REL
226: Biblical Archaeology, Fall 2003.
SYLLABUS
RJDKnauth
Class
time MWF 10:15-11:20am B307. Office hours MWF 2-4pm, T/Th 3-4pm, or by appointment.
Tel: 321-4298(GAYT), home: 326-3822. Office D-320. Email:
knauth@lycoming.edu
This course will introduce basic archaeological method and explore how archaeological findings can clarify and illustrate the meaning and historical background of Biblical texts.
The
course has three sections:
1) The Pre-Israelite Period (Neolithic to Late Bronze)
Textbooks:
Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible
Course
Requirements:
1) Attendance and informed
participation (readings having been completed) at all class sessions will be
expected (worth 10% of the final grade).
The attendance policy for this course is that there are no excused
absences without a written note from a doctor or parent/guardian regarding a
serious family or medical emergency (e.g. requiring hospitalization).
Each set of 3 absences lowers your final grade 1%.
Lectures
will be liberally illustrated with slides and may diverge significantly from
the textbook, so attendance is crucial.
2) Weekly Quizzes (10 total, worth 10% of the final grade) will be given at
the beginning of class each Wednesday on the readings for that week.
3)
Period Outlines (5 total, worth 10%
of grade, due Wednesdays) on EB,
MB, LB, Iron I, Iron II.
*Do your own work and keep a copy! Outline forms
and samples for
Neolithic & Chalcolithic
periods provided.*
4) Students wishing to make up for absences or missed quizzes may
submit Chapter Outline Summaries (1-2 pages, typed) of the assigned chapter
from Mazar for that week.
5)
Tests on each of the first two
sections (each worth 10% of the final grade) will be non-cumulative, covering
mainly factual issues of methodology, historical background, and scholarly
theories relevant to the material. Review sheets will be handed out in advance.
6) A short Research Project (worth 25% of the final grade) will be required on
an archaeological site or topic. Topics
will be chosen and signed up for in advance from the list at the end of this
syllabus. Each student will give
a 15 min. illustrated Power Point presentation, with a 1-pg summary handout
for the class, and a 6-pg write-up to be handed in along with a printout copy
of your presentation.
7) A Final Exam (3 hours, worth 25% of the final grade), covering the entire course, will be given during exam period. This exam will consist of essay questions, for which there will be some choice, concerning broader themes and concepts from the entire course. It will be thematic and issue oriented. Review sheets, listing some of the main themes and issues of the course, will be handed out on the last day of class, and will be the basis for the final exam questions. Use the student reports, returned midterms, review sheet, period outlines and quizzes to review. In addition, students will be allowed to bring a 2-page “study-buddy” (based on the Period Outlines) into the final exam, to be handed in with the exam. These should contain a collection of facts, dates and data which you can use to flesh out your exam essays. However, you cannot write out your essay answers in advance on these sheets, and YOU MUST DO YOUR OWN WORK! This is to help you study for the exam, and pooling information will not help you as much as doing your own.
8) Extra Credit may be granted for watching archaeology-related documentary programs on the Discovery channel, Learning channel, History channel, etc. To get credit, the student must submit a 1-2 page summary (typed) of relevant archaeological or biblical points from the program, along with the title of the program, the channel, and the date and time watched.
Schedule
of Classes:
Section 1: The Pre-Israelite Period
Week
1: Introduction, Methodology
Review “Useful
Terms” handout.
M (Aug. 25)- Intro: Archeologist as detective: what is left? The building of a
tell.
W (Aug. 27)- The Land of Israel. Overview of Biblical
History.
F
(Aug. 29)- Pottery Chronology. Read Cross From Epic to Canon
ch. 12 (on Reserve).
Week
2: Pre-History: Neolithic,
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze (8500-2000 BCE)
Skim Mazar ch. 2-3 (along with provided Period Outlines), read Mazar ch.
4 (creating your own outline).
M (Sept. 1)- The Neolithic Revolution (8500-4300).
Jericho.
W (Sept. 3)- Chalcolithic Innovations (4300-3300).
Teleilat Ghassul, En Gedi.
F (Sept. 5)-
Early Bronze – Emerging Cities, Writing (3300-2000).
Arad. *Quiz 1.
*EB
(Early Bronze) Period Outline due Friday (fill in
provided form based on Mazar ch. 4;
use provided sample outlines for
Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods as a
model).
Week
3: Middle Bronze- Patriarchal
Period, Canaanite City-States (2000-1550 BCE)
M (Sept. 8)- EBIV/MBI Chaotic Interlude. Amorite people movements.
ANE
Texts: Laws, Treaties, Mari letters, Nuzi parallels, Myths.
W (Sept. 10)-
MB Global politics, chronologies.
Pottery, scarabs, seals. Major sites.
F
(Sept. 12)- Build-up of tells: rampart walls & glacis; chariots
& siege warfare. Palaces & temples.
*Quiz 2. *MB Period
Outline due.
Week
4: Late Bronze - Under Egyptian
Domination (1550-1200 BCE)
M (Sept. 15)- Amarna Age, international trade and cosmopolitan culture.
Egyptian
and Canaanite religion (burials, temples and art).
W (Sept. 17)- Searching for the Exodus. Rameses, Hapiru, Hyksos.
*Quiz 3. *LB Per.
Outline due.
Week
5: Review and Test for
Pre-Israelite Period
M (Sept. 22)- Review: History, Culture, Sources, Methodology. *Hand out Exam Review Sheets.
W (Sept. 24)- Review for Test:
Archaeology Jeopardy I.
F
(Sept. 26)- *Test 1* on
Mazar ch. 1-7: Methodology, Pre-Israelite period.
Section 2: The Israelite Nation
Week
6: Iron Age I - The Tribal
League (1200-1000 BCE)
M (Sept. 29)- Issues of conquest/settlement; major changes in settlement
patterns.
W (Oct. 1)- Period of judges: unity/disunity. Ethnicity,
"distinctiveness."
*Quiz 4. *Iron I P.O. due.
Week
7: Iron IIA - The United
Monarchy (1000-925 BCE)
Read Mazar ch. 9, ch. 12 re Phoenicia; Atlas pp. 18-19, 64, 66, 80.
*Sign up for Research Topics* (sign-up sheet on door of D-320,
first-come basis)!
M (Oct. 6)- The Golden Age of Israel - a vacuum of power.
W (Oct. 8)- Solomonic Temple, Jerusalem as Regal/Ritual City. *Quiz 5.
F
(Oct. 10)- “Jerusalem the Golden.” Iron Age History and
Politics-
overview.
*No P.O. due.
Week
8: Iron IIB-C
- Divided Monarchy: North (925-722 BCE) Phoenician
Alliance
M (Oct. 13)- Dan, Hazor, Megiddo. Gates, Walls, Houses and Water Systems.
Competing ideologies and iconography. Kuntillet Ajrud.
W (Oct. 15)- Samaria: founded as
capital in 882; fall to Assyria in 722 BCE.
Syro-Ephraimite Coalition and "Assyrian Crisis." Slides of Assyria. *Quiz 6.
Meet in Computer Lab. Bring your research project materials.
*No P.O. due. Map out presentation on paper. Scan pictures.
Week
9: Iron IIB-C
- Divided Monarchy: South (925-586 BCE) Assyrian
Domination
M (Oct. 20)-
W (Oct. 22)-
*No P.O. due. Work on Presentation.
Week
10: Israelite Material Culture and Stager
-
Read Mazar ch. 11 and Stager,
M (Oct. 27)-
W (Oct. 29)-
Week
11: Stager -
Read Stager,
Section 3: Student Team Reports (15 minutes each, including time for discussion)**
Week 12: Student Presentations on Thematic Topics. Use Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (on reserve) plus the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (in reference) to start.
M (Nov. 10)- __________ 1.
__________ 2.
__________ 3.
__________ 4.
W
(Nov. 12)- __________ 5.
__________
6.
__________ 7. Jewelry, Art, Musical
Instruments, Seals and other
material culture of value
__________ 8.
F (Nov. 14)- __________ 9. Palaces
__________ 10. Temples
__________ 11. Graves/burial practices
__________ 12. Idols/icons, altars,
other religious artifacts
Week
13: Student Presentations on Site Case Studies: Major
Finds and Problems
M
(Nov. 17)- __________ 13.
__________
14. Hazor
__________ 15.
Megiddo
__________ 16. Jericho and Lachish
W (Nov. 19)- __________ 17. Shechem and Gezer
__________ 18. Samaria
__________ 19. Tel Dan
__________ 20. Jerusalem
F (Nov.
21)- Special Presentation on
Idalion, Cyprus (TBA)
**These will all be Team Projects - 15 min. each, with independent write-ups.
Turn in
your 6-pg Project Write-up and a hard-copy of your Presentation in class when
you present.*
Plan to turn in your 1-pg summary handout for the class a day earlier so that
it may be copied for the class.
*Unless there is a serious excuse such as a major
illness (with a note from the doctor), family emergency (with a note from
parents), or other serious problem, late write-ups will be penalized at the
discretion of the instructor.
Week
14: Film on "The Big
Dig." Thanksgiving Break. No
Reading.
M (Nov. 24)- Film: “The Big Dig.”
W (Nov. 26), F (Nov. 28)- *Off for Thanksgiving, No Class.*
Week
15: Persian Period and Beyond,
Final Exam Review. *Exam Review Sheet handed out.*
M (Dec. 1)- Persian Period Restoration, 2nd Temple; Hellenistic Period
(slides).
W (Dec. 3)- New
Testament (Roman) period, Masada, Qumran and Dead Sea Scrolls (slides).
F (Dec. 5)-
Review for Final Exam
A
3-hour Final Exam on the entire course will follow during Exam week (Dec.
8-12).
Don't forget to
prepare your "study-buddies"!
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