American Invasions: Archaeological Tales of Discovery and Encounter
ANTHRO 1190
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
In 1492 Native Americans discovered Europeans, changing the world forever. The European invasion of the Americas triggered demographic, economic, and ecological changes on an unprecedented scale. The subsequent movement of people, plants, animals, and goods prompted global shifts in population, exploitation of resources, and the transformation of environments on both sides of the Atlantic. What can anthropology and archaeology tell us about early encounters between Native Americans and Europeans? Why did the European conquest of the Americas play out as it did? This course investigates these questions through the sites where first contacts occurred, the objects exchanged by Indigenous peoples and settler-colonists, and the scars that remain in the ground. Through investigations of first contacts, politics, epidemics, Indigenous resistance, and ecological changes, Anthropology 1190 presents a sweeping continent-wide treatment of the historical archaeology of Native America between 1492-1776. Upon successful completion of this class students will be knowledgeable about Indigenous societies of the Americas from the 15th-18th centuries; the archaeology of colonialism; the impacts of colonialism on the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere; and how we know what we think we know about the period immediately before and after the European Invasion of the Americas.
Course Notes
This class requires students to enroll in an untimed, placeholder section/lab during registration and to submit time preferences.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
