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HIS 478/479: History of Technology to 1550
(formerly HIS 315)

Our modern perspective tends to associate "technology" with electronic gadgetry. However, many of the foundations of modern society, such as roads, plumbing and complex structures, are built upon techniques and concepts known before the advent of electricity. This course will examine the relationship between technology and human society from antiquity to the early modern period on the eve of immense scientific and technologial breakthroughs. We will investigate, through hands-on methods, how technology influenced the development of society, how society influenced the development of technology, and how people in society viewed technology.

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