ASB335 - PREHISTORY OF THE SOUTHWEST - Spring 2007

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Article Write-ups: Coping with the Professional Literature

The Goal 

One of the goals of this class is to help undergraduate students begin to use literature that is written for professionals. In this case, the literature is written primarily by professional archaeologists and addressed to other archaeologists or advanced students, but the skills you will develop in reading this archaeological literature should be applicable in many disciplines.

The Concept

Most students who have difficulty reading the professional literature experience at least two particular problems. First, students don't understand an article on first reading, so they give up. A partial solution to this problem is obvious: read it again. A good strategy is to begin by skimming the article, then read it carefully all the way through, and finally read it yet again and take notes. An additional solution to this problem involves pinpointing exactly what it is that you don't understand and then investigating further (e.g., ask your professor or TA a specific question). I expect that when you read an article, you will not understand everything. But if you tell me you don't understand it, I will want you also to tell me exactly what it is that you are having trouble understanding. This kind of pinpointing takes some work, but once you locate a problem, it is often easy to solve it.

The second problem is figuring out how all the information in an article fits together and generally answering the question (which professors often refuse to answer) "What do I have to know?" Many articles involve some background information, a core argument, and the presentation of data that support that argument. What you have to do to make sense out of all of this is identify the core argument, and consider how and to what extent the data support that argument.

The Assignment

Most of your readings for this class were written for the general public and/or for students. However five of the articles assigned (by Bernardini, Dongoske et al., Kintigh et al., Spielmann, and Van West) are from the professional literature. To help guide you through these articles, they will be discussed in class and then you will be expected to do a short 'write-up' of at least three. Discussions will be based, in large part, on questions you ask. To prepare for the discussion, you should read the article carefully and, if there are parts you do not understand, develop questions that, if answered, will help you to better understand it. As an example, a write-up of the Kintigh et al. article follows (not double-spaced; though yours should be). Your write-ups of each article  are due in next class period after the discussion. 

For each article, on the assigned date (i.e., the day after the discussion), you must turn in a one -page (no more) typed, double-spaced write-up printed with a 11 point font or larger. These write-ups should be carefully written, using complete grammatical sentences, and carefully proofread. The assignments should include the following: (1) Your name, id #, class #, and date; (2) The complete bibliographic citation for the article (which you can copy from the list included in the syllabus); (3) A statement summarizing the basic argument made by the author(s). (4) A description of one or a few classes of data/analyses used by the author(s) to support the argument. More advanced students may also want to discuss the extent to which the data do support the argument, but this is not necessary.

Hints

• Follow the directions. For example, provide a full citation.
• Make sure you understand the argument of the article. Among other things, this suggests reading the paper before the class in which it is discussed and coming to class.
• You don't have to use the structure suggested above. However, if you are worried abouyt what is expected, it is a good idea to use it.
• Proofread your paper carefully. Read it out loud and you will probably catch errors you would not otherwise find.

Example Write-up 

This sample does not appear double-spaced. 

 However,  your assignment must be double spaced and no more than 1 page long.

name

ID #

ASB 335

date

 

Kintigh, Keith W., Todd L. Howell, and Andrew I. Duff

1996 Post-Chacoan Social Integration at the Hinkson Site. Kiva    61:257-274.

Argument

The authors argue that the Hinkson Site (near Zuni in westernmost New Mexico) fits John Stein's model for the post-Chacoan transitional era (ca. A.D. 1150-1250). According to Stein, this era is characterized by the continuation of many aspects of Chacoan ritual architecture, such as great kivas, roads, and great houses, although great kivas are larger than in earlier times and are often unroofed. However, Kintigh et al. are not in full agreement with Stein regarding evidence for ritual continuity. Specifically, they suggest that Chacoan ritual elements are incorporated into new forms of social organization and integration that emphasize local systems and the beginnings of large aggregated communities, in contrast to the very large scale pre-1150 Chacoan regional system.

Evidence and Supporting Analyses

Evidence for interpretations of the Hinkson Site as a post-Chacoan community is based on ASU's excavations beginning in 1987. The site has a great house, a very large (34 m diameter) unroofed great kiva, and an earthen embankment called a nazha that may have enclosed a plaza. Dating is based on ceramics, which suggest it was occupied ca. 1200-1275.

Evidence supporting the authors' argument for local post-Chacoan integration include the results of a settlement pattern survey, which indicate that the public architecture of the Hinkson Site was surrounded by nearly 70 roomblocks (ca. 900 rooms) within 9 km, and that this clustering cannot not be explained in terms of ecological factors. In addition, ceramic analyses indicate a large amount of exchange within the community, and probably movement of red wares from the surrounding sites to the Hinkson site. Finally, the architecture (unroofed great kiva and plaza) suggests that more people could have been involved in ceremonies that may have been less exclusive that those associated with Chacoan architecture.