Project 1. Chaco Culture Collapse
The impressive settlements of Chaco Canyon were abandoned around
AD 1300. Why did this sophisticated culture disappear? Archaeologists
have studied the nearby northern San Juan region, especially
southwestern Colorado, for centuries, but you have identified an
archaeological site that could help us understand the dynamics of
population and social interactions in this area. You have decided to
test two possible causes for this collapse, warfare and ecological stress
produced by a prolonged drought. In order to address this question,

you will need to reconstruct the ancient diet and environment. You will
also want to investigate what ties your site had with the Chaco culture,
and uncover any evidence of warfare at the site. Finally, dating the
site will critical to your research. You can see remains of buildings
from the surface, including a possible housing unit and a subterranean
round structure that might be a ceremonial structure (Kiva). There is
also a large midden (trash heap). Note that organic materials like
wood and bone preserve very well in the arid climate of the
Southwest.
Project 2. Uruk and the Origins of Urbanism
Looting of important archaeological sites in southern Iraq has run
rampant since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. The Iraqi State
Board of Antiquties and Heritage (SBAH) is particularly concerned
about the ancient site of Uruk (modern Warka), and has put out a call
for archaeological projects to both help document and protect the site.
But unfortunately, salvage concerns alone are not enough to obtain
funding from organizations like the National Science Foundation or the
National Geographic Society, so you have to come up with a good
research design. The earliest urban settlements arose in Mesopotamia
during the Ubaid period (5300-4100 BC), but the first true cities and
states emerged during the succeeding Uruk period (c. 4100-3100 BC).
Uruk was one of the largest of these first cites, covering an area of
over 1000 acres and with a population estimated at over 50,000. The
sacred center of the city with it’s famous Anu Ziggerat (pyramid-like
temple platform) is well known. Less is known about how the urban
space was organized. Did the rich and poor live together in the same
areas, or were the wealthy segregated into an elite quarter of the city?
Was craft production (ceramics, metallurgy, weaving, etc.) organized
at the household level, or was it controlled by the emerging city-state
into a separate craft quarter? Did this change at all between the earlier
Ubaid period and the later Uruk phase? In order to address this
question, you will need to think carefully about sampling, because of
Uruk’s large size, and dating, in order to establish that you have the
right phases at the site, which was occupied over a long period of
time.
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