ANT 395-03 - Advanced Special Topic: Archaeology of Death and Burial.

4 credits (Spring)

This course explores how anthropologists investigate and understand the lives and deaths of people in the past. How do archaeologists interpret human remains and material residues of mortuary practices? And what can we learn about being human from studying the dead? We will consider the ethics of studying human remains, and investigate how people deal with the dead, religious beliefs and mortuary practices, personhood, identity, structural violence, and the politics of the dead. As part of the course, you will learn how to collect and process mortuary data and complete a research project about local mortuary practices and social histories.

Prerequisite: ANT 263, ANT 280, ANT 290, ANT-295 ST: Politics of the Past Arch/Museums, or ANT-295 ST: Areas Studies of Archaeology with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Erftenbeck