Zooarchaeological analysis and identification are a vital skill in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology. While learning the fundamentals of osteological investigation students will identify and analyze faunal remains. Students will analyze growth, age, sex, disease. damage and zooarchaeological use of bones. Zooarchaeology is the study of animal and human interactions through archaeological remains and context. Humans have interacted with animals as predators, prey, and even pets and hunting companions throughout prehistory into today. This course provides students with the skills to analyze animal remains, keep careful journal records, and report their findings both verbally, visually, and in writing.
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A survey of the dynamics of cultural systems in prehistoric Mesoamerica with a focus on the Tehuacan Valley of Central Mexico. This will provide the basis for discussion of the higher energy transforming systems of the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya and Aztec. Special attention given to causal models, including ecological and environmental, materialistic trade and exchange and religion and ideology provide the theoretical framework which the rise of civilization occurs.
The Northern Plains of North America is a vast territory stretching from central Manitoba and Saskatchewan south to Nebraska, east to northern Iowa and west to the Rocky Mountains. It is a stark and harsh landscape but one with abundant streams, animals (particularly bison), and wild plants. These resources sustained Native American populations for over 12,000 years. The course will trace the earliest small nomadic mammoth and bison hunting groups, through the development of agricultural groups living in large permanent earthlodge villages to the ultimate dramatic collapse of Native culture in the 19th century through a combination of intertribal warfare, epidemic disease and the colonization of the area by Euroamericans.
This four to five week field school offers basic instruction in all aspects of Archaeological Fieldwork. Students will be instructed in excavation, mapping, photography, plan view map drawing, as well as the initial processing of recovered artifacts.
The first week of the course will be spent on campus reading and discussing the history of the Southwest from an archaeological and cultural perspective. The southwest is a region rich in archaeological sites. This region also provides a unique setting to explore the living cultures whose ancestors created those sites. We will visit ancient sites built into cliffs, walk the river courses of cultures long past, and visit with the living descendants of the archaeological sites we’ll explore on this unique tour of the Southwest.
Internship in Anthropology.
Additional fees may apply.
Special Topics in Anthropology.