Archaeology 112 - ARCHAEOL GEOLOGY: ROCK & STONE

Same as GEO 112. What makes a mineral or a rock particularly useful as a stone tool or attractive as a sculpture? Students in this course will explore this and other questions by applying geological approaches and techniques in studying various examples or rock art and stone artifacts to learn more about human behavior, ecology and cultures in the past. This exploration across traditional boundaries between archaeology and earth science will include background topics of mineral and rock formation, weathering processes, and age determination, as well as investigations of petroglyphs (carvings into stone surfaces), stone artifacts and other artifactual rocks (building stone and sculptures) described in the literature, displayed in museum collections, and found in the field locally.