This assignment is intended to serve as an exercise in looking and describing, b
This assignment is intended to serve as an exercise in looking and describing, but also in understanding the importance of context and systematic archaeological excavation, as well as the limitations of physical evidence. For this exercise, students will each choose an ancient Roman object in a museum (on the website of one of the Rome museums listed, below) that is without context, or that does not have a find spot. Each student will then complete an exercise on that object, which will include sketching the object, writing a physical descriiption of the object, and researching the object. In the final part of the exercise, students will attempt to recreate a context for the object, despite the fact that the object’s original context is lost to us. In this section, students will discover the limits of what we may know or understand about an object (e.g. original dates, uses, owner, domestic vs. funerary context), when the object’s find spot and thus original context is missing. The finished assignment will be a three-page paper of at least 1,000 words, worth 20% of the final grade. Citations should be made in the form of footnotes according to MLA or Chicago Manual of Style guidelines. Please take advantage of CUA’s electronic library, as well as electronic article databases such as JSTOR and Academia.edu, while conducting research for your paper. Papers must be submitted electronically to the professor’s e-mail address, and uploaded onto the AYF for this course. Make sure, with both electronic submissions, that the file containing your paper includes your last name and part of the course title. Appropriate Rome museums include the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, and the Vatican Museums.
National Archaeological Museum in Naples (MANN):
Vatican Museums: www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html
