ARCHAEOLOGY OF WARFARE AND HUMAN NATURE

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: Sophomore standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Social & Behavioral Science Breadth - Social Science Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Become familiar with available evidence and theories related to social violence, warfare, and associated practices in the human past, and how these are related to both the evolution of our species and modern manifestations of war Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Through specialized anthropological research, gain understanding of different lines of evidence used to identify and interpret diverse practices of violence and warfare in the past Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Obtain comparative global knowledge of human diversity, material culture, culture and history, and the evolution of people’s relationships with the physical, cultural, and natural world Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Become equipped to critically evaluate various arguments, theories, and speculative claims about humanity and war, distinguishing between speculative and empirical narratives about the past Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Gain understanding of how to synthesize information relevant to archaeology across multiple disciplines Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Gain experience in collaborative teamwork and public presentation Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Acquire specialized archaeological and anthropological knowledge, becoming familiar with major research cases and authors from different world regions Audience: Graduate 8. Improve skills in evaluating research theories, arguments, and the limits, potentials, and challenges in knowledge production Audience: Graduate 9. Develop research agendas with testable hypotheses for specific research problems Audience: Graduate 10. Gain experience presenting research and communicating complex ideas to a diverse audience Audience: Graduate 11. Further develop writing skills relevant to future efforts in dissertation work, publications, and grant proposals Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Become familiar with available evidence and theories related to social violence, warfare, and associated practices in the human past, and how these are related to both the evolution of our species and modern manifestations of war Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Through specialized anthropological research, gain understanding of different lines of evidence used to identify and interpret diverse practices of violence and warfare in the past Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Obtain comparative global knowledge of human diversity, material culture, culture and history, and the evolution of people’s relationships with the physical, cultural, and natural world Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Become equipped to critically evaluate various arguments, theories, and speculative claims about humanity and war, distinguishing between speculative and empirical narratives about the past Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Gain understanding of how to synthesize information relevant to archaeology across multiple disciplines Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Gain experience in collaborative teamwork and public presentation Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Acquire specialized archaeological and anthropological knowledge, becoming familiar with major research cases and authors from different world regions Audience: Graduate 8. Improve skills in evaluating research theories, arguments, and the limits, potentials, and challenges in knowledge production Audience: Graduate 9. Develop research agendas with testable hypotheses for specific research problems Audience: Graduate 10. Gain experience presenting research and communicating complex ideas to a diverse audience Audience: Graduate 11. Further develop writing skills relevant to future efforts in dissertation work, publications, and grant proposals Audience: Graduate