jpg Picture 3]
  
We also did independent research projects on a civilization of our choice, and spent a lot of time lugging books back and forth from the library and making posters.  Then we got to "type up information for our posters and google pictures up", so we got to go on AIM.
+
Museum Pictures:
  
We also had to conduct interviews and write ethnographies of CTY to demonstrate the point of ethnoarchaeology, which is to make inferences about past cultures based on the customs of the modern people who live in the geographical area or are direct descendents of the past band, tribe, chiefdom, or state.
+
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3129.jpg Picture 1]
 +
* [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/fefifofelen/cty/2lan06/DSCN3123.jpg Picture 2]
  
Wow, I got pretty carried away here!  In short, take this class!  It rocks!  Pun not intended!
+
[[Category:Courses]]
 +
[[Category: Carlisle]]
 +
[[Category: Lancaster]]
 +
[[Category: Norton]]
 +
[[Category: Saratoga Springs (Skidmore)]]
 +
[[Category: St. Mary's]]

Latest revision as of 19:55, 14 August 2018

Archaeology
Science Course
Course CodeARCH
Years of Operation1983-2008
Sites OfferedCAR, LAN, NOR, SAR, STM
Part of a series on
Realcty logo 20060831.png
CTY Courses
Category · Template · CAA Courses
Sites
Baltimore · Carlisle · Lancaster · Los Angeles · Saratoga Springs · Seattle
Humanities
Logic: PoR
International Politics ·
Ethics · Existentialism
Philosophy of Mind
Cognitive Psychology · Linguistics
Dissent
Newton, Darwin, and Einstein
The Art and Science of Filmmaking
Beyond the Binary: A Cultural History of Gender
Laws and Orders: Legal Systems Around the World
Writing
Writing Your World
Fiction and Poetry
Utopias and Dystopias
Persuasion and Propaganda
The Art of Fiction
Math
Probability and Game Theory
Number Theory · Mathematical Logic
Cryptology · Combinatorics and Graph Theory
Topology
Economics
Macroeconomics and the Global Economy
Fundamentals of Microeconomics
Computer Science
Data Structures and Algorithms
Fundamentals of Computer Science
Science
FPHS Biology · FPHS Chemistry · FPHS Physics
Astrophysics
Paleobiology · Genetics · Neuroscience
Investigations in Engineering
Introduction to Biomedical Sciences · Electrical Engineering
Special Relativity
Princeton & Berkeley
Global Politics: Human Rights and Justice
Human Nature and Technology
Politics and Film · Epidemiology
The Mathematics of Competitive Behavior
Science, Technology and Public Policy
Race and Politics · Politics in the Middle East
The Global Environment
Playing God: The Ethics of Human Subjects Research
You Will Be Offended: Satire, Comedy, and Public Discourse
Defunct Courses
Beginning Ancient Greek · German 1
German 2
Latin 2
French 1 · French 2
Great Revolutions
American History
Modern European History · Eastern European History
Music Theory
History of Western Art
Renaissance Art
Introduction to American Studies: Race and Class
Medieval Art
Twentieth Century Art · Gandhi's India
American Studies: The Sixties · Women and US Social Reform
American Studies: The Harlem Renaissance
Intermediate Ancient Greek
Islam · The Asian Pacific Rim
Russian History
TCE: Literature and the Arts · TCE: Popular Culture
The Crafting of Drama
The Crafting of Poetry · TCE: Shakespeare
TCE: Science Fiction
TCE: Beyond the Ring and the Wardrobe
Advanced Mathematical Modeling
Advanced Mathematical Reasoning
Statistics · Calculus: A Conceptual Approach
Topics in Precalculus
Set Theory · Digital Logic
Theoretical Foundations of Computer Science
Introduction to Laboratory Sciences · Archaeology
Ecology
Microbiology · Selected Topics in Advanced Biology
Selected Topics in Advanced Chemistry
Selected Topics in Advanced Physics · Physical Anthropology
Advanced Physics: Mechanics
Scientific Investigations: St. Mary's River · Genomics
Volcanoes
Etymologies · Oceanography: The Hawaiian Pacific
Life Cycle of an Island: Hawaii
The History of Disease · The Critical Essay: Film
Wicked Art: Pictures, Pixels, and Pens
Latin I
Goodwives and Witches: Women in Colonial America
Freaks and Geeks in Popular Media
The Digital Revolution
Advanced Robotics
Theory of Computation
Individually Paced Mathematics Sequence
Service, Leadership & Community Transformation
Advanced Cryptology
Law and Politics in US History
Intro to Organic Chemistry

Course Description

Archaeology is a very anti-classroom course. It involves lots of hands-on activities and lots of time outside the classroom. The class is offered only at Lancaster, and includes several field trips, such as to The Penn Archaeology museum and to an actual dig site. The course often includes a research project and a midterm.

Class History

  • 05.1 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Claire Sadar
  • 05.2 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Claire Sadar
  • 06.1 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Rosanna
  • 06.2 Instructor: Molly Burns TA: Rosanna
  • 07.1 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Nathan Browne
  • 07.2 Instructor: Jenny Rempel TA: Nathan Browne

Activities

At the beginning of the second week of Session 2, Molly took a survey and found out two things:

  • We don't like to read the textbook stuff. (Skim, yes. Read, huh?)
  • We don't like to write papers. (Bullet points, sure. Complete sentences, what?)
  • WE LOVE ACTIVITIES!

The class therein involved more activities. We went to the public park next to F&M and made a Wheeler box grid in the grass with string and nails. We they pretended to be skeletons and had other people plot where our heads, feet, knees, etc. were. We also had to plot where Molly and Rosanna had hidden marbles in our box grids. Another activity involved taking about ten scraps of paper with pictures of different pottery vessels and how they evolved over time and putting them in order.

We also got to make things out of clay. We made little pots with two methods: the pinch pot and the coil. Any clay we didn't use we got to make into anything we wanted. The table in the side of the room filled up very quickly with random pottery items.

We also did an activity where we made jewelry out of beads and twine and string and did this Kula-ring trade.

We also watched a few movies. One was 45 minutes of a man sitting and chipping away at a rock trying to teach us to make Oldowan Clovis spearpoints. Even if everyone hadn't fallen asleep, we probably wouldn't have been able to do much better in the following lab where we had to make spearpoints and arrowheads from chunks of obsidian and flint. There is an actual very intelligent and difficult method to this. It's very frustrating and takes a lot of skill that no one possessed and everyone's hands were bloody by the end because we had stupidly ditched our gloves (and safety goggles). But it was exhilarating getting all prehistoric and smashing rocks together. Cavemen must have been easily amused.

We also watched a documentary about the Maya during the last week and Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark on the last day while drinking Root Beer Floats.

We also learned about Howard Carson's discoveries in Motel of the Mysteries, a great, entertaining book that you should read.

We also did independent research projects on a civilization of our choice, and spent a lot of time lugging books back and forth from the library and making posters. Then we got to "type up information for our posters and Google pictures", so we got to go on AIM.

We also had to conduct interviews and write ethnographies of CTY to demonstrate the point of ethnoarchaeology, which is to make inferences about past cultures based on the customs of the modern people who live in the geographical area or are direct descendants of the past band, tribe, chiefdom, or state.

Field Trips

University of Pennsylvania museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Shenk's Ferry American Indian dig site in Lancaster (We learned it's incorrect to say Native American because no people are native to America since australopithecus originated in Africa-- unless you believe the whole Noah and the flood spiel). This site is mainly post-holes (dark spots of soil where a post once stood) but they have reconstructed a long-house on the site.

Muncy, Pennsylvania, a town that had thrived during the Revolutionary and Civil War periods thanks to their elaborate canal system and their strong mules. Our first stop was at the Muncy Historical Museum, which turned out to only have one toilet, but was otherwise very intelligently designed, once due consideration was given to the fact that it was inside somebody's crumbling colonial house. Afterwards, we went to a dig site on the Susquehanna Riverbed and got to dig and sieve through some dirt (and worms). Pictures are linked to in the "External Links" section.

Quilt and Textile Museum in Downtown Lancaster with a stop at the Farmers Market to buy yummy things.

Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Sometimes classes will go for a special exhibit (such as the titanic exhibit on 05) often includes time to hang out on the harbor and eat real food.

External Links

Dig Pictures:

Museum Pictures: