This course is a survey of human and cultural evolution in both the Old and the New Worlds to the beginnings of ‘civilization.’ This will require drawing from fundamental concepts in anthropology, archaeology, and history. The idea is to consider the general pattern of human evolution in all parts of the world up to the ‘historic’ period, which began at different times in different places. Topics to be considered are: our earliest hominid ancestors in their physical and cultural contexts, the development of agriculture and settled village life, and the emergence of the first complex societies with towns, bureaucracies, and rulers.