ANTH 2300 - Peopling of the Planet

How did humans come to occupy continents and islands across the planet? This course surveys the story of one of the worlds most successful colonizers: Homo Sapiens. Lectures detail how humans emerged as a species, left Africa to populate Europe, Asia, Australia, eventually reaching the New World and the Pacific Islands. Material focuses on archaeological data sets, methodologies, theories, and debates to investigate the timing, cause and effects of these colonization events. Special attention is given to the relationships between human subsistence, population dynamics and impacts on previously unoccupied lands.