Discovering the Past: Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory

This course asks two big questions: what do we know about humanity's past, and how do we know it? We will investigate the evolutionary origins and cultural trajectories of the human species. Topics to be covered include the human colonization of the globe, foraging lifeways, historical archaeology, and the emergence--and occasional collapse--of agricultural civilizations. Along the way, we will explore archaeology's development as a discipline, its relationship to other fields, the nature of archaeological explanation, and problems in archaeological epistemology. Students will learn the foundations of archaeological excavation, laboratory analysis of materials, and documentation and representation.