This course will cover answers for six of the questions I am most often asked as an archaeologist in language fit for an undergraduate, two topics per class.  In the first class, we will review radiocarbon dating and the non-excavation techniques we use to determine subsurface buildings and burials.

 

The subjects of the second class are how we determine the source of traded materials like obsidian and marine shells and how it is possible to tell where a person grew up or migrated from. 

 

In the final class techniques for determining how a tool was used and how it is possible to tell the month of the year some resources were harvested will be presented. 

 

The instructor’s original research as well as examples from Mexican and US archaeological sites are used to demonstrate the usefulness of these techniques.

Cheryl Claassen is a professional archaeologist (PhD Harvard 1982) who has conducted excavations in New York, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee and has done extensive research on sites in several other states and countries. She is best known for her research on freshwater and marine shell heaps, women in the past, and rituals and beliefs in the past of eastern North America and in 16th century Mexico. She has authored or edited 14 books and 150+ articles. Her recent publications are Critiquing Women's Lives (2026), Landscapes of Ritual Practice (2023), Religion in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (2022).