Sophomores - The Legacy of Ancient Technology

THE LEGACY OF ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY

University Honors Program, UHON 222-009 (sophmore level), 3 credits
Dr. Troy R. Lovata
University of New Mexico, University Honors Program
Dr. Rosalie Otero, Program Director

Course Description: This course is based in the actual construction, use, and hands-on study of ancient technologies. The everyday, the mundane and the ubiquitous are keys to understanding the past. At the same time, ancient technologies set the stage for modern tools and artifacts are comparisons to how and why we use technology today. Students will construct and experiment with fire, stone tools, spears and atlatls, weaving and basketry, and adobe architecture. This course will also expose students to both historical and modern issues of resource use and preservation, consumerism and fashion, and the relationship between the natural and built environments.

(As with all University of New Mexico Honors Program courses, registration is capped at 16 students).

Texts:
Students use an Honors Program produced reader (individual readings discussed below) and John Whittaker’s book Flintknapping: Making & Understanding Stone Tools (1997).

Syllabus

Date	Topic
Week 1	An Introduction to How and Why We Study Ancient Tools and Technology Read: ‘Ethnoarchaeology: A Discussion of Methods and Applications’ by Daniel Stiles (from Man, vol. 12, no. 1, 1977) and short excerpts from Leonard Bruno’s The Tradition of Technology (1995)
Week 2	Fire and Fire Making Hands-On Experiments with Matches and Flint and Steel Read: selections from Stephen Pyne’s Fire: A Brief History (2001), Walter Hough’s ‘Aboriginal Fire Making’(American Anthropologist, vol. 3, no. 4, 1890), and Dino Labiste’s essay ‘Making Fire with a Bow Drill’ (2001).
Week 3	Hands on Experiments with Bow Drillings, Fire Ploughs and Friction Methods Discussion of the Social Impacts of Fire Read: selections from Stephen Pyne’s Fire: A Brief History (2001)
Week 4	Making and Using Stone Tools Flintknapping Demonstration Read: Whittaker’s Flintknapping chpts 1-7 *Assignment 1 Due (fire making narrative & essay on the social impact of fire)
Week 5	Stone Tools cont’d Hands-On Flintknapping Experiments Using Obsidian Read: Whittaker Whittaker’s Flintknapping chpts 8-10
Week 6	Stone Tools cont’d Hands-On Flintknapping Experiments Using Obsidian and Cherts Experiemental Use of Stone Tools on Wood and Bone
Week 7	The Physics of Spears and Atlatls Read: Brian Cotterell and Johan Kamminga’s ‘Projectiles’ (from Mechanics of Pre-Industrial Technology, 1990) *Assignment 2 Due (essay on stone tool manufacture & use)
Week 8	Making and Practice Using Spears and Atlatls Practice Throwing Atatls (meet at Johnson Field) Read: George Frison’s ‘Experimental Use of Clovis Weaponry and Tools on African Elephants’ (American Antiquity, vol. 54, no. 4, 1989)
Week 9	Spring Break, No Class
Week 10	Discussion of the Value of Textiles, Rope and Fiber Technologies. Read: Norm Kidder’s ‘Making Cordage By Hand’ (Bulletin of Primitive Technology, no. 12, 1996), selections from Anna Gil’s Practical Basketry (1916) * Assignment 3 Due (notes and essay on throwing spears & using atlatls)
Week 11	Experiments Making and Using Textiles, Rope and Fiber. Watch: excerpt from Secrets of Lost Empires: Inca (1997) Read: Donald Thomson’s ‘A Bark Sandal from the Desert of Central Western Australia’ (Man, vol.60, 1960) and Donald Ryan’s ‘Papyrus’ (The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 51, no. 1, 1988).
Week 12	Discussion of Textiles, Rope and Fiber as Insight into the Anthropology of Skill Read: Tim Ingold’s ‘Beyond Art and Technology: The Anthropology of Skill’ and Charles Keller’s ‘Thought and Production: Insights of the Practioner’ (both from Micheal Shiffer’s Anthropological Perspectives on Technology, 2001) *Assignment 4 Due (narrative of experiments with twisting & using fiber & cordage)
Week 13	Discussion of Adobe as Building Material in Ancient and Modern Times Read: excerpts from Orlando Romero and David Larkin’s Adobe: Building and Living with Earth (1994) *Assignment 5 Due (essay on the Anthropology of Skill)
Week 14	Adobe cont’d Hands-On Experiments in Mixing and Using Earth Bricks and Blocks Read: Paul Oliver’s ‘Earth as Building Material Today’ (Oxford Journal of Art, vol. 5, no. 2, 1983) and Paul Wencil Brown and James Clifton’s ‘The Properties of Adobe’ (Studies in Conservation, vol. 23, no. 4, 1978)
Week 15	Hands-On Experiments in Adobe Wall and Oven Construction Discussion of Individual Trip Reports from the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
Week 16	Complete Adobe Building Experiments Last Day of Class *Public Presentation of Project 6, Experiments with Abode Wall & Oven Construction

Grading Policies:
Grades are based on a 1000 point scale with 10 points equaling 1% of the final grade (an "A" is earned at 90% or 900 points). Grades are based on the completion of a series of written and creative assignments from each topic (fire, stone tools, etc...). These are generally based on a worksheet that requires the student to take notes of their experiments, document what they've done, and contemplate the meaning of their work in short essays. There are no tests or final exams. Class participation, and therefore attendance, is an essential part of this course. Students will also complete a short trip report based on comparisons between their experiments and the displays at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.

Grading breaks down as follows:
Projects…600 points (6 projects @ 100 points each)
Trip Report...100
Attendance and Participation...300 points

Contact person: Troy R. Lovata, lovata@unm.edu.