Courses

1000. Peoples and Cultures of the World

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to the anthropological understanding of human society through ethnographic case studies of selected peoples and cultures, exploring the richness and variety of human life. Encourages students to learn about different cultures and to apply their knowledge to make sense of their own society. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

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1000W. Peoples and Cultures of the World

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to the anthropological understanding of human society through ethnographic case studies of selected peoples and cultures, exploring the richness and variety of human life. Encourages students to learn about different cultures and to apply their knowledge to make sense of their own society. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

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1001W. Anthropology Through Film

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to cultural anthropology, approached through the medium of ethnographic film. Particular attention is given to how films represent humans' varied beliefs and behavior. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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1006. Introduction to Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The biological and cultural development of humans from their origin to the present. A brief survey of human evolution is followed by a comparative study of behavior and beliefs of our own and other societies. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

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1010E. Global Climate Change and Human Societies

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

A multidisciplinary examination of the nature, anthropogenic drivers, range of expressions, and impacts of contemporary and future global climate change as well as cultural understandings of this significant environmental process and diverse human responses to it. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

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1093. Foreign Study

1.00 - 17.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Special topics taken in a foreign study program. May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 17.

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1095. Special Topics Lecture

1.00 - 3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

May be repeated with a change in topic.

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1500. Great Discoveries in Archaeology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of important discoveries in archaeology spanning the whole of human prehistory across the globe. Current issues, methods, and techniques in the field of archaeology. CA 2. CA 4-INT.

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2000. Social Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

A comparative study of social structure including an analysis of kinship, marriage, community organization, political and economic institutions, and the role of the individual in these institutions. CA 2. CA 4.

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2000W. Social Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

A comparative study of social structure including an analysis of kinship, marriage, community organization, political and economic institutions, and the role of the individual in these institutions. CA 2. CA 4.

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2200. Race and Human Biological Diversity

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to race and racism, concepts of racial difference, and the patterns of human biological variation. Special emphasis on understanding human biodiversity within historical, scientific, and social contexts. CA 3. CA 4.

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2501. Introduction to Archaeology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The concepts, methods and practice of anthropological archaeology.

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2502. Human Evolution

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The processes and events leading to the origin of human beings. Human physical and cultural development from its beginning to the dawn of settled life, through the approaches of physical anthropology and archaeology.

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2510. Methods in Maritime Archaeology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Methods and techniques in underwater archaeology covering both maritime (ships, ports, etc.) and submerged settlements archaeology. Overview of the aqueous environment, underwater archaeological methods, geophysical/geotechnical surveying and data interpretation, diver and ROV-based documentation and excavation techniques survey methods.

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2511. Anthropology of Museums

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Museums as locales for intersecting issues of identity, memory, place, power, ethnicity, history, representation, and ownership. Special focus on collectors, theories, and methods for the collection and display of Native American bodies, histories, art, and artifacts. Four museum field trips and related field research required. SM-10/12/09

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2600. Microscopy in Applied Archaeobotany Research

4.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction to research trends in archaeobotany and use of microscopy tools. Design and execution of a research project. CA 3-LAB.

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3003. Field Research in Social Settings

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Methods and techniques of field research in social settings, including observational procedures, interviewing, and the construction and use of questionnaires.

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3004. Cultural Research

1.00 - 3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The theoretical foundations and basic methods used to collect and analyze cultural data.

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3021. Contemporary Latin America

Also offered as: LLAS 3021

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of anthropological contributions to the study of contemporary Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Hispanic Caribbean. Special focus on the comparative analysis of recent ethnographic case studies and local/regional/national/international linkages.

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3025. Contemporary Africa

Also offered as: AFRA 3025

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Africa since its partition in 1884. Urbanization, social stratification, racial and ethnic conflict.

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3026. Peoples and Cultures of North America

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

A survey of representative Native American cultures as they existed prior to the twentieth century, together with a view of the changing life of modern Native Americans.

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3027. Contemporary Native Americans

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Analysis of Native American reservations and urban communities and their relationship to the larger U.S. society. Special focus on federal policy and economic development, cultural identity, and politics of Native Americans.

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3028. Indigenous Rights and Aboriginal Australia

Also offered as: HRTS 3028

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to the study and understanding of Aboriginal ways of life and thought. An exploration of the complexity of contemporary indigenous social orders and land rights issues. CA 4-INT.

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3028W. Indigenous Rights and Aboriginal Australia

Also offered as: HRTS 3028W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to the study and understanding of Aboriginal ways of life and thought. An exploration of the complexity of contemporary indigenous social orders and land rights issues. CA 4-INT.

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3029. The Caribbean

Also offered as: LLAS 3029

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Comparative perspectives on the cultural formation of Caribbean societies; the region's demographic, economic and political links with the wider world.

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3030E. Peoples of the Pacific Islands

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of the indigenous societies and cultures of the Pacific Islands, from the first settlement to the postcolonial period. Topics include prehistoric canoe voyaging, modes of subsistence, political forms, ritual and religion, ceremonial exchange, gender ideologies, European colonization, and modern indigenous nationalism. Ethnographic examples will be drawn from Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. CA 4-INT.

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3041. Latin American Minorities in the United States

Also offered as: LLAS 3241

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Emphasis on groups of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban origin, including treatment and historical background, social stratification, informal social relations, ethnic perceptions, relations and the concept of Latino identity.

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3050. Anthropology of Jews and Jewishness

Also offered as: HEJS 3050

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of the rich and growing ethnographic literature on Jews and Jewishness around the globe. Course materials include ethnographic texts, music, and videos/films.

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3050W. Anthropology of Jews and Jewishness

Also offered as: HEJS 3050W

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of the rich and growing ethnographic literature on Jews and Jewishness around the globe. Course materials include ethnographic texts, music, and videos/films.

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3081. Internship in Anthropology

1.00 - 6.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Practical experience, knowledge, and professional skills in a work environment related to anthropology. Based on a contract and learning experience syllabus. Students taking this course will be assigned a final grade of S (satisfactory) or U (unsatisfactory).

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3090. Directed Field Research in Anthropology

1.00 - 12.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 12 credits.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The investigation of a sociocultural and/or archaeological problem in some domestic or foreign field location. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits.

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3091. Internship in Anthropology: Directed Study

1.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 2 credits.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Directed study, analysis, and reflection on internship experience.

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3093. Foreign Study

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Special topics taken in a foreign study program. May count toward the major with consent of the advisor. May be repeated for credit.

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3095. Special Topics

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

With a change of content, may be repeated for credit.

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3096. Directed Research in Anthropology

1.00 - 6.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The investigation of a sociocultural and/or archaeological problem in a non field-based setting. Hours by arrangement.

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3098. Variable Topics

3.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Prerequisites, required preparation, and recommended preparation vary. With a change of topic, may be repeated for credit.

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3099. Independent Study

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

With a change of content, may be repeated for credit.

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3120. Anthropology of Capitalism

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Ethnographic approaches to classic and contemporary debates about capitalism's transformation of sociocultural dynamics.

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3150. Migration

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The social, cultural and economic causes and consequences of internal and international migration in the modern era. Topics include migrant selection, social adaptation, effects on home and host societies, and cultural identity. CA 4.

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3150W. Migration

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The social, cultural and economic causes and consequences of internal and international migration in the modern era. Topics include migrant selection, social adaptation, effects on home and host societies, and cultural identity. CA 4.

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3152. Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

Also offered as: AFRA 3152

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Popular and scholarly theories of human group identity and diversity, in cross-cultural and historical perspective. Topics include: an overview of 'race' and 'ethnicity' in Western thought, ethnic group formation and transformation, political mobilizations of group identity, and systems of inequality. CA 2. CA 4.

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3155. Anthropology of the African Diaspora

Also offered as: AFRA 3155

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An exploration of the racial, political, and social similarities and differences within and between the communities constituting the African Diaspora from an anthropological perspective.

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3200. Human Behavioral Ecology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The application of the theory of natural selection to the study of human culture and behavior, with emphasis on the interaction between humans and their environment.

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3202W. Illness and Curing

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Cross-cultural analysis of ethnomedicine, major medical systems, alternative medical systems, curing and healing illness and social control, gender and healing, and the role of traditional and cosmopolitan medical systems in international health. CA 4.

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3230. Propaganda, Disinformation, and Hate Speech

Also offered as: HRTS 3230

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Draws on current social science research to understand the effects of false information and hate speech on our politics and culture and to evaluate various private and public initiatives to regulate speech. CA 2.

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3250. Cognitive Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The study of how the content of thought or knowledge is created, organized, and distributed in human communities. Topics include cultural models of the mind, emotions, personality, and relationships.

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3251. Psychological Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Cross-cultural overview of critical issues regarding the relationship between individual personality and sociocultural systems, and mental health and illness.

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3300. Medical Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to the theory, method, and content of medical anthropology.

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3302. Medical Ecology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Anthropological perspectives on the interrelationships among culture, biology, environment, and disease. Major topics include ecology and adaptation, population dynamics, nutrition, reproduction, disease in sociological context, health seeking behavior, and the complexity of the interaction of western and non-western medical systems.

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3303. Parent Child Relations in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Also offered as: HDFS 3310

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Theory and research on major dimensions of parenting in the U.S.A. and cross-culturally, parental warmth, control and punishment.

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3304. Anthropology of Drug Use

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Uses the anthropological lens to examine the intersection of societies, cultures and psychoactive substances based on a historically informed, cross-cultural, ethnographic and political economic perspective on drug use and related behaviors.

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3309. Violence and Human Rights

Also offered as: HRTS 3309

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Violence and human rights as cultural constructs; human rights claims; war, genocide, terrorism, street crime, domestic violence; deterrence and intervention policy.

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3320. Race, Culture, and Reproductive Health

Also offered as: AFRA 3320

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An examination of the reproductive health experiences of women in the United States, including those focused on sexuality, birth, and motherhood. An exploration of the complex relationship between women’s reproductive experiences and their contemporary racial and socioeconomic locations in American society.

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3325. Introduction to Global Health

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Anthropological perspectives on public health in a globalized world, health inequalities within and across countries; diverse social, cultural, and other determinants of global health; pressing global health issues; organizational players involved in addressing global health issues.

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3326. Global Health and Human Rights

Also offered as: HRTS 3326

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Theories, methods and controversies in the interconnected fields of global health and human rights.

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3327. Power and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean

Also offered as: HRTS 3327, LLAS 3327

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

History, theories, and concepts about the human right to health and structural inequalities in the region.

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3340E. Culture and Conservation

Also offered as: EVST 3340E

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Interdisciplinary analysis of conservation and the human-environment relationship from a cross-cultural perspective. Major topics include sustainability, environmental ethics, climate change, natural disasters, health, and environmental justice. CA2. CA4-INT.

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3342. Political and Legal Anthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Anthropological analysis of the state, nation, and human rights from a cross-cultural perspective.

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3350. Anthropological Perspectives on Women

Also offered as: WGSS 3350

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Major conceptual and historical problems in the study of gender in anthropology. Women's roles in different historical and contemporary settings, and new understandings of family, kinship, power, and cultural ideologies.

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3351. Sex and Gender

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary analysis of biological sex, gender, sex roles, and sexuality.

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3400. Culture and Religion

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Major theories and approaches in the study of religion as a social institution and cultural system. Topics include myth, ritual, taboos and pollution beliefs, shamanism, magical practices, fundamentalism and religion in modern society.

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3401. World Religions

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

A survey of religious belief systems, both polytheistic and monotheistic, from around the world. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3402. Women in the Bible

Also offered as: WGSS 3402

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An introduction to Biblical interpretation from a feminist perspective, examining how women are represented in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Issues of authorship, translation, point of view, cultural context and language.

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3403. Women and Religion

Also offered as: WGSS 3403

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Gender issues in the world's religions. Survey of women's theological standing, ritual activities and participation in a cross-cultural sample of religions, both monotheistic and polytheistic.

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3405. Religion and Mind

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Cognitive and evolutionary anthropological perspectives on the mental underpinnings of religious thought and behavior.

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3420. Archaeology of Psychoactive Substances

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of psychoactive substances and altered states of consciousness in both past and present cultural practice.

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3450W. Anthropological Perspectives on Art

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Approaches to cultural creativity and aesthetics in the graphic and plastic arts of prestate societies. Examples from North America, Oceania, and Africa. CA 1.

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3503. Old World Prehistory

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The origin of humanity in Africa, hunters and gatherers of the Paleolithic, the origins of agriculture and the transition to settled life, and the emergence of civilizations in Africa, Asia and the Near East.

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3506W. Laboratory Techniques in Archaeology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The analysis, interpretation, and presentation of archaeological data sets including lithics, ceramics, floral and faunal remains and spatial information from excavated sites.

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3512. African Archaeology

Also offered as: AFRA 3512

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An archaeological perspective on more than three million years of human social and behavioral change in Africa, from Stone Age societies that are the earliest in the world to sweeping changes brought about by the development and spread of cattle and crops, sophisticated metallurgy, and the later rise of kingdoms and complex polities situated at a global crossroads of trade and interaction.

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3513. Near Eastern Prehistory

Also offered as: HIST 3300

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

From the earliest hunter-gatherers to the rise of the state: the transition from food-gathering to food-production and the development of complex societies in the Near East.

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3514. European Prehistory

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Interdisciplinary survey of the archaeological, biological, cultural, and behavioral evolution of prehistoric humans and their societies across Europe and portions of western Asia.

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3522. Ecological Anthropology Seminar

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Interdisciplinary study of the ecology of humans, integrating ecological and anthropological theory with archaeological, historical, and contemporary case-studies.

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3523E. The Origins of Agriculture

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The origins and spread of agriculture worldwide. Economic, social and ideological ramifications of the agricultural transition. Processes of plant and animal domestication.

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3531. Maritime Archaeology of the Americas

Also offered as: HIST 3209, MAST 3531

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Archaeological and historical sources to examine the development of seafaring practices, exploration, waterborne trade and economic systems, naval warfare and shipbuilding in the Americas from the fifteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century.

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3532. Archaeology of the Age of Sail

Also offered as: HIST 3210, MAST 3532

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Overview of archaeological and historical sources on the development of seafaring and navigation, exploration, waterborne trade and economic systems, colonialism and empire building, naval warfare and shipbuilding in Europe, Asia and Australia from the fifteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century.

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3555. Archaeological Science

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of scientific methods used to answer archaeological questions. Methods, applications and lab demonstrations.

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3560. The Evolution of Human Diet

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Investigation of ecological, anatomical, and physiological aspects that shaped the biological and cultural evolution of humans from the Pliocene to the Anthropocene.

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3701. Lithic Technology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

The properties of stone tools - the primary evidence of human behavior for humanity's first 2.5 million years - and the processes of their manufacture. Analysis of prehistoric tools and tool replication.

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3703. Zooarchaeological Method and Theory

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Method and theory of archaeological faunal analysis, including training in the identification of skeletal materials, the formation of the zooarchaeological record, and the interpretation of zooarchaeological data.

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3704. Experimental Archaeology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Method and theory of experimental archaeology, including hands-on study of past human behavior through experimentation with modern material culture, and the execution of an experimental research project addressing an archaeological question.

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3705. Paleoanthropology

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Fossil evidence for the evolution of the human family, Hominidae. Anatomical features, behavior, and evolutionary relationships of extinct hominids; the use of biological, geological, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct past hominid adaptations.

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3706. Archaeobotany

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Method and theory of studying archaeological plant remains in the laboratory, including sampling, identification, and interpretation of data.

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3710. Technology and Society: Archaeological Perspectives

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Using a hands-on and field-based approach and the study of museum-based collections, an examination of archaeological approaches to understanding the ways in which various technologies are used by human societies in the present and past, how new technologies arise and spread, the impacts of technological changes, and how to study social choices in the implementation of various technologies as varied as stone tools, pottery, footwear, gravestones, and industrial-era mill sites.

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3720. Lab Methods in Archaeological and Forensic Science

1.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 3 credits.

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction to scientific lab methods used in archaeology and forensics. Includes three stand alone modules, each dedicated to a different method. Each module consists of 15 contact hours comprised of labs and lectures and takes place during a single weekend. Repeatable to a maximum of three credits.

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3902. North American Prehistory

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Prehistoric cultures of North America from the earliest traces to European contact, with emphasis on the region east of the Mississippi. CA 4.

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3904. Ethnohistory of Native New England

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Combines archaeological and ethnohistorical data to reconstruct the lifeways of the Native Americans of New England from the prehistoric period to the present. CA 4.

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3990. Field Work in Archaeology

1.00 - 6.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

Training in the techniques of archaeological site excavation; mapping; recording; field conservation, and preliminary analysis of materials.

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4097W. Honors Thesis

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Honors Credit

Research and writing of major project exploring a topic within anthropology, with close supervision and production of multiple written drafts.

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4510. The Neanderthals

3.00 credits

Prerequisites:

Grading Basis: Graded

An interdisciplinary consideration of the biological, cultural, technological, and behavioral evolution of the Neanderthals and their societies.

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