HNAB0001EU Introduction to Near Eastern History and Archaeology

The course deals with particular aspects of Near Eastern Ancient and Medieval archaeology, history and social history, from Prehistoric to Islamic 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, 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, so that the sources of information and how they can be approached will be discussed.

Active participation in class is a necessary pre-condition for taking part in the exam. Students will have to take part in group-work, prepare an individual presentation and write a 5 page paper.