RXRS-201 Alternative Assignment – Remote Antiquity

Learning Objective
Use course content to evaluate key aspects of early civilization and drug use in the historical context and summarize those findings.

Assignment Description
Select one of the cities from the remote antiquity list below. Review the class notes related to the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages of human history. Picture yourself as living in the society you have selected. Identify your profession / role within that society, describe your geographic location, provide the approximate time you exist in, and outline the key features of your civilization – trade, culture, religion, food types and sources, psychoactive substances, and any other key features. You may use the internet, journal articles, or books to help complete the details.

After you have identified the basic background of your civilization; refer to the archaeological site record to determine what food / drug stuffs have been found and identified. You should investigate what people in your area would have grown, consumed, and traded. Identify the ways any drugs or substances would have been utilized, who would have used them, and when. Be creative!
Steps
1. Select your civilization:

a. Sumer b. Babylon c. Phoenicia d. Byblos
e. Knossos f. Eridu g. Uruk
h. Nippur

2. Describe your civilization using the features listed in the assignment description above. This should be 1 page in length.

3. Describe the archaeological evidence related to the city you have selected. Look for food and drug information using the internet  and provide citations. This should be 1 page in length

4. Describe how the substances would have been used, who would have used them, when, how, and why.