Archaeology is the study of the human past, from the origin of our species through to the development of modern, industrial states by means of the physical remains of past human behavior. In studying the past, archaeology seeks to explain how we, modern humans, came to be. This course investigates how archaeologists study the past, explains how human society has changed over time, and presents an overview of world prehistory. Specific topics include the evolution of modern humans, the peopling of the world, the development of agriculture, the rise of state-level societies, and associated social and material technologies such as writing and urbanism. Case studies will be used throughout to demonstrate how archaeological research is conducted and how archaeologists use their research to formulate explanations of the past that have relevance for the present.

One of the most fascinating dimensions of archaeology is the discovery that people have done essentially the same things in different places and different times, independently of developments elsewhere. Agriculture, writing, urbanism, complex economies, and so on, all have been independently invented multiple times in different parts of the world. This fact raises some intriguing questions about what it means to be human. By comparing how these developments occurred in different places and times, archaeologists can, in a sense, perform experiments on the past. Each semester this course is offered we will focus on a separate theme in archaeological research, such as the transition to agriculture; production, trade, and exchange; the origin of writing; imperialism, colonialism, and warfare; pseudoscience/pseudoarchaeology; or human evolution. We will study competing theoretical perspectives and different world regions to gain a broad understanding of the theme and how both theory and data are used to create a comprehensive understanding of the human past.

Since the first humans set out from Africa nearly two million years ago, our ancestors and relatives managed to settle in almost every continent. Wherever they went, they left traces of their lives that are tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years deep. We call these traces the archaeological record. Almost everywhere our ancestors settled, they did many of the same things, such as inventing agriculture, cities, writing, and state-level societies. However, they did this in ways unique to each region and time. This course examines the archaeology of a specific region, such as the Middle East, Mesoamerica, North America, or East Asia, in detail. We examine the geography, culture, archaeological record, and significance of the region to various key themes in archaeological research with respect to other world regions.

Physically, culturally, and socially, humans live through food and drink. Spanning the globe, as nearly limitless omnivores, humans have developed myriad ways of collecting and cultivating food and taking advantage of local environments. We also put food to work for us socially by creating cuisine. Through cuisine, we forge and nourish relationships, commune with deities, and through luxury choices, demonstrate our "taste" and lay claim to elite status. Through the cultural practices of production and consumption of food and drink, we wield power. Food and drink consumption patterns have sustained slavery, poverty, malnutrition, and illegal immigration, and have laid waste to the environment. In this class, we explore physical, cultural, social, political, and economic dimensions of food and become more aware of how the private, intimate act of a bite connects us to the rest of humanity.

Nearly all of the foundational human technologies were invented deep in prehistory—the only way we can understand their origin is through archaeological research, excavation, and experimental archaeology. This course examines one of three realms of technology (Everyday Life, Food and Cooking, and Information) through reading and lectures on various aspects of the technologies and experimental replication of the technologies in the laboratory. The course builds to an individual research project in which students replicate a specific technology to better understand it. By the end of the course, students will better understand humanity’s unique relationship with technology and how an experimental approach can help us understand ancient technology. Theme One: Everyday Life Technology: We start with the earliest known human technology, chipped stone tools, and then move on to other key technologies developed in prehistory such as ceramics, glass, metals, transportation, weapons, and engineering. We examine the consequences and ramifications of technological innovation in the human past and how ancient technological innovation created the foundations of modern society. Theme Two: Food and Cooking Technology: We begin with food before cooking and continue with the use of fire, the impact cooking had on human evolution, and how cooking physically and chemically transforms raw food into human nutrition. We will look at different means of cooking that were used before the invention of cooking infrastructure (e.g., pottery, stoves, ovens, etc.), and then some of the earliest documented cuisines (e.g., Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, etc.). Theme Three: Information Technology: We begin with the basics of communication between different organisms and how these led to human language and explore various competing theories for the origin of human language. We continue with an exploration of the first human signs, symbols, and other material expressions of meaning. We then examine the multiple origins of writing and the various theories to explain its origins. We conclude with examinations of mathematics, astronomy, calendrics, and concepts of time, and the tools that were used study them.

Death and burial are how most individuals enter the archaeological record and one could say that deliberate burial of the dead is the first direct evidence we have for the emergence of ethical and religious systems of thought. Human remains, their mortuary treatment, and associated material culture illuminate past patterns of social organization, economics, belief systems, health, and the negotiation of gender, status, and identity. In this course we explore the scientific and theoretical tools used to analyze and interpret past mortuary practices, how archaeologists create new knowledge about the past through the formulations and testing of hypotheses, survey mortuary practices from their first occurrence in the archaeological record, and what human remains can tell us about changes in the human experience over time and space. We will learn how human remains are identified, how determinations of age, sex, biological affiliation, health, and injury are made, how to interpret formation processes, to interpret associated material culture to understand the negotiation of gender and status; how humans have cared for the deceased members of their societies at different times and places in the human past; and the ethics of studying human mortuary remains.