Ancient Middle America

Maya stelae of
Copán, Honduras,
Frederick Catherwood, 1839

Announcements

• In the News
  from Anthropology in the News -- Texas A&M

Feature of the Day

• Introduction to Ancient Middle American (slides 01A)
  
  
  • Question: "What do I already know about Ancient Middle America?"
    • Results
  • Introduction to You: Meet Yourselves
  • What do you expect to get out of this class?
    • What would you like to know about your profs?
      
      
  • laptops
    
    
  • Textbooks
    
    
  • Assignments
    • listed on the calendar syllabus for Spring 2008
    • listed on the web text assignments semester summary page
      
      
  • Orientation to the course
    • Requirements
      
      
      • participation
        
        
        • MAforum (presentation/discussion next time)
          
          
          • there will be 15 forums in total, usually but not always once a week
            
            
          • At a minimum of "once a week" post a meaningful message on the class discussion on-line chat board
            
            
            • at least one topic of your weekly posting(s) should be related to the class topic(s) of the week
              
              
              • i.e., in Week 02, for example, you should discuss a topic related to what is happening in class during Week 02
                
                
              • at the very end of the semester, i.e., in Week 15, post a course evaluation covering the entire semeste of the class itself
                
                
              • you are encouraged to post as many messages as you wish
                
                
                
      • Case Study -- more about this next week
      • on "Middle American Personality"
      • (call your paper something like YourUMDid_case_study_1)
      • more about this next time
      • Due end of Week 13
        
        
        
      • exams (a midterm and a final) -- more about this next week

        • basic information
        • makeup exams
        • other exam information
        • extra credit (optional)
        • eGradebook
          
          
          
    • Syllabus Information on the Web
      • Spring 2008 Class Calendar
      • weekly / daily class schedules: Week 01 Day 01 . . .
      • assignments summary (alternate format than calendar)
      • office hours
      • special facilities
      • overview of course
        
        
        
    • Course Web Pages
      • Welcome Page
      • Times to Remember
      • Site Map
        
        
    • Web information on New Discoveries can be found at Anthropology in the News -- Texas A&M

Assignments

Notes

• Tuesday 22 January 2008: Finished Introduction to Ancient Middle American (slides 01A)
• Tuesday 22 January 2008: Didn't do MAforum
  

Announcements

• Hardcopy handouts for today include:
  
  
  1. Map: Major Political Divisions of Mexico and Central America
     Source: Middle America: A Culture History of Heartland and Frontiers, Mary W. Helms
     (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975), p. 4
     
     
  2. Map: Major Archaeological Sites of Mesoamerica (general sites map)
     
     
  • compare this with the sites map for the video, Sentinels of Silence
    

Features of the Day

• Question: "What do I already know about Ancient Middle America?"
  • Results
    
    
  
  
• Review of "terms/concepts" and "notes" of videotape viewing guide: Woman of Chamula [Maya]
  (14 min., 1969, VC 128)
  
  
  
• Maps
  
  
  1. Map hardcopy handout: Major Political Divisions of Mexico and Central America
     Source: Middle America: A Culture History of Heartland and Frontiers, Mary W. Helms
     (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975), p. 4
     
     
  2. Map hardcopy handout: Major Archaeological Sites of Mesoamerica
     (general sites map)
     
     
  • compare this with the sites map for the video, Sentinels of Silence
    
    
  3. Other maps relating to Mesoamerica can be found on the Main Mesoamerican Maps WebPage
     
     
  4. Other maps in general can be found on the General Maps Page
     
     
     
• MAforum
  
  
  • there will be 15 forum topics in total, usually, but not always, once a week (for a total of 75 points)
    
    
  • At a minimum of "once a week" post a meaningful message on the class discussion on-line chat board
    
    
    • at least one topic of your "weekly" posting(s) should be related to the class topic(s) of the week
      
      
      • i.e., For Topic 02, for example, you should discuss the topic announced both in class and via e-mail
        
        
      • you are encouraged to post as many messages as you wish
        
        
      • at the very end of the semester, i.e., in Week 15, post a course evaluation covering the entire semeste of the class itself
        
        
        
• Introduction to Anthropology: The Nature of Anthropology
  

• The Main Characteristics of Anthropology (slides)
  
  
  

• Introduction: Mesoamerica, The Area and the People (time permitting)
  
  

• Regions
• Cultures
• Sites
• Timeline and Stages (Periods)
  • General Timelines Web Page
    
    
• Other WebSites

Old Business

Assignments

Notes

• Thursday, 24 January 2008: Finished The Main Characteristics of Anthropology (slides) to ca. #20, comparative methods, Tehuacán.