Archaeology Program


Archaeology Major


The undergraduate degree in Archaeology focuses on the systematic study of the human past through its material remains, by means of the excavation, recovery, and interpretation of artifacts and other associated evidence. Historical, environmental, and comparative components enable the examination of different culture systems through time and space, as well as the reconstruction of past lifeways, and the interpretation of ancient social, political, and economic systems. The geographic scope of the program includes the Americas, Europe and the Mediterranean, Egypt, and the Near East. The educational objective of the program is to provide the student with one component of a liberal arts education — one that draws on both the Social Sciences and the Humanities. It will also effectively prepare students for graduate study in anthropological archaeology, Mediterranean archaeology, museology, and historical preservation; or careers in contract archaeology and cultural resource management.

The degree offered is B.A., Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology. The curriculum also offers a minor.

Requirements

Archaeology majors must complete all requirements of the General College.

The Archaeology major requires a minimum of 10 courses (30 hours) with at least 21 hours with a grade C or better. Students must take one course in the Logic of Archaeological Inference, two Archaeological Practice courses (a lab methods course and a field school), two Comparative Perspectives courses, one Long-Term History course, one Topics in Archaeology course, and three electives. One of the electives may be satisfied by offerings in any of these categories, selected according to the interests of the student. Independent research, directed readings, or honors thesis hours may be substituted for the elective chosen from the course offerings. The other two electives will be in related fields (e.g., geology, history, languages, linguistics, statistics, computer science) subject to approval of the advisor for the major. In choosing their Comparative Perspectives, Long-Term History, and Topics in Archaeology courses, students will be required to select courses from at least two of the participating departments.

Students may count only three introductory-level courses (numbered below 200) toward their major. Subject to the approval of the advisor for the major, students may count graduate seminars towards fulfillment of their Comparative Perspectives, Long-Term History, and Topics in Archaeology or electives requirements. Also subject to the approval of the archaeology major advisor, field schools sponsored by study abroad and/or other universities may be used to fulfill the archaeological practice field experience requirement.

For transfer students, at least half of the coursework in the major must be completed within the curriculum at UNC-CH.

Logic of Archaeological Inference (choose one):
ANTH 220 Principles of Archaeology
CLAR 411 Archaeological Field Methods

Archaeological Practice (choose one field school and one lab course):
ANTH 411 Laboratory Methods in Archaeology
ANTH 413 Archaeobotany Lab Methods
ANTH 414 Laboratory Methods: Human Osteology
ANTH 415 Zooarchaeology
ANTH 417 Laboratory Methods: Lithic Seminar
ANTH 418 Laboratory Methods: Ceramic Analysis
ANTH 451 Field School in North American Archaeology
ANTH 453 Field School in South American Archaeology
CLAR 650 Field School in Classical Archaeology

Comparative Perspectives (choose two):
ANTH 121 Ancient Cities of the Americas
ANTH 145 Introduction to World Prehistory
ANTH 148 Human Origins
ANTH 456 Archaeology and Ethnography of Small-Scale Societies
ANTH 468 State Formation
CLAR 050 First Year Seminar: Art in the Ancient City
CLAR 120 Ancient Cities

Long-Term History (choose one):
ANTH 231 Archaeology of South America
ANTH 350 Archaeology of North American Indians
ANTH 359 European Prehistory
CLAR 241 Archaeology of Ancient Near East
CLAR 242 Archaeology of Egypt
CLAR/ART 244 Greek Archaeology
CLAR/ART 245 Archaeology of Italy
CLAR/ART 262 Art of Classical Greece
CLAR/ART 263 Roman Art
CLAR/ART 460 Greek Painting
CLAR 475 Rome and the Western Provinces
CLAR 561 Mosaics: The Art of Mosaic in Greece, Rome and Byzantium
RELI/CLAR/JWST 110 The Archaeology of Palestine in the New Testament Period

Topics in Archaeology (choose one):
ANTH 252 Prehistoric Foods
ANTH 412 Paleoanthropology
ANTH 416 Bioarchaeology
ANTH/GEOL 421 Archaeological Geology
ANTH 452 The Past in the Present
ANTH/FOLK 455 Ethnohistory
ANTH/WMST 458 Archaeology of Sex and Gender
ANTH/ENST 460 Historical Ecology
CLAR 075 First-Year Seminar: The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Mediterranean
CLAR 243 Minoans and Mycenaeans: The Archaeology of Bronze-Age Greece
CLAR 375 The Archaeology of Cult: The Material Culture of Greek Religion
CLAR 448 Constantinople: The City and Its Art
CLAR 449 In Constantinople
CLAR/ART 464 Greek Architecture
CLAR/ART 465 Architecture of Etruria and Rome
CLAR 489 The Archaeology of Anatolia in the Bronze and Iron Ages
RELI/CLAR/JWST 512 Ancient Synagogues

Electives (choose three):
One elective must come from the lists above; and two must come from related fields (e.g., geology, history, languages, linguistics, statistics, computer science), subject to approval by the advisor for the major.