The Archaeology and Anthropology of Foraging Societies

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Explores the archaeology and anthropology of foraging (hunting and gathering) societies in time and space. Includes an overview of archaeology focused on foraging societies and current methodological and theoretical issues, especially the use of ethnographic and environmental data. Investigates ecologically oriented case studies of late Pleistocene and Holocene hunter-gatherers paired with the ethnographic record used to interpret these sites. Archaeological case studies will have an emphasis on land-use, site-structure and site formation analyses. Ethnographic case studies will focus on the diversity of hunting and gathering societies, change in these societies through time and discussion of forager economies, with specific attention to critiquing ethnohistoric accounts and the applicability of these case studies to the archaeological record. TOPICS AND THEMES. Forager (hunter-gatherer) variation in different environments; forager variation through time; forager social structures; forager mobility; forager subsistence; socio-political complexity in foraging societies; ethnographic critiques; archaeology of foraging societies; resource management; foragers in the modern world and change in forager societies in the recent past; archaeological site structure; lithic analysis; site formation processes; archaeological site survey; archaeological theory of foragers; site modeling and resource modeling. This course may incorporate topics that respond to current events, student interests or emerging issues relevant to anthropology. Course content may include complex or sensitive topics and is designed to foster respectful, evidence-based discussion and critical engagement with multiple perspectives, skills essential for navigating a diverse and changing world. Prerequisites: Graduate classification.