Ancient Culture Studies

We examine the world’s earliest complex societies and the legacy of their ideas. We focus on the Middle East and Mesoamerica, combining archaeology with the study of ancient languages to understand some of humanity’s most influential early complex societies.

We explore some of the most significant changes in our shared past: from the emergence of villages and cities, writing and religion, as well as technology and craftsmanship, to the development of political power and social inequality.

We also examine how ideas, goods, and technological advances moved, changed, and shaped entire regions—both in the past and in the present.

We seek to reconstruct concepts, economies, past climates, practices, and social worlds through textual analysis and historical studies, archaeological fieldwork, studies of material culture, and ethnography. Here, we incorporate computational, digital, and natural science methods to open new windows onto the past.