OLLI 20086 Introduction to Archaeology: Fact and Fiction

Course Instructor: Ivy Faulkner-Gentry

Contact Information: faul0078@umn.edu

Course Website: www.olliarchaeology.weebly.com

Course Description: This course is designed as a survey course of archaeology sites, methods and finds.
Students will be introduced to major archaeological sites through both popular media reports, rumors
and legends, and actual archaeological data. This course is intended to teach students how to use the
scientific method as well as critically evaluate science reports in the media In addition to learning about
archaeology.

Course Readings: Course readings will be provided via the course website. Readings generally comprise
of selections from Kenneth L. Feders 2018 edition of Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and
Pseudoscience in Archaeology (Oxford University Press) as well as both academic and popular articles.

Note: Syllabus is subject to change.

Week One: Sept. 19th

Lecture- The Dead and the Undead

Plague Bodies
Lepers
Bog Bodies
Mummies
Vampires

Readings-

Feder 2018: xxi-15

Milella et al. 2015. Patterns of Irregular Burials in Western Europe (1st-5th Century AD).
PLoS ONE, Vol. 10 (6), pp. 1-16.
Killgrove, Kristina. 2015. Not All Strange Burials are Vampires or Zombies. Forbes.
Close, James. 2016. Archaeology of the Undead. The Atlantic.

Optional Readings-

Feder 2018: 16-43

Week Two: Sept. 26th

Lecture- Lost Cities

El Dorado
Atlantis
 Bosnian Pyramids
Lost Civilizations on Mars
Thonis-Heracleion and Canopis
Lost City of the Monkey God

Readings-

Feder 2018: 161-185

Begley, Christopher. 2017. The Lost City thats not lost, not a city, and doesnt need to
be discovered. Sapiens.
Osborne, Samuel. 2016. Ciudad Blanca: Lost White City of the Monkey God unearthed
in Honduras. The Independent.

Week Three: Oct. 3rd

Lecture- Mysterious Manuscripts

Rosetta stone
Linear A and B
Mayan glyphs
Dead sea scrolls
Piri Reis map
Rongorongo
Voynich manuscript

Readings-

Gibbs, Nicholas. 2017. Voynich Manuscript: The Solution. TLS.

Grady, Constance. 2017. The 600-year-old riddle of the Voynich Manuscript,
explained. Vox.

Week Four: Oct. 10th

Lecture- Ancient Aliens?

Stonehenge
Cyclopean Walls
Nazca lines
Pyramids
Easter Island

Readings-

Feder 2018: 209-247

Week Five: Oct. 17th

Lecture- Biblical Archaeology

Shroud of Turin
Talpiot Tomb
James Ossuary
Ark of the Covenant
Bethsaida-Julias

Readings-

Paton, Callum. 2017. Israel: Archaeologists Hunting the Ark of the Covenant believe
Ancient Relic may have held Pagan Gods. Newsweek.
David, Ariel. 2017. "The Real Ark of the Covenant May Have Housed Pagan Gods."
Haaretz.
Rogers, James. 2017. "Experts Hunt for Biblical Tabernacle that Housed the Ark of the
Covenant." Fox News.
Ben Zion, Ilan. 2017. "Archaeologists to Break Ground at Biblical Site where Ark of the
Covenant Stood." The Times of Israel.

Week Six: Oct. 24th

Lecture- Archaeological Hoaxes

Piltdown Man
Runestones
Etruscan Terracotta Warriors
Cardiff Giant

Readings-

Feder 2018: 44-87

Week Seven: Oct. 31st

Lecture- The Mean and Misunderstood

Neanderthals
Amazons
Vikings
Cannibals
"Barbarians"

Readings-
 Hedenstiema-Jonson, Charlotte, et al. 2017. "A Female Viking Warrior Confirmed by
Genomics." American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Ellis Nutt, Amy. 2017. "Wonder Woman Lived: Viking Warrior Skeleton Identified as
Female." The Lilly adapted from The Washington Post.
Norton, Holly. 2017. "How the Female Viking Warrior was Written out of History." The
Guardian.

Optional Readings-

McLeod, Shane. 2011. "Warriors and Women: the Sex Ratio of Norse Migrants to
Eastern Europe up to 900 AD." Early Medieval Europe, Vol. 19 (3), p. 332-353.
Rocket, Stubby the. 2014. "Better Identification of Viking Corpses Reveals: Half of the
Warriors were Female." Tor.

Week Eight: Nov. 7th

Lecture- What the #$*! Do We Know?

Goddess figurines
Hopewell mounds
Megalithic symbols
Antikythera mechanism

Readings-

Feder 2018: 133-160