The works and contributions of major scholars in social, archaeological and biological anthropology over the last century. Review of relationships between law and culture, discourse and power, colonialism, representation, and the character of globalization. Identification, sampling, quantification, hunting economies, domestication and herding systems in complex societies. Major theoretical and methodological issues in the origins and organization of prehistoric state societies. Old and New World case studies are used to reconstruct political systems, elites and economies.
Students prepare a research design outlining a feasible research plan for a specific research topic.
C62-1 or permission of instructor. Data gathering through observation and interview. Data analysis fro ethnographic reporting. Can be repeated for credit. The social and cultural institutions characteristic of the state of prestate societies.