2022-Fall-ANTH-331-ONLIN-WNT-02-14633-Archaeology of the Americas

The final syllabus will be available in the Learning Management System.

This is a past syllabus providing a general idea of what the course entails. This does not represent the current course's syllabus, requirements or expectations.

Course Overview

Anthropology - "The empirical, comparative study of humans as biological and cultural beings, informed by the overarching principles of cultural relativism and by the avoidance of ethnocentrism."

[McKee 2008]

Archaeology is the primary means by which we have come to know about the human past of the people who occupied North, Central, and South America prior to the arrival of Europeans. Through the course, we will examine the initial indigenous colonization of the New World and explore regional developments from different parts of what is today Canada, the United States, Mexico, Belize, and portions of Guatemala and Honduras. In so doing, the course provides information about how archaeologists reconstruct the past, about some of the indigenous American peoples of the New World, and how pre-Columbian groups are related to many of the contemporary peoples we continue to reside among.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

1. critically analyze and communicate the context of representative archaeological records in much of North and Central America, many of which contribute to present day lifeways of Euroamerican and indigenous American communities;
2. better understand archaeological and anthropological research and field methods and theory as they are applied to prehistoric, historic, and contemporary cultural contexts;
3. comment thoughtfully on the complex relationships between indigenous Americans, researchers, institutions and governments;
4. apply cultural relativism while observing various cultural norms and context and the processes that influence them; and
5. demonstrate your ability to apply these methodological and theoretical perspectives to a broader range of archaeological and ethnographic contexts and records.

These learning goals are based on the practical importance of indigenous, Native American, and social science topics, as well Washington State University commitments to fostering scholarship and working knowledge of critical issues facing human communities. This course is a WSU UCORE Diversity (DIVR) course, which addresses specific learning goals that specifically provide a nuanced understanding of diversity; emphasize critical and creative thinking; promote information literacy; and promote communication. This course is built around these learning goals and each lesson, activity, and assessment is designed in partial fulfillment of the above-mentioned learning goals.

Course Work

It is imperative to understand that the Winter Session is covering a full 16-week semester in three weeks. The course is organized into three weeks of lessons and respective deadlines. Rather than having daily submission deadlines, each week is to be completed at your own pace with deadlines for all requirements in each week on Sunday night no later than 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.  As such, you must allow yourself the time you need each week to complete the Lessons, their readings, posts and the weekly quiz. 

• The 'Course Schedule' is the master schedule of due dates and times and is subject to change. Individual items may have due date and times programmed, but any and all due dates and times, as well as any changes due to unforeseen circumstances will be listed/updated in the Course Schedule throughout the session.   

The last day of the course is a firm deadline, as course grades will be submitted the following day to the Registrar.  No matter the reason, extensions cannot be provided at the end of the course, and 'Incomplete' course grades are not possible.  Plan accordingly and allow yourself time each week to cover the materials and submit weekly requirements as needed. 

Readings

There will be required readings from the primary textbook assigned in the Lessons.  There are additional articles in lessons that are available through the WSU Library.  Accompanying several lessons are additional, suggested readings, that are completely optional, though you may find useful for crafting discussion points, developing professional working knowledge, or of general interest. 

Students are strongly encouraged to maintain annotated bibliographies and notes for future reference. If you plan to have a career in archaeology, this course will be an excellent opportunity to begin or continue to build your personal resource.  In order to encourage this scholarly endeavor, a guide/tip resource is available in the Assignments area, which can help to get started on this if you choose to take on the challenge and rewards. 

Discussions

Your participation points in the course will be based on your Original post for each lessons discussion.  Each lesson in the course covers a different topic, film or set of readings.  From lesson to lesson, course participation primarily involves well-crafted responses to discussion questions based on required readings and course materials.

Discussion replies to peer's posts in the Winter session are not required for full credit.  However, they are strongly encouraged.  Although replies to others' threads are not required, you are responsible for checking back in and maintaining a presence in your initial thread if other students or the instructor ask you questions regarding your Original Post.  Your total participation score factors heavily into your course grade, so take some time each week to craft your Original post.  Consult the 'Course Schedule' for due dates and times.

At the conclusion of the course, your lowest discussion score will be automatically waived.  Think of it as an automatically excused absence if you run into an emergency , conflict, or issue that impedes your ability to participate in discussions.  If all discussions have been credited, the unused waiver acts as extra credit to overall course scores. 

General Discussion Post Directions

In a given lesson you will typically have two topic options.   Choose one topic to make an Original post in. Additional Original posts are not given credit.  At a minimum, the body of your Original post should be between 200 and 300 words (not including headers, citations, or references), and must draw on the lesson materials as well as one or more outside scholarly sources.  Provide in-text citations that include author, year and page numbers when applicable (not just for quotes, but also when referring to specific information [facts, figures, dates, details, etc.]), as well as formatted references using a standard professional manual of style (formatting). 

It is recommended that you use the format that is most appropriate for your major or intended career field.   Anthropologists in general use the Chicago Manual of Style guide  (standard for anthropology as well as many fields in the humanities).  American Antiquity (the standard for archaeological publications in the US as per the Society for American Archaeology [SAA]) is a great option should you be pursuing a career in archaeology in particular.  Again, you may use another standard format based on your major (i.e. APA, MLA, etc.) - see 'Citations and References' below.  In addition to the course materials, all Original posts should include, at a minimum, one outside source that is scholarly, a primary documentary source, or an otherwise credible fact-checked source.  Keep in mind that general interest/topic-based websites without credible attribution and scholarly citations, Wikipedia, encyclopedias, blogs, social media, 'answer engines,' and dictionaries are not acceptable sources and will not earn credit as sources.  

Note that during the Winter Session, response posts to peers' threads are not required for credit in order to afford folks the opportunity to work ahead within the the weekly schedules.  However,  constructive and courteous discussion contributions and replies are welcomed and encouraged.

Remember that last minute posts before the deadlines, even if otherwise excellent, are of little contributing value as others wont have time to read or respond to them, so please be respectful of your classmates and try to post in a timely manner.  If you foresee an extraordinary issue that will repeatedly impede your ability to post, notify me as soon as possible.  Other course deadlines or vacations do not constitute emergencies. 

Research Project

The course will involve one required course paper in which you are presented with several options, each with its own specific aims and requirements.  

The guidelines for the paper explain requirements and grading criteria in greater detail and are provided in  ‘Assignments’ in the Course Menu.  This paper must be relevant to the course lessons and in line with the course objectives.  As we dive into the lessons and materials, begin looking for topics of personal interest to you.  These papers will be 5-7 pages in length (not including cover sheets, figures, images, notes or references) and will be evaluated for methods, theoretical development, content, clarity and attention to detail.

Quizzes

There are three weekly quizzes based on material from the lessons in each week, which will be made available during the week and due by the week's end.  It is not possible to take quizzes early or late.   Each quiz assesses knowledge gained on assigned readings, lessons, and media materials for the particular lesson, though may ask for you to reflect on previous lessons' content, as well.   Quizzes will not have time limits and consist primarily of a multiple-choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank type questions, though may periodically involve short answer or essay responses.  The Course Schedule will provide you with the date and time the quizzes will be available and when they will close. 

Extra Credit

There are four main extra credit opportunities throughout the course.  Extra credit can be applied toward missed lesson posts, low quiz scores, or to generally bolster one's grade.   Do not jeopardize the Course Research Paper in pursuit of extra credit grades.  However, if you need a little break, you may choose to substitute extra credit points through a fun, family- or community-oriented and educational archaeology project for enough points to make up for a lesson post or two throughout the course.  Extra credit points possible do not necessarily mean that is what will be earned, so keep that in mind if you plan to use the extra credit to substitute for lost scores on required work.

1. The first week's Introduce Yourself Activity in the Discussion Board is worth 5 points of extra credit and is a great way to introduce yourself and your interests to the group.  Your introduction post needs to be made in the first week of the session for credit. 
2. Turning in your Course Research Paper one week early will automatically earn you 15 extra credit points.  It is better to submit a strong paper, so do not rush to win 20 points and lose more in the rush.  However, if you complete the Course Research Paper early, it may free you up for some fun and rewarding extra credit opportunities in Week 3...
3. The 'Garbology Activity' is an extra credit lesson and opportunity worth 30 course points.   The 'Garbology Activity' extra credit lesson and activity instructions can be found in the 'Assignments' area of the course.  This is a great activity to do with friends or family, especially over holidays, and can help to make up for lost points, missed lesson submissions, or to boost ones grade in general.   Submissions for the activity go in the designated Discussion Forum thread, which can be found at the bottom of the Discussion Forums. 
4. The Teaching Maya Activity is a fun extra credit opportunity to do with children, friends, family or colleagues.  There are a number of activities to choose from in the Maya Part 2 lesson, and this project puts you in the position of the education, sharing new found knowledge with age groups of your choosing.  The activity is worth up to 15 extra credit points and must be submitted to the Maya Teaching Activity forum area in the Discussion forums and should be completed after having reviewed the Maya lessons.

 *Note that strong, scholarly in-text citation and reference formatting is required and graded in everything you do in the course, including forum discussion posts and papers.  Posting links or identifying authors and titles, alone, are insufficient.  All participants in the course must use a style guide and follow it closely in order to achieve full credit. Note that neglecting in-text citations, references, and proper formatting will bleed points rapidly.  You may do excellent work, but will lose entire letter grades if you do not follow Chicago, MLA, APA, SAA, or another format.

It is recommended that one utilize the format most appropriate for their major or career field.  If you have a writing manual that you regularly use in your major, and use well, such as Chicago (used in anthropology and many other disciplines), APA (psychology), MLA (common in English Lit and other disciplines), or Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) Antiquity style guide, which is the standard in North American and Latin American archaeology in both English and in Spanish, use it.  

The SAA style guide's most recent addition is available online (Links to an external site).  Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL) (Links to an external site.) is an excellent free resource that clearly demonstrates citation and reference formatting in either Chicago (Links to an external site.), (Links to an external site.) APA (Links to an external site.) or MLA (Links to an external site.).  The Purdue OWL also offers very highly recommended General Writing Resources (Links to an external site.), which cover academic writing standards, common grammar, spelling, and sentence structure issues, and even guides for writing undergraduate and graduate school applications.  This is 'the go-to' online writing resource, and you may be directed to use it for improvements once we get into forum discussions and paper writing.  

Spend some time early on perusing these resources, which will benefit one in any academic or professional writing context. The Purdue OWL websites linked above will offer the most up-to-date versions of the respective styles.

Be aware, that any student who attempts to gain an unfair advantage over other students through any degree of cheating or plagiarism will be barred from dropping the course, and, at my discretion, fail the assignment or the course.  Furthermore, the student(s) will be reported to the Office of Student Standards and Accountability.

Grading