Professor Lesure is very passionate about the subject of anthropological archaeology. It definitely motivated me to be more engaged during lectures and to keep up with all the reading. The readings he assigned each week was a bit much though. The readings are also super important in your success for the exams. So, if you're planning on taking this class, be ready to read a ton. Overall this was a solid GE and the content was genuinely really interesting.

Overall: I would recommend taking this class as a GE! The content was interesting, the tests were manageable, and the papers were simple. Professor Lesure is a cool dude that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to throughout the quarter.

GRADE BREAKDOWN:
- Midterm: 20%
- Final: 35%
- Reading Paper 1: 10%
- Reading Paper 2: 10%
- Sections: 25%

Review:
This class goes over a basic understanding of long-term changes in human societies through the rise of cities and empires, looks at prominent archaeological findings that tell stories about human history, and some archaeology techniques and ethical challenges that come with the practice. Professor Lesure posted slides prior to lecture, which were useful for knowing the big topics covered in lecture and pictures of the artifacts/findings (really important to know and recognize some!!!). Attendance was not mandatory and recordings were posted.

There is no textbook for this course! Instead, Lesure posts weekly readings along with optional guided reading questions. Although they are not graded, I highly recommend answering the questions thoroughly as both the midterm and final will have some questions be the exact same as the reading guide.

Two of the weeks of readings had a required essay due about them. Easy prompts, three pages each, and graded fairly. They essentially just made sure that you read the texts for the week and were prepared to discuss them in section.

Sections were mandatory but laidback. My TA was very lax but reviewed the main topics of the lectures/readings for the week!

The midterm was moved to online for the circumstances of this quarter. It was 6 open response questions. Lesure provided a study guide prior to the exam that was extremely helpful and narrowed down all the topics so you knew what to expect. Tip for success: write down all you heard in lecture about the key words from the study guide and thoroughly answer the reading response questions.

The final was in-person but entirely multiple choice (TA strikes). Lesure also provided a study guide and had a final review lecture that was extremely helpful.

As long as you watch the lectures and memorize what he gives you on the study guides, you'll do great. Lesure and the content were highly enjoyable to me and I would take again.

The TA strike affected the final, which was intended to consist of short answers with an essay (it was changed to a 40 question MC). Overall, this class was fairly straightforward and not too demanding. It is worth noting that you do have to spend some time on the weekly readings. Grade consists of 25% participation in discussion, 20% midterm, 20% 2 reaction papers, and 35% for the final. The midterm was 6 short response prompts (paragraph length). One thing I did like was that for both the midterm and final, you start with 50% automatically and get slightly more margin for error to work with. Lectures are recorded. Professor Lesure was very helpful in office hours if you need help understanding certain topics (which is important for writing about them on the midterm).

This class was easy, but you need to study hard. You must do all the weekly readings before the discussion, and it will help you understand some of the concepts being discussed in class. There are two short papers on the readings and short answer questions for the in-person mid- and final. He records the class, so attendance for the lecture is not mandatory; however, heavy points are docked for unexcused absences from the discussion section. Overall would definitely take Lesure again.

I came into this class not expecting to be too interested in the topic, but was surprised as the quarter went on. I really enjoyed this class and feel very grateful to have taken it. The main assignments are two papers based off of readings you did for discussion, and I feel like they were fairly graded overall. If you are willing to put in a bit of effort, you should be fine, but it really helps if you are excited about it!