Course Syllabus: Archaeology of the Americas

BA2 Seminar 2020: Semester 2, Blok III

Catalog number: 1082SW13W

Location: Van Steenis F103
Dates: Thursday afternoons (February 6 – March 12)
Time: 13:15-17:00
Course Coordinator & Instructor: Dr. Jason Laffoon.
Email: j.e.laffoon@arch.leidenuniv.nl
Office: C0.14, office hours: Thursdays 10:00-12:00

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will focus on archaeological research in the Americas paying special
attention to recent studies, advances, and debates. The sessions will take the
form of lectures and discussions, with an emphasis on the archaeology of the
Caribbean region and surrounding areas of mainland North and South America. In
this course students will be introduced to current findings concerning a range of
topics including but not limited to: Colonization and Chronology, Human
Ecodynamics, Diet and Subsistence, Mobility and Exchange, Lifeways and
Deathways, & Diversity. The course is divided into six lectures of ~2 hours each,
followed by a 2 hour period for discussion and to work independently on the
weekly assignments. Assigned readings will accompany each week’s topical
theme.

COURSE ASSESSEMENT

Course grading is based on a series of weekly written assignments to be

uploaded to Brightspace (30% of final grade) and a final essay (70% of the final
grade). The six weekly assignments will consist of a discussion point in the form
of an annotated bibliography in which the student is expected to find a single
published article related to the week’s theme but from a different region of the
Americas (i.e. not the Caribbean) and to summarize and reflect on the relevance
of the article (ca. 300 words). Possible regional examples include: The Arctic;
North America, Mesoamerica, Isthmo-Columbian, Andean, Amazonian,
Patagonian areas, etc... Weekly discussion point assignments are due
Wednesdays at 23:59 (see Blackboard course module).

The final essay of (ca. 1500-1800 words) should focus on one of the themes
addressed in the course including finding additional literature (minimum 5
references) and the topic must be pre-approved by Dr. Laffoon. The final essay is
due March 23rd at 9:00. If a student fails the course, there is an opportunity for a
retake of the final essay only. This is only allowed when all assignments during
the course have been submitted. Weekly assignments cannot be retaken.

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COURSE SCHEDULE

Themes

Lecture 1- Feb. 6 General Introduction + Colonization & Chronology

Lecture 2- Feb. 13 Human Ecodynamics

Lecture 3- Feb. 20 Diet and Subsistence

Lecture 4- Feb. 27 Mobility and Exchange

Lecture 5- Mar. 5 Lifeways and Deathways

Lecture 6- Mar. 12 Diversity*

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 to assess different types of archaeological evidence concerning the

archaeology of the Americas;

 to concisely summarise current research findings concerning the

archaeology of the Americas;

 to critically reflect upon the relevant literature and associated themes;

 to understand the major current debates concerning the archaeology of

the Americas;

 to practice discussion and academic debate in a workgroup environment;

 to enhance skills in essay writing.

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ASSIGNED READINGS
Lecture 1- Feb. 6 Colonization and Chronology
Napolitano, M. F., DiNapoli, R. J., Stone, J. H., Levin, M. J., Jew, N. P., Lane,
B. G., ... & Fitzpatrick, S. M. (2019). Reevaluating human colonization of
the Caribbean using chronometric hygiene and Bayesian modeling.
Science Advances, 5(12), eaar7806.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/12/eaar7806.full
Siegel, P. E., Jones, J. G., Pearsall, D. M., Dunning, N. P., Farrell, P., Duncan,
N. A., ... & Singh, S. K. (2015). Paleoenvironmental evidence for first
human colonization of the eastern Caribbean. Quaternary Science
Reviews, 129, 275-295.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379115301384

Lecture 2- Feb. 13 Human Ecodynamics

Giovas, C. M. (2019). The beasts at large–perennial questions and new
paradigms for Caribbean translocation research. Part I:
ethnozoogeography of mammals. Environmental Archaeology, 24(2), 182-
198.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14614103.2017.1315208
Fitzpatrick, S. M., & Keegan, W. F. (2007). Human impacts and adaptations
in the Caribbean Islands: an historical ecology approach. Earth and
Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
98(1), 29-45.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/
view/68BFF9386CA9BDAD3FB44E5C937AC92F/S1755691007000096a.pdf/
human_impacts_and_adaptations_in_the_caribbean_islands_an_historical_e
cology_approach.pdf

Lecture 3- Feb. 20 Diet and Subsistence

Mickleburgh, H. L., & Pagán-Jiménez, J. R. (2012). New insights into the
consumption of maize and other food plants in the pre-Columbian
Caribbean from starch grains trapped in human dental calculus. Journal of
Archaeological Science, 39(7), 2468-2478.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440312000842
Pestle, W. J., & Laffoon, J. (2018). Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction
with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 17, 393-403.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X17303371

Lecture 4- Feb. 27 Mobility and Exchange

Hofman, C., Mol, A., Hoogland, M., & Valcárcel Rojas, R. (2014). Stage of
encounters: migration, mobility and interaction in the pre-colonial and
early colonial Caribbean. World Archaeology, 46(4), 590-609.

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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2014.925820
Garcia-Casco, A., Knippenberg, S., Ramos, R. R., Harlow, G. E., Hofman, C.,
Pomo, J. C., & Blanco-Quintero, I. F. (2013). Pre-Columbian jadeitite
artifacts from the Golden Rock Site, St. Eustatius, Lesser Antilles, with
special reference to jadeitite artifacts from Elliot's, Antigua: implications
for potential source regions and long-distance exchange networks in the
Greater Caribbean. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40(8), 3153-3169.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440313001209

Lecture 5- Mar. 5 Lifeways and Deathways

Weston, D., & Valcárcel Rojas, R. (2016). Communities in contact: health
and paleodemography at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba. ROKSANDIC, Ivan.
Cuban Archaeology in the Caribbean. Gainesville: University Press of
Florida, 83-105.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
308555515_Communities_in_Contact_Health_and_Paleodemography_at_El_
Chorro_de_Maita_Cuba
Mickleburgh, H. L., Hoogland, M. L. P., Laffoon, J. E., Weston, D. A.,
Valcárcel, R., Van Duijvenbode, A., & Mol, A. A. A. (2018). Defining non‐
normative practices in a variable funerary record: Insights from the
Caribbean. A bioarchaeological perspective of atypical mortuary practices:
A geographic and temporal investigation.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322855593_Defining_non-
normative_practices_in_a_variable_funerary_record_insights_from_the_Cari
bbean

Lecture 6- Mar. 12 Diversity

Hofman, C. L., Bright, A. J., Hoogland, M. L., & Keegan, W. F. (2008).
Attractive ideas, desirable goods: examining the Late Ceramic Age
relationships between Greater and Lesser Antillean societies. The Journal
of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 3(1), 17-34.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564890801984097
Nieves-Colón, M. A., Pestle, W. J., Reynolds, A. W., Llamas, B., de la Fuente,
C., Fowler, K., ... & Stone, A. C. (2019). Ancient DNA reconstructs the
genetic legacies of pre-contact Puerto Rico communities. bioRxiv, 765685.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/765685v1.abstract