The Courses have been designed to familiarize students with the broad stages in history that may not always have been evolutionary or progressive, but nonetheless had been connected in time and space in terms of tool use, ideas, exchange and employment of various kinds of labour. The two complementary sources of evidence are emphasized to the extent possible to give the students experience in working with both archaeological and historical sources, and especially in handling artefacts in a way that is not widely offered elsewhere. Students would also gain a better understanding of the composite character of cultures that have gone into the making of World and Indian history and thus learn to appreciate the fact that India’s northeast region can be understood better when studied vis-à-vis the broader developments that have occurred elsewhere.