Courses Taught
Analysis of Archaeological Materials. This course is designed to introduce methods used in analyzing selected archaeological materials. Techniques for measuring, describing, recording, illustrating and quantifying various attributes of archaeological fish bones, lithic artefacts, ceramic artifacts, and other finds of metal and glass are discussed and applied to archaeological collections. The course begins with brief overviews of primary branches of archaeological method and theory that are closely integrated with the study of artifacts and faunal remains. This course is a lab course, and most classes consist of an introductory lecture followed by a supervised session of hands-on work with archaeological materials. Materials analysis projects require labwork outside of class periods.
Introduction to Medieval Archeology. The Middle Ages were a time of major cultural changes that laid the groundwork for Northwest Europe's emergence as a global center of political and economic power in subsequent centuries. However, many aspects of life in the period from 1000 to 1500 C.E. were unrecorded in contemporary documents and art, and archeology has become an important tool for recovering that information. This course introduces the interdisciplinary methods and the findings of archeological studies of topics including medieval urban and rural lifeways, health, commerce, religion, social hierarchy, warfare, and the effects of global climate change.
Environmental Archeology. Over the past two hundred years archeologists, scientists, and humanists in many disciplines have worked together to understand the interactions of past human populations with the physical world, including plants, animals, landscapes, and climates. This course outlines the methods and theories used by archeologists, geologists, biologists, physicists, chemists, and historians in reconstructing past economies and ecologies in diverse areas of the globe. The course also discusses how archeology contributes to our understanding of contemporary environmental issues such as rapid climate change, shrinking biodiversity, and sustainable use of resources.
Shetland Islands: Archeological Field Course. The main element of this unit is the excavation of a late medieval/early modern farmstead at Broo, Shetland (Scotland). The 16th and 17th centuries were a time of major cultural change in Shetland as its strongly Scandinavian society was increasingly influenced by incoming Scots. These post-medieval centuries also included extremes of Little Ice Age climatic changes. Thus, the Broo site is a revealing "laboratory" in which to explore the interaction of climate change and human settlement in a fragile coastal zone. A series of field trips in mainland Scotland place the Broo excavation in the wider contexts of settlement, environment, and archeology, and in the histories of Scotland and the North Atlantic.
The Viking World: Archeology and Ethnohistory. When the Vikings poured out of their Scandinavian homelands they transformed the early medieval world. Tales of their piracy and raiding dominate the written records of the time, but a growing volume of archeological and environmental evidence is shedding new light on the Vikings as explorers, founders of towns, traders, artisans, and specialists in northern agriculture and fishing. This unit emphasizes the findings of archeology and studies of Icelandic sagas in outlining the lifeways, historical impacts, and differing fates of the Scandinavian peoples from 800 to 1100 C.E.
Archeology of the Celtic World. Today, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany are considered "Celtic" lands. This label emphasizes a group of traditional languages with shared histories, but the origins of Celtic cultures are more complex. More than two thousand years ago Celtic peoples were the first iron-using populations to inhabit a broad area from Spain to Romania. They were farmers, herders, and mariners who cooperated, competed, founded many settlements, raised many fortresses, and developed lively artistic traditions. Roman armies and migrating Germanic tribes fought hard to subdue the Celts, and they succeeded in many places. However, Celtic languages and many other aspects of culture were preserved in the lands of the European Atlantic fringe. This seminar examines regional case studies that use archeological methods to explore the unrecorded histories of the Celts.
Maritime Anthropology.This course surveys evidence for human adaptations to coastal and island environments. Archaeological evidence is examined in discussing important patterns of marine resource use in prehistoric and ethnohistoric periods. The growing field of fisheries anthropology is outlined through discussing studies of historic and modern maritime cultures. Issues of applied anthropology are featured in discussions of topics such as governmental regulation of marine resource use, sustainability in fisheries, and the forecasting and management of global change impacts on coastal environments and human communities.
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