How did archaeologists come to apply cognitive models from psychology and philosophy of mind to the material record? Why were they drawn to begin investigating the evolution of the human mind? How has cognitive archaeology changed the way we think about the evolution of human intelligence and the structure and function of the mind?
Join Karenleigh A. Overmann for the once-a-year offering of our course, The History of Cognitive Archaeology Since 1969. The course consists of a selection of primary sources that have been instrumental in establishing cognitive archaeology as a viable and influential approach in the study of human evolution. Readings are biased toward Anglophone archaeology and toward important issues in human cognitive evolution. Classes begin January 18 and end May 13.
Join Karenleigh A. Overmann for our online course in the Archaeology of Numbers. This course examines numbers as systems comprised of interacting psychological, behavioral, and material domains, using concepts and evidence from psychology and ethnography to interpret the archaeological record. Course content includes the neuropsychology of numeracy, ethnographic behaviors with numbers, and ancient and modern numbers and counting devices. Classes begin January 18 and end May 13.
How did Neandertals experience their world? How did their cognition and culture differ from ours? Were they pragmatic? Callous or cold-hearted? Did they love, were they charitable? Were they tough? Dogmatic? Xenophobic?
Join Karenleigh A. Overmann for our online course Neandertal Cognition. Together, we will explore the mind of some of our recent ancestors to compare and contrast similarities and differences between our behavior and the behavior of these archaic humans. After a century of suffering the negative biases of early scholars, Neandertals are emerging from the shadows of prehistory to take their rightful place as explorers and innovators who fought to survive in a heretofore uninhabitable clime. Our course reviews the archaeological evidence via empirical models of cognition in an effort to understand the cognitive and behavioral strategies employed by Homo neanderthalensis during their nearly half million years of existence. Classes begin January 18 and end May 13.
How did humankind’s belief in an afterlife evolve? What is a ritual? What rituals are uniquely human? How did ritual evolve? What adaptive purposes do rituals serve?
Join Professor Matt Rossano for our online course The Evolution of Ritual and Religion. The course will explore the role ritual and religion have played in making us human. Together, we will take a highly inter-disciplinary approach using archaeology, anthropology, primatology, and cognitive science to define what ritual and religion are. From the earliest traces of supernaturalization to the rise of morality and monotheism, this course explores the evolution of the form and functions of human spirituality. Classes begin January 18 and end May 13.
The Center for Cognitive Archaeology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs is now offering four courses for the Spring 2022 semester. Spring 2022 semester starts January 18 through May 13. Graduate and undergraduate level training is offered in each class. For more information about the Center for Cognitive Archaeology and enrolling in courses, please visit us at: https://lases.uccs.edu/programs-a-l/cca
Deadline to register for courses is February 2, 2022.
Cognitive Archaeology 