This course focuses on why there is variation in specific biological traits and how this variation becomes grist for the mill in the cultural construction of race. Archaeology Introduces students to the scientific study of extinct societies. Research design, site survey and excavation, data recording and interpretation, artifact identification and treatment and cultural resource management are among the topics covered. The course introduces students to Africa and its prehistoric and historic past. It acquaints students with the indigenous mythological, linguistic, oral, and modern scientific linkage between the continent and the rest of the world.
Students explore the centers of human physical and cultural evolution in East and South Africa.
The centers of classic civilizations and permanent settlements from the Nile Delta in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south are examined. Neolithic revolution that set in motion the beginnings of agriculture, and the archeological evidence thereof, are critically assessed. Archeological evidence documenting slave trade with the Middle East is also considered and explored from historical and multicultural perspectives. Word Play Words are at the center of the human experience. This course focuses on the uniquely human capacity to use language.