South Puget Sound Community College

Syllabus
Course: World Prehistory
Department: Anthropology
Course Number: &104
Credits: 5

Course Description:
A survey of human prehistory from the origin of humans through the emergence of early
civilizations, providing the foundation for understanding modern human societies. Attention is
given to civilizations from both the Old World, including ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China,
and India, and the New World, including the Maya, Inca and Aztec.
Prerequisite: None

Quarter/Year: Fall 2010

Days: MTWF
Section: F
Time: 12-105 pm

Professor: Dr Patrick Chapman

Office Location: 23-205
Office Hours: MTW 330-430, Th 12-1, F 11-12
Phone Number: 596-5476
e-mail: pchapman@spscc.ctc.edu
Website: http://pchapman.spscc.edu

Materials Required:
Chris Scarre (2009). The Human Past, 2nd edition. New York: Thames & Hudson

COURSE FEATURES/POLICIES:
Academic Honesty: All work is to represent own efforts rather than to be copied from another.
Cheating will result in an F grade for the class. For the academic honesty policy, refer to the
Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities found on the college’s website.
 South Puget Sound Community College
Financial Aid: Students receiving financial aid should ALWAYS check with Financial aid prior to
withdrawing, signing an incomplete contract, changing to an audit, or receiving an F or V grade
in a class.”

Class Participation/Attendance: Attendance is not taken but failure to attend class negatively
impacts your grade.

Missed Exams and/or Assignments:

For each day, including the weekend, an assignment is late you will lose one letter grade (10%).
To prevent viruses from infecting my computer, I will not open e-mail attachments - no
exceptions!

No makeup exams are given. If you miss a test the lost points will be added onto your final
exam total. Thus, if you miss a test your final exam will be worth 300 points instead of 200
points. If you take all of the tests and the final, and one of your test scores is 10% or more lower
than all of your other test scores, then that test will be dropped – this does not apply to the
final exam. If your final exam is 10% or more lower than all of your other test scores, and you’ve
taken them all, then the final exam will be reduced to 100 points instead of 200 points.

www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/humanpast has practice tests and study materials

Use of electronic equipment is forbidden during tests.

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS AND EXPECTATIONS

Evaluation:
Paper 200 points (22.2%)
Tests 100 points each (55.6% total)
Final 200 points (22.2%)

Grading Scale:
A 93-100%
A- 90-92%
B+ 87-89%
B 83-86%
B- 80-82%
C+ 77-79%
C 73-76%
C- 70-72%
 South Puget Sound Community College
D+ 67-69%
D 63-66%
D- 60-62%
F 0-59%

Incomplete: Because of extenuating circumstances, I may consider issuing an Incomplete. The

student is eligible if the student is halfway through the course, is earning at least a C, and is able
to complete the course by working with the instructor no later than the subsequent quarter. If
you are considering this option you must speak with me to determine if it is feasible.

Support Services Available:

Library, Writing Lab in building 22
Disability Support Services located in building 27

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE/CALENDAR/DUE DATES:

Week Topic Important Dates Reading

1 Analyzing the Past 47-83
2 Paleolithic Oct 1 = Test 1 85-151
3 Domestication & Europe Oct 4 = topic/refs due 151-199, 393-431
4 Egypt & Near East Oct 12 = Test 2 351-370, 433-463
5 Egypt & Mediterranean 370-391, 473-486
6 Near East & Egypt Oct 25 = biblio due, Oct 27 = advising 463-471
7 Asia & Pacific Nov 1 = Test 3, Nov 5 = outline due 265-275, 519-593
8 Pacific & Americas Nov 12 = Test 4 275-305
9 Mesoamerica Nov 15 = paper due 595-639
10 South America Nov 26 = Thanksgiving holiday 641-677
11 North America Dec 3 = Test 5 679-715
12 Finals week Final = TBA

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the successful completion of this course the student will have:

A. A general understanding of the four main subfields of anthropology and how they contribute to
our understanding of the past
B. A general understanding of the anthropological explanation of the biological and the cultural
nature of our species
C. A general understanding of how humans developed biologically, culturally, and linguistically
D. An understanding of the human past
E. An understanding of the development of the early civilizations
F. An understanding of how the human present is shaped by the human past
 South Puget Sound Community College
COLLEGE WIDE ABILITIES :
A. Think logically and critically
B. Communicate effectively

COURSE CONTENT:
A. Overview of anthropology
B. Human evolution
C. The Human diaspora
D. The domestication of plants and animals
E. The development of chiefdoms and state societies
F. Overview of early Old World civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and
China
G. Overview of early New World civilizations, including the Maya, Inca, and Aztec