Anthropology (ANTY)

ANTY 210. Intro to Bio Anthropology w/ L. 4 Credits.

This science-based course explores human evolution through the framework of biological anthropology, examining the evolutionary processes that shaped our species and our closest relatives. Students will investigate what makes humans biologically distinctive by grounding our story in evolutionary theory, genetics, and natural selection. Students will analyze hominin skeletal anatomy, bipedalism, brain expansion, tool use, and changing subsistence strategies to interpret where, when, and how modern humans evolved. Emphasis is placed on scientific methods used in paleoanthropology, including dating techniques, comparative skeletal analysis, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Students will explore modern human biological variation (skin color, lactose tolerance, disease resistance, and body proportions) through an evolutionary lens. By integrating fossil evidence, genetics, primatology, and archaeology, students will build evidence-based arguments about the origins of uniquely human traits and the ongoing evolutionary processes that continue to shape our species today. The lab will focus on the identification of human skeletal material as well as pathological markers on bones.

ANTY 220. Culture and Society. 3 Credits.

This course introduces students to the field of cultural anthropology, which is the study of human cultures in their diversity, complexity, and change. This course emphasizes learning to think like an anthropologist by asking critical questions about how and why people live as they do. Students will explore the history of anthropology and examine the key concepts that shape the discipline, including culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, symbolism, social organization, identity, power, and globalization. By the end of the course, students will gain an appreciation for the richness and variability of human social systems, develop cultural sensitivity and respect for difference, and strengthen the reading, writing, and analytical skills necessary to critically interpret qualitative research in the social sciences.

ANTY 250. Intoduction to Archaeology. 3 Credits.

This course is an introduction to Archaeology, explaining its theories, methods, and applications. This course will introduce Archaeology as a discipline that combines humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to study past human societies and their evolution through time. The course is intended to demystify the aura of archaeologists as adventurers and to show how actual scientific work is conducted nowadays. During the course field and laboratory methods will be explained using examples from well-known archaeological excavations around the world. This course aims provide the students with critical tools to comprehend future archaeological discoveries and their implications in the study of the human condition.

ANTY 291. Special Topics. 3 Credits.

ANTY 301. Archeology and History Abroad. 3 Credits.

A survey of the historical development of the host country or region associated with a study abroad experience. The course meets once per week prior to travel and provides students with historical frameworks necessary for understanding the political, social, economic, and cultural forces that shape the host culture. Through lectures, discussions, readings, and student research, the course examines major historical eras, movements, institutions, and social transformations. Emphasis is placed on processes of continuity and change, historical causation, and the relationship between past events and present conditions. The use of sources other than the written word (artifacts, ecofacts, oral traditions, artworks) is developed and stressed. Course content varies by location while maintaining consistent academic outcomes and expectations. Prerequisites: LSH 107. Global Travel Experience.

ANTY 351. Archaeology of North America. 3 Credits.

This course examines the archaeology of North America from the initial peopling of the continent to the period of European contact. Spanning a broad geographic region, from Alaska and the Arctic through the Plains, the Southwest, Eastern Woodlands, and the Northwest Coast, the course explores the cultural diversity, technological innovation, social organization, and environmental adaption of indigenous societies over more than 15,000 years. Through archaeological case studies, students will analyze settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, trade networks, religion, political organization, art, and technology. The course emphasizes archaeological methods, interpretation of material culture, and ethical considerations in working with descendant communities. By the end of the course, students will understand the deep history and diversity of Indigenous North American societies and the dynamic processes that shaped the continent prior to European colonization.

ANTY 359. Archaeological Science. 4 Credits.

Archaeological science presents a study of the theory, methods, and techniques used by archaeologists in survey, excavation, analysis, and interpretation, with particular emphasis on artifact analysis. The course introduces students to a broad range of scientific methodologies ( including those borrowed from biology, chemistry, physics, and geology) that can be used to answer many questions that archaeologists investigate. This course is divided into four modules: Environment and Landscape, Material Remains, Diet and Subsistence, and Genetics and Isotopes. Lecture and Laboratory hours are included.

ANTY 391. Special Topics. 3 Credits.

ANTY 392. Independent Study. 3 Credits.

ANTY 592. Independent Study. 3 Credits.