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