Replies to: Good Schools for archaeology? & Help!

• #1

  Alexandre Registered User Posts: 24,696 Senior Member

  October 2005

  Archaeology usually falls under Anthropology. So any university with an extensive and solid Anthropology program is probably going to have good offerings in the field of Archaeology. That would include the following schools:
  
  Duke University
  http://www.baa.duke.edu/
  
  Harvard University (13 professors are devoted purely to the field of Archaeology)
  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/
  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/arch.html
  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7ebioanth/
  
  Northwestern University
  http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/anthropology/
  
  Stanford University (20 professors are devoted purely to the field of Archaeology)
  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthsci/
  http://archaeology.stanford.edu/
  
  University of California-Berkeley
  http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/anth/dept.html
  
  University of Chicago (where Indiana Jones teaches! hehe)
  http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/
  
  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (12 professors purely devoted to the field of Archaeology)
  http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/
  http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/archaeology/index.htm
  http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/biological_anthropology/index.htm
  http://www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/
  
  University of Pennsylvania
  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthro/undergrad.html
  
  Washington University
  http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/
  http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~archae/archpage.htm
  
  Yale University
  http://www.yale.edu/anthro/
  http://www.yale.edu/archaeology/
  
  As for double majoring in Biology and Archaeology, that sounds like a great combination. In fact, there is an entire field devoted to combining the two; Biological Anthropology.

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• #2

  collegehelp Registered User Posts: 6,590 Senior Member

  October 2005

  According to Rugg's Rceommendations on the Colleges:
  for archaeology
  Baylor
  Boston U
  Brown
  Bryn Mawr
  Cornell
  Dartmouth
  Evansville
  Haverford
  Hunter CUNY
  U Kansas
  U Michigan
  U Missouri
  UNC Greensboro
  NYU
  Oberlin
  U Penn
  U Texas
  Washington and Lee
  Washington U Missouri
  Wheaton

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• #3

  carolyn Registered User Posts: 7,435 Senior Member

  October 2005

  One more suggestion: Beloit College in Wisconsin. They have an excellent undergraduate archeology program, and actually offer a biology-archeology major option. They have one of the finest archeological museums at an undergraduate institution and many opportunities for field work as well. Here's the link:
  http://www.beloit.edu/~academic/fields/majors/anthropology_overview.php

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• #4

  warblersrule Super Moderator Posts: 10,132 Super Moderator

  October 2005

  I'm a biology and archaeology double major. Rather, I will be once I declare my majors.
  
  You do realize that archaeology is a rather broad field? Classical archaeology is offered in many classics departments, as is North American archaeology in anthropology departments. Areas like Chinese archaeology, underwater archaeology, or Near Eastern/Egyptian archaeology are much harder to find. A specific interest would be nice...
  
  However, the archaeology programs that immediately come to mind:
  University of Chicago
  New York University
  University of Michigan
  Columbia
  Cornell
  Brown
  Yale
  Harvard
  U Penn
  UNC Chapel Hill
  U Toronto (in Canada)
  Bryn Mawr/Haverford
  UT Austin
  Texas A&M (underwater arch.)
  UCLA
  UC Berkeley
  Boston U
  Tufts
  Johns Hopkins
  
  In the UK: Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Liverpool
  
  Archaeology is not a very booming field. Typically positions are teaching or in museums. You'll definitely need a PhD, and you'll need to know French and German. You may also have to know Greek, Latin, Egyptian, etc., depending on your field of interest. Depending on your specialization, you may have to take advanced courses in art history, archaeology, history, or languages.
  
  As far as job outlooks, here's some responses I got from professors a while back:

  Archaeology is a field in which the phrase "job placement" has very little meaning! Opportunities depend very much on what positions might be coming open at the time a newly-minted Ph.D. happens to be looking for work. Our most recent graduates are either involved with field expeditions (i.e., Chicago House in Luxor) or contract teaching jobs (one will be teaching here as an instructor next year). Others continue to keep a hand in by serving as research assistants with a museum (such as the present Tut show in LA) or University project-but exactly what depends, as I say, on what sort of jobs are being advertised, and whether one's qualifications fit them. Academic jobs generally become open when someone retires . . . . unfortunately, the unvarnished truth!

  What you must understand is that like all other fields right now, archaeology is a tight job market. All the more so because it's taught fewer places than Anthropology or Classical Studies, for example. This is one reason why it's becoming more common for students to negotiate jointly managed degrees - either outright fulfilling the requirements of two depts, or as in the case of one of our students right now, mainly focusing on the archaeology degree but racking up lots of classical arch. and anthropology credentials at the same time.

  
  Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

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• #5

  yoshi503 Registered User Posts: 81 Junior Member

  October 2005

  Columbia founded anthropology!

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• #6

  sandiegomom1 Registered User Posts: 40 New Member

  October 2005

  Hmmmm. I'd definitely add Arizona, Arizona State, and U New Mexico to the list above.

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• #7

  simmple7 Registered User Posts: 17 New Member

  October 2005

  Thank you all for helping me out..!

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