Introduction to Near Eastern History and Archaeology

The course deals with particular aspects of Near Eastern archaeology, history and social history, from Prehistoric to the classical periods. Archaeology draws its knowledge from the material remains, such as e.g. architecture, burials, and pottery in their social and archaeological context to reconstruct social and political history, development of hierarchy, history of technology, power and ideology etc. Assyriology is based on textual evidence and reconstructs e.g. religion, philosophy, literature, and the understanding of science. There will also be a short introduction to the theory and methods of Archaeology and Assyriology, in order to discuss the sources of information and their interpretation.

Active participation in class is a necessary pre-condition for taking part in the exam (75 % presence). Students will have to take part in group-work and write a 5-page paper.