CLSC 418 - Landscape Archaeology and Epigraphy

Institution:

Case Western Reserve University

Subject:

Description:

Landscape archaeology addresses the complex ways that people have consciously and unconsciously shaped the land around them. As by-products of the interaction between people and place, landscapes designate spaces occupied by specific social groups whose members draw from their environs a shared identity and who situate their actions within specific normative frameworks. The landscapes of the Greek and Roman East are no exception to this. As "cultural landscapes," they were the scene of thousands of years of actions, including the organizing of space or the altering of the land for diverse purposes such as subsistence, or for economic, social, political, religious and military concerns. As such they offer us the possibility to investigate the agencies, actions, and negotiations between particular communities and the various greater powers that exercised control over them. This course will, therefore, introduce students to the study of Landscape Archaeology/Intensive Surveying through five weeks of hands-on fieldwork in the region of Isparta, Turkey, the locus of an ancient landscape called Northwestern Pisidia about which little is known. This landscape has a long storied past, lying as it did along a fault line between earthshaking empires, including the Hittites, Lydians and Persians to North and to the East, and the Greeks, Macedonians and Romans to the West. As such it was a contested space, not only in terms of the physical control of the land, but also the culture. This course will investigate this cultural landscape through the analysis of the archaeological material found. There will also be an opportunity to work with the archaeological material in the Isparta Museum, especially the epigraphical material there. We will also take field trips to important ancient sites and museums in the area to better grasp the region's ancient cultural profile and context. In addition, we will discuss archaeological ethics, issues of cultural patrimony, the importance of teamwork, and the need to work side by side with the local community. Offered as CLSC 318 and CLSC 418.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.case.edu

Phone Number:

(216) 368-2000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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