Subject Area: Archaeology
This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: History

This course provides an overview of world prehistory and introduces students to archaeology, the primary means by which prehistory is studied. Students will learn the contours of human prehistory from hominid evolution through the rise of complex societies. Through the use of case studies, students will also engage modern archaeological methods and practices (e.g. remote sensing, surface survey, excavation, archaeological science, conservation) as well as various theories of interpretation in archaeology (e.g., culture history, processualism, post-processualism). A major theme of the course will be the interaction of archaeology with other disciplines in order to reconstruct the human past. Each week students will study a delineated era of human prehistory. Readings and lectures will provide an overview of that era as well as a case study focusing on a particular archaeological site, project, or issue; tutorials will focus on a problem related to that era and its case study.