ANT 6620 - The Rise and Fall of Complex Societies

3 Semester Hour(s)

This course is a survey of the world’s earliest complex societies and the legacy they left behind. Taught from the perspective of anthropological archaeology, the course will cover the basics of method and theory necessary to interpret the evidence of humanity’s transition from a hunting and gathering life to sedentary life. This class compares the rise of complex societies in Americas, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and East Asia. Evidence and theories put forth to explain the rise and collapse of different civilizations and how this knowledge can be used to both document the past and better understand contemporary life.