What can our archaic ancestors teach us about who we are and where we’re headed? We’ll investigate this question with methods and theories from archaeology and sociology. In the first three weeks, we’ll read Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex and learn the basics of archaeological methods and theories. We will study key findings regarding our ancient ancestors in Africa, Siberia, and central Asia. In the second half of the class, we’ll build a bridge between pre-history and contemporary society with texts including Barbara Adam’s Memory of Futures, Alondra Nelson’s Social Life of DNA, John Robb’s “History in the Body,” and Dan Smail’s Deep History and the Brain. These texts will be the basis for thinking about our ability as a species to cooperate in the face of pandemic, environmental change, and population movements.