This course welcomes students to anthropological archaeology: the study of past human societies. As one of the four subdisciplines of anthropology, archaeology can inherently explore any aspects of the human world. This course offers insights into the human past by exploring many broad questions, such as: Why do we study the past? What is an archaeological site? What is the archaeological record? How can we date the past?  How were ancient societies organized? How does social change operate through time? How did ancient societies feed themselves? How did the discipline of archaeology emerge? Does anyone own the past, and why is that?

This course rests on two unique dimensions of archaeology: (1) Since it can study anything human, archaeology allows us to explore any aspect of society, from markets and government to art and gender; and (2) Archaeology is uniquely situated as an interdisciplinary social science; beyond other anthropological subdisciplines, it bridges to all humanities (e.g., history, art-history, linguistics, philosophy) and to most hard sciences (e.g., geology, chemistry, physics, mathematics). 

Throughout the semester, students will learn about the ethical dimensions of cultural heritage, the history of the discipline, its basic theories and methods, while also discovering many ancient (and not-so-ancient) archaeological cultures. Since archaeology is a materialist discipline, special attention will be devoted to technologies, like stone tools, ceramic containers, and buildings. In addition, this course emphasizes academic research and will help you become a more efficient and skilled researcher and writer. By the end of the semester, students will have acquired a broad understanding of what constitutes the human past, how we can study it and, importantly, how we may responsibly and ethically preserve humanity's cultural heritage. Importantly, by appreciating the depth of our past and the diversity of archaeological cultures, students will hopefully gain a new understanding of our “social moment.”