ANTH 107 Paper Assignment : Controversiesin ArchaeologyThe AssignmentYour final assignment, as introduced in the syllabus, is to explore an archaeological controversy. Your choices are the meaning of Paleolithic art, the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna in the Americas, or the origins of agriculture. For this assignmentyou will tackle ONE of threearchaeologicalcontroversiesby critically analyzing and comparing different interpretations that archaeologists have offered about these topics. You will select your topic from the list below, which makes your life easier since the references are already compiled. This is not a research paper–you do not need to look up everything that has ever been written aboutthese controversies.However, you will need to use allof the readings provided in the list below for your chosen topics. You may consult your notes or textbook where appropriate for additional background information. However, the goal is for you to see what archaeologists themselvesare saying rather than reading about them through secondary sources, such as textbooks or newspapers.The PaperThe paper should be between 1250 and 2000 words (not counting the bibliographyor any direct quotes), and it must be typewritten, double-spaced, and proofreadfor errors. Your paper should begin by introducing the controversy –give background on why it is a controversy, why people care, and what is at stake. Keep this brief, perhaps confining it to the first paragraph. Assumethat your reader is moderately informed about archaeology and human history (like a fellow student in the class), but that he or she does not know this specific problem or why it is important. Next, introduce the two or more interpretive models or explanations that you plan to contrast. Then, systematically compare and evaluate them. You might to do this by presenting one side first and then the other, or you do a point-by-point comparison. You should conclude by briefly stating whichperspective you find the most convincing.Be sure to cite your sources appropriatelyin the body of your paper and with a reference page.You will be graded on (1) how well you present various sides to the controversy, (2) how thoroughly you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the perspectives –which might include logic,use of data, etc., and (3) how thoughtfully you organize the paper. Please remember that this paper is eligible for the Writing Proficiency Requirement(see http://www.umb.edu/academics/wpr/).