scroll symbol, Mississippian culture, Moundville, Alabama

Introduction to Archaeology

General Syllabus Guidelines

Anth. 220
Fall 2021

Christopher Fennell
and Emma Verstrate

globe, hand and eye symbol, Mississippian culture, Moundville, Alabama

Bears Ears National Monument

Learning Outcomes: This course provides an introduction to theory and methods in archaeological research, data collection, and analysis. This course will familiarize you with the strategies that are employed in the investigation of archaeological remains. This course will familiarize you with the ways in which such research strategies further the aims of an anthropological archaeology. Quizzes and exams provide an opportunity for communicating your learning in response to objective questions, short answer, and short essay prompts. In addition to learning feedback through quizzes and exams, extra credit exercies are available with short essay formats.

Some Tips for Success: Your regular and active participation are of central importance for this course to provide you with both a fun and satisfying educational experience. Good attendance, class preparation, and note-taking practices will be very important for your ability to perform well, particularly on exams and quizzes. You can also obtain extra credit by attending (in-person or virtually) a talk or museum exhibit related to archaeology and submitting a two-page essay on the subject in your Discussion Section in accordance with related guidelines. When taking exams and quizzes and completing written assignments, you will be responsible for knowing the concepts and terms discussed in the assigned readings, in the films shown in class, and in the topics covered in lectures, discussion sections, handouts, and web page or powerpoint summaries.

Each course module (the equivalent of a week in a regular semester) covers a chapter in the textbook. The Compass site will provide some practice quiz questions for each module so you can receive feedback on your understanding of the materials. Plan to spend two hours each week on the readings and taking some practice questions online. In the lectures, the instructors highlight the topics that will be the focus of graded quiz and exam questions.

Inclusivity: The effectiveness of this course is dependent upon the creation of an encouraging and safe classroom environment. Exclusionary, offensive or harmful speech (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.) will not be tolerated and in some cases subject to University harassment procedures. We are all responsible for creating a positive and safe environment that allows all students equal respect and comfort. I expect each of you to help establish and maintain and environment where you and your peers can contribute without fear of ridicule or intolerant or offensive language.

Accommodations: To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603, e-mail disability@illinois.edu or go to the DRES website, https://www.disability.illinois.edu/.

Covid-19, Guidelines: Following University policy, all students are required to engage in appropriate behavior to protect the health and safety of the community. Students are also required to follow the campus COVID-19 protocols. Students who feel ill must not come to class. In addition, students who test positive for COVID-19 or have had an exposure that requires testing and/or quarantine must not attend class. The University will provide information to the instructor, in a manner that complies with privacy laws, about students in these latter categories. These students are judged to have excused absences for the class period and should contact the instructor via email about making up the work. Students who fail to abide by these rules will first be asked to comply; if they refuse, they will be required to leave the classroom immediately. If a student is asked to leave the classroom, the non-compliant student will be judged to have an unexcused absence and reported to the Office for Student Conflict Resolution for disciplinary action. Accumulation of non-compliance complaints against a student may result in dismissal from the University.

Covid-19, Face Coverings: All students, faculty, staff, and visitors are required to wear face coverings in classrooms and university spaces. This is in accordance with CDC guidance and University policy and expected in this class. Please refer to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s COVID-19 website for further information on face coverings. Thank you for respecting all of our well-being so we can learn and interact together productively.

Covid-19, Building Access: In order to implement COVID-19-related guidelines and policies affecting university operations, instructional faculty members may ask students in the classroom to show their Building Access Status in the Safer Illinois app or the Boarding Pass. Staff members may ask students in university offices to show their Building Access Status in the Safer Illinois app or the Boarding Pass. If the Building Access Status says “Granted,” that means the individual is compliant with the university’s COVID-19 policies—either with a university-approved COVID-19 vaccine or with the on-campus COVID-19 testing program for unvaccinated students. Students are required to show only the Building Access Screen, which shows compliance without specifying whether it was through COVID-19 vaccination or regular on-campus testing. To protect personal health information, this screen does not say if a person is vaccinated or not. Students are not required to show anyone the screen that displays their vaccination status. No university official, including faculty members, may ask students why they are not vaccinated or any other questions seeking personal health information.

Academic Integrity: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student Code should also be considered as a part of this syllabus. Students should pay particular attention to Article 1, Part 4: Academic Integrity. Read the Code at the following URL: http://studentcode.illinois.edu/. Academic dishonesty may result in a failing grade. Every student is expected to review and abide by the Academic Integrity Policy. Ignorance is not an excuse for any academic dishonesty. It is your responsibility to read this policy to avoid any misunderstanding. Do not hesitate to ask the instructor(s) if you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, cheating, or any other breach of academic integrity.

Emergency Response Recommendations: Emergency response recommendations can be found at the following website: http://police.illinois.edu/emergency-preparedness/. I encourage you to review this website and the campus building floor plans website within the first 10 days of class. http://police.illinois.edu/emergency-preparedness/building-emergency-action-plans/.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): Any student who has suppressed their directory information pursuant to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) should self-identify to the instructor to ensure protection of the privacy of their attendance in this course. See https://registrar.illinois.edu/academic-records/ferpa/ for more information on FERPA.

Sexual Misconduct Policy and Reporting: The University of Illinois is committed to combating sexual misconduct. Faculty and staff members are required to report any instances of sexual misconduct to the University’s Title IX and Disability Office. In turn, an individual with the Title IX and Disability Office will provide information about rights and options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law enforcement options.

A list of the designated University employees who, as counselors, confidential advisors, and medical professionals, do not have this reporting responsibility and can maintain confidentiality, can be found here: wecare.illinois.edu/resources/students/#confidential.

Other information about resources and reporting is available here: wecare.illinois.edu.

Netiquette: In any social interaction, certain rules of etiquette are expected and contribute to more enjoyable and productive communication. The following are tips for interacting online via e-mail or discussion board messages, adapted from guidelines originally compiled by Chuq Von Rospach and Gene Spafford (1995):

  • Remember that the person receiving your message is someone like you, deserving and appreciating courtesy and respect
  • Avoid typing whole sentences or phrases in Caps Lock
  • Be brief; succinct, thoughtful messages have the greatest effect
  • Your messages reflect on you personally; take time to make sure that you are proud of their form and content
  • Use descriptive subject headings in your e-mails
  • Think about your audience and the relevance of your messages
  • Be careful when you use humor and sarcasm; absent the voice inflections and body language that aid face-to-face communication, Internet messages are easy to misinterpret
  • When making follow-up comments, summarize the parts of the message to which you are responding
  • Avoid repeating what has already been said; needless repetition is ineffective communication
  • Cite appropriate references whenever using someone else's ideas, thoughts, or words.

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Faculty Archaeology Anthropology University

Last updated: August 19, 2021