<p>I am interested in UNC, and I want to become an archeologist. Can you tell me how the UNC Chapel Hill’s archeology program compares with other top archeology schools, like
Bryn Mawr, etc.? Are there many arch majors, and how do people feel about the program? What about trips and excavations, are there many opportunities for students to get experience? Also, is the program geared more to one type of archeology, like classical?</p>
<p>I went to Duke, but I have [significant</a> experience](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063777581-post109.html]significant”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063777581-post109.html) with the archaeology program at UNC.</p>
<p>UNC is superb for archaeology. Out of curiosity, I once investigated how many Fulbrights in archaeology each school produces, and Carolina did exceedingly well.</p>
<p>Wisconsin 12
Bryn Mawr 11
Penn 11
Cincinnati 9
UNC Chapel Hill 9
Michigan 8
SUNY Buffalo 8
Brown 7
Missouri 7
Arizona 6
UCLA 6
UCSB 6
Berkeley 4
New Mexico 4
Texas 4
Columbia 3
Minnesota 3
Virginia 3
Chicago 2
Cornell 2
Princeton 2
Yale 1</p>
<p>I am primarily familiar with the classical archaeology offerings. UNC has 6 classical archaeologists, which is a hefty number for any university. (In comparison, Michigan has 4, and one of those was stolen from UNC.)</p>
<p>Offerings in classical archaeology are extremely broad and varying. Courses include Roman art, Minoan/Mycenaean archaeology, archaeology of cults, Egyptian archaeology, Near Eastern archaeology, Greek topography, Greek vase painting, Roman sculpture…the list goes on. </p>
<p>In terms of resources, the Ackland at UNC has a relatively small but very good and representative collection of ancient art, and the Classics department was recently gifted [its</a> own collection](<a href=“https://college.unc.edu/features/may2009/article.2009-05-11.2735268475]its”>https://college.unc.edu/features/may2009/article.2009-05-11.2735268475). </p>
<p>UNC runs several digs, and faculty are associated with even more. The three main digs are a summer field school usually in NC or SC, a dig in Peru, and a dig in Crete. The last is currently not running, I think, because the professor in charge is publishing his excavation reports from the last few years. It’s possible to participate in digs with other universities, however, and funding is available from the university and department to help cover costs.</p>
<p>UNC is also strong in other fields of archaeology, but I’m less familiar with them. There is a professor in the religion department who studies Israelite/biblical archaeology, and several professors in art history and anthropology study Byzantine, early European, paleolithic, and North/Central/South American archaeology. UNC has research labs in archaeology, and you can take courses in zooarchaeology, paleobotany, osteology, GIS and remote sensing, etc. </p>
<p>UNC shares an AIA chapter with Duke, and both universities have many, many archaeology lectures each year. I regularly attended lectures at both universities and had the opportunity to meet key scholars in a variety of different fields. </p>
<p>There are less than a half dozen colleges I would recommend for archaeology over Carolina, and very few universities can match its breadth and depth of resources.</p>