Course Syllabus
The course schedule or readings are subject to change. Any changes made will be announced in class as well as on the course Canvas website, with at least a week’s notice.
Part I: Archaeology of Violence and Warfare
Week 1: Introduction to the Course
March 28– Introduction to the Course: Defining Warfare, Violence and Conflict
Required Reading:
March 30- The Anthropology of Warfare
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Glowacki, L., Wilson, M.L., Wrangham, R.W. 2020 "The evolutionary anthropology of war" Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 178, pages 963-982
- Otterbein, K.F. 2009 The Anthropology of War, Waveland Press
- Nielsen, A.H., W.H. Walker eds., 2009 Warfare in Cultural Context: Practice, Agency and the Archaeology of Violence, University of Arizona Press
- Thrope, J.N. 2003 “Anthropology, Archaeology and the Origin of Warfare” World Prehistory 35(10); pages 145-165
Week 2: Violence and Early Humans
April 4- Primates, Hominids and Early Humans: Are We Programmed to Fight?
Map Quiz at the Start of Class
Required Reading:
- Givens, R.D. 2009, “Aggression in Nonhuman Primates: Implications for Understanding Human Behavior” in Nielsen and Walker 2009 Warfare in Cultural Context: Practice, Agency and the Archaeology of Violence, University of Tucson Press; pages 263-280
- Otterbein, K. 2009 The Anthropology of War, Waveland Press. “Origins of War: Two Paths” pages 65-82
Recommended Reading:
April 6: Class Canceled
Week 3: The Archaeology of Warfare Part I
April 11- The Case for Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Middle East
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Pongratz-Leisten, B. “Sacrifice in the Ancient Middle East: Offering and Ritual Killing” in G.M. Schwartz and A. Porter (2011), Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Middle East, pages 291-304
- Alberto Ravinell Green, The Role of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Middle East (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1975)
April 13- The Evidence of Warfare: Bioarchaeology and Iconography
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Battini, L. 2016. Making Pictures of War: Realia et Imaginaria in the Iconography of the Ancient Near East. Archaeopress Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology.
- Nigro, L. 1998 “The Two Steles of Sargon: Iconography and Visual Propaganda at the Beginning of Royal Akkadian Relief” Iraq 60; pages 85-102
- Pearson, M.P., Thorpe, I.J.N, eds. 2005 Warfare, Violence and Slavery in Prehistory. BAR International Series 1374, Hadrian Book Ltd
- Soltysiak, A. 2017 “Antemortem Cranial Trauma in Ancient Mesopotamia” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27, pages 118-128
- Willey, P. 1990 Prehistoric Warfare on the Great Plains: Skeletal Analysis of the Crow Creek Massacre Victims, Garland
Week 4: The Archaeology of Warfare Part II
April 18- The Evidence of Warfare: Weapons (and Tools)
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Trimm, C. 2017 Fighting for the King and the Gods: A Survey of Warfare in the Ancient Middle East. SBL Press. Chapter 7 “Weapons and Armor” pages 513-552
- Shimelmitz R., and Rosenberg D. 2013 “Dull-edges Weapons and Low-level Fighting in the Late Prehistoric Southern Levant” An Evolutionary Paradigm for the Study of Human Aggression” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 23(3); pages 433-452
April 20 – The Evidence of Warfare: Fortifications and Battlefields
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Burgess, C., Topping P., Mordant C., and Maddison M., eds. 1988 Enclosures and Defenses in the Neolithic of Western Europe. BAR I.S. no. 403(i), British Archaeological Reports
- Burke, A. 2008 Walled Up to Heaven: The Evolution of Middle Bronze Age Fortification Strategies in the Levant. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana
Week 5: Violence Before Warfare?
April 25– Discussion Class Number 1: Why do we fight?
No assigned readings, but come prepared to talk in groups for a graded discussion.
April 27 – Earliest Warfare? Raiding and Small-Scale Violence
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Kelly, R.C., 2007. Warless Societies and the Origin of War. University of Michigan
- Otterbein, K., 2004. How War Began. Texas A&M University Press
Part II: A Chronology of Warfare
Week 6 – Warfare at the Rise of Urbanism (ca. 4000-2000 BCE)
May 2- The Kings of Akkad: The First Empire
Final Project Subject Due at Start of Class
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Ferrill, A. 1985 The Origins of War from the Stone Age to Alexander the Great, Thames and Hudson
- Gabriel, R., and A. Metz, 1991 From Sumer to Rome: The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press
May 4 - The Trojan War: Fact or Fiction
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Bryce, 2006 The Trojans and Their Neighbors (2006), Routledge
Week 7- The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600-1100 BCE)
May 9 - The Late Bronze Age and the Battle of Kadesh, Part I: Battle Prep
Required Reading:
Additional Reading on Egyptian Military and Weapons
Additional Reading on Hittite Military and Weapons
Recommended Reading:
- Bryce 2003 Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Middle East, “The Interaction of the Players: Imperial Administration and International Relationships” pages 38-49 and “The Club of Royal Brothers” pages 70-88
- Pearson, W. 2010 “Ramses II and the Battle of Kadesh: A Miraculous Victory?” Ancient History, Resources for Teachers, 40:1, pages 1-20
- Spalinger A. 2003 “The Battle of Kadesh: The Chariot Frieze at Abydos” Aeypten und Levante, Vol 13, pages 163-199
- Spalinger, A.J. 2011 “Military Institutions and Warfare: Pharaonic” in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Vol. 1B. Lloyd, ed. pages 425-445
- Spalinger, A.J. 2005 War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom, Blackwell Publishing
- Partridge, R.B., 2003 Fighting Pharaohs: Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Egypt, Peartree Publishing
May 11- The Late Bronze Age and the Battle of Kadesh - Reenactment
Week 8- Total Empire: The Late Bronze Age to the Neo-Assyrians (ca. 1600-500 BCE)
May 16- Collapse, and the ‘Sea Peoples’
Battle of Kadesh Write Up Due at the Start of Class
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Ben-Dor Evian, S. 2016 “The Battles between Ramesses III and the ‘Sea-Peoples:’ When, Where and Who? An Iconic Analysis of the Egyptian Reliefs” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 143(2), pages 151-168
- Ben-Dor Evian, S., 2017 “Ramesses III and the ‘Sea-peoples’: Towards a New Philistine Paradigm” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 36(3), pages 267-285
- Jung, R. 2017 “The Sea Peoples After Three Millennia: Possibilities and Limitations of Historical Reconstruction” In Sea Peoples Up-To-Date,M. Fischer and T. Bürge, eds., Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, pages 23-42
- Oren, E.D. 2000 The Sea Peoples and Their World: A Reassessment. University of Pennsylvania Press
May 18- The Neo-Assyrian War Machine: Death and Destruction
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- De Backer, F. 2009 “Some Basic Tactics of Neo-Assyrian Warfare 2: Siege Battles” State Archives of Assyria Bulletin, XVIII, pages 265-286
- Hackett, J.W., 1989, Warfare in the Ancient World Facts on File “The Assyrians” pages 36-53
- Jacoby, R. 1991 “The Representation and Identification of Cities on Assyrian Reliefs” Israel Exploration Journal, Vol 41:1/3, pages 112-131
Week 9- Biblical Warfare and the Persians (ca. 500-300 BCE)
May 23- Biblical Warfare: The Battle of Lachish
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Bagg, A.M. 2013 “Palestine under Assyrian Rule: A New Look at the Assyrian Imperial Policy in the West. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 133:1, pages 119-144
- Katz, H. and Faust, A. 2012 “The Assyrian Destruction Layer at Tel ‘Eton” Israel Exploration Journal, 62:1, pages 22-53.
- Ussishkin, D. 1980 “The ‘Lachish Reliefs” and the City of Lachish” Israel Exploration Journal Vol 30.3/4, pages 174-195
May 25 – Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Piller, C.K. 2013 “The Cadusii in Archaeology? Remarks on the Achaemenid Period (Iron Age IV) in Gilan and Talesh” Iran and the Caucasus 17, pages 115-151
- Razmjou (2013) Curtis J. & Tallis N. (eds.), Forgotten Empire. The World of Ancient Persia, (British Museum Press) “Transport and Warfare” pages 210-235
- Holland, T. 2005 Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West, Anchor Books
- Bartolini, P. 1988 The Phoenicians Bompiana; “Army, Navy and Warfare” pages 132-139
- Morillo S., Black J. Lococo P. 2008 War in World History: Society, Technology and War from Ancient Times to the Present, Volume 1, McGraw Hill
- van Creveld, M. 1989 Technology and War from 2000 BC to the Present, The Free Press
Week 10 - Alexander and the Modern Day
May 30 - Alexander the Great and the Rise of the Greeks
Required Reading:
Recommended Reading:
- Borza, E.N. 1987 “The Royal Macedonian Tombs and the Paraphernalia of Alexander the Great” Phoenix, 41:2, pages 105-121
- Carey, B.T. 2009 Warfare in the Ancient World, Ch. 4 “Republican Rome at War: The Rise and Evolution of the Legion” pages 90-120
- Chrissanthos, S.G. 2008 Warfare in the Ancient World: From the Bronze Age to the Fall of Rome Praeger Series on the Ancient World
- Hackett, J.W., 1989, Warfare in the Ancient World Facts on File. “Alexander the Great” pages 104-129
- Roth, J.P. 2009 Roman Warfare Cambridge University Press
June 1- Discussion Class: Warfare and Colonialism in the Modern Middle East
No assigned readings, but come prepared to talk in groups for a graded discussion
Final Project Due June 7, by 11:59pm
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|