pt. 1,Introduction: questions of time and ethics --Getting started in archaeology --Putting the picture together --pt. 2,Introduction: our place in nature --Early hominids --Neanderthals --The origin of modern humans --Peopling Australia and the Americas --pt. 3,Introduction: perspectives on agriculture --Towers, villages, and longhouses --The origin and spread of maize agriculture --A feast of diversity --pt. 4,Introduction: defining social complexity --Complexity without the state --Urban states --Enigmatic states --Empires --Epilogue: bringing it home.