Critical Mapping Methods in Archaeology

Another title for this course could be "mapping and its discontents" because this is a critical methods course. You will learn, through hands-on lab assignments, how to create and use maps in archaeological analysis using open-source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software QGIS and other free online tools. At the same time, you will come to understand the history of mapping as a technology of rule and resistance, how GIS is used to answer archaeological questions, and creative strategies used by scholars and non-scholars alike that challenge conventional practices. This class focuses weekly readings on these topics around assignments that put your critical and spatial thinking to work. By the end of term you will be able to find spatial data from reputable sources, create a GIS using that data, and analyze anthropological questions using that GIS. The course brings together scholarship and resources from anthropology, geography, environmental design and planning, and art to tackle the question "What do maps do?"