Spring 2025 - ARCH 382 D100
Lithic Technology (4)
Class Number: 6933
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby -
Exam Times + Location:
Apr 11, 2025
Fri, 3:30–6:30 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Dennis Sandgathe
dms@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
ARCH 282 or 372.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An in-depth study of how to manufacture and analyze stone tools. Includes rock and mineral identification, stone working by students, fracture mechanics, and relevance to theoretical problems. Students with credit for ARCH 485 may not take this course for further credit.
COURSE DETAILS:
This course is an examination of prehistoric stone tool technology, from its simplest forms adopted by early hominins in Africa through the development of increasingly sophisticated technologies used in the Old and New Worlds. Closer examinations will be made of the lithic technologies and culture histories of Europe and North America. Basic components of the course will be: a review of the history of stone tool research and early approaches to lithic analysis, but the major components will be an examination of current approaches to lithic research (including the construction of typologies, stone tool replicative research, technological analysis, debitage analysis, and functional analysis) and an examination of the basic lithic strategies employed by prehistoric cultures. Students will also be provided with a basic knowledge of stone tool raw material (rock) types and properties, and time will be spent with both theoretical and hands-on learning of the physics and mechanics of flaking stone and manufacturing specific tool types. Some of the labs will be spent learning to flint knap and manufacturing simple stone tools.
Grading
- Quizzes/Exercises/Participation 50%
- Midterm Exam 20%
- Lithic Analysis Project 30%
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Andrefsky, William Jr. 2005. Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN: 978-0-5216-1500-6
The text will be supplemented with several articles on different aspects of stone tool research.
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Department Undergraduate Notes:
Students with hidden or visible disabilities who may need class or exam accommodations, including in the context of remote learning, are advised to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.
Deferred grades will be given only on the basis of authenticated medical disability.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.