Great Digs: Important Sites of the Ancient, Late Antique and Islamic Worlds

This course exposes students to major archaeological sites from the Classical, Late Antique and Islamic worlds. It seeks to broaden students' awareness of archaeological methods and aims to demonstrate how interconnected the Classical, Late Antique and Islamic worlds were. The course will focus on examples from all periods surveyed in the track, including sites such as Classical Athens, Rome, Hadrian's Villa (Tivoli), Pompeii, Alexanddria, Instanbul/Constantinople, Ravenna, Jerusalem, Dura Europos, Samarra, Samarkand, and the Alhambra. These examples will server as case studies that demonstrate how specific sites shaped our knowledge of human history.The course also considers the techniques used to study important archaeological sites (from aerial photography and survey in the case of Samarra to virtual world technologies at Hadrian's Villa) so that students can understand how theory and archaeological techniques are applied in specific cases. Students will also gain an understanding of site preservation and the problems (decay, war and new real-estate developments) that face many archaeological sites today.

Offer as needed

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