ANTH 2625 - BIOARCHAEOLOGY

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
The human skeleton provides the most direct and unchallenged evidence for an individual's past behavior as the skeleton is plastic in its response to stress, much the same as a society responds to social and environmental stress. While the artifacts, architecture and features recovered from an excavation leave a cultural imprint on the landscape, so too does culture and behavior leave an impression on the deceased. The individual is not just a biological shell to be cleaved from its cultural context, but rather forms a social package contingent upon culture during life and in death. We will examine social change and behavior from the perspective of the deceased within geographically diverse funerary contexts. We will evaluate factors that may influence the funerary context, such as differential burial practices and preservation. We will examine traditional labels to explore the topics of gender, biological vs. chronological age, and life course thresholds. Lectures will be supplemented with a practical component as well as writing exercises.
Academic Career: Graduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: Grad Letter Grade

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