Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course fulfills general education requirements in social science at PCC and lab science requirements at PSU. 

This course is a survey course that provides a broad and general introduction to the sub-field of archaeology. Archaeologists study cultural remains (or garbage) of human activity.  While the majority of archaeological investigations focus on the past, some research has been done using archaeological methods in order to study contemporary society. 

One of the best known examples is William Rathje's "Garbage Project".  Rathje began his excavations of garbage dumps  in Arizona in the 1970's.  His longitudinal study of rubbish compared patterns of food consumption associated with different time periods of American history. Using Rathje's study as a starting point,  you will have an opportunity to complete an original research project comparing litter patterns at two locations/sites in your neighborhood. You will collect data about litter patterns using  using archaeological methods regularly throughout the term.  At the end of the term you will write a term paper based upon your analysis of the litter patterns found at the two sites.

Readings each week will be selected chapters from one of the free e-books used in this course.  These free e-books can be accessed through the PCC library.

Students will be responsible for taking multiple choice quizzes and post to a discussion forum each week. 

This is a sample syllabus used for a past class.  The class requirements and organization will be similar for this course.

https://online.pcc.edu/d2l/le/content/456135/viewContent/9824431/View

This is a fully online class.  No special technology is required besides the usual requirements to take an online class at PCC.