Letter to Author Assignment (Ancient Near Eastern Death & Burial Course)

Interpreting the Royal Cemetery of Ur

Discussion: Getting ready to write: Finding motives, arguments, and a thesis; he said/she said, I say/you say

Read:
Baadsgaard et al., Human sacrifice and intentional corpse preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur

Dickson, Public transcripts expressed in theatres of cruelty: The Royal Graves at Ur in Mesopotamia

Pollack, The Royal cemetery of Ur: Ritual, tradition, and the creation of subjects”

Pre-draft Assignment II: Dialoging with an author. Choose one of the articles above and write a one-page single spaced letter to the author about their argument. In your letter, summarize their argument in your own words, describe two things you like about their argument, and two things on which you disagree or were confused. This should be one page, single spaced in letter format (i.e. Dear so and so). Really think about language you use when dialoguing with the author (use scholarly  vocabulary). Turn in the assignment in class.

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