Course Syllabus
Instructor: Prof. Christina Warinner, 570 Peabody Museum, warinner@fas.harvard.edu
TF: Percy Ho
Course Meets: M/W, 3:00-4:15pm in Peabody 561; Section: TBA
Office Hours, Warinner: W, 4:15-5:30pm
Office Hours, TF: TBA
Course Summary:
Archaeological science is the application of scientific techniques to study the human past. Methods in archaeological science build upon core concepts and methods in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences and use them in surprising and exciting ways to answer a wide range of questions, including:
- How do we measure time? How do you date a stone tool? a bone? a pot?
- Who were the Neanderthals? When were they last alive, and what happened to them?
- What did the earliest farmers eat? How do we know?
- Where was maize domesticated and how did it spread throughout the Americas?
- Where did dairying begin and how did it transform Bronze Age Eurasia?
- What caused the Black Death? Where did it come from? Did it exist in prehistory? How do pathogens emerge and evolve?
- How does our knowledge of the past inform our future?
This course offers an introduction to eight major areas of archaeological science: (1) relative and absolute dating, (2) human osteology, (3) paleoethnobotany and micro remains, (4) stable isotopes, (5) organic residue analysis, (6) zooarchaeology and ZooMS, (7) proteomics, and (8) paleogenomics. Students will gain an understanding of the history of the field and its future directions, the method and theory behind how different tools and techniques work, and how archaeological science is transforming archaeology today. During the laboratory sections students will have practical session on each topic and engage in a semester long experiment determining taxonomic identifications and stable isotope values from archaeological animal bones.
Class Schedule:
**Note that this page is still under construction and contains outdated dates**
Week 1: Welcome and why archaeological science?
Tuesday, 1/24 Welcome and overview: What is archaeological science?
Readings: R&B 2016 Introduction and Chpt 1
Thursday, 1/26 Archaeology in the news – the breadth of archaeological science
Readings: R&B 2016 Chpt 2; Pollard and Bray 2007
Week 2: Time and order
Tuesday, 1/31 Geological and anthropological time
Readings: R&B Chpt 4; Motel of the Mysteries
Thursday, 2/2 Prehistory, palimpsests, and provenience
Readings: Lucas 2010; Richter et al. 2017; Bustos et al. 2018; Rathje and Murphy 2001 Chpt 1
Week 3: Radiocarbon dating
Tuesday, 2/7 Radiocarbon principles
Readings: Malainey 2010 Chpt. 8; Bronk Ramsey 2008
Thursday, 2/9 Calibration and complications
Readings: Alvestal et al. 2018; Guilderson et al. 2005; Higham 2011;
Presentation options: Option 1: Douka et al. 2019; Higham et al. 2014
Option 2: Dillehay et al. 2015; Holen et al. 2017; Magnani et al. 2019
Laboratory section 1: EH&S Training and Demineralization of Bones
Week 4: Human Osteology and Bioarchaeology
Tuesday, 2/14 Human skeletal anatomy and development
Readings: Lynnerup and Klaus 2019; Armelagos and Gerven 2003; Jeong et al. 2016
Thursday, 2/16 Skeletal pathology
Readings: Klaus and Lynnerup 2019; Stone et al. 2019; Bos et al. 2014
Presentation options: Option 1: Guliaev 2003
Option 2: Schuenemann et al. 2013
Laboratory section 2: Measuring time with tree rings and radiocarbon, with OxCal calibration; Bone sampling
Week 5: Mobility and trade
Tuesday, 2/21 Mobility and Trade
Readings: R&B Chpt 9; Hull 2104
Thursday, 2/23 Strontium and Oxygen isotopes - Guest lecture by Dr. Alissa Mittnik
Readings: Malainey 2011 Chpt 13 (p. 188-200); Knipper et al. 2017
Presentation options: Option 1: Radini et al. 2019
Option 2: Müldner et al. 2011
Laboratory section 3: Human osteology; Collagen extraction
Week 6: Paleoethnobotany
Tuesday, 2/28 Microbotanical analysis
Readings: Pearsall 2014; Henry 2014; Lippi et alll 2015
Thursday, 3/2 Macrobotanical analysis - Guest lecture by Dr. Mac Marston
Readings: R&B Chpt 6; Gallagher 2014; Kingwell-Banham et al. 2018
Presentation options: Option 1: Juhola et al. 2019
Option 2: Piperno et al. 2004 and Revedin et al. 2010
Option 3: Henry et al. 2011
Laboratory section 4: Introduction to Sr measurements; Collagen weighing
Week 7: Stable isotopes and paleodietary reconstruction
Tuesday, 3/7 Light stable isotopes and the diets of Neanderthals
Readings: Malainey 2011 Chpt 13 (177-185); Lee-Thorp 2008; Richards 2009; Warinner 2014
Thursday, 3/9 Applications and new directions
Readings: Makarewicz and Sealy 2015; Areneborg et al. 1999
Presentation options: Option 1: Salamon et al. 2008
Option 2: DeNiro and Hastorf 1985
Option 3: Bogaard et al. 2007
Option 4: Fernandes et al. 2014
Laboratory section 5: Introduction to light microscopy and laboratory standards
Readings: Crowther et al. 2014
Week 8: No class
Tuesday, 3/14 Spring Break
Thursday, 3/16 Spring Break
Week 9: Midterm
Tuesday, 3/21 NO CLASS
Thursday, 3/23 Midterm due at (released on Wednesday at 12pm, due Thursday at midnight)
Laboratory section 6: Tour of the EPS stable isotope facility; Data analysis of C and N values
Week 10: Organic residues
Tuesday, 3/28 Organic residue analysis and the earliest chocolate
Readings: Malainey 2011 Chpts 21, 23; Hurst et al. 2002; Powis et al. 2002
Thursday, 3/30 Dairy lipids – a case study
Readings: Malainey 2011 Chpt 14; Dunne et al. 2019; Smyth et al. 2019
Presentation options: Option 1: Evershed 2008
Option 2: Segurel and Bon 2017
Option 3: Outram et al. 2009
Laboratory section 7: Collagen gelatinization and digestion
Week 11: Zooarchaeology
Tuesday, 4/4 Tour of metabolomics facility; Introduction to MALDI-ToF-MS
Readings: Reitz 1999 Chpts 1 and 2; Anthony and Brown 2011;
Gaunitz et al. 2018
Thursday, 4/6 Principles of mass spectrometry and peptide mass fingerprinting
Readings: Collins et al. 2010; Richter et al. 2022; Teasdale et al. 2017
Presentation options: Option 1: Brown et al. 2016
Option 2: Taylor et al. 2018
Option 3: Welker et al. 2016
Option 4: Welker et al. 2015
Option 5: Fiddyment et al. 2015
Laboratory section 7: Zooarchaeology - Guest Lecture by Dr. Ryan Kennedy
Week 12: Paleoproteomics
Tuesday, 4/11 Proteomics
Readings: Cappellini et al. 2014; Hendy et al. 2018a; Cleland and Schroeter 2018
Thursday, 4/13 Applications of shotgun proteomics
Readings: Hendy et al. 2018b; Yang et al. 2014; Warinner et al. 2022 (Section 2)
Presentation options: Option 1: Warinner et al. 2014a
Option 2: Warinner et al 2014b
Option 3: Jeong et al. 2018
Option 4: Mackie et al. 2018
Option 5: Jersie-Christensen et al. 2018
Laboratory section 8: Tour of a zooarchaeology facility; ZooMS data analysis
Week 13: Ancient DNA
Tuesday, 4/18 Paleogenomics
Readings: R&B Chpt 11; Warinner and Hofman 2019; Slon et al. 2019
Thursday, 4/20 Migration
Presentation options: Option 1: Slon et al. 2017
Option 2: Feldman et al. 2019
Option 2: Villalba-Mouco et al. 2019
Option 3: Velsko and Warinner 2016
Laboratory section 9: Tour of the ancient proteins lab; Q&A with Dr. Ashley Scott
Tuesday, 4/25 Disease
Readings: Prem 1992; Vagene et al. 2018; Barquera et al. 2020
Laboratory section 10: Tour of a DNA core facility; Interpreting aDNA data
Reading period: 4/27 to 5/3
Exam period: 5/4 to 5/13
Grades:
Your grade is based on the 1000 points available for the course. 900 points and above = A, 800 points and above = B, etc. A curve may be applied.
- Participation, 120 points
- Midterm exam, 150 points
- Short Presentations, 100 points
- Annotated Bibliography 100 points
- Labs, 180 points
- Final Project, 200 points
- Final Exam, 150 points
Participation (120 points)
It is important to come to class and to come to class prepared. Although most of the course material is available online, additional important information will be announced and discussed only in class. We will also have several important class discussions, presentations, and informal debates. Attendance and active participation is expected for full participation credit.
- Missing class: If you can't avoid missing a class, please let me know in advance (if possible) and provide documentation. Excused absences may include illness, university sanctioned travel, documented emergencies, etc. Contacting me in advance does not automatically excuse your absence.
- Negative participation: In addition to positive participation points, you can also earn negative participation points. This refers to anything that is disruptive to the instructor or the other students during class time. Some examples of this would include talking, rudeness to your fellow students, text messaging, inappropriate use of laptop computers, and/or repeatedly coming to class late.
- Religious holidays: It is University policy to excuse the absences of students that result from religious observances and to provide, without penalty, for the rescheduling of examinations and additional required class work that may fall on religious holidays. Please talk with me at least 2 weeks prior to the assignment due date in order for accommodations to be made.
Midterm (take-home) (150 points)
There will be a take-home midterm exam due March 23, 2022. The midterm format will consist of four essays that draw on knowledge gained in the class to solve specific problems.
Short Presentations (100 points)
Each class will include short presentations by student on a primary reading of their choice from a selected list. Students will sign up for two presentation dates in class on February 6, 2020. Instructions for the short presentations will be provided on the first day of class. The presentation should be about 10 minutes and powerpoint slides are encouraged. The presentation should introduce the class to the question the article is trying to address, how the authors approached the problem and which methods they used, what the results were, your thoughts on the overall study, and what the take-home message is.
Annotated Bibliographies (100 points)
Throughout the course you will compile an annotated bibliography for all required journal article readings. This consists of making a bibliography in AJPA style with a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) summarizing the most important aspects of each reading. The annotated bibliography is due in three parts, and each part is due by the time of class on 2/28, 3/28, and 4/25. Extra Credit will be awarded for annotations of optional readings.
Labs (180 Points)
There will be five labs during which you will be able to explore a topic more deeply and engage in hands-on activities. For these labs worksheets worth 20 points each will be due the next week. Over the course of the semester students will also extract collagen from archaeological bones which will be analyzed for ZooMS and stable carbon and nitrogen. Two worksheets corresponding to this lab will be worth 40 points each.
Final Project (200 points)
You have three options for your final project:
- Option 1: You will complete a semester-long project planning, conducting pilot research, and preparing a grant application to conduct a field and laboratory-based research study on the excavation of your dorm room. Imagining you are an archaeologist in the year 3020, you will write a 3,500-word (approx. 12-page) research proposal and budget about your planned project to understand the Middle Warming period of the Veritas culture of North America, including detailed plans of the questions you will ask, the methods you will use, and what you aim to learn about daily life during this poorly understood period and culture during the Great Climate Change Transition (GCCT). I will provide detailed information about project requirements in a separate handout in class.
- Option 2: You will complete a semester-long project planning and preparing a grant application (3,500 words) to conduct a laboratory-based research study on an archaeological topic of interest.
- Option 3: You will complete a semester-long research paper. For this paper you will research a scientific method or analytical approach used to gain information about the past. You may select any of the topics discussed in the course (or another topic of your choice), and you are encouraged to use the class readings as inspiration and references. You will write a 3,500-word (approx. 10-page) research paper about the topic.
- The final project is due in Canvas on 05/9/2023 at 11:59pm.
- For help with writing, please contact the Harvard College Writing Center (https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu) or meet with me during office hours.
Final Exam (150 points)
The final exam will be a take home essay exam made available on 05/4/2020 at 10:00am and due on 05/10/2023 at 11:59pm. The essay questions will require you to draw upon information covered throughout the course to answer a set of complex, real-world archaeological problems.
Extra Credit (50 points)
To reward students who complete the readings and engage with the material, I will add 2 points to your final grade for each annotated optional reading that you include in your annotated bibliographies (up to 50 points). For example, if your final grade is 880 points (B) and you complete annotated bibliographies for 10 optional readings, I will bump up your grade to 900 points (A). It pays to do the readings!