Anthropological Archaeology

Undergraduate / Graduate

Archaeology is but ethnology in the past tense," wrote the prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan in 1946. He expressed an idea shared by many, namely that archaeology and anthropology share a single set of aims: to investigate the workings of human society and culture, to examine particulars and illuminate universals. In this course, we will become acquainted with archaeology as a discipline of anthropology. Through readings, analysis of case studies, excursions, and practical exercises, we will learn the fundamentals of archaeological theory and method while exploring how archaeologists use them to examine anthropological questions. How do we study the development and structure of the social, political, and economic systems of the past? What can archaeology tell us about the formation of identities-self-same and other? How can the analysis of material remains shed light on the operations of culture, power, and agency? We will also look closely at "anthropological archaeology" as a historical object, from its early investments in ideas of primitive culture to contemporary issues of heritage, patrimony, and repatriation, archaeology's material, economic, and environmental impacts, and the potential of archaeologists to pursue restorative ways of engaging the past and the present.