Archaeology of Warfare and Human Nature

What you’ll be able to do

• Become familiar with available evidence and theories related to social violence, warfare, and associated practices in the human past, and how these are related to both the evolution of our species and modern manifestations of war

• Through specialized anthropological research, gain understanding of different lines of evidence used to identify and interpret diverse practices of violence and warfare in the past

• Obtain comparative global knowledge of human diversity, material culture, culture and history, and the evolution of people’s relationships with the physical, cultural, and natural world

• Become equipped to critically evaluate various arguments, theories, and speculative claims about humanity and war, distinguishing between speculative and empirical narratives about the past

• Gain understanding of how to synthesize information relevant to archaeology across multiple disciplines

• Gain experience in collaborative teamwork and public presentation

• Acquire specialized archaeological and anthropological knowledge, becoming familiar with major research cases and authors from different world regions

• Improve skills in evaluating research theories, arguments, and the limits, potentials, and challenges in knowledge production

• Develop research agendas with testable hypotheses for specific research problems

• Gain experience presenting research and communicating complex ideas to a diverse audience

• Further develop writing skills relevant to future efforts in dissertation work, publications, and grant proposals

Source: UW Guide