Archaeology

At Dickinson, the study of archaeology draws on the expertise of four departments—anthropology, art & art history, classical studies and geology. Students get a solid theoretical grounding in the discipline and gain valuable field experience by participating in summer excavations. The archaeology program boasts two fully equipped archaeology labs with a full-scale training trench, a digital slide library and several digital projects apply remote sensing surveys.

The archaeology curriculum offers a wide spectrum of courses, including Archaeological Method and Theory; Archaeological Fieldwork; Prehistoric Aegean Archaeology; Greek Archaeology; Roman Archaeology; Ancient Greek Sculpture; Greek and Roman Painting; Ancient Greek Architecture; Ancient Greek Religion and Sanctuaries; Egyptian Archaeology; Near Eastern Archaeology; The Archaeology of North American Indians; Environmental Archaeology; Biological Anthropology.

The department maintains 35-40 majors annually and more than 250 enrollments in archaeology courses offered every year. Students participate in the projects of the Keck Archaeology and Dickinson Environmental Archaeology Laboratories, archaeological field projects in Greece (Mycenae, Glas), Bolivia (Taraco Peninsula), and in Pennsylvania at nearby Camp Michaux. Students also enjoy guest lectures each semester, field trips to museums in New York and Washington, D.C., and can spend at least a semester abroad in affiliated programs with an emphasis on archaeology in Greece, England and Ecuador/Argentina. The archaeology department of Dickinson College has become one of the leading undergraduate interdisciplinary archaeology programs in the U.S.

"The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program (IAP) is a remarkable program, notable for its truly interdisciplinary approach to a complex subject. It has broad and positive support from all faculty involved with the program. The students are enthusiastic and energetic...and their devotion to the discipline made the reviewers jealous of the ability of the program to involve and to energize undergraduates to such a high degree...The resources available for teaching students in Carlisle, especially the SEF [dig simulator], are extraordinary, and the latter is, to our knowledge, unique. This tool enables students to be conversant with both archaeological methodology and actual technique well in advance of their arrival at excavations in Greece or elsewhere. The IAP is regarded by Dickinson College as a flagship program, visited by prospective students and prospective donors as well as by nearly three-quarters of the members of the Board of Trustees. Dickinson College has every reason to be proud of the IAP... because the program represents the best of Dickinson and the energies of its faculty and students." (excerpts from the External Reviewers' report, April 2007)

"ΠΑΝΤ' ΕΣΤΙΝ ΕΞΕΥΡΕΙΝ" - it is possible to discover everything (Demosthenes)