Module 3: What does the archaeology of ancient farming teach us about future sustainability?

Module 3: What does the archaeology of ancient farming teach us about future sustainability?

Overview

We will investigate the transition from foraging to farming that many human groups experienced over the last 10,000 years, consider how that is relevant to future sustainability, and analyse a relevant dataset.

Objectives

  • Recognize key explanations archaeologists have proposed for the transition to farming
  • Understand how knowledge of past agriculture can guide our future
  • Introduce basic methods of archaeobotany
  • Import data into R, clean it with string manipulation, and visualise in an R Markdown document
  • Analyse and report on a simple dataset about archaeobotany

Preparation

Go to Perusall to access the readings and video to prepare for class (FAQ on Perusall)

Lectures

Lecture slides will be available here after the class.

Discussions

Discuss this module and ask questions on Discord (click here for an invite link - check your spam folder in case the confirmation email goes there). When asking for help with code, please share a screenshot (FAQ: how to take a screenshot) 

Assignments

Assignments for this module are:

    • Before Thursday's class complete 3.1 and 3.2 on Perusall
    • Before Tuesday's class complete 3.3 and 3.4 on Perusall
    • Poll Everywhere responses during scheduled class time
    • Complete the Week 3 Lab report, you can work on this online in RStudio on JupyterHub. We will demonstrate how to do the lab in class on Tuesday, then you will submit your completed lab before the following Tuesday's class. You have one week to complete the lab after seeing the demonstration in class.