ANT 3101 University of South Florida Extinction of Megafauna Paper Description: You have learned about the history and theory of archaeology. You have also

ANT 3101 University of South Florida Extinction of Megafauna Paper Description: You have learned about the history and theory of archaeology. You have also been introduced to the methods archaeologists employ to collect date in the field and laboratory, and how they use this evidence to make interpretations about the past. The culminating project asks you to integrate these concepts, and in doing so demonstrate your mastery of the basic concepts of archaeology.

In a previous exercise, we asked you to identify and evaluate a topic about which archaeologists have made conflicting, yet credible claims. Here we ask you to formulate a research strategy for resolving these competing claims. It is expected that you will incorporate the feedback provided from the first assignment into this assignment. While additional research outside of the course readings and lectures is not required to complete this assignment, it might well prove useful (I will provide previous essay).

Continuing with our previous example, to identify the number and size of houses at a site in the culture under consideration, for example, you might want to begin with some geophysical survey and follow this with test excavations to ground truth any possible house patterns that were apparent. To evaluate nutrition from paleobotanical remains, you would also probably need to excavate test units to look for cooking or storage features. To evaluate nutrition from pathologies on skeletal remains, you would obviously need to either excavate burials or analyze burials that had been previously excavated.

This assignment is a 3-5 page essay that revises and expands upon what you turned in for Part 1. As before, it is expected that in-text citations and a works cited (bibliography) page will be provided. Please remember to incorporate the feedback from the first controversy assignment into this one. As you write your essay, make sure you answer all of the following questions.

What is your research topic? How has it been contested by credible authorities in the past? What sort of evidence has been used to support these opposing interpretations? You should have already done this in Part 1, but it needs to be revised based on your instructor’s feedback.
What is your hypothesis for how the issue may be resolved? What theoretical school or tradition does this hypothesis develop from? As noted above, your hypothesis might draw directly from the existing debate, one side of the controversy that you have already reviewed in Part 1. Or you might offer a new hypothesis, perhaps even one that combines elements of opposing sides. In either case, be specific about the hypothesis and situate it within a theoretical tradition
What are the testable implications of your hypothesis? That is, what types of data would you need to evaluate your hypothesis and resolve the debate. Again, be specific about the sorts of evidence and where this evidence would be found.
What field and laboratory methods would you need to gather these data? Once again, be specific. Would you need to do more survey, testing, or excavation? Where and how? Or would additional laboratory tests of some sort suffice?

***The Conflicting Claim is that I have chosen for my previous essay and this one (since this Essay is a carry on from the previous one) is “the idea of whether or not humans played a major role in the extinction of megafauna near the end of the last Ice Age”.