ARAS 356 - Contemporary Theory in Archaeology

CR: 3
Prerequisites: One ARAS course at the 200-level or above; not open to first-year students. This course engages students in the major theoretical trends that have influenced and altered the study of material culture in archaeology. The course integrates seminal theoretical works from multiple disciplinary fields engaged with the analysis of objects and sites presenting traditional approaches such as semiotics, culture history, and processualism along with recent theoretical trends such as New Materialisms, post-processualism, and cognitive archaeology. These theoretical texts will be balanced with case studies from sites such as Göbekli Tepe, Chaco Canyon, and Pompeii. The application of these theoretical approaches in archaeology provides students with concepts that shall be applied to the interpretation and analysis of objects, sites, and landscapes. Offered alternate years. III.O, V.5