Course description
Our Goals:
We want our students to critically evaluate the ways archaeological knowledge is generated, and to be aware of a variety of (re)constructions of the past. We offer our students training addressing theoretical, methodological, and analytical issues that are significant in designing and carrying out archaeological research. We emphasize different approaches, possibilities, problems, and biases in archaeology, and the limitations of archaeological record.
Our Strengths:
We provide our students with a plethora of archaeological theories, methods, and practice, with a particular strength in major issues including:
• Hunter-gatherers
• Middle Range Societies
• Origins and consequences of agriculture
• Origins and development of complex and state-level societies
• Identity and gender studies
Our Approach:
With a strong emphasis on a hands-on teaching and learning experience, we closely work with our students and strongly encourage them to actively participate in faculty research projects and/or to
develop their own original research projects both in the field and in our laboratories. Our goal is to give our students the ability to identify, recover, document, analyze, interpret, and publish archaeological data. Our graduate students are eligible for competitive support packages.
Our Research:
Currently, the archaeologists at UNLV conduct research in both the New World and the Old World, with a particular strength in the following geographic areas:
• The Great Basin
• The American Southwest
• Alaska
• Mediterranean Basin
• Anatolia
We presently have five archaeology teaching and research laboratories devoted to:
• Ceramics and Southwestern archaeology
• Ethnoarchaeology and Experimental Studies
• Lithics and North American prehistory
• Near Eastern archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
Our Faculty:
Dr. Levent Atici, Anatolia, Near East, palaeolithic, social complexity, zooarchaeology
Dr. Liam Frink, Alaska, colonial studies, experimental, and ethnoarchaeology
Dr. Karen Harry, Southwestern and experimental archaeology, ceramics
Dr. Barbara Roth, Southwestern and Great Basin archaeology, lithics
Dr. Alan Simmons, Near East, agricultural origins, lithics, island colonialisation, Ethics
Dr. Debra Martin also complements the archaeology faculty with her emphasis on bioarchaeology
