FRS 002Q —
Sec. 001 —
(2 unit) — CRN 53512 — W 1:10-3:00 pm — 302 Young
Before California: An Archaeological Examination of
the First Inhabitants
Instructor: Christyann Darwent, Department of Anthropology, College of
Letters and Science
Description: This Freshman Seminar is intended to
introduce students
to the Prehistory of California. The archaeological evidence for
human occupation
in this state will be traced from the earliest people some 12,000 years ago to
contact with Spanish and other European immigrants ca. A.D. 1542. This course
will provide hands-on experience with prehistoric artifacts in conjunction with
readings, lectures, fieldtrips and discussions. In order to
accommodate fieldtrips
and hands-on learning this is a two-unit course. Although it helps if
the student
has some knowledge of archaeology in general, this course's main goal
is to make
the archaeology of our own backyard accessible to everyone. By the end of the
seminar, the students should have a better understanding of Native California
subsistence (i.e., what they ate, how they built their houses and
made their tools)
and settlement (i.e., why did people choose to live where they did),
and be more
aware of the archaeology's role in protecting cultural resources while they are
still in the ground, and preserving the archaeological record after
those artifacts
are removed from the earth.
Format: The course's content will follow the outline
of the text.
In other words lecture and discussion will proceed chronologically through the
Prehistory of California, with artifacts from the Archaeology
Teaching Collection
used to visually assist in understanding the prehistory. The text for
this seminar
is: Fagan, Brian (2003) Before California: An Archaeologist Looks at
Our Earliest
Inhabitants. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Three field trips are scheduled
for the quarter: One to a local Cultural Resource Management firm in Davis (Far
Western Anthropological Research Group), one to the Archaeological Laboratory
at the State of California's Department of Recreation in West Sacramento, and
one to the Maidu Cultural Center in Roseville. A tour of the
Anthropology Research
Collections facility in Young Hall will also be included. Additional
presentations
will be given by professional archaeologists on current research in this state
(e.g., Bodega Bay, White Mountains/Great Basin, Redwoods of NW
California). Grading:
Thirty percent (30%) of the grade will be based on participation in field trips
(car pooling will be necessary to get to one of the locations) and discussions
of readings and presentations. Forty percent will be based two short (750-1500
words) written assignments: one of an archaeological report on California and
its oral presentation in class (20%), and the other describing the prehistory
of a particular geographic region of California (20%). Thirty percent
(30%) will
be based on a take-home exam due the last day of classes.
About the Instructor: Christyann Darwent is
Assistant Professor
in the Department of Anthropology. Her research interests include the
archaeology
of coastal ecosystems, arctic adaptations, zooarchaeology (animal remains) and
biogeography. She has undertaken archaeological field research on the
Great Plains,
the Northwest Coast, Alaska, and Arctic Canada. Current projects
include traditional
hunting by indigenous prehistoric coastal populations in northwestern Alaska,
and cultural interaction between Canadian Inuit, British Whalers,
American Arctic
Explorers (e.g., Robert Peary), and the Greenlandic Inughuit (Polar Eskimo) of
northwestern Greenland from AD 1700 to 1900. Dr. Darwent currently
teaches courses
on introductory archaeology, world prehistory, first inhabitants of
the Americas,
and zooarchaeology.