SEAFOOD AND CIVILIZATION


Instructor: Robin Fox (Anthropology) Freshman Seminar: 090-101-56, Tuesday, 11.30 – 2.10, RAB 110a READINGS AND FILMS: All readings are on e-reserve except where indicated. The required readings are really quite short. I have included some extra material for those who want to pursue the ideas. The books by Benedict, Diamond, Moseley and Mann, for example, are worth reading in their entirety – later!

  1. The Orthodox Theory: The Anasazi Example
    • Readings:
      • Robin Fox, “The Origins of Social Complexity” from The Challenge of Anthropology (1994) (Read it all but pay particular attention to the introduction, conclusion, and the section “Chaco: The First Apartment Dwellers.”)

      • John Haywood, “What is Civilization” from Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations (2005)

      • (Try to read these before the first class.)

      • Jared Diamond, “The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and their Neighbors” from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)
    • Optional: further information
      • Jared Diamond, “Farmer Power” and “To Farm or not to Farm” and “From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy” in Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997) (not on reserve: some diagrams and tables will be handed out in class)

    • Film: The Chaco Legacy (narrator Stacy Keach) and Ancient America: The Southwest (Odyssey)

  2. Pueblo Indians and the Northwest Coast
    • Readings:
      • Robin Fox as above: (section on “The Southwestern Desert.”)

      • Douglas Schwartz , “Origins of the Great Southwestern Pueblos” from Anthronotes (28:1, 2007, AMNH)

      • Philip Drucker, “Society” from Indians of the Northwest Coast (1955)

    • Optional: further information
      • Ruth Benedict, “The Northwest Coast of America” in Patterns of Culture (1934) (also “The Pueblos of New Mexico” – not on e-reserve.)

      • Robin Fox: sections on Cochiti Pueblo NM, from Participant Observer (2004) – class handout


      • KWAKIUTL: long house and totem pole

    • Film: Ancient America: The Northwest (Odyssey) and In the Land of the War Canoes (Curtis, 1914).

  3. The Calusa of Southwest Florida
    • Readings:
      • Robin Fox as above (section on “Calusa: The Seashell Kingdom”)

      • Darcie A. McMahon and William H. Marquardt, “The Fishing Heritage” “The Calusa” “Calusa Architecture and Engineering” and “The Calusa Legacy” from The Calusa and their Legacy (2004) (This seems like a lot but most of the pages are illustrations, maps etc. There are about fifteen pages of text.)

    • Optional: further information:
      • William H. Marquardt, “The Emergence and Decline of the Calusa” from Societies in Eclipse: Archaeology of the Eastern Woodland Indians, (2001.)


      • Calusa Wolf Mask

    • Film: The Domain of the Calusa (Florida Museum of Natural History)

  4. The Norte Chico of Peru
    • Readings:
      • Charles C. Mann, “Cotton (or Anchovies) and Maize” from 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (2005) (pp.174-189)

      • Charles C. Mann, “Oldest Civilization in the Americas Revealed” in Science, vol. 307:5706, 34. 2005 (Not on e-reserve: will email to you)

      • Napoleon Chagnon: “Hallucinogenic Snuff” excerpts from Yanomamo: The Last Days of Eden (1992)

      • The Wikipedia entry on “Norte Chico Civilization” is quite good)

    • Optional: further information:
      • Michael E. Moseley, “The Preceramic Foundations of Civilization” in The Incas and their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru (2001) (not on e-reserve)

      • Michael E. Moseley, The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (1975) (The classic source - not on e-reserve)

    • Film: The Real Temple of Doom (The History Channel: Digging for the Truth)

  5. Return to Chaco. The Maya Achievement. Roundup.
    • Read – rest of Diamond chapter “The Ancient Ones” and “The Maya Collapses” in Collapse, and rest of Mann chapter in 1491 (on origins of maize).

    • Films:
      • The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (narrated by Robert Redford)

      • Apocalypto (excerpts – directed by Mel Gibson)

    Essay, due at final meeting: John Hayward writes: “Where intensive agriculture is not possible, civilizations cannot arise.” Comment on this in view of what you have learned in the course.


    ZUNI KACHINAS


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