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Archaeology Program at Washington University
A Wide-Ranging Program
We are proud to be one of the few institutions in the entire country to offer
you a separate major in Archaeology. In our program we seek to
integrate a wide range of directions:
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from paleoanthropology to
historic and industrial archaeology
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from classical archaeology to specialties such as paleoethnobotany and archaeozoology
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Breadth of Staff
We emphasize an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary approach that can be tailored
to your needs. You will be exposed to the widest possible range of
opportunities by working with specialists from several different
departments:
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five members from Anthropology
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two from Art History
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one from Classics
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one from Philosophy
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Research and Field Work Opportunities
There are several ways for you to become directly involved in research and
field work while you are here:
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the major requires at least one “hands-on”
season of field work
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our professors routinely include research opportunities
for undergraduate students in their ongoing laboratory projects or field
expeditions
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professors encourage well-designed student projects run
as independent studies, should you have a special interest not included in
the research currently in progress
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a number of contract archaeology firms in the St.
Louis area recruit our students for projects and
provide opportunities for summer employment
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Access
to Specialized Laboratories
Paleoethnobotany Laboratory
This laboratory houses extensive comparative collections you can employ when
identifying plants utilized by humans in prehistoric periods and when
conducting modern “action archaeology” or
ethno-archaeology.
Zooarchaeology Laboratory
You can use the facilities of the zooarchaeology
laboratory to work on identifying animals from both prehistoric and historic
archaeological sites. The laboratory’s particular strengths are
in fauna specimens from the Americas,
Africa, and Europe.
Lithic and Ceramic Analysis Laboratory
This lab almost always has several ongoing undergraduate projects. The
studies here usually focus on material evidences of lifesways
(how people lived), the basis for beginning to understand cultural history
reconstructions. Comparative materials are borrowed form museum
collections in the region.
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Summer Excavations and
Internships
The department offers many opportunities to experience the field of
archaeology, in the St. Louis
area, as well as abroad. See our Internships and
Opportunities link for more information.
Study
Abroad Opportunities
You will have the opportunity to study abroad, spending a semester or
year away. As an archaeology
major, we will help you select a school abroad where one or more of the
professors is engaged in a field excavation project in which you are
interested. If the actual excavation takes place in the summer, you
would work with your foreign instructor for a
semester or year before taking part in the excavation. This has
proven to be an excellent way for students to develop a research project for
their senior honors thesis and writing capstone.
For important policy guidelines concerning study abroad, please see out Study Abroad Policy
link.
Washington University Approved Opportunities
University College of London &
Institute of Archaeology
In 1985, a one-to-one agreement was signed between the faculty from the
Department of Anthropology, and the Institute
of Archaeology, of the University
College-London and the associated faculty at Washington
University. Each year, UCL
will accept the nominations of up to five Washington
University undergraduates in our
program for either a semester or a year course-exchange. All
academic work done by Washington University
students under the auspices of UCL will be accepted as the equivalent of
credit earned in St. Louis.
This agreement is in addition to, or outside of, the general Semester
Abroad agreements that Washington University
has with many universities. Our UCL program is particularly
advantageous for students interested in European and Old World
archaeological studies. Applications for the UCL program should be secured
from Dr. Robert Sussman, department of
Anthropology, Campus Box 1114, or extension 5-5264. The College office
for Study Abroad must be informed. Their form, which requires possible
equivalencies of courses from UCL and those at W.U., should be taken to Dr.
David Browman, Old McMillan 118, Campus Box 1114, extension 5-5231, for
evaluation and signature.
College Year in Athens &
Intercollegiate Center
for Classical Studies in Rome
Archaeology majors with a particular interest in classical archaeology
and in the ancient Mediterranean will want to
investigate two attractive semester or year-abroad programs. The
program College Year in Athens
offers a full range of courses on ancient Greece,
including the ancient languages, and several offerings in archaeological
studies. You can attend this program for a single semester, or for the
full year. The Intercollegiate
Center for Classical Studies in Rome
(often know only as “The Centro”) offers a single semester-long
program (either fall or spring) whose core is the study of the ancient
history and monuments of Rome.
For further information, and permission forms, contact
Prof. Susan Rotroff (ext. 5183) or Prof. Robert Lamberton (ext. 5-8587) in the
Department of Classics.
For any additional information, see the Study Abroad Policy
link, or contact Dr. David Browman, in his office in Old McMillian
118, by email at dlbrowma@artsci.wustl.edu,
or by phone at 935-5231.
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Senior Honors
Completing Your Archaeology
Experience
Every student should, at the end of four years, have a sense of closure,
of attaining a goal or a step on the way to future activities, an experience
that wraps up and encompasses the major - the 'capstone' experience of the
scholastic endeavor. The major in the Interdisciplinary Program in
Archaeology requires a Senior Project experience for all primary
majors. This may be accomplished in a number of ways.
Some majors may fulfill this requirement through being invited to
participate in the departmental Senior Honors Program, which includes writing
a Senior Honors thesis. The Senior Honors thesis is subject to an oral
defense, and must be accepted by a three-member faculty committee, specific
to the student's humanistic or social scientific focus, which evaluates the
content and suitability of each thesis. Recommendations from the
examining committee are reviewed at the departmental level, before being
forwarded to the Arts and Sciences division committee, for their evaluation
and action. (For additional information, see separate section on Senior
Honors Thesis timelines and requirements.)
For primary majors not involved in the Honors Program, a structured
research assignment, internship, fieldwork, or independent project under the
supervision of one of the department's faculty will be required. The
Senior Project may be coordinated with an appropriate upper level
Archaeology, Anthropology, Art History, Classics or Philosophy class, or may
be conducted as an independent study class under the guidance of an
Archaeology faculty member. The Senior Project experience is designed
to educate students on issues such as how to select an appropriate research
question, various means regarding the processes of data reduction and
modeling, evaluation of hypotheses, as well as a final set of exposures to
the style of argumentation and technical writing appropriate for the
humanistic or social scientific focus.
The Senior Project requirement relates only to primary majors -- students
who are taking two majors, and who have Senior Project required in the other
major, may petition to be excused from duplicating this experience in
Archaeology. Those students enrolled in Archaeology as their first or
primary major will satisfy this requirement either through enrolling in
Senior Honors, or by enrolling in the Senior Project Course offered through
the Archaeology Department.
Senior Honors Thesis
Honors in Archaeology involves a demonstration of acquired knowledge, as
evidenced by such indicators as achieved grades and staff recommendations,
and the preparation of a report on a research project. Students
interested in working for college Honors must select a departmental professor
willing to sponsor and guide the Honors project. This may be as early
as the end of the sophomore year; ideally, by the end of the junior year; and
in rare cases, perhaps as late as the first semester of the senior
year. Students interested in pursuing honors should pick up the
departmental Honors program guidelines from Professor David Browman, Old
McMillan 118, extension 5-5231, or e-mail dlbrowma@artsci.wustl.edu.
Students often discover that there is a considerable gap between what they
have learned about a subject from books, and actually formulating and
carrying out original research in the field. Doing an honors thesis
provides the opportunity to take this step as an undergraduate through
participating in original research in an area in which you are especially
interested. In the process, you learn how to frame research questions,
develop methods and analytical techniques appropriate to address the research
issue being investigated, as well as learning more about, and being able to
contribute to, knowledge on your topic. The experience gives you a
first-hand look at whether research is the direction of your future career
trajectory, as well as to secure academic credentials enhancing future
graduate school or work applications, and even in some cases, a
publication.
Senior Honors Links
Recent
Examples of Honors Research
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Assessing the integrity of the below-ground remains of
historic Fort Belle Fontaine (1804-1825) using ground-penetrating radar
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Reconstructing the importance of hunting in the diet of
the Mississippian populations at the World Heritage site of Cahokia,
A.D.1000-1200 B.C.
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Defining provinces and shifts of political power of the
Early and Late Hittite states, 1600-1200 BC.
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New information on the importance of aqueducts and other
water management facilities in the Roman occupation of Spain
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Definition of the Creve Coeur phase of the Middle
Woodland in Eastern Missouri, A.D. 100-400.
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Return to
Achaeology Program Menu
Academic Honorary Sponsors Guest Speakers
Archaeology students inducted into the national honorary society, Lambda
Alpha, run an annual program with guest speakers and field trips to Cahokia
mounds, Graham Cave, and other local archaeological sites. The honorary
provides you a way to explore areas not available in the classroom.
Archaeology
as a Field
Archaeology is the study of the origin, development, and evolution of human
culture, as exhibited in the material record—evidence of
“fossilized” cultural behavior as recovered from lost tools,
collapsed and abandoned living structures, accidentally preserved food
remains, caches of sacred items, cave paintings, and the
like.
The focus of archaeology ranges from reconstructing the rudimentary
institutions of the individuals responsible for making the very first stone
tools (some 2.5 million years ago), through rather complex constructs of
industrial archaeology in the current century. Some archaeologists
focus upon particular topics or processes, such as the origins of animal domestication or the development of
writing. Other archaeologists may study particular or civilizations,
and hence may study particular regions or civilizations, and hence may be Egyptologists, Mayanists,
First American specialists, or Greco-Roman experts.
Why
Major in Archaeology?
Curiosity
Archaeologists possess insatiable curiosity about the basic questions
surrounding human existence—what, when and where, how and why, an
who. To answer these questions, researchers draw almost literally on
every academic field.
The Challenge of Linking Diverse Fields
The challenge of integrating concepts from diverse fields
makes archaeology one of the potentially most exciting and rewarding
disciplines. Regardless of your interest, there is a branch of archaeology
that depends heavily upon that topic. Linking aspects provides new
insight.
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