Fall 2026

The Origins of Civilization

ANTHRO 322 provides a global archaeological survey of the origins of pristine civilizations, covering the transition from food production to early states across major ancient regions.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 5

Historical reviews of Jason Yaeger: There is a heavy volume of material to know for exams. Reviewers suggest picking and choosing readings due to the excessive amount, and advise against buying the expensive course pack.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ANTHRO 322 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Jason Yaeger and Sarah Clayton describe engaging content but heavy memorization demands. Yaeger's course required knowing all material for exams, while Clayton's exams tested trivial facts rather than deep understanding.

JASON YAEGER is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JONATHAN KENOYER is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH CLAYTON is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Jason Yaeger, Sarah Clayton: Reviews describe the course as fascinating and enjoyable, though some find the content dull initially. Students report that exams require memorizing a large volume of material and trivial facts.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.79 GPA, 90.8% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.79 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.71 GPA, 89.0% A/AB (n=73 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Jason Yaeger: There is a heavy volume of material to know for exams. Reviewers suggest picking and choosing readings due to the excessive amount, and advise against buying the expensive course pack.

Historical reviews of Jason Yaeger, Sarah Clayton: Students enjoy the class once the instructor moves past theory to discuss civilizations. However, the workload is criticized for requiring memorization of trivial facts rather than deeper understanding.

Topics

  • Origins of pristine civilizations
  • Development of food production
  • Emergence of the world's first civilizations
  • Regional focus: Near East, Egypt, Indus Valley, North China, Mesoamerica, and Peru

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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AB
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BC
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D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "a52d368d05e57570a7705266d3cbf957d6014e0d4f0849d91d58636f1aee4b94",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}