In this course, the student will study the emergence of the major civilizations of the ancient world, beginning with the Paleolithic Era (about 2.5 million years ago) and finishing with the end of the Middle Ages in fifteenth century A.D. The student will pay special attention to how societies evolved across this expanse of time - from fragmented and primitive agricultural communities to more advanced and consolidated civilizations. By the end of the course, the student will possess a thorough understanding of important overarching social, political, religious, and economic themes in the ancient world, ranging from the emergence of Confucian philosophy in Asia to the fall of imperial Rome. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify and define the world's earliest civilizations, including the Neolithic Revolution, and describe how it shaped the development of these early civilizations; Identify, describe, and compare/contrast the first advanced civilizations in the world - Mesopotamia and Egypt; Identify and describe the emergence of the earliest civilizations in Asia: the Harappan and Aryan societies on the Indian subcontinent and the Shang and Zhou societies in China; Identify and describe the emergence of new philosophies - Daoism and Confucianism - during the Warring States period in China. Identify and describe the subsequent rise of the Qin and Han dynasties; Identify and describe the different periods that characterized ancient Greece - Archaic Greece (or the Greek Dark Ages), classical Greece, and the Hellenistic era; Identify and describe the characteristics of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and Imperial Rome; Analyze the emergence of the Mauryan and Gupta empires during the 'classical age' in India; Identify and analyze the Buddhist and Vedic (Hindu) faiths; Identify and describe the rise of civilizations in the Americas, particularly in Meso and South America; Analyze and describe the rise of Islam in the Middle East; Identify and describe the emergence of the Arab caliphate, the Umayyad dynasty, and Abbasid dynasty; Identify and describe the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire; Identify and analyze key facets of medieval society in Western EuropeŃthe Catholic Church, feudalism, and the rise of technology and commerce; Analyze and interpret primary-source documents that elucidate the exchanges and advancements made in civilizations across time and space. (History 101)

This course serves as an introduction to the major artistic and architectural traditions of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East. This course will explore how artifacts and monuments can be used to study the history and culture of the ancient world. It is divided into two units that chronologically focus on the art, architecture, and archaeology of each region. The first unit examines Ancient Egyptian tombs, monuments, and art from the Early Dynastic (c. 3100-2650 BCE) through the Roman (30 BCE- 4thcentury CE) periods. The second unit focuses on Ancient Near Eastern artistic and architectural traditions from the late Neolithic (c. 9500-4500 BCE) through the conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) by Alexander the Great. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify major ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern architectural sites, monuments, and works of art; Identify the general characteristics of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern art and recognize the names and characteristics of the major art historical time periods of each region; Describe how art and architecture can be used to understand the politics, history, and culture of Ancient Egypt and the Near East; Explain ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern cosmology, conceptions of the afterlife, and kingship, as well as their relationship to architectural sites, monuments, and works of art. (Art History 201)

Domuztepe is a large (20 hectares) site, dating to the Halaf period of the 6th millennium BC. It has extensive prehistoric architectural, burial, and occupational remains. The site also has evidence of Roman and Medieval occupation, including a cemetery dating to the 9th-10th centuries AD and an Early Medieval building with thick plaster mortar walls. Joint excavations led by Elizabeth Carter of the University of California, Los Angeles and Stuart Campbell of the University of Manchester have been underway since 1995.

Archaeology reconstructs ancient human activities and their environmental contexts. Drawing on case studies in contrasting environmental settings from the Near East and Mesoamerica, considers these activities and the forces that shaped them. In laboratory sessions students encounter various classes of archaeological data and analyze archaeological artifacts made from materials such as stone, bone, ceramics, glass, and metal. These analyses help reconstruct the past. This class introduces the multidisciplinary nature of archaeology, both in theory and practice. Lectures provide a comparative examination of the origins of agriculture and the rise of early civilizations in the ancient Near East and Mesoamerica. The laboratory sessions provide practical experience in aspects of archaeological field methods and analytical techniques including the examination of stone, ceramic, and metal artifacts and bone materials. Lab sessions have occasional problem sets which are completed outside of class.

This is an educational website devoted to the famous archaeological site in Turkey of one of the oldest cities in the world. The website depicts not only end-products of discoveries and interpretations but goes through the entire history of a 25 year excavation process.

1994 Excavations at Pınarbaşı, Karaman Province, Turkey: Excavations began at Pinarbasi in August and September 1994, and continued in September 1995. The site is in the lands of Suleimanhaci village, Karaman province, on the south side of the central Anatolian plateau, only about 20 km from Çatalhöyük. This is a salvage excavation, jointly organised by the University of Edinburgh, Department of Archaeology (Dr Trevor Watkins) and the Karaman Museum (Cengiz Topal). The group of sites at Pinarbasi is of particular interest because there appears to be a series of rock-shelters occupied in final pleistocene and early neolithic times, and an open village settlement of epi-palaeolithic or early neolithic date (i.e. possibly greater than 10,000 years old). The work is being carried out as part of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, and the sites were identified by Drs Douglas Baird and Trevor Watkins in September 1993 as part of the Çatalhöyük Regional Survey. In the first season, the main objective was to assess two parts of the site which were most at risk. Area A is the open village settlement, situated below the cliffs and the rock-shelters, on an isthmus surrounded by a small lake. Area B is one of the rock-shelters. In the open village settlement the 1994 sounding showed superficial remains of classical date, a thin stratum of early third millennium BC occupation, and a thicker deposit representing structures, a burial and occupation deposit of a settlement of early prehistoric date. The first radiocarbon dates are in the late 8th millennium BC (uncalibrated). The rock-shelter has an isolated pit which has produced the fourth millennium BC date, and coherent strata of occupation deposit and a large, stone-built structure that date to the sixth millennium BC. The indications from the chipped stone assemblage are of an industry similar to that at Çatalhöyük, but there are also strong residual elements of earlier assemblages, representing probably an earlier, aceramic neolithic occupation.