This course is a survey of the human past in the Americas, from the initial settlement at the end of the Ice Age to contact with the Europeans. Students will become familiar with the major culture areas of North and South America, including their geographic characteristics, the different human responses to changes in climate and resource availability, and the resulting richness and variability of past adaptations. Students will also gain familiarity with the methods and types of evidence that archaeologists use to reconstruct the culture history of prehistoric America. Covered topics include the development of social complexity in various regions, the origins of agriculture, and the emergence of state societies. Special attention is paid to the archaeology of the Northwest Coast.

This course is an introduction to world archaeology. Through an overview of select archaeological research and fossil evidence spanning the history of the genus Homo up to the emergence of state-level societies, students will become familiar with analytical methods and interpretive frameworks used to reconstruct the human past. In this course students will gain an appreciation of the time scales involved in the study of human evolution, the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record, the interpretive potential of different types of material culture, and the drivers of cultural change.