Instructions
Background: Over the course of this semester, we've evaluated all kinds of fantastical claims about ancient artifacts and ancient cultures.
Through the examples covered in your text and in class, you've been exposed to many of the common kinds of dubious arguments used to further pseudoarchaeological claims.
Now it's your turn to use what you've learned to engage in a little bit of pseudoarchaeological theorizing on your own (followed by debunking your own argument).
The purpose of this exercise is for you to demonstrate what you've learned this semester by 1) first writing an uniformed interpretation of a set of images (described in the exploration hand out) and 2) then describing the problematic aspects of your uniformed interpretation using specific concepts and examples we've covered over the course of the semester.
Provide a short example of what I'm looking for in the assignment hand out.
Anticipated Time Required: 5 hours
Instructions:
(1) Read the full instructions to this assignment in the associated hand out and images.
(2) Examine the attached images and come up with your own pseudo-interpretation.
(3) Write your interpretation and essay addressing the problems in your interpretation. Be sure to address all parts of the writing prompt for parts I and II.
Part I: Your own pseudoarchaeological interpretation
Instructions:
For this assignment you get to be a bit creative and write your own pseudoarchaeological interpretation of a set of images I've provided. These images all represent public statues, buildings, monuments, or sculptural art in Washington, D.C.
I want you to pretend that you're living in the year 6016 and information about and knowledge of U.S. culture and history have long been lost to the ravages of time. Unfortunately, knowledge of good archaeological theory and practice has also largely been lost. but somehow bad cable television has persisted. Pretend you are a member of a team sent to uncover the remains of what had been Washington D.C. for the purposes of a cable television show called "Usa Unearthed". You are responsible for writing entertaining and compelling narrative interpreting these statues and monuments but unfortunately, you know virtually nothing of the culture of the people who made them. how they were made, or anything about the context.
For this portion of the assignment, write a speculative narrative of approximately 400¬600 words (more is fine if you feel inspired) interpreting all or some of the provided images in the vein of interpretations we've covered in our explorations of pseudoarchaeology in this class (think America Unearthed, Ancient Aliens, and our discussion of "Pacal's Rocket," etc.). What might someone with no knowledge of U.S. culture make of these monuments and the people who built them? Make claims about what you think these statues represent or how they were used in society? What do they say about the people who lived in this city? What do they mean? How were they built?
Have fun with your narrative but remember that the purpose of this assignment isn't to just make something up, but instead to demonstrate what you've learned this semester by mirroring the kinds of dubious interpretations we've been learning about. You should try to be specific in your interpretations and refer to specific images. When referring to images, use the numbers provided on the image handout. You should reference at least 4 images specifically in your narrative.
Hint In the next section of this assignment I ask you to detail some of the problems with your uniformed interpretation using concepts and examples from the class. Thus, it would be helpful for you think of specific problematic issues to include in your narrative.
Part II: Finding issues with your own argument
Instructions:
For this portion of the assignment, use what you've learned over the course of the semester to highlight the issues with your pseudoarchaeological interpretation. Write a short essay (400-600 words) outlining the problematic aspects of your narrative from part 1. Take specific claims and explain the potential pitfalls of making such interpretations without other information on U.S. culture or the context in which these objects were found. Where possible, relate your criticisms of these claims to examples we have discussed in class. You may also discuss other types of data that would be useful in addressing your claims from Part 1 or other archaeological examples we did not discuss in class.
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