Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.
The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.
Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.
This course surveys the art and architecture of Mesoamerica, from the ancestral Puebloans in what is today the Southwestern United States, through the homelands of the Mexica, Maya, and Zapotec in Central America, to the Taíno and Chiriquí in the Circum-Caribbean. After first discussing the concept of “Mesoamerica,” we will then explore the material and spatial productions of these Indigenous groups. Each week we will focus on a different urban setting, examining the works communities made and used there, which included sculpture, ceramics, murals, manuscripts, textiles, metalwork, and earthen architecture. Course themes will include—but are not limited to—the portrayal of humans, animals, and sacred figures; urban design, construction, and monumentality; as well as how materials and spaces were used for religious and political purposes.
This course investigates the confluence of archaeology as a discipline, collecting of cultural heritage, and their ongoing roles in the socio-politics of the Western world and Middle East. It focuses primarily on the Middle East, first tracing a narrative history of archaeology in the region during the 19th and early 20th centuries, with its explorers, diplomats, missionaries and gentlemen-scholars. It then examines the relationship of archaeology to the creation of the encyclopedic museum and collecting practices more generally, considering how these activities profoundly shaped the modern world, including the antiquities market and looting. A central theme is the production of knowledge through these activities and how this contributes to aspects of power and (self-)representation.
In the later 19th century, as Baltimore struggled to redefine itself after the Civil War and swelled with massive immigration, the people of the city brought the ancient past into the living present of their urban space. Since 2020, a Classics Research Lab led by Prof. Emily Anderson has examined the realities of those interactions, by closely exploring the social relations surrounding a key collection of ancient material, the Peabody Sculptural Cast Collection—a now disbanded collection of plaster casts of ancient Mediterranean sculpture, founded in 1881. The lab team undertakes ongoing research concerning the people and objects that formed this collection’s urban community in Baltimore, with close interest in matters of access, discrimination and legitimacy, recovery of hidden stories and connections, and bringing to light under- or unrecognized contributions and creative work among the city’s diverse inhabitants. One of the lab’s primary aims has been the construction of a virtual exhibit that re-assembles and rethinks the collection, through a walkable 3D gallery and a series of detailed features concerning the casts’ place in the city. In Fall 2024, part of the lab's work will take us on-site in Baltimore, to directly engage with extant historical sculptural casts.
Climate imagination in early modernity. This is an introduction to study of the literature of climate imagination with a focus on pre-modern literature. During the period 1500-1750, the ground was laid for modern thinking about humans, climate, and their environment. We will explore how affective responses, conceptual frameworks, and storytelling developed around climate crises, including the "little ice age," flood, earthquake, disease, and storm; and around human entanglement with non-human beings and environments in the era of scientific revolution, early capitalist enterprise, early journalism, and colonial settlement. We will focus on English drama, nonfictional essay and journalism, and poetry that all grapple with the representation of climate crisis in Europe and its maritime and colonial worlds. Topics may include: genres of worldmaking (pastoral, georgic, myth); representations of anthropogenic climate change and civic response; race-making, indigeneity, and climate; Extreme Weather journalism; land management, gardens, extraction, forestry, rivers; Health and plague.
The question of what it means to be human requires continual investigation. Anthropology offers conceptual tools and an ethical groundwork for understanding humanity in all its diversity. This course familiarizes students with anthropological concepts and methods. We will engage in critical analysis of a broad range of subjects including language, exchange, class, race, gender, kinship, sexuality, religion, and capitalism.
The question of what it means to be human requires continual investigation. Anthropology offers conceptual tools and an ethical groundwork for understanding humanity in all its diversity. This course familiarizes students with anthropological concepts and methods. We will engage in critical analysis of a broad range of subjects including language, exchange, class, race, gender, kinship, sexuality, religion, and capitalism.
The question of what it means to be human requires continual investigation. Anthropology offers conceptual tools and an ethical groundwork for understanding humanity in all its diversity. This course familiarizes students with anthropological concepts and methods. We will engage in critical analysis of a broad range of subjects including language, exchange, class, race, gender, kinship, sexuality, religion, and capitalism.
The question of what it means to be human requires continual investigation. Anthropology offers conceptual tools and an ethical groundwork for understanding humanity in all its diversity. This course familiarizes students with anthropological concepts and methods. We will engage in critical analysis of a broad range of subjects including language, exchange, class, race, gender, kinship, sexuality, religion, and capitalism.
Historical archaeology might be defined as the study of the modern world's development through investigations of material and archival remains of past societies. Because of its focus on the post-Columbian era, Charles Orser drew attention to the “haunts” of historical archaeology, including colonialism, Eurocentrism, capitalism, and modernity. This course focuses primarily on the field in North America, including its history and development. Historical archaeology now provides crucial perspectives on the silenced, overlooked, and obscured histories and experiences of marginalized peoples. Anthropological approaches enable historical archaeologists to link past events and processes to our current moment and to better understand the enduring legacies of sociopolitical formations and institutions that perpetuate various forms of inequality.
This course explores the craft of ethnography as a mode of research and writing fundamental to anthropology. Through the close reading of several ethnographic works, we will consider the intertwining of description, local concepts, and analysis. We will undertake several observation and writing exercises to learn how to write in an ethnographic mode and translate field research into lively texts.
One of the most significant transformations in human history was the “urban revolution” in which cities, writing, and social classes formed for the first time. In this course, we compare five areas where this development occurred: China, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, and Mesoamerica (Mexico/Guatemala/Honduras/Belize). In each region, we review the physical setting, the archaeological and textual evidence, and the theories advanced to explain the rise (and eventual collapse) of these complex societies.
Climate change, population growth, war - what questions do archaeologists ask about the ancient past, how do they collect relevant evidence, and how do they arrive at satisfying answers to their questions? This course will review major theoretical currents in archaeology including evolutionary, cultural-historical, processual and post-processual approaches and discuss the future of archaeology as a scientific and humanistic discipline. Basic techniques for analyzing major categories of artifacts such as lithics, ceramics, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological materials will also be introduced.
This course is dedicated to the study of the art and material culture of ancient Egypt, spanning from the 5th millennium BCE to the Roman period. The objective of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Egyptian art, with a focus on materiality, effective methods of description and analysis, and a command of bibliography. It will also enable students to practice two fundamental aspects of their future professional life: presenting a paper at a conference and submitting an article to an academic journal. In the initial sessions, we will examine the fundamental principles and conventions that define Egyptian art. We will then investigate the natural resources available to Egyptian craftsmen and artists, including nature, origin, networks, and uses. We will analyze the production of works of art through several case studies, focusing on materiality. Finally, we will reflect on the presence of Egyptian works of art in museums around the world. Moreover, the course will provide an opportunity for discourse on professional matters pertaining to engagement with Egyptian antiquities and works of art. The course will be structured around: lectures by the professor or by guest researchers, with the students participating in a dialogue with the lecturers; sessions dedicated to discussions of articles to be read (with two/three articles per session); oral presentations by the students, with the aim of reproducing the conditions of a colloquium or conference. These will include formal presentations and question-and-answer sessions, with all students taking part. At the conclusion of the semester, students will be required to submit a paper in connection with the oral presentation they have prepared. This paper will be presented as a scientific article, and the instructor will evaluate it in the same manner as an anonymous referee.
An introduction to archaeology and to archaeological method and theory, exploring how archaeologists excavate, analyze, and interpret ancient remains in order to reconstruct how ancient societies functioned. Specific examples from a variety of archaeological projects in different parts of the world will be used to illustrate techniques and principles discussed.
An introduction to the science behind global environmental issues. Earth systems, biogeochemical cycles, and the interrelationships between the living and nonliving world are explored, along with applications to climate change, biodiversity loss, and other issues of global significance.
The course provides a broad introduction to the principles and practice of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools of Geospatial Analysis. Topics will include history of GIS, GIS data structures, data acquisition and merging, database management, spatial analysis, and GIS applications. In addition, students will get hands-on experience working with GIS software.
Basic concepts in geology, including plate tectonics; Earth’s internal structure; geologic time; minerals; formation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks; development of faults, folds and earthquakes; geomagnetism. Corequisite (for EPS Majors): AS.270.221; optional for others. The course is introductory and open to undergraduates at all levels; freshmen are encouraged to enroll.
This course is an introduction to the use of remote sensing technology to study Earth’s physical and biochemical processes. Topics covered include remote sensing of the atmosphere, land and oceans, as well as remote sensing as a tool for policy makers. Also offered as 270.618.
This course will introduce student to methods used in field-based ecological research addressing population, community and ecosystem-level questions. Outdoor fieldwork is an essential part of the course. Field activities will center around the riparian ecosystem adjacent to the Homewood campus and on the urban ecology of the greater Baltimore region. Students will build skills in data collection, analysis, synthesis, and presentation. Basic statistical instruction in R will be taught to aid data analysis.
This course examines the origins of human structure, function and behavior from an evolutionary perspective. It includes study of the evolution, behavior and behavioral ecology of nonhuman primates, hominid evolution (including the paleontological and archaeological records), and the origins of human cognition, social behavior and culture.
This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered. Crosslisted with Archaeology, History, History of Art, International Studies and Medicine, Science & Humanities.
Digital media play an increasingly significant role in museums from how museums share and narrate their collections online to the use of AI to catalog things and create metadata about them. This class explores critically how digital tools work to tell stories and invites students to unpack the resulting museum narratives. Students will learn by doing, creating a digital exhibit of five museum objects using Omeka and later transforming their exhibits by creating data of their own design to tell a new story about their objects. This new narrative will apply critical perspectives considered in the course such as, but not limited to, repatriation, critical cataloging, and geo-politics.
The American continent and its islands are home to a diverse and delicate ecosystem, and for millennia, Indigenous communities have tended to and shaped these rich landscapes. This seminar journeys across the Americas to understand how Indigenous makers cultivated materials from these ecologies and transformed them into impressive arrays of art and architecture. Each week, students will explore a different medium—bark, shell, rubber, feathers, reed, stone, clay, etc.—that makers shaped into visual and spatial forms. Although this course focuses on the ancestral and early modern periods, it will also explore continued and shifting practices with these materials among contemporary artists. Readings will include material analyses, art historical and archaeological interpretations, as well as early colonial writings by Indigenous authors. There will also be opportunities for students to engage with materials in class. Course material will cover issues of technical skill and ecological knowledge; ephemerality and (im)permanence; animacy and relationality as it pertains to the relationships formed between makers and their works; and the role of Indigenous materialities in reconfiguring canons and categories that continue to scaffold the field of art history. For their final assignment, students will select a multimedia work from the Indigenous Americas and unpack its materiality in both presentation and essay format.
Anthropology is an endeavor to think with the empirical richness of the world at hand, a field science with both literary and philosophical pretensions. This course grapples with the nature of anthropological inquiry, reading classic works in the discipline as well as contemporary efforts to reimagine its foundations. Required for anthropology majors.
Review of important issues in ancient Near Eastern history and culture from the Neolithic era to the Persian period. Included will be an examination of the Neolithic agricultural revolution, the emergence of cities, states and writing, and formation of empires. Cultures such as Sumer and Akkad, Egypt, the Hittites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians will be discussed.
How and why did our nomadic hunting and gathering ancestors become farmers? What led agricultural societies to build cities, develop writing, religious institutions, wage war, and trade for exotic goods? This course surveys prehistory and ancient history from the origins of human culture to the emergence civilization. Although prehistory and ancient history yield evidence of tremendous cultural diversity this course emphasizes common elements of past human experience, culture, and culture change. These include the origins of modern humans and their adjustment to a variety of post-ice age environments, shifts from hunting and gathering to agricultural lifeways, and the initial development of the world’s earliest cities and civilizations.
Applications of GIS in archaeology have recently expanded dramatically and GIS has now become an indispensable tool for archaeological research worldwide. This course will introduce the major applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in archaeology. These include the history of GIS in archaeology, air photography and satellite imagery, predictive modeling, hydrological modeling, viewsheds, and least-cost routes. It will grapple with theoretical issues manifest in archaeological GIS including conflicts between environment and social understandings of the ancient past, and will foster discussion of issues that affect outcomes of analyses including spatial scale and boundary delineation choices that can dramatically influence results. Students will learn the basics of ESRI’s ArcGIS software. Taught with AS.131.657.
The ancient Egyptians played many games, as we do today. Board games, ball games, games of skill, etc., were not only part of daily life, but also had a role to play in religious practices and beliefs. Although the rules of the games are largely unknown to us, archaeological objects, funerary images, and texts help us to better understand their roles and meanings in ancient Egyptian culture. These various sources also show how games reflect (or contradict) some facets of the organization of the society, and reveal how the ancient Egyptians perceived some aspects of their world - social hierarchy, gender division, representation of death, relationship to chance/fate/divine will, etc. This course will present the evolution of games and play in Ancient Egypt from the 4th millennium BCE, with the first board game discovered in the tomb of a woman, through those deposited in the tomb of Tutankhamun, and up to the Roman period. By replacing the games in their archaeological, historical and cultural contexts, the course is also intended as an original introduction to the civilization of ancient Egypt. The course will consist mainly of lectures given by the professor, with several guest researchers. Examinations will be divided into three parts: two knowledge quizzes during the semester; at the end of the semester, an essay on an Egyptian game of the student's choice.
Ecology is the study of organisms and their environment. This course focuses on the patterns of distribution and abundance of organisms. Topics include population dynamics and regulation, competition, predation, host-parasite interactions, patterns of species diversity, community succession, the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems. We will also discuss the role of natural and human disturbances in shaping communities.
The course provides a broad introduction to the principles and practice of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools of Geospatial Analysis. Topics will include history of GIS, GIS data structures, data acquisition and merging, database management, spatial analysis, and GIS applications. In addition, students will get hands-on experience working with GIS software.
This course will introduce you to the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the conservation profession: who gets to be a conservator, where we work and how. What are its origins and how has it evolved? At the end of the course you will be able to: outline the different roles and responsibilities of conservators working in museums, libraries/archives and in private practice, situate the field of conservation within the larger cultural heritage sector and articulate the ways conservators contribute to institutional goals of preservation, access, research and learning, evaluate the risks and vulnerabilities faced by conservators in today’s society, and apply theoretical knowledge to document and stabilize items from JHU Special Collections.
Fall 202422 |
Spring 20259 |
| Course # (Section) | Title | Day/Times | Instructor | Location | Term | Course Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS.010.480 (01) | Indigenous Materialities of the Americas | T 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Meyer, Anthony Joshua | Gilman 177 | Spring 2025 | The American continent and its islands are home to a diverse and delicate ecosystem, and for millennia, Indigenous communities have tended to and shaped these rich landscapes. This seminar journeys across the Americas to understand how Indigenous makers cultivated materials from these ecologies and transformed them into impressive arrays of art and architecture. Each week, students will explore a different medium—bark, shell, rubber, feathers, reed, stone, clay, etc.—that makers shaped into visual and spatial forms. Although this course focuses on the ancestral and early modern periods, it will also explore continued and shifting practices with these materials among contemporary artists. Readings will include material analyses, art historical and archaeological interpretations, as well as early colonial writings by Indigenous authors. There will also be opportunities for students to engage with materials in class. Course material will cover issues of technical skill and ecological knowledge; ephemerality and (im)permanence; animacy and relationality as it pertains to the relationships formed between makers and their works; and the role of Indigenous materialities in reconfiguring canons and categories that continue to scaffold the field of art history. For their final assignment, students will select a multimedia work from the Indigenous Americas and unpack its materiality in both presentation and essay format. |
| AS.070.419 (01) | Logic of Anthropological Inquiry | M 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Procupez, Valeria | Mergenthaler 439 | Spring 2025 | Anthropology is an endeavor to think with the empirical richness of the world at hand, a field science with both literary and philosophical pretensions. This course grapples with the nature of anthropological inquiry, reading classic works in the discipline as well as contemporary efforts to reimagine its foundations. Required for anthropology majors. |
| AS.130.101 (01) | Ancient Middle Eastern Civilizations | TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM | Schwartz, Glenn M | Gilman 17 | Spring 2025 | Review of important issues in ancient Near Eastern history and culture from the Neolithic era to the Persian period. Included will be an examination of the Neolithic agricultural revolution, the emergence of cities, states and writing, and formation of empires. Cultures such as Sumer and Akkad, Egypt, the Hittites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians will be discussed. |
| AS.130.177 (01) | World Prehistory: An Anthropological Perspective | TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM | Harrower, Michael James | Krieger 180 | Spring 2025 | How and why did our nomadic hunting and gathering ancestors become farmers? What led agricultural societies to build cities, develop writing, religious institutions, wage war, and trade for exotic goods? This course surveys prehistory and ancient history from the origins of human culture to the emergence civilization. Although prehistory and ancient history yield evidence of tremendous cultural diversity this course emphasizes common elements of past human experience, culture, and culture change. These include the origins of modern humans and their adjustment to a variety of post-ice age environments, shifts from hunting and gathering to agricultural lifeways, and the initial development of the world’s earliest cities and civilizations. |
| AS.130.357 (01) | Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology | TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM | Harrower, Michael James | Krieger 108 | Spring 2025 | Applications of GIS in archaeology have recently expanded dramatically and GIS has now become an indispensable tool for archaeological research worldwide. This course will introduce the major applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in archaeology. These include the history of GIS in archaeology, air photography and satellite imagery, predictive modeling, hydrological modeling, viewsheds, and least-cost routes. It will grapple with theoretical issues manifest in archaeological GIS including conflicts between environment and social understandings of the ancient past, and will foster discussion of issues that affect outcomes of analyses including spatial scale and boundary delineation choices that can dramatically influence results. Students will learn the basics of ESRI’s ArcGIS software. Taught with AS.131.657. |
| AS.133.304 (01) | Let's Play! Games from Ancient Egypt and Beyond | MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM | Arnette, Marie-Lys | Gilman 130G | Spring 2025 | The ancient Egyptians played many games, as we do today. Board games, ball games, games of skill, etc., were not only part of daily life, but also had a role to play in religious practices and beliefs. Although the rules of the games are largely unknown to us, archaeological objects, funerary images, and texts help us to better understand their roles and meanings in ancient Egyptian culture. These various sources also show how games reflect (or contradict) some facets of the organization of the society, and reveal how the ancient Egyptians perceived some aspects of their world - social hierarchy, gender division, representation of death, relationship to chance/fate/divine will, etc. This course will present the evolution of games and play in Ancient Egypt from the 4th millennium BCE, with the first board game discovered in the tomb of a woman, through those deposited in the tomb of Tutankhamun, and up to the Roman period. By replacing the games in their archaeological, historical and cultural contexts, the course is also intended as an original introduction to the civilization of ancient Egypt. The course will consist mainly of lectures given by the professor, with several guest researchers. Examinations will be divided into three parts: two knowledge quizzes during the semester; at the end of the semester, an essay on an Egyptian game of the student's choice. |
| AS.270.202 (01) | Introduction to Ecology | TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM | Avolio, Meghan Lynn | Olin 247 | Spring 2025 | Ecology is the study of organisms and their environment. This course focuses on the patterns of distribution and abundance of organisms. Topics include population dynamics and regulation, competition, predation, host-parasite interactions, patterns of species diversity, community succession, the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems. We will also discuss the role of natural and human disturbances in shaping communities. |
| AS.270.205 (01) | Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial Analysis | M 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Chen, Xin | Krieger 108 | Spring 2025 | The course provides a broad introduction to the principles and practice of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related tools of Geospatial Analysis. Topics will include history of GIS, GIS data structures, data acquisition and merging, database management, spatial analysis, and GIS applications. In addition, students will get hands-on experience working with GIS software. |
| AS.389.250 (01) | Introduction to Conservation | M 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Jarvis, Jennifer | BLC 5015 | Spring 2025 | This course will introduce you to the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the conservation profession: who gets to be a conservator, where we work and how. What are its origins and how has it evolved? At the end of the course you will be able to: outline the different roles and responsibilities of conservators working in museums, libraries/archives and in private practice, situate the field of conservation within the larger cultural heritage sector and articulate the ways conservators contribute to institutional goals of preservation, access, research and learning, evaluate the risks and vulnerabilities faced by conservators in today’s society, and apply theoretical knowledge to document and stabilize items from JHU Special Collections. |