Mesopotamian Archaeology I: Villages to States

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course surveys the archaeology of the villages and states of Mesopotamia (approximately the modern countries of Iraq and Syria) during the late 7th through late 3rd millennia BCE. Students will be introduced to the range of Mesopotamian sites and material culture, the region's variable landscapes and environments, and key themes and debates in the study of this literate complex society. Themes include the origins of irrigation and urbanism; the development of inequality and formalisation of violent conflict; the consequences of craft specialisation; the forms and meanings of funerary practices; the presentation of power; and the archaeological evidence for religious ritual and beliefs. These developments varied between north and south Mesopotamia (later Assyria and Babylonia), and the contrasts and cultural connections between these two linked but distinct regions are integral aspects of the course. This one is jointly taught, by Anna-Latifa Mourad-Cizek and me. We would like this to be mainly a grad seminar (MAs and PhDs) but are open to advanced undergraduate participation, so both 300 and 200 numbers, please. But can we specify a prerequisite like "undergraduate students should have taken at least one course in the archaeology or history of Egypt or Mesopotamia."