FALL 2007 MWF 2:10-3:00 PM

Davidson Honors College Room 117

Spring 2008 Th 6:10-7:00 PM

Davidson Honors College Room 119

Fall 2008 Tuesday 9:10-10:00 am

    

Please help support student costs to travel to Olduvai!  contact Garry Kerr at 406.243.4414 to make a donation

Course Description

This is a prerequisite for a future course which will encompass a 3-week field trip to Tanzania where we will visit Olduvai Gorge, as well as Gombe. The aim of the current class is to give students a better understanding of human origins and how archaeology has in the past (and will continue into the future) helped flesh out our distant ancestors. We will focus on contributions from the area and their importance. We will examine basic archaeology skills and methods, as well as topics related to care of artifacts and other remains. We will all apply for visas together and learn about the following: vaccinations, global competence, Swahili, as well as the local geology and wildlife.

IMPORTANT: By the Fall of 2007, you must have a valid passport through the December of 2008.

This course is the result of a cooperative venture between the University of Montana's Davidson Honors College, The University of Montana's Department of Anthropology, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Required Texbooks

Matthiessen, Peter
1995 The Tree Where Man was Born. Penguin Books, New York.

Stanford, Craig
2008 Apes of the Impenetrable Forest: The Behavioral Ecology of Sympatric Chimpanzees and Gorilla. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Additional Required Readings for this course may be assigned, including articles in professional journals, Such as American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Evolution, the Journal of Field Archaeology, the Journal of Human Biology, Nature, Science, etc. We will provide you with a bibliography during the semester so you can peruse these and other readings at your leisure.

Course Structure

This course meets for 50 minutes, three days a week, throughout the semester. Class meetings will include lectures, activities, discussions, and guest speakers. Students may be required to participate in class by sharing their ideas with the rest of the class in informal discussions.

For more information, please see the Course Syllabus.