ANTH 339 - Ecological Archaeology

This course will introduce students to anthropological and archaeological approaches to study human-environment relationships in the distant past. We will cover a range of topics from the reconstruction of paleoenvironments in ancient worlds to centering non-human agency in archaeological study. Methodologically, the course will focus on toolkits that allow archaeologists to examine interactions between people and the environment, such as landscape archaeology, archaeobotany, geoarchaeology, dendrology, zooarchaeology, and paleoclimatology. However, we will also weave these Eurowestern scientific approaches with Indigenous, descendant and local knowledges to understand how practices like oral histories, placenames or ethnobotany inform archaeological research. This course will allow students to grasp how past people related with biotic or geotic beings like plants, animals, mountains, minerals and waterways.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 201 or ANTH 211
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.