The complex interaction of language and culture, including linguistic perspectives on prehistory, ethnosemantics and sociocultural correlations of linguistic variation. Ecological analysis of the interplay of socio-political and technological processes in different types of societies. Focus upon the ecological side-effects and selected technologies, economic mechanisms and political institutions. A comparative study of production, exchange, and consumption of goods and services in simple and complex societies. The study of the interrelations between life-cycle, psychological functioning and malfunctioning, and social and cultural institutions.
Emphasis is placed on enculturation and life-cycle rituals.
A survey of the archaeological evidence and cultural interpretations of Old World cultures from the beginning of the Pleistocene to the development of agriculture. Archaeological evidence and cultural interpretations of the origins of complex societies from the development of agriculture to the beginnings of written history in the Old World. Archaeological evidence and cultural interpretations of those New World cultures which did not develop civilizations, from the earliest inhabitants till the period of initial European contact. Archaeological evidence and cultural interpretations of the growth and development of complex societies in the New World from the origins of agriculture to the period of initial European contact. Archaeological evidence and culture history of prehistoric populations which inhabited the various environmental zones of Manitoba.