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Archaeology

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  • CAS AR 100: Great Discoveries in Archaeology
    Introduction to how archaeologists use material culture to study inequality, diet, gender, religion, identity, and sustainability in global case studies from the origins of humans to the present. Looting, heritage, and repatriation are addressed with the perspectives of descendant communities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 150: Archaeology of Cities
    An introduction to the archaeology of cities and urbanism. The course includes introductory urban theory, exposure to ancient and early modern cities from geo-temporal contexts that Archaeology Program faculty specialize in, and comparison of cities and urbanism organized along central themes. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS AR 190: Introduction to Archaeology
    Foundational training in how archaeologists study past peoples and cultures via field, museum, and laboratory methods. Apply theoretical frameworks to archaeological themes and datasets. Relate archaeological outcomes to the present day through real-world examples from around the globe. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 201: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
    An introduction to the archaeology and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a focus on the precolonial era. Topics progress chronologically as well as comparatively, with cases drawn from Native American cultures of the North America, Mesoamerica, and South America. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 202: Archaeological Mysteries: Pseudoscience and Fallacy in the Human Past
    Investigation through case studies of pseudoscientific claims about the past. Purported solutions to archaeological mysteries are subjected to the test of evidence using the scientific method. Topics include Atlantis, ancient extraterrestrials, Pyramids, Stonehenge, crop marks, and Noah's Ark. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills one unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AR 206: Ancient Technology
    Introduction to the emergence of culture and the reconstruction of early lifeways from archaeological evidence. Topics include early humans in Africa, Asia, and Europe; Neanderthals; the first Americans; and the prelude to agriculture. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS AR 210: Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations
    Traces the rise and fall of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations from their Stone Age roots to the end of the Bronze Age. Subjects include art, architecture, economic, social, political, and religious characteristics, and theoretical explanations of cultural change. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS AR 230: Introduction to Greek & Roman Archaeology
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equivalent) - An archaeological journey from Bronze Age Greece to democratic Athens to Imperial Rome, tracking social upheaval and cohesion through religious, civic, and domestic spheres. Learn to read material remains to understand life in a complex past, a past that illuminates our own world today. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS AR 240: Archaeology of Ancient China
    Examines the archaeology of ancient China from the Neolithic through the early imperial periods (7000 BCE to 3rd C. CE) the interactions of technology, art, literature with ancient political, religious, and social power; and cultural heritage issues in facing modern China. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Social Inquiry I.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 250: The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica
    Overview of the Aztecs, Mayas, and other native peoples of Mexico and Central America, including the chronological development of cultures and key topics. Focus on variability in individuals and groups by age, gender, ethnicity, class, and polities pre- and post-conquest. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • The Individual in Community
  • CAS AR 251: Ancient Maya Civilization
    An exploration of the Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America, including its origins, intellectual achievements, city-state rise and collapse cycles, and the cultural endurance of the Maya people of today. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 280: Eating and Drinking in the Ancient World
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) or consent of inst ructor - Survey of the archaeological evidence of the diets of human societies, from earliest humans to the present. Emphasis on the remains of plants, animals, and humans and what they tell us about ancient food and drink within their social contexts. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS AR 283: North American Archaeology
    North American prehistory from initial peopling of continent to development of complex societies. Explores human entry into the New World; migration across North America; subsistence changes; human effects on landscape; encounters with Europeans; role of archaeology in contemporary Native cultures. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 290: Human Impacts on Ancient Environments
    Examination of human-environmental interactions in the global landscape over the past 10,000 years through migration, hunting, disease, agriculture, and other cultural activities; implications for contemporary and future resources management and environmental policy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 291: Peoples of the Arctic
    People have lived in the Arctic for 40,000 years and continue to thrive in this challenging environment. We use archaeological, oral history, historic, and ethnographic data to examine this long history, and to address the ways in which themes from the past can be used to highlight contemporary issues in Arctic communities. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 305: Paleolithic Archaeology
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAR101) - Introduction to emergence of culture and reconstruction of early human lifeways from archaeological evidence. Topics include early humans in Africa, Asia, and Europe; Neanderthals; the first Americans; and the prelude to agriculture. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • CAS AR 307: Archaeological Science
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASAR 190 or consent of instructor. - Application of natural sciences, as an integral part of modern archaeology, to issues of dating, reconstructing past environments and diets, and analysis of mineral and biological remains. Laboratories concentrate on biological, geological, physical, and chemical approaches. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • CAS AR 331: Early Greek Art and Architecture
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - Examines a critical formative stage in Greek art. Analyzes the rise of identifiable artists, the relationship of art to epic, the evolution of the architectural orders, and the formation of Greek style in monumental stone sculpture. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS AR 333: Arts of Classical Greece
    Examines architecture, sculpture, painting, and metalwork of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. in their original contexts. Addresses such larger issues as development of portraiture; tension of "real" and "ideal"; roles and shifting iconographies of myth; and political use of monuments. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
  • CAS AR 369: Indigenous Archaeology
    Introduction to Indigenous archaeology, which seeks to realize a more ethical engagement with Indigenous communities by conducting research "with, for, and by" Indigenous descendant communities. Reviews key theoretical frameworks (e.g., traditional knowledge systems, collaboration, repatriation) and explores the ways this approach is being put into action through case studies. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub area: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy

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