This is a list of programs, courses and course descriptions that will be of interest to URI archaeology students.

APG 202 PREHISTORIC AGES - Archaeological perspectives on human biological and cultural development from the Old Stone Age to the Iron Age. Emphasizes prehistoric lifeways, emergence of food production, earliest Old and New World civilizations.

APG 310 (Topics in Anthropology) COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY - Humans have lived along coastlines for at least 150,000 years, developing specialized technology and social systems to adapt to these environments. Coastal environments provide both unique opportunities and challenges for the inhabitants and for the archaeologists who study them. Coastal peoples have access to a rich variety of resources, but often face environmental stress and natural disasters (as evidenced by the recent tsunamis and hurricanes). Coastal and wetland archaeological sites are often exceptionally preserved, but may be difficult and costly to investigate, and are threatened by construction and future sea level rise associated with global warming. This course will explore a variety of issues and controversies in coastal "prehistory" (the period of time before the invention of writing), and will focus primarily on the archaeology of the Americas and Oceania.

HIS 111 HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME - An introductory survey of the political and cultural history of Greece and Rome from the Bronze Age to the death of Nero (c.3000 BCE - 69 CE). Reading for this course will be primarily from modern textbooks, but students will be introduced to some of the ancient literature and archaeological evidence that forms the foundation of our understanding of the Classical World.

HIS 303 THE ROMAN EMPIRE - An exploration of the history, institutions, and culture of the Roman Empire at its height, from the accession of the first emperor Augustus through to the increasingly chaotic times of the third century. Topics include women, slavery, sexuality, masculinity, science, philosophy, and religion, city life, gladiators, Romanization, resistance, economic life and poverty, and the life and times of the Roman emperors. Reading for this course will be primarily drawn from ancient texts, and archaeological evidence will frequently be introduced where it illuminates particular historical themes and controversies.

HIS 506 SEMINAR IN EUROPEAN HISTORY: ROMAN IMPERIALISM - will introduce students to classical historiography and the advanced study of topics in ancient history, using both textual and archaeological evidence. We will focus on Rome’s interaction with her neighbors in Italy and the Mediterranean World. A central theme of the course will be the question of how and why Rome obtained an empire in Italy and beyond. How we are to understand the concept of ‘Roman imperialism’? Themes addressed include colonization, Romanization, assimilation and resistance, frontier studies, the economics and ideology of Roman imperialism, and the consequences of empire for Rome and Italy.

PHL 490 (SR SEMINAR) PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN ARCHAEOLOGY - focuses on theoretical and methodological issues of interest to both philosophers of science and practicing archaeologists. Topics include underdeterminism/equifinality, epistemological issues surrounding archaeological explanations, ethical and value judgements faced by archaeologists, special problems in surveys, terrestrial and underwater excavation, and issues surrounding the goals, practices, and data of archaeology.