The archaeological record is perpetually changing. Archaeologists are always discovering more finds and publishing on emerging data from their projects. However, most people will never read any of the reports or academic articles that archaeologists produce. Instead, general audiences receive this new information through the news. Analyze a news article emerging from a popular news source. This source can either be a legitimate newspaper (ex. The New York Time, Washington Post, The Guardian) or a science/history magazine (ex. Discover, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine).
Your selection must be an article published in the last two years (May 2017 to May 2019). When choosing an article, you should focus on themes relevant to your completed guided close reading (either Kohl 1998 or Bernbeck and Pollock 2004). Such themes may be related to the cradle of civilization, historical narratives, nationalism in archaeology, cultural heritage or any other theme you highlighted during your reading. You demonstrate your understanding of the guided close reading by appropriately selecting a relevant news article. Hint: with rare exceptions, an article on hominid or early Homo sapiens would not be appropriate, despite how many news articles you may find on the topic.
Your essay will be a 2-3 page (Times New Roman, size 12 font, double spaced, 1-inch margins) summary and analysis of the news article, using the guided close reading and any other relevant information from the course as context guiding your analysis.
Leave a Reply