R. Alan Covey

An introduction to archaeology as a discipline.  Three major themes that deal with issues of the past will be covered:

1.  A brief history of the discipline, changing theories about various aspects of the past, and the role that the reconstructions of the past play in national and/or group identities.

2.  A survey of the development of human culture from its beginnings to the rise of civilizations and proto-historical cultures in most areas of the world.  Prehistoric cultures, archaeological sites, and areas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe , and the Pacific will be covered.

3.  Archaeological methods of recovery of information about the past.  Scientific procedures involved in excavation, dating, and preservation of the material record.

"Cultures in Contact" is a multi-disciplinary course which combines Historical, Anthropological, Geographical and Literary analyses of the continuing "contact period" in the New World.  The issues addressed span the last 500+ years of cultural interaction in the Americas, looking especially at the processes of cultural interaction, competition, cooperation, and synthesis that have taken place among people from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

This course reviews the archaeological evidence for indigenous social organization in Latin America at the time of European contact, as well as the documentary record for contact, conquest, and native resistance.  After discussing medieval Iberian models for colonization prior to 1492, we will review literature from the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and other regions of interest to students.

An introduction to archaeology as a discipline.  Three major themes that deal with issues of the past will be covered:

1.  A brief history of the discipline, changing theories about various aspects of the past, and the role that the reconstructions of the past play in national and/or group identities.

2.  A survey of the development of human culture from its beginnings to the rise of civilizations and proto-historical cultures in most areas of the world.  Prehistoric cultures, archaeological sites, and areas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe , and the Pacific will be covered.

3.  Archaeological methods of recovery of information about the past.  Scientific procedures involved in excavation, dating, and preservation of the material record.

When Francisco Pizarro led an expeditionary force into the Andean highlands in

1532, the Incas ruled the largest native empire to develop anywhere in the Americas. The Incas

ruled millions of subjects living across one of the most diverse regions of the planet, and they left

behind impressive material remains that speak to their organizational and technological abilities.

This course will explore how Inca civilization developed, how the Incas grew from a small

highland state into a mighty empire, and how a small number of Spaniards and their allies were

able to bring the Inca dynasty to an end. We will read accounts of the Incas written in the first

years of Spanish colonial rule, and will also review the latest archaeological discoveries.

History of the interactions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas with Africans, Asians, and Europeans over the past five hundred years.

The Andean region is one of the world’s most diverse, home to the majority of the planet’s major landforms.  Ancient human occupations of Andean landscapes transformed them into unique social spaces marked by built features and natural landmarks.  This course will focus on ancient monument-building in the desert, mountain, and jungle regions of the Andes, exploring how pre-state and state societies altered natural landscapes by constructing large-scale infrastructure, temples, and tombs.  We will discuss the current scholarly literature to consider the ways that monument-building grew social power in the Ancient Andes, from Caral to Machu Picchu.

An introduction to archaeology as a discipline.  Three major themes that deal with issues of the past will be covered:

1.  A brief history of the discipline, changing theories about various aspects of the past, and the role that the reconstructions of the past play in national and/or group identities.

2.  A survey of the development of human culture from its beginnings to the rise of civilizations and proto-historical cultures in most areas of the world.  Prehistoric cultures, archaeological sites, and areas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe , and the Pacific will be covered.

3.  Archaeological methods of recovery of information about the past.  Scientific procedures involved in excavation, dating, and preservation of the material record.

When Francisco Pizarro and led an expeditionary force into the Andean highlands in 1532, the Incas ruled the largest native empire to develop anywhere in the Americas.  The Incas governed millions of subjects living across one of the most diverse regions of the planet, and they left behind impressive material remains that speak to their organizational and technological abilities.  This course will explore how Inca civilization developed, how the Incas grew from a small highland state into a mighty empire, and how a small number of Spaniards and their allies were able to bring the Inca dynasty to an end.  We will read accounts of the Incas written in the first years of Spanish colonial rule, and will also review the latest archaeological discoveries.

 The roots of scientific archaeology lie in antiquarianism and colonial empire.  Elite collectors assembled ancient artifacts, for aesthetic reasons or to assert links with the past, and museums developed to fulfill such functions in the public interest in emerging nation-states.  This course will discuss the complex and often contentious ways that these legacies influence contemporary archaeology, museum practices, and international heritage management.  The central question—who owns the past?—will be explored in both an intellectual sense and an economic one.  We will discuss cooperation and conflict among archaeologists and descendant communities, issues of repatriation, and laws and policies that determine the treatment of artifacts as commodities.

An introduction to archaeology as a discipline.  Three major themes that deal with issues of the past will be covered:

1.  A brief history of the discipline, changing theories about various aspects of the past, and the role that the reconstructions of the past play in national and/or group identities.

2.  A survey of the development of human culture from its beginnings to the rise of civilizations and proto-historical cultures in most areas of the world.  Prehistoric cultures, archaeological sites, and areas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe , and the Pacific will be covered.

3.  Archaeological methods of recovery of information about the past.  Scientific procedures involved in excavation, dating, and preservation of the material record.

The Western historical and philosophical tradition perpetuates stories of how and

why people became unequal in different senses. With the possible exception of legal inequality,

the creation of unequal social arrangements occurred before the invention of writing, making it a

fundamental question for archaeology, but raising the question of how independently

archaeologists approach some important social questions that remain significant today. In this

class, we will take a critical look at how anthropological archaeology has approached inequality,

and how researchers represent the origins of different kinds of inequality in the recent

professional literature. After discussing different aspects of inequality and their material

implications, students will lead class discussions of case studies of inequality from areas of their

own professional interest.

This course will provide a broad introduction to the world of the Incas—the largest native empire to form in the Western hemisphere.  We will approach the Incas from several different scales that reflect the different disciplines that comprise Inca studies, beginning with Andean ecology, and then turning to archaeology and art history.  We will read Inca ethnohistory as part of a discussion of the continuity of Inca social practices following the European invasion.  Depending on student interest, we may also consider the Inca legacy in Andean ethnography and contemporary political and ethnic representation.

An introduction to archaeology as a discipline.  Three major themes that deal with issues of the past will be covered:

1.  A brief history of the discipline, changing theories about various aspects of the past, and the role that the reconstructions of the past play in national and/or group identities.

2.  A survey of the development of human culture from its beginnings to the rise of civilizations and proto-historical cultures in most areas of the world.  Prehistoric cultures, archaeological sites, and areas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe , and the Pacific will be covered.

3.  Archaeological methods of recovery of information about the past.  Scientific procedures involved in excavation, dating, and preservation of the material record.