ANT 104: EXTRA CREDIT ESSAYS
Extra credit assignments are available on a weekly basis throughout the semester.
The extra credit system for this course is designed to encourage you to work directly with the professor. Each extra credit essay will earn a maximum of 50 points. However, the points will be AVERAGED into the overall grade (click here for more details on how Extra Credit assignments affect your grade).
To ensure a high grade on the extra credit assignment, students should email a draft of your essay IN WORD FORMAT to Britton.Shepardson
nau.edu AT LEAST 48 HOURS BEFORE YOUR DEADLINE.
For extra credit essays:
Extra credit assignments are available on a weekly basis throughout the semester.
The extra credit system for this course is designed to encourage you to work directly with the professor. Each extra credit essay will earn a maximum of 50 points. However, the points will be AVERAGED into the overall grade (click here for more details on how Extra Credit assignments affect your grade).
To ensure a high grade on the extra credit assignment, students should email a draft of your essay IN WORD FORMAT to Britton.Shepardson
nau.edu AT LEAST 48 HOURS BEFORE YOUR DEADLINE.
For extra credit essays:
- ALL final drafts must be submitted in HARD COPY before class on the date for which the extra credit topic is due.
- Extra credit assignments will be graded by the professor based on these criteria.
- If you are confused on how the points from an extra credit assignment contribute to your grade, see these guidelines.
- PHASE 01 (submit online before midnight on Mar. 11th): Compose a five-paragraph essay describing what you believe to be the best example of "modern human behavior" at each of the three sites covered this week in the WPP (Cro-Magnon, Jebel Irhoud, Qafzeh/Skhul). Be sure to use specific archaeological remains as examples and cite your references appropriately.
- PHASE 02 (submit online before midnight on Mar. 22nd): Kow Swamp was the focal point for controversy between researchers and the local indigenous community. Compose a four-paragraph essay that introduces the controversy, explains the importance of the controversy from both perspectives (research and indigenous), and explains how the controversy was resolved.
- PHASE 03 (submit online before midnight on Mar. 25th): Compose an essay (four-paragraph minimum) that offers a detailed review of the research regarding GENETIC evidence related to the EARLIEST peopling of the New World.
- PHASE 04 (submit online before midnight on Mar. 29th): The "Paleo Movement" and the "Paleo Diet" have become very trendy in the last five to ten years. Compose an essay (four-paragraph minimum) in which you explore how appropriate or inappropriate you think these labels are based on paleolithic lifestyle and diet. Be sure to include specific archaeological research in your reasoning.
- PHASE 05 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 1st): Catalhoyuk may be one of the earliest examples on the planet of an "urban" environment. Compose a five-paragraph essay that explores three elements of Catalhoyuk that best exemplify the roots of modern city living.
- PHASE 06 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 5th): For a long time, archaeologists assumed that the Agricultural Revolution led to an explosion in population size of farming societies. Compose an essay (five-paragraph minimum) to review the more recent research that suggests that if there was a neolithic population "boom", it was only temporary and was followed by a "bust" (hint: try Googling "Neolithic boom bust" to get started on your research).
- PHASE 07 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 8th): Pick one of the three sites/cultures from this week (Mohenjo-daro, Shang Dynasty, Ur) and compose an essay (four-paragraph minimum) that offers a detailed review of what we know abotu social stratification or social hierarchy within that society based on specific archaeological evidence.
- PHASE 08 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 12th): Compose an essay (four-paragraph minimum) that offers a detailed review of the latest technology being used to further archaeological research in the last five years at Stonehenge and Valley of the Kings.
- PHASE 09 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 15th): Compose an essay (five-paragraph minimum) that offers a detailed review of any and all evidence suggesting that Polynesian seafarers reached the Americas (North and South) prior to any European explorers.
- PHASE 10 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 19th): Compose an essay (four-paragraph minimum) that offers a detailed comparison of either the downfall of Chaco Canyon or Tikal with the downfall of Tenochtitlan.
- PHASE 11 (submit online before midnight on Apr. 22nd): Compose an essay (five-paragraph minimum) that explores three specific examples of prehistoric technology in our WPP project that you feel could be re-implemented in modern cultures around the planet to improve quality of life.