Anthropology | Goddesses, Bulls & Mounds
P600 | 27554 | Atalay
Goddess worshipers travel 7,000 miles to eat dirt from the mound of
Çatalhöyük. Saddam Hussein used an 80-foot mound from the ruins of
ancient Nineveh to house anti-aircraft supplies, as Colin Powell
insists that US troops not bomb antiquities in Iraq. Nazis use the
decoration from Neolithic Greek pottery as a symbol of their movement.
The mounds of the Ancient Near East and the clay goddesses, giant
bull (auroch) remains, and other materials contained in those mounds
and other archaeological sites in the region still play an interesting
and important role in our society today.
In this course you will learn about the ancient people and cultures
from the Eastern Mediterranean (including Anatolia, Aegean islands,
mainland Greece) to regions of the Middle East (present day Israel,
Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq). At the same time you will
explore the impact that ancient sites and artifacts from these lands
have in our contemporary world. You will be introduced to prehistoric
societies in the region as we examine evidence for human occupation
and daily life during the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and
Bronze Ages; and explore well-known sites including Knossos, Jericho,
and Çatalhöyük. We will investigate topics such as: womens role in
society, early farming and how it spread to Europe, why people buried
their dead beneath the floors of houses, theories of matriarchy and
the mother goddess; evidence for religion and spiritual practices, and
the everyday foods people ate and how they prepared them.
Format: Illustrated lectures, in-class discussions, debates, and
presentations. No prerequisites.