World Archaeology

Catalog description

ANTH 2N (World Archaeology) introduces students to the concepts and evidence used in understanding the development of cultural diversity on our planet. This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of the major developments in the early human past. Beginning with hominid tool-users, this course tracks the evolution and eventual spread of humans to all corners of the earth, Ice Age hunter-gatherers, the origins of art, the origins of agriculture and settled village life, and the rise and fall of complex urban civilizations. Through cross-cultural comparisons of indigenous cultures of the past and anthropological theory, students are exposed to topics such as the origins of gender differences in the division of labor, the role of ideology in cultural adaptation, differential access to technologies, economic production, artistic expression, the origins of social inequality, the ways that symbolic representation in the past shaped the nature of shared meaning and values, and the mechanisms of cultural change. ANTH 2N provides a unique perspective for understanding our increasingly complex and diverse contemporary world. Specifically, students will learn 1) archaeological approaches for identifying variability in the development of cultural systems; 2) anthropological concepts and archaeological evidence used to evaluate factors that shape the diversity of past cultural systems; and 3) the tools to explore the dynamic interaction between scientific process, reconstruction of past cultures, and current issues facing societies in an ever-changing world. The course also emphasizes ethical considerations within archaeology to illustrate the role of representations, values, norms, and traditions on reconstructions of past human societies. ANTH 2N fulfills 3 credits of the General Education Integrative Studies requirements by integrating two General Education Domain fields: the Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS) and the Humanities (GH). Students develop competency for combining knowledge across different domains and interpreting the past human experience in light of current issues and concerns. Students thus gain skills in evaluating their own values relative to the deep history of the human past and different ways for structuring and understanding the world. The course also fulfills an International Cultures (IL) requirement by providing an informed perspective on human cultural and behavioral diversity in the past. To achieve these educational objectives, ANTH 2N draws on multiple teaching formats and resources, including classroom lectures, hands-on labs, and readings from a textbook. Students are evaluated based on two exams and their participation and two quizzes in lab section. ANTH 2N is offered every semester.