This course is a seminar for advanced undergraduate, MA, and PhD students, taught in English. We will focus on a variety of issues concerning the archaeology of the prehistoric period in China (Paleolithic and Neolithic periods) and explore some of the key research themes for these time periods and the multidisciplinary approaches used to gain understanding of them. Topics can include human evolution, Paleolithic lithic technology and new approaches to it, Eurocentric biases in modeling human behavior in East Asia, the Upper Paleolithic Revolution, Early Pottery production, the origins of agriculture, settlement pattern studies, ritual and funerary practices, bioarchaeological studies of demography and health, Neolithic stone tool and pottery production, the pathway toward social complexity, craft specialization, etc. We will also look at regional developments and models of cultural interaction. The time period covered begins with the earliest archaeological sites and hominid fossils (at least 1.6 million years ago) and ends with the Longshan period (ca. 2500-1900 BC). We will focus not on a textbook approach, but rather on recent research papers related to a specific topic, with the goal of understanding major issues in Chinese Paleolithic and Neolithic archaeology and the current state of research, as well as new discoveries and research innovations (particularly with the introduction of scientific methodologies and anthropological orientations). The topics we will cover are flexible, and we will decide as a class which to select. For each topic, we can read “classic” papers and/or look critically at recent publications and how they introduce new ideas and approaches, so we can see the “state of the art” in the field.