Current Seminar Descriptions
FALL 2013 SEMINARS
Public Health in the Ancient World
Roger Bagnall and Roderick Campbell
Mondays 2:00-5:00 p.m.
roger.bagnall@nyu.edu; rbc2@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3022
Revolutionary developments in the biological sciences, accompanied as well by discoveries in the physical sciences, have opened up possibilities for study of the human past unimaginable a generation ago. To long-established methods dependent on description and quantification have been added technologies that allow us to find out, for example, whether people buried at Rome were also born and raised there, or what kind of carbohydrates dwellers of an Egyptian oasis were eating. The routes of transmission of plant species can be seen as never before; modern demographic techniques like model life tables have given new life to ancient demography, once a laughingstock; scientific excavation of arid sites coupled with new technologies has produced information on morbidity and mortality unobtainable until now. We have now the opportunity to begin to put together a comprehensive sense of the factors of health over the vast span of human history we call antiquity, while at the same time study changing, collective human responses to disease, nutrition, risk and ultimately, mortality.
This course will have a symposium format with different specialists each week presenting on a range of topics from paleopathology to ancient demography. In addition to weekly response papers students will write a final paper relating one or more of the symposium’s topics to the overarching theme of public health in the ancient world.
Permission of the instructor required.
Iranian Archaeology in the 21st Century
Daniel T. Potts
Tuesdays 9:00am – 12:00pm
daniel.potts@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3018
The publication of recent excavations (post-2000) in journals like Iran, Iranica Antiqua and Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, as well as in monographs and conference volumes (published inside and outside of Iran) has resulted in a significant addition to our knowledge of Iranian archaeology in all periods of the pre-Islamic past. Accessing that new data and integrating it with what was already known is not always easy, however. This seminar will involve close reading of the past 13 years of scholarship in Iranian archaeology with an emphasis on primary publications of excavations and museum collections (rather than secondary literature). The aim will be to evaluate this new material and assess how it fits in with what was already known about the relevant site, region and/or period; consider where it challenges previous beliefs; and discuss what new questions it raises.
Permission of the instructor required.
Hittite History, Language & Archaeology
Lorenzo d’Alfonso
Thursdays, 2:00 – 5:00pm
lda5@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3013
The Hittite empire had a profound impact on the history of Pre-classical Western Asia. After a period defined by the presence of local principalities, and a formative phase in the 17th century, a complex political machine developed in Central Anatolia. The creation of a system of large structures for containment of water and seeds allowed local societies to overcome for the first time the regional challenges resulting from the weather and landscape. These important structures are part of a comprehensive approach to complex social life, whose effects became concretely observable in the so-called Early Empire. In this period, for example, normative texts were produced, some defining the administrative function of the capital and peripheral districts, some –what we call rituals and feasts-, defining the cultic activity between the core to the periphery, and the syncretic pantheon. The tension between the “possible empire” emerging from these texts and the local developments produced by various actors can be understood through the lens of the historical context in which the empire operated for almost 500 years. The course aims at providing participants with basic information and updated research on the Hittites. Each class will be divided into two parts: one touching different themes of the history and archaeology of the Hittites; the other providing an introduction into the Hittite language and script.
Participation 30%; one presentation during course 40%; final written exam 30% (no final paper)
Requirements: one foreign language: either French, Italian or German
Permission of the instructor required.
Introduction to GIS & Spatial Analysis in Anthropology & Archaeology
Emily Hammer
Wednesdays 9:30am – 12:30pm
ehammer@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3012 – Class takes place at 24 Waverly Place, Rm. 668
This course aims to provide a basic understanding of how remote sensing data (satellite imagery and aerial photographs) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to visualize, analyze, and integrate archaeological, anthropological, historical, environmental, and hydrological data. It also aims to introduce students to the process of designing and carrying out a spatial research project. Students will learn basic techniques for acquiring, manipulating, and creating geospatial data in several forms, including pixel-based satellite imagery and digital terrain models as well as point, line, and polygon representations of data. Each week, these techniques will be applied to sample archaeological data and also to data from a region/topic chosen by the student. In addition to lab-based work, students will learn basic field techniques of field survey, including how to navigate and record using a Global Positioning System (GPS) handheld receiver, how to integrate GPS data into a GIS database, and how to produce maps for fieldwork and publication. The course will use ESRI's ArcGIS software.
Permission of the instructor required.
Time in Greco-Roman Antiquity: Texts and Material Culture
Alexander Jones
Wednesdays 2:00 – 5:00pm
alexander.jones@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3002
In the ancient Greek and Roman world time was initially flexible, inexact, and tied to the natural environment. The risings and settings of the Sun, the phases of the Moon, and the cycle of the seasons supplied the basic framework of days, months, and years by which people organized daily life, commerce, religion, and government. However, astronomers, mathematicians, mechanicians, and scholars developed increasingly precise ways of measuring, organizing, and keeping track of time. This seminar will investigate the varied technologies and practices of time management known from textual sources and artifacts, and the interaction between the development of these technologies and practices and the awareness and representation of measured time in Greco-Roman society.
Permission of the instructor required.
Advanced Reading of Akkadian - Literary Texts in Ancient Mesopotamia
Beate Pongratz-Leisten
Tuesdays 2:00 – 5:00pm
bpl2@nyu.edu
ISAW-GA 3014
This course is intended to provide an insight into the corpus of literary texts of Mesopotamia. It includes a mix of poems, epics, and myths, the Agushaya Hymn, Tukulti-Ninurta Epic, the Erra Epic, Anzu Myth and Etana Myth, just to name a few. Most of these texts come in various versions from different periods thus allowing for investigating their transmission through time. They are written in the Hymnic-Epical Dialect or the Standard Babylonian dialect. Consequently, beyond acquiring knowledge of great Mesopotamian literary works, the students will train in reading these literary dialects. At least one year of Akkadian is required.
Permission of the instructor required.
