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This course is a critical thinking exercise. It aims to provide students with analytical tools to evaluate evidence. Looking at truly-scientific and pseudo-archaeological concepts, students will learn how to separate the intellectual wheat from the intellectual chaff and how to apply this valuable skill in everyday life. Students will learn about scientific methodology and ethics of science and how they are applied in archaeology. We will look at concepts and methods of archaeology as a scientific discipline about the past and future of humanity. Students will engage with larger questions about the uses of the distant human past in political and religious ideologies and the modern economy. Along the way, we will learn about who first discovered the Americas, why the Nazis were fascinated by the Indo-Aryans, and who the Indo-Europeans were. We will discuss the real paleo diet and how this concept is marketed today, how cryptocurrency relates to Ancient China, and other pseudo- and real-world archaeology topics. And weÌýwill also watch some great movies and documentaries!Ìý