ANTH 2330 - Great Discoveries in Archaeology

This introductory class presents a range of well-known archaeological discoveries and explores their changing interpretations, the methods of archaeological science, and what their interpretations tell us about the unique human experience. By focusing on familiar sites and discoveries feature in popular media, this class provides students with an in-depth look behind the headlines, widely accepted generalizations, and fantastical claims of famous hoaxes. The class addresses findings that are crucial to understanding fossils of human ancestors, examples of well known past civilizations, the development of writing systems, what we can learn from mummies, recent historical archaeology, and how archaeology contributes knowledge relevant to our current concerns with the environment and human use of resources.