An overview of the discipline of archaeology, focusing on how archaeologists recover evidence and make inferences about the lifeways of people who lived in the distant past based on fragmentary surviving remains. Archaeological sites in Europe and the Near East dating from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages will provide case studies. Dating methods as well as the analysis of artifacts and organic remains will be covered. NOTE: This lecture is highly visual. Presenter will require PowerPoint projection equipment.

An introduction to the decipherment of ancient scripts and the translation of early documents on clay, stone and papyrus. The structures and functions of Mesopotamian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary and the ancient Greek alphabet will be compared and contrasted. Problematic scripts (e.g., of Crete, the Indus Valley, Etruscan Italy and Easter Island) and mysterious inscriptions will be briefly considered. NOTE: This lecture is highly visual. Presenter will require PowerPoint projection equipment. This topic requires a basic understanding of how languages work and are characterized/ described (e.g., parts of speech, syntax, phonology). It will be best understood by students who have studied at least one foreign language.

Since its origins in the 1960s, nautical archaeology has become very sophisticated in locating and excavating ships and boats that are hundreds and even thousands of years old. This presentation will describe what archaeologists have learned from raising and reconstructing ancient vessels and studying their cargoes. Focus will be on the ships of Egypt, Anatolia and Europe from the 3rd millennium BC to the Viking period. NOTE: This lecture is highly visual. Presenter will require PowerPoint projection equipment.