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Graduate Course Offerings

Current course information is available in the Graduate Bulletin.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY DPA 500
Study of the forms of social organization: family, kinship, economic, political, and religious found among simple and complex societies.

DEVELOPMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY DPA 501
Study of the forms of social organizations: family, kinship, economic, political, and religious, as found among simple and complex societies. A basic graduate-level course designed for students whose pervious background is in other fields.

SOCIAL ECOLOGY DPA 502
An exploration of the theoretical and methodological issues in the study of human social activity and its relationship to ecological systems and the environment. Particular emphasis is placed on the various dimensions and scales of social organization and activity, and on the role of cultural, religious, and political institutions in shaping ecological relationship as well as economic behavior.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION DPA 503
An exploration of the theoretical models and empirical observations of human social organization in a comparative perspective, including such topics as demography and behavioral ecology, kinship and marriage, reciprocal exchange, and political dimensions of resource mobilization in small-scale as well as complex societies. Organized around different layers of human sociality, the course examines social dependence among humans and nonhuman primates, evolutionary explanations for human mating strategies, cooperation in child-rearing, paradigms of descent and affinity, and the dynamics of hierarchy and alliance in egalitarian cultures as well as stratified states.

SEMINAR IN EUROPEAN ETHNOGRAPHY DPA 509
Investigation and discussion of selected topics and problems concerning European societies and cultures. The perspectives of culture history and current fieldwork are employed.

PALAEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 511
A survey of the archeological record of foraging peoples in Africa, Europe and Asia prior to the emergence of agriculture. The course emphasizes particular problems including the relationship between behavioral and biological change, different adaptive strategies in temperate and tropical zones, the origins of modern humans, and the emergence of complex hunter-gatherer societies.

COMPARATIVE CIVILIZATIONS DPA 512
A comparative study of the processes of sociocultural evolution from the beginnings of sedentary life to the achievement of early civilization in the Near East, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Mesoamerica, and the Andean area. The seminar will focus upon theories of the formation of complex societies and will cover such topics as urbanization, demography, irrigation, craft specialization, militarism, and trade and exchange.

ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE DPA 513
This course will trace the history of anthropological thought on the origins of agriculture and will assess the evidence from the Old and New Worlds for this economic revolution. The course will not only explore areas where early agriculture is evidenced, but will also contrast these areas with those where agriculture was a later development. Emphasis will be on the environmental, technological, biological, social, and cultural processes associated with the neolithic Revolution.

THE STONE AGE OF AFRICA DPA 514
This course provides a detailed examination of the evidence for the evolution of human behavior and biology on the African continent. The course focuses on the way both early and modern hominids adapted to different habitats, and on modern African environments and ecology, as well as modern hunter-gatherer peoples.

THEORY AND METHOD IN ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 515
A course on theoretical and methodological approaches employed in archaeology. The goals of the course are to provide an historical perspective on the growth of theory and method in archaeology and to examine in detail some of the pertinent research topics studied today.

RESEARCH DESIGN IN ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 516
An examination of the ways in which archaeologists develop successful research strategies for arriving at answers to the key questions in the field. Students will analyze grant proposals which received funding from the major sources of funding for archaeology before developing research proposals of their own. The aim of this course is to provide the class with the skills needed to plan their future and compete successfully for funding both for their thesis research and in their future careers.

PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY DPA 517
An introduction to the technology of hunter-gatherers. The course examines how archaeologists use both ethnographic and experimentation to shed light on prehistoric human technological adaptations. Techniques for making and using primitive tools are practiced in weekly laboratory sessions.

LITHIC TECHNOLOGY DPA 518
An introduction to the identification, description, and analysis of lithic artifacts, or stone tools. This course surveys ethnographic, experimental, and archaeological approaches to understanding lithic artifacts. In laboratory sessions, students learn how to make and use stone tools, and how to employ several key archaeological approaches to the behavioral analysis of stone tools.

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY DPA 519
An introduction to the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. Special emphasis is on identification of fragmented bone, identification of bone surface modification, calculation of indexes of abundance, and measurement and metrical analysis of mammal bone. Computer analysis is stressed, and the class seeks to synthesize traditional archaeozoology and actualistic studies.

RESEARCH AREAS IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES DPA 525
This course provides an overview of the current research areas represented in the IDPAS. All first-year Anthropological Sciences students are expected to participate.

THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS DPA 526
An introduction to the use of aerial and satellite imagery in environmental analysis and the manipulation of geographic data sets of all types using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This course is designed to teach students in archaeology, physical anthropology, and related disciplines how satellite imagery combined with various maps can be manipulated using GIS software to perform powerful geographic analysis. Although students are eventually likely to use these tools in many different parts of the world, this course focuses on Long Island as a research area, and each student designs and completes a research project on a particular section of the area, focusing on the habitats of local wildlife, the locations of archaeological sites, coastal regimes, etc. This course presumes computer literacy and familiarity with database management.

FIELD METHODS AND TECHNIQUES IN ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 527, SUMMER
This course consists of field and laboratory work on an aspect of Long Island's archaeological heritage. Students' time is divided between surveying and excavation in the field and artifact analysis in the laboratory. Such techniques as map and air photo reading, survey, instruments, stratigraphy, conservation, typology construction, etc., are taught. Students are exposed to the full range of excavation, survey, and laboratory methods and techniques.

READINGS IN ETHNOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY DPA 540
A survey of the more important and better documented cultures and societies of selected world ethnographic areas and the implications of data from these for current approaches and problems in ethnology. Cross-listed with ANT 540.

EVOLUTIONARY ANATOMY DPA 541
A lecture and laboratory course with emphasis on dissection of the entire human body. Includes functional and comparative anatomy with special emphasis on the musculoskeletal morphology of humans and higher primates.

THEORY AND METHODOLOGY IN PRIMATOLOGY DPA 550
Comprehensive overview of the theory and methodology used in the study of primate behavioral ecology. Includes ecological field methods, behavioral observations, analytical techniques, nonparametric statistics as well as planning, presenting, and reviewing research.

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA DPA 560
An examination of the cultural history of Mesopotamia based on the archaeological, textual and art historical record. Focus is on the fourth through second millennia BC, this course investigates both the long term development process of this civilization and ways to understand its settlement systems, urban structure, social and political organization, economic structure and the role played by religion.

PEASANT SOCIETIES AND CULTURES DPA 561
The concept of peasantry is examined from political, religious, and social class viewpoints as well as from the more traditional economic view. These agricultural peoples, who are essentially preliterate and preindustrial, are described and analyzed especially in relation to the national societies of which they form a part.

LONG ISLAND ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 562
Life on Long Island and the surrounding area from its first settlement by Native Americans 12,000 years ago until the end of the nineteenth century. Trends and changes in human behavior are studied in the context of environmental and cultural processes affecting all of northeastern North America.

ASPECTS OF ANIMAL MECHANICS DPA 563
An introduction to biomechanics. Covers free-body mechanics and kinetics as applied to vertebrate locomotion. Considers the structure and physiology of muscle as it relates to adaptations of the musculoskeletal system.

PRIMATE EVOLUTION DPA 564
The taxonomic relationships and evolutionary history of primates as documented by their fossil record and structural and chemical evidence. Emphasis on primates prior to the origin of the human lineage.

HUMAN EVOLUTION DPA 565
A survey of the fossil record of hominid evolution through the Pliocene and Pleistocene with emphasis on the morphological structure and function of locomotor, masticatory, and neural systems. Includes utilization of comparative anatomical materials and extensive cast and slide collections.

STUDIES IN FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY DPA 566
Introduction to the theory and methods of functional morphology. Various methods of analysis and the application of experimental techniques such as electromyography or bone strain analysis are discussed as they pertain to the understanding of the interaction between form and function. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of human and non-human primate morphology, and the application of this analysis to interpretation of the fossil evidence for human and non-human primate evolution.

PRIMATE BEHAVIOR AND ECOLOGY DPA 567
A comparative approach to the behavior and ecology of living lemurs, monkeys, and apes. Emphasis is placed on sociobiological theory; life history strategies; morphological adaptations; comparisons of primate communities in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, and South America; and primate conservation. A research project involving the collection and analysis of behavioral data is required.

HUNTERS AND GATHERERS DPA 568
The course focuses on the relationship between ecology and adaptation to explore the cross-cultural diversity of hunter/gatherers. The fist part of the course looks at a number of key theoretic issues and debates that surround the structure of hunter/gatherers. Once this foundation is laid, students learn about modern and historic hunter-gatherers from all the major geographic regions of the world. This overview draws on studies from behavioral ecology, ethnoarchaeology and cultural anthropology. The focus o fthe course is both the explore hunter/gatherer variation in relationship to their environment, and give students an appreciation of the ways in which hunter-gatherers have been historically documented. The course is designed to be applicable to archaeologists, anthropologists and to those in other disciplines who make inferences about past ways of life.

HUMAN DEMOGRAPHY DPA 583
The study of human demography has had a long standing focus in anthropology, archaeology, economics and sociology for the simple reason that the distribution and density of people fundamentally shapes many other aspects of the human condition. Human Demography gives students an overview of population dynamics both as they change through time and differ across cultures. The course starts with outlining the history of population studies. Following this introduction, the three major components of population change - fertility, mortality and migration - are explored in depth. We then survey the seminal transitions in human demographic history from hunting and gathering to domestication and through modern postindustrial society. Drawing from ethnographic, human ecology, demographic and archaeological literature, students read and discuss human demography from a variety of perspectives. The course includes some computations and a lab.

PREHISTORIC PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS DPA 585
Life in the Americas from the first settlement at the end of the last ice age until the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries. The culture, history and evolution of prehistoric peoples of North, Central and South America are treated. Specific topics covered include settlement by Native Americans, hunting-gathering lifeways, plant and animal domestication, the origins of village life and state-level societies.

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTION OF MAMMALS DPA 580
The comparative anatomy, evolutionary history, and radiation of fossil and living mammals. A course requiring a major research project on any aspect of mammalian comparative anatomy. Supplemented by lectures and seminars on the evolutionary history and radiation of mammals. Comparative osteological and fossil cast collections are utilized.

EVOLUTION OF MAMMALS DPA 581
A course on the evolutionary history and radiation of mammals from the Mesozoic to the present from paleontological and anatomical perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on the origin of mammals and the origin, evolution, and anatomical diversity of modern and extinct orders of mammals.

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF PRIMATES DPA 582
The comparative anatomy of living primates. Laboratory dissection with emphasis on relating structural diversity to behavior and biomechanics.

PRACTICUM IN TEACHING DPA 600

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY DPA 602

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH DPA 610
Research supervised by faculty. Students must have permission of instructor and enroll in appropriate section.

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN TOPICAL PROBLEMS DPA 620

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY DPA 630

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN ETHNOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY DPA 640

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN ARCHAEOLOGY DPA 650

SPECIAL SEMINAR DPA 680
Selected topics in cultural and social anthropology. Topics reflect current interests of faculty and graduate students.

DISSERTATION RESEARCH DPA 699

SUMMER RESEARCH DPA 800

SUMMER TEACHING DPA 850