ANTH 2031 - The Rise of Civilization

Human society has changed drastically in the last 10,000 years. For 90 percent of our (pre)history, humankind lived in small, egalitarian bands of hunter-gatherers. Since then, social groupings have grown larger and more economically and socially diverse. Why these changes have occurred is one of the great questions in anthropology and history. This class will explore the rise of complex societies, comparing early complex societies in the Old World and the New World.