Introductions

Instructor Introduction

Hello, my name is Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni. I'm an Assistant Professor in the History Department and your instructor for this course. My research and teaching focus on two things: the Ancient Near East and Digital History. In particular, I use ancient texts and geospatial technologies to study how societies were organized in the distant past.

One interesting thing about me is that I am a field archaeologist. I currently run a dig in Armenia where we are excavating 3000 year old fortresses. I take UCF students out on the project every June so please let me know if you might be interested!

Course Introduction

This course will trace the histories of societies that arose in Mesopotamia at the dawn of human history in the modern-day countries of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Therefore, we have a unique opportunity to study how ideologies developed, how institutions arose and changed, how people lived, and how these people confronted crises. Certainly, writing forms only part of the historical record for the ancient Near East; archaeology and art history supplement written sources by providing evidence for where people lived, how they lived their lives and how they depicted themselves.

Extra Credit: Help Me Get to Know You

Everyone who has posted a photo Links to an external site. of themselves in Webcourses by the second week of class will receive 10 points extra credit.

Get Started

For the first week, you will complete Module 0 which consists of introductory course information.