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"HieroglyphVariant" by Paulina F. Przystupa from Archaeology and Comics, with a Case Study Examining the Representation of Black Archaeologists published on Epoiesen in 2024. Original image is adapted from a piece held by the New York Public Library.
Course description and introduction
In the Spring 2026 version of ARCHY 369 B, we'll be exploring the relationship between archaeology and popular culture. This includes exploring how different pop culture mediums (comics, film, video games, podcasts, and more) portray archaeology and considering how we can archaeology as a practice and theoretical perspective helps us understand popular culture in the present. We'll do this by considering pop culture through different media and by considering where information about material culture and belongings comes from by evaluating how access to knowledge influences people's ability to portray the past in their creations.
The course will center around reading, watching, listening to, or more broadly consuming different works to understand different archaeological sites, periods, theories, and cultures and then exploring their related counterparts in pop culture. The course will center around a research project where students will explore an archaeological topic of their choosing with the goal of creating a public-facing product about that topic and considering how information access changes interpretation. Students should have some familiarity with archaeology and it's vocabulary as we won't necessarily have a lot of time to provide introductions to foundational archaeological concepts. Student without this are welcome to join but be prepared to do some work on their own to get themselves caught up.
By completing the work and engaging with the material from this course you will:
- Explore and better understand the relationship between archaeology and pop culture
- Gain a deeper knowledge of the way that archaeology is portrayed in popular media
- Cultivate your evaluation skills to consider how access to archaeological information impacts our ability to create archaeological interpretations
- Discuss and consider the archaeological practice as it intersects with the public
- Improve your analysis skills in a way that helps frame archaeological research for different audiences
- Practice developing and executing a public-facing archaeology related product
The course will have four main components with different weights: in class participation, out of class participation, a midterm prototype submission, and a final project deliverable.