Our interest is human prehistory from the earliest occurrence of material culture in Africa over 2 million years until the shift to sedentary life and food production in the Levant some 10,000 years ago. The geographic perspective is global, with an emphasis on the Levant. Our core curriculum includes courses that focus on the variety of aspects involved in understanding the evolution of culture and cultural systems. These include, in addition to general introductory courses, advanced courses on Levantine prehistory, a hands-on course in lithic technology, prehistoric art, the evolution of complex societies, hunter-gatherer archaeology and ethnoarchaeology, hominin biological evolution and human osteology. In addition there are annual or semesterial elective monographs and courses on a variety of topics. A recent sample includes regional studies on the Lower Paleolithic in Africa and the Middle Paleolithic in Europe, the colonization of Australia and of the New World, the beginning of agriculture in North America, and monographs on style, decision making processes, diet, innovation and invention, human evolution, and many others. Some of these classes are open also to students from other departments in the Institute and in various faculties of the University.