Projectile Point Near Anthropology Writing 01
Choose only one option, either option 1 or option 2.
LAB Week 3 (Do one of the following two options; your response should be 1½ to 2 pages in length and double-spaced.)
OPTION 1 Week 3 Lab
For this third lab, use Google Earth (details on access below) to examine two archaeological sites from the following list of those mentioned in your textbook:
New World: Caracol, Teotihuacan
Middle East: Erebuni, Tell Brak
SE Asia: Angkor, Borobudur
Remembering your discussion of “site” from the previous Lab, write a description of what you can tell about the sites you selected based on a birds-eye view. For example, how large is the site (in approximate feet or meters)? What geographical features (such as rivers, mountains, etc.) are close by? Can you see or identify any features (stone walls, house pits, monuments, etc.) from the air? Be sure to indicate where your site is located (country or region as specifically as you can) in your answer.
A site I visited recently in Greece provides a good example of what you can observe using Google Earth imaging. In this case, the site boundaries are clearly defined and the partially-restored architecture dating back to 4500 BP is dramatically visible. The powerpoint slides for this week provide the views. To see for yourself, type in “Aphaea, Aegina Greece” in the Google Earth search bar (or in livius.org—see your Week 3 Lecture and other Module connections–go to country Greece and link “Aegina”).
Note: You may use Google maps if you can’t access Google Earth, but it may be less successful. In addition to Google Earth, the livius.org website has many historically-referenced sites which might be useful for this assignment. This webpage provides satellite images of archaeological sites from around the world. You can use this resource to identify an archaeological site that you could then search for in Google Earth, or to get a closer look at certain sites.
A few tips for using Google Earth:
- Google Earth is available either as a desktop download, streaming web client (only available on Firefox and Safari), or mobile application. You can use any of these formats to do the assignment, and all are free. You can also use computers in labs on campus that already have this program downloaded.
- Searching for archaeological sites in Google Earth is easy; once you have opened the program, simply type a specific archaeological site name into the “search” box.
Points: 15
OPTION 2 Week 3 LAB
Let’s think about how museums use the archaeological record. Is this the total picture of what archaeology is? See, as an example, the “Toronto Underfoot” online museum exhibit from the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum, Canada): https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/toronto-underfoot (Links to an external site.)Answer the following questions based on the online exhibit:
- Note how the ROM uses its specimens in an online format. What kinds of artifacts are illustrated and discussed in “Toronto Underfoot”? What kind of information is provided about the objects?
- Review the video of visiting researcher Dr. Metin Eren at the ROM at the bottom of the page, then click on the projectile point near “Midtown Toronto” on the map. What did Dr. Eren find in the ROM exhibit hall that was a particularly important discovery, and why was it significant?
- How does the ROM make a connection for the viewer of the archaeological heritage to be found “underfoot” within the Toronto city area? How do they connect the prehistoric artifacts to people living in Toronto today?